"Paper Made!" by Kayte Terry

A few weeks ago my colleague Nichole received a review copy of a book that she said looked like something I would enjoy. She was right, and over the weekend I made my first project out of the book, these easy teacup cards!

The book is called "Paper Made! 101 Exceptional Projects to Make Out of Everyday Paper" by Kayte Terry. It tells you how to turn everything from old cardboard boxes to orphaned playing cards and scraps of wrapping paper into great jewelry, decor, gifts and more.

I was, naturally, inspired by these "Cup of Tea Cards." The book has a companion website at workman.com/papermade, and it was easy to download the templates for these cards. Unlike books which include a template and have you enlarge it, these templates download at just the right size for printing on 8-1/2 x 11 paper. I appreciated that!

I liked the idea of stitching (see previous card), but I was even more excited about using up paper scraps in my stash. I had plenty of them to choose from, thanks to lots of leftovers from scrapbooking through the years, little strips that aren't big enough for much of anything but too pretty to toss. Now, I'm so glad I saved those tiny treasures!

I loved making the tea-themed cards, but there's sooooo much else in this book I want to try: a switch plate made from paper scraps, a necklace made of beads fashioned from the Yellow Pages, and a bracelet made of candy wrappers. If you're a paper lover as well, "Paper Made!" is a fun new book well worth a look!