Brown paper 'fabric'

Brown paper 'fabric', as outlined by Sarah Lawrence in her book 'Stitch, Cloth, Simmer & Shine', is versatile and easy to make.  I have chosen to use my sheet in a papercrafting way, but it can be sewn on too.


The first step is to get some brown paper - the stuff that comes on a roll, small bags are too thin - and scribble all over it with wax crayons.  I had some fancy wax crayons which scribble several colours at once, I used one for the top half and a different one for the bottom half. After you've scribbled, crumple and uncrumple the paper a few times, then smooth it out.

Now, rub an inkpad over the paper - it just catches the highest points.  I don't think it matters much what kind of inkpad.

Now, spray the whole thing with a dark coloured colour wash or spray ink - again, it doesn't really matter what kind - I used these from Outside the Margins because they were the only sprays I could find in my stash which were not blocked.... I tried two different colours just to see what happened.

Once dry, rub lightly all over with gilding wax - you could use Rub'n'Buff, or Treasure Gold, or Crafty Notions gilding waxes, or any other brand.  Don't put too much on, you don't want to cover all the colour up, just add a metallic gleam.

I decided to make a book with the paper, so I covered two pieces of card with the papers, added some card, and used the Bind-it-all t make my book.

The book needed an embellishment, so I stuck some of the leftover red paper to some card, and ran this through the Wizard in a Cuttlebug folder.  I die-cut it with a heart cutter, then smooshed over the raised areas with a Brilliance Galaxy Gold inkpad.  It looked OK, but there was no wow factor.  I coated it all with Versamark and added Ultra Thick Embossing powder. Suddenly, the wow was there.

I made some little circles with left over card, coated with UTEE, and added them to the cover with the heart.