Creating my own paper....

Recently Paper Vineyard had a sidewalk sale that I was able to poke thru before class.  I found a 6x6 Crate Paper paper pad buried in the stacks of 12x12 clearance paper.  Of course I had to scoop it up.  I had no idea what I'd use it for but with so many cute patterns I was sure I could figure something out.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep after getting it home I had an idea.  As quickly as I could - once I woke up of course - I had to try it.

While I create plenty of cards and love to do mini books, I've found a renewed interest in creating 12x12 layouts - thanks to the Sketch class I'm teaching.  I've managed to get several wedding layouts done - I mean, it's only been 10 years since we renewed our vows with a ceremony - as well as layouts about my sister's wedding, a vacation to Puerto Penasco and more.  So what was I going to do with 6x6 paper?  How about make my own 12x12??

I love to sew on paper.  So I sewed 4 sheets of the 6x6 together.  I opted to use four different patterns but imagine if I'd done 4 of the same?  The red on red polka dot with pink stitching to hold it all together??  Or that floral?  I'm starting to wish I'd found more than one of these little babies!

To make the stitching easier to do, I flipped the papers over and used a little bit of Scotch tape to hold them together.  Then some quick zig zag stitching where they all meet up.

I also added a straight border stitch.  But am thinking that a nice wavy, free motion kind of stitch in two passes would have been pretty neat too.

I'm now thinking of all kinds of ways to create my own paper using my scrap stash.  Long 12" strips in varying widths all stitched together.  Different sizes of squares and rectangles.  What about those sheets of cardstock where I've only used a portion of it?  I've got plenty of 12xsomething sheets in my stash.  I could easily find papers to add to them to create a full 12x12 again.

And because my background paper is so busy interesting, I'm not going to need a ton of embellishments or other products.  Or maybe, with a nice big photo I can load up on the embellishments.  I'll have to try it both ways!

I'd love to see your variations of this technique!  Leave a comment with a link to a blog post or photo site so I can see them.  Join the creative journey!