Growing Junk

One of my favorite blogs is Michelle Kaufmann's Green It Yourself. She's got some great ideas on there and I decided to try out her paper making tip. I love the idea of taking your junk mail and turning it into home made paper with seeds. You can then create cards from the paper and when your friends receive the card they can plant it and yield beautiful flowers, veggies, or other plants.

What you need:

*Blender
*Shredded paper
*Water
*Frame with wire mesh
*Bucket
*Packet of Seeds

1. Shred some paper - use junk mail or any other paper you would normally recycle.



2. Fill your blender with the shredded paper, then pour in water to cover the paper. Pulse until combined.

3. Place meshed frame over a bucket. I was lucky and found a wire frame at my grandmother's house. My frame is about 4" x 4". Watch Michelle's YouTube video to see how you can make your own frame.



4. Pour contents from blender over the frame, catching the pulp. Continue to mix and pour until you have nice coverage over the wire frame. I made 1 blender mixuter for my frame.

5. Pour seeds over the mixture. For my frame it took 1 package of seeds.

6. Leave to dry, until its not dripping anymore. Remove paper and place between towels or newspaper while using a sponge to extract the remaining liquid. Leave to dry for 12-24 hours. I'm lucky so I just placed mine outside in the sun.



What I learned:

- Considering I was using a small frame, I will use less mixture next time as my paper came out really thick. If I try to bend the paper I think it will crack.

- I also waited too long to pull the paper out to remove water with a sponge. By the time I went back the whole thing was dry....which could be the reason its so thick.

- I will definitely try this again, but will not add any seeds until I perfect the paper portion.

- Its still a whole lot of fun to make mistakes...and at least I can plant this one and have beautiful flowers.

Don't feel like making it, then buy it from my friend. Brynne creates her own stamps and hand makes each of these cards. Check out her site Backward Prints!