Homemade Paper Wall Thingys

Palma Lindsay
Santa Clarita, California

I just made these with my third grade class for Mother's Day. There is practically no cost if you own at least one or more of those terra cotta cookie molds. I have 3, so it worked well. It is a homemade paper wall hanging thingie. :o) I don't know what else to call it, but all of the other teachers at my school liked what they saw today. :o)

All you do is:

1. Tear up newspaper into tiny pieces.
2. Mix 2 cups of water with about 1 1/2 cups of newspaper in a blender.
3. Start on a slow speed and then blend to create a gray liquid with small pieces of pulp in it.
4. Pour it into a strainer and push much of the water out with the back of a spoon.
5. Pour it into one of the cookie molds and press it down into the mold.
6. Sponge out most of the water and then absorb as much water as you can with dry towels as you press with your finger tips.
7. Let it dry over night or bake it a 275 degrees F. for about 20 minutes. The mold is ready for another girl.
8. Pop it out of the mold, colour the raised pattern it makes with pastel chalk and rub the colour in with your fingers.
9. Add a piece of ribbon or raffia to hang it by. You can glue this to the back with a glue gun. A raffia bow looks great glued to the top of the front side too.

This is not only free, if you have the molds, but it is recycling. :o)