Do you tend to buy patterned papers, and then hoard them like I do? I love to buy several of the little 6×6″ paper pads, as they are the perfect size for making cards, but I always have scraps leftover. Or I just keep them and never use them! (I know I’m not the only one out there! *Wink*!) I love the patterns and hate to throw the scraps away. Today I’ll show you a cute way to use up those little strips of paper you might not want to throw out after you are finished with a scrapbook layout or project. And you’ll have an extra card or two on hand to send to someone special!
I loved the patterned papers in this “Lucky Charm” paper pad from Dear Lizzy. First, I made sure my strips of paper were all the same width. They don’t have to be the same length, but they do have to be the same width for the pattern to work. I cut these 3/4″ wide, but you can cut them however wide you want them to be. Since they are 3/4″ wide, I needed a card base that would be the correct size across to fit a certain number of paper strips. I determined that if I used 6 strips at 3/4″ each, my card base would have to be 4 1/2″ wide. This would fit 6 strips across. (If you are cutting your strips differently, make sure you multiply 6 x the width of your strips to get the width your card base will have to be. Or you can use a different number of strips as well, it doesn’t have to be 6.) Therefore my card base is going to be 4.5″ wide. This is typically a little wider than a normal A2 card, so you’ll need a bigger envelope. Or you can adjust your measurements to make a smaller card. My card is 5.5″ long. You can make a square card if you’d like, but I wanted to keep some white space at the bottom for a sentiment.
Okay, now that I’ve confused you with all of that math, let’s get to the fun part!
Lay out your card base and begin planning out where each strip will go. Place them clockwise around the card. The bottom strip will be placed at 1″ from the bottom.
Continue laying out the strips until you are happy with the placement of the patterns.
When happy with the placement, trim the strips down and adhere them. Be sure to leave the bottom inch of the card base white. Stamp a sentiment in the white space at the bottom. (I used the Mat Stack 3 Collection stamps by Papertrey Ink.) Wrap a piece of twine if desired around the bottom of the quilted squares. You can stitch over the the pattern if you want to make it look even more like a quilted pattern!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are able to get crafty today with all of your scraps!
Danielle
So true about not using them as ‘they’re too good to use’ – then why did I buy them ?? This is a great use for those scraps-now I can pare down those containers that are holding them all – just waiting to be put to good use!
Thanks, Helen! Hope you can get some of your scraps used up! 🙂
great idea and cards!
Thank you, Holly!
Love the pieced/quilted look. Your creativity inspires me! Thank you.
Thanks for the nice compliment, Kristin!
These cards are fabulous. I cannot tell you how many 6″ by 6″ pads I have. (I have 10 sitting right beside my desk, actually, waiting for me to use!!) I love this fun idea. And if you used a piece of this size paper, you could make quite a few cards. Thank you for the idea!!
Glad you are inspired to use up those pretty papers! Can’t wait to see what you’ll make!
Thank you for the great idea! I quilt with fabric and never thought to use my scraps to create a quilt design on a card.
I am a quilter too and just love how the patterns in the papers remind me of fabric! 😉
I’m a paper hoarder too! Thank you for showing this tip for using up scraps. It gives me a better reason to use them up so I can buy more lol
Haha, yes!! 😉 You can never have too many pretty papers!
Very striking and definitely looks like a beautiful quilt, Danielle! Can’t wait to play with my leftover scraps…or even paper pads I’ve been hoarding. : ) These would make for a great set of cards for gifting.
Oh, yes…maybe gifts for Christmas? Thank you for the nice note, Kathy.
I did quilting for MANY years and I was the same with fabric as I am with paper – it’s too pretty to cut into! I love this idea to use up scraps and it has a quilty (log cabin) look to it as well. thanks for the great idea.
I know what you mean, Donna! 🙂 I love fabric and paper alike! Thank you for your nice note.
Great idea for using scraps! I will try this soon. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Linda!
Great idea! You could also do a variation on this quilt pattern, called Courthouse Steps, like I did here: http://craftycreativegal.com/quilt-block-pattern-handmade-birthday-card/
Very clever way to recycle those magazines, Serena! Thanks for sharing your card!