More Uses for Wallpaper

Remember that wallpaper roll that my mother-in-law gave me when she cleaned out her basement?

I've posted about the paper beads I made. But that was using only strips of 1" x 4" pieces of the paper. A girl only needs so many beads, and that paper is too pretty to just leave in roll, so here's a couple more projects I've done with it.

I print sewing patterns that are offered online and also design my own purses, so I was accumulating quite a pile of home made or home printed pattern pieces.

I kept them organized by folding and clipping them together but it was a bit unsightly. I had started pondering the cost of a box of manila envelopes, when the obvious occurred to me.. why not make envelopes?


So I deconstructed a manila envelope I had using my trusty sewing awl, (I know a letter opener would have probably worked better, but that was handy and to be honest, I've never had any sewing project that required an awl yet, so at least I finally found a use for it).

It was a bit bigger than the size of a sewing pattern envelope, so using one, I marked off the reduced size that I wanted.

Then made the adjustment for the reduction.

Now I had my template ready for tracing.

I traced it onto the wallpaper.

And cut it out.

Is all wallpaper this curly? Or is this just extra curly because its been in Mom's basement in shrink wrap for the last decade?


It was obvious where to fold it and where to glue it, and if you try this yourself I'll give you a tip. I glued the first few together with Elmer's glue, but I guess because of the finish and texture of the front of the paper, it didn't stick. Even drying overnight, I could just lift it right off. So I stopped at the office supply store and bought a glue stick. That worked! 

Because a stack of identical envelopes wouldn't be very user friendly, my initial plans were to glue printed pictures of the finished project depicting the pattern inside, but once they were done, they were so pretty, I decided not to deface them with something so permanent.

So I paper clipped the printed pictures instead.


And because the envelopes turned out so pretty, I decided to cover the shoe box that I keep my patterns in as well.

I guess I can add Elegant Envelopes and Elegant Storage Boxes with the Elegant Paper Beads to my paper project portfolio! 


Have you found uses for wallpaper other than papering a wall? I'd love to hear about your projects if you have.


On a separate note, I've added a Linky Followers gadget over in the right margin of my blog. I was just getting my Google Friends Connect numbers up there, (I think I had just hit the 30 mark), when it went away, so now I'm starting over again. UGH! Please don't hesitate to follow via the new gadget if you're so inclined, I love it that you were here and would love to have you back again. :)


Hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!!

Elegant Paper Beads

I got an entire roll of wall paper from my sweet mother-in-law a couple of weekends ago. I just love it when she cleans out her basement!

I've been playing experimenting with it. I have some ideas and am trying a few different things. I finished one project. I wanted to share the jewelry that I made with you.


Because the paper is so thick, I used strips just 4 inches long, by 1 inch wide. I cut a coat hanger and used the wire from it to wrap the strips around. After gluing the ends I put them each in a binder clip overnight to dry. The next day I put each on a toothpick and painted them all over with Mod Podge to just give them a good seal. 

Don't you just love my high tech drying rack?
Here's a close up of one of them.

Once the Mod Podge was dry I strung them each onto a head pin with a glass bead from my stash at the bottom and tiny gold bead on each end.

I really had just planned to use them on a necklace, but I found some hoop earring wires in my findings stash and I really like the way the look as earrings.

I hung the rest of them from a thrifted necklace that I had.

I'm happy with the results. Sorry for not modeling them. It's Super Bowl Sunday, so I never got out of my sweats today! 


Have you made paper beads lately? Do you have any favorite crafts using paper? Mom says she has a second roll of the same paper that I can have when she finds it, so I'm open to suggestions on what to do with it.


I hope you had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week :)