Guest blogger- my Sister Lauren talks about her Paper Craft....

Sarah has asked me to write on her 'oh so sweet' blog today about my paper habit!
 
I have a small obsession... cutting paper and recently i've turned a habit into a creative venture!!!
It all started when Sarah began making heart Garlands, I thought they were just the most divine thing and so I decided to make them too, I used old sheet music and so the passion for recycling and re-using arose...

Things have developed since then and I have an impulse to use every morsel of paper (which means my house is covered in paper most of the time). I make three sizes of hearts and two sizes of bunting and then I also make heart confetti out of all the leftovers (a little overzealous). I also make these lovely Fluffy/Scrunched Garlands (seriously need to think of a name for them) out of old tissue paper, books and anything else that works, recently I tea stained small paper doily's and made a scrunchy garland out of them, it is so gorgeous! I use mostly recycled materials and make a conscious effort to be as environmentally friendly as possible! I'm forever coming up with new ideas and have recently been making garlands to order! My newest project is Tiny Snowflake Garlands, they are oh so sweet!
The main focus of my designs is to re-use and recycle and so I get my materials from all sorts of places, like op shops, 2nd hand book stores and friends work places. Recently I've taken to going in for a chat whilst my friend un-packs stock and I gather up all the paper tissue and take it home to give it a new life <3 Sometimes I get books and sheet music that isn't very old so I've started working with tea and coffee staining to get different colours, to create greater depths and more interesting garlands!
I'm starting to branch out into wedding decorations with the thought of becoming a wedding stylist... but that's just another dream <3

Many of Lauren's paper goodies are available from Milk Thieves Art and Design in Wollongong.