Heart and Flower Shaped Seed Paper –
I recently discovered these seed paper hearts and flower “confetti” to use for our Relief Society sister birthdays this year. There are so many different ways to include uplifting messages of love and friendship or scriptures to share with these beautiful, yet simple tags, cards, bookmarks or whatever you want them to be. I used a regular sized brad to layer the cardstock, ribbon, seed paper heart and flower pieces. I thought a flower analogy went well with our ward theme of gratitude for the year.
Make a Card for Any Occasion
Make a seed paper card for any occasion with seed paper shapes, a message on card stock, ribbon, lace or any other creativity you have in mind. A longer message can be a bookmark or a short message as tag too.
Make Birthday Cards
Our Relief Society theme for the year was the healing power of gratitude. I combined some wonderful quotes on gratitude and an analogy of a seed to flower in these “cards” we made to give out for birthdays throughout the year.
The scripture and birthday message is layered underneath the instructions to plant the seed paper heart and seed paper flower and under the lace. I created a PDF for anyone to use to create these sweet birthday cards.
DIY Seed Paper That Grows
1. Find Paper, Rip into Pieces, Put into Blender with Water
Find a shopping bag full of paper. Recyclable paper works best like newspaper, paper grocery bags, computer paper in different colors that has not been printed on, egg cartons, newspaper (glossy flyers not so good). Rip and shred the papers into small pieces. Use your blender and fill it about half full with your torn up pieces of paper.
2. Pour Warm Water, Blend into a Smooth Pulp
Add warm water onto the pieces of paper in your blender until the solution is near the top line. Blend on low speed for a few seconds and increase the speed for about 30 seconds to a minute depending on how small or large the paper pieces are to your liking. Experiment with different colors and textures of paper.
3. Do Not Blend, but Stir in Seed and Strain
Only about a teaspoon of flower seed is needed to stir into the mixture. Wildflower blend of seed for your growing area will work the best. After the seeds have been added, use a strainer, pour your mixture in to drain as much water as you can. Use a spatula to press the mixture to get even more water out.
4. Spread the Pulp then Flatten and Dry
Collect towels such as microfiber or material that is flat unless you want a move rough end paper product. Pour the pulp onto the fabric and use a spoon or spatula to spread the pulp over the fabric. Spread the mixture as thin as you can to get the thickness you would like. The thicker, the longer drying time. I have experimented with spreading the pulp into the shapes I want or making a frame to create a rectangle, or you can make a very large piece to cut into different shapes later. Lay another absorbent towel and press to flatten the mixture and soak up more water. After the paper has dried on one side, turn it over and to more quickly dry the other side. Cut the paper in the shapes that you want. Beautiful!
5. How to Grow Seed Paper
Plant your seed paper in your garden or in a pot. Water daily for 4-6 weeks in dirt that is firm and seeds are no more than 1/4 deep. When seeds start to sprout transfer to a sunny spot with at least 4 hours of sunlight.
Easy-To-Grow Wildflower Seeds
Any wildflower seed combination will work best.
These come in different available quantities of 1/4 pound or more but I love that the come in bulk of 1 lb.