3 Gifts of Christmas... the Smart Way! Franken-Paper Books and Pages

3 Gifts of Christmas: Franken Paper Books and Pages

Part 1 of a 3 part series being delivered on the 12th of each month all year!

From a frugality born of necessity and a need to make and share for others, I'm bringing you a 12 part series this year from my stash to yours! Some glue and paper, some bottle caps and clay... a little bit of the lots of things in my stash that you might have, too. Turned into fun and really personal gifts for friends and family through the year or stashed up for Christmas 2021!

One of the easiest things we can gift to our friends is to give them the things we love most, even if they've been repurposed. I've taken some little notebooks I'd bought to turn into art journals and am re-purposing them as a whole book of collaged pages that can be used in any way they would like.

Called Franken-paper or sometimes crazy quilt papers this idea comes from the idea of Frankenstein's monster who was pieced together from many different places, or the gorgeous crazy quilts made from sometimes very small precious scraps of fine fabrics. This paper is collaged together from many different sources and can then be used whole or in parts in as many ways as the recipient can imagine.

If you do not have little notebooks I recommend that you might be able to make them either by folding regular notebook or printer paper in half and gluing to those pages as a hand-made book, or by leaving them whole and gifting them in an envelope or folder that you have similarly decorated. The idea here is not that you must duplicate my exact project and is instead that you have already laying about the place advertisements, scraps of wrapping paper and notebook or printer paper that can be collaged together in strips, blocks and patterns with some glue and be turned into gorgeous fun and totally unique gifts for the scrapbooker or paper crafter in your life.

The book I am using is 8" x 8" and contains 8 light weight white pages and has a heavier white cardstock cover. 

Because the covers are just a little heavier than the papers, I thought they could be used for heavier purposes, from making page edges and tabs to decorating the outside covers of other journals. I marked them with my scoring board and folded the pages into segments before collaging them, so that they can be cut apart by the recipient. You can skip this part and just decorate everything the same way you would do to any flat page. (if you've decided to use an envelope or file folder they will already have some heavier paper to work with, and trust me... they're crafty crafty people, ideas will come to them!)

Then I sorted through a whole huge envelope of scraps from different projects I have done over the past couple of years looking for pieces that I think will make fun pages when collaged together.

Not everyone has the luxury of a huge envelope full of scraps. Most of us do have at least one magazine and other junk mail that arrives at our homes. I also have pretty colored envelopes from holiday mail that arrived and some giftwrap left over. In smaller pieces most things make beautiful collage and in layers or patterns on the page it all ends up looking quilted and textural when combined.

Once I'd selected the colors I wanted for my covers and for the pages inside I got to the fun part of piecing them together in a quilt-like collage of patterns. I use white glue to attach my papers together. A glue stick would work just as well and is actually the preferred method for creating Franken-paper. I really just started with the glue because my covers were slightly glossy and I wanted the papers to adhere better than glue stick sometimes holds with glossy paper.

cookbook papers, word searches, scrap ledger papers and

even some digital artwork and cute papers from a digital collection 

called Crafty Critters by LuiseHeinzl on Etsy.

there are so many paper packs represented here and projects that

what's most important is to point out newsprint with heavy cardstock

and even some super precious parts of custom art 

papers made by TandiArt also found on Etsy.

And here is what the cover looks like when folded, just to show you how some of the edges are longer to accommodate being folded around a page and used as a tab. Again, you don't have to do this. The real point is to make a book full of fun collaged papers that can be used in dozens of different ways, from whole pages for scrapbooking to smaller pieces cut away and used on tags, cards or in journal pages.

Once you have finished making your super fun books or envelopes or files full of Franken-paper or crazy quilt pages then they can be wrapped up or just tied up in a simple bow and make an exceptional handmade gift and addition to the craft room of any scrapbooker or paper crafter you know. You could even make the gift tag from some of your leftover scraps and a piece of paper, a Franken-paper tag for your lovingly handmade Franken-paper gift.

A little string from an Etsy order of coffee dyed paper 

that I saved makes this gift amazing!

Here is a 5.5" x 5.5" disc mailer that I had in my stash.

And some one-sided papers cut to 5" x 5" then collaged.

Back

and Front

A little creative collage and suddenly it's a super fun pen-pal mail

filled with 5"x5" pieces to turn into anything they might want to make!

And here is what happens to double sided tape with just a little work.

instant sticker collage!

The point is to go crazy and have fun and make something truly from you to your friend. They're really more fun than some flat photos can ever hope to express.

And I'll see you next month with Part Two... a fun crochet project that any beginner with a firm grasp of making chains and double crochets can master in just a row or three!

Remember, the rules here apply to everything I post... make, create, sell... and tag me when you do it so I can see what you did because I  LOVE to see! #12SquaredCreations on Instagram.