Paper, scissors, glue!

I’m in love with paper!

When I was a little girl, I would collect paper. Any size, shape, and color! Paper from magazines, envelopes, newspapers, you name it. Paper laying around did not get wasted. But there was one defining moment that is forever etched into my memory. You see my mom had an office at home when I was about 10 years old. I convinced my girlfriend to come and play. I wasn’t supposed to go into the office, so it was obvious that I eventually would! I’ll never forget when the door opened.

We were sitting on the floor knee deep in paper. Not just any paper, files from the filing cabinet for accounting, envelopes and who knows what else. I was in heaven, and then I was grounded!

At the age of 12, I began scrapbooking. Over the years I’ve made a few scrapbooks but not the kind you see today embellished with die cutouts, gel pens, and glitter. Nope. I used a plain scrapbook, cut stuff out and just glued it in. The scrapbooks were more of a keepsake for concert tickets, memorabilia, and places I’d been to. I have an entire scrapbook devoted to John Lennon!

As a young teen, I made birthday and Christmas cards for my family and there were 8 kids in the house! I loved to make them. I would cut and paste all kinds of paper together to make something special. I wish I could see one of them now!

I also started collecting matchbooks at the age of 18. Everywhere I went I would grab a pack. Restaurants, hotels, and bars would gladly give them away for free. I’m not sure what attracted me to them but probably because of the paper. They came in all sorts of colors and sizes. Fast forward to today, and you won’t find a matchbook anywhere!

I didn’t think much about my paper obsession until I started taking online art classes and found there is a special name for my fascination called “collage”. But what could be even better than collage? Homemade collage! Just imagine, custom designed paper that you make that can’t be found online or in a store. And, because it’s my own personal design, I own the rights so I can scan and print it to use it in my artwork and add it to my paper collection. It can’t get better than this! In a short period of time, my homemade collage collection has gotten so big I keep it in clear storage bins.

For all my other paper, I organize them into file folders according to color. There are also files for foliage, animals, text, and architectural stuff. This makes it easy to find and match collage to a color palette I’ve selected. When it gets too big, I move it into a storage bin. Another thing this tells me is what my favorite color is.

How do you organize your papers? I would love to know! Upload a photo if you like.