Get Creative With Your Extra Paper

Tired of throwing away or recycling your extra paper? Want to explore your creative side and help the environment too? Well read this article and see what I mean.

1. Paper beads: With a couple of toothpicks, scissors and Elmers glue, you can use any kind of colorful paper to create a beautiful result. Cut three inch strips of the colored paper so that they form little triangles. Coat the toothpick in glue, and wrap the paper around the gluey toothpick, so that you can still remove the toothpick when youre done. This is the first paper bead! When its dry, you can use a covering like paint or sparkles, or anything that meets your desires, and string them all together.

2. Paper cutting: This ancient Chinese art can have a place in your home if you follow these directions. Take a colorful sheet of paper, from a magazine or your junk mail. Fold the paper in half like a hamburger, then again like a hot dog. When youve done this twice, your folds should be delicate and precise, because thats what yields the best final product. Unfold it, and cut off all four corners. From the middle of each fold, cut out a small triangle. If you have room and want to get fancy, you can cut out more than one in each square. Be careful not to cut into the folds though; that can destroy your entire design. Unfold your paper and you have a design worth hanging. You can get more experimental by cutting shapes other than triangles, and you dont have to make the design of each square symmetrical. If you make small enough patterns, you can use your paper designs to decorate thank you cards.

3. Decoupage: You can decoupage anything a box, coffee can, table, or a clock. All it takes are some pretty designs on heavyweight paper or printable paper, found in any magazine or piece mail. Any graphic, letter or face is perfect for decoupage. You should cut your strips of paper to taper from wide to skinnier, and you can vary their lengths. With a decoupage medium and a foam brush, paint the surface with the medium. Allow it to dry, and apply the paper. The hanging strips of paper you can cut once dry, or you can fold them under the surface of what you are decoupaging. Cover the paper with the medium. Once it dries, you will have a beautiful decoupage on your hands. These are just some of the more popular crafts that you can make with spare paper, but there are hundreds more. Boxes, cards, journals, hats, piatas, bookmarks, purses, albums, calendars, or invitations are just some of the fun ideas you can take advantage of. With the internet you can find anything, so if you have your own ideas, but need some guidance, just search for it, and you can find a how to article, just like this one.