blues

I mentioned before that I've been making recycled paper since late elementary school. I went through a phase where I would lay the wet paper on my towel and then take it to the ironing board and iron it so that it would dry faster. I was too impatient to see how it would turn out once dry. 

After looking at this latest batch of blue paper I'm wondering if I should go back to that because all the wrinkles. But on the other hand I am saving energy by not heating up that iron. Nevermind the fact that I can get other stuff done because I'm not actively doing the drying work. I have just been laying my towels out and letting the sun do what it does best. Although of course I won't be able to take advantage of that for long. Winter is coming. 

The next set of papers are from a long time ago, at least six years. Is that long? My husband and I like to joke that it feels like a long time! He recently horrified someone by telling her that we are going to be celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary, but it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. HA!

I feel like this batch of paper must be one that I ironed. They definitely don't have the wrinkles like the other ones. The wrinkles haven't bothered me until I really started looking at some of my previous batches of paper. Now they really annoy me. What do you think? 

piles of paper

I like the texture on this one. That diamond pattern is the from the patio furniture where it dried in the sun. 

Look at this pile of pretty pastel paper! I love it! 

Handmade paper

Here are my latest batches of handmade, recycled paper.

These were made with the assistance of my two little helpers.

They really liked playing in the paper pulp. So mushy!

They said this batch of the pulp looked like poop! oh, boys 

You can download the original size by right clicking. If you use one or any in your digital creation I would appreciate a link in the comments. Thanks for looking!

handmade paper

When I was still living at home before I got married and going all the way back to my elementary school days, I used to do papermaking in my free time, especially during summer vacations. I first got started doing this as a kid when I got a kit through a school book order form. The kit came with a small frame, some pulp, instruction booklet, and some other little decorations. Who would have thought that a cheap little kit would provide me with so many years of entertainment? I've made so much paper over the years that even though I've given a lot away I still have more than I should. But luckily my youngest son is obsessed with coloring, so I'm sure my stash will really start to go down. I am really looking forward to showing my boys how to make the paper themselves though. It's a great big messy fun time.

At one point in time, I toyed with the idea of trying to sell my extra paper on Etsy, but I've never gotten around to that yet. I recently had the idea that maybe you would like to use it in any kind of digital art you create. These images are yours to use to do some digital scrapbooking or create other digital art. I only ask that if you use this digital paper, that you would leave a comment so I can see or hear about what you made. If you click on the image, the full size file should pop up, so you can download that and have some artsy fun.

Thanks and enjoy!