Homemade Seed Paper Gifts

by Bridget
(Simi Valley)

Paper and Cards and Seed Strips, Oh My!

This fun gift idea has limitless variations, so have fun! I do this one with my children (5 and 3) and we've used the same technique to make homemade cards, seed strips, and a ton of other things.

I'll tell you about my favorite one and you can vary it from there. My kids and I got a little windowsill planter and garden gnome off of the dollar-rack at Target. The kids got to paint the gnome themselves, so it was even more special. We made a card from homemade paper with embedded seeds of parsly, basil and chives. We gave the gift to my step-dad (who loves to cook, hence the kitchen herbs) as a fathers day gift. When he was done reading his card, he was to plant it in the pot and grow a kitchen herb-garden. From the kids that made the gift, to the recipient, and on through the rest of us who enjoy the outcome - it's been a cute gift.

Directions:

1) I first bought an old picture frame from good-will, removed the backing and glass and stapled some screen scraps taught to the back of the picture frame.

2) I next had my kids help me tear a lot of paper into really small pieces, shooting for 1"x1" size. Note: if using newspaper or other paper with a lot of ink, you will end up with ugly gray end product. I like to use my shred pile from work as it's on white paper - but play with different kinds to find out what works best for you.

3) The paper pieces then get soaked for a while in plain water, then the paper/water mixture is put into the blender to make as fine a pulp as you can, adding more water as needed. (If not planning to plant the paper, a little dryer lint in the mix makes the paper stronger).

4) The entire pulp/water mixture gets put into a plastic tub or container larger than the picture frame.

5) Mix up the contents of the tub, submerge the frame and pull it straight up out of the water. The pulp that gathers is going to be your paper.***

6) Blot with a dry sponge to remove excess water, and lie flat on towels or other absorbent material to dry.


***Customize. You can add food coloring to get different color papers, add glitter to be embedded in, add pressed flowers or leaves, etc. Tip: I usually do a thin layer of pulp, item to embed, then another thin layer of pulp when doing bulky things like flowers and leaves.

Use paper punches to cut out fun shapes (ex: flower punch for paper with embedded flower seeds), turn the paper into a binding for a journal, use for gift tags... the possibilities are endless!

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