How-to: Newspaper Art

Newspaper Art

I have a habit of hoarding things like shoe boxes, newspapers, scrap paper, etc., because I know they can be recycled into a project. An incredible blog called Spunky Junk shared this project on how to use shoe box lids as wall art. Shoe box lids are less expensive than canvas and it’s a great way to recycle! So, I took my shoe box lid, newspaper, and scrap paper and combined it into my own personal wall art!

What you will need:

1. Shoe box lid

2. Newspaper– I chose the comics section because I love the vibrant colors!

3. Scrap paper

4. Scissors

5. Elmer’s Glue or Ecoglue

6. Water

7. Something to spread the glue onto the shoe box lid– a paint brush or you can use your fingers!

How to do it:

1. Water down the Elmer’s glue. I didn’t take exact measurements, but you can’t really do this step wrong. You just need to take the thickness out of the glue and make it more like soup.

2. Start gluing the newspaper to the sides of your shoe box lid first. (Cut off any excess paper to make the corners perfect)

DIY Newspaper Art

3. Once you finish the edges, work your way to the middle. I put the middle pieces on randomly so it wouldn’t look too uniform. As you glue down everything, be sure to work all of the bumps/air bubbles out (I had several left in mine and it made me very sad!). It should look like so:

DIY Newspaper Art

DIY Newspaper Art

4. Once that has dried, you can print and cut out a phrase or word to put on top of your newspaper. I chose the word “smile” because it goes so well with the comics. To give the word some depth, though, I printed out two colors and overlapped them (creating a shadow affect). If you decide to do this as well, you will glue the first color down:

DIY Newspaper Art

and then the second color goes on top:

DIY Newspaper Art

5. Let it all dry. Then, you can smile because you’re finished and you have a new art piece to hang up!

DIY Newspaper Art

DIY Newspaper Art

Do you have some newspaper left over? Use your scraps to make your own Glue-Free Bunting!

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