I loved Barbara’s color study post so much, I asked her to share a couple more of her art projects. This paper chain is such a colorful pick-me-up for winter. 

If you have small children, or school-aged ones, then you definitely have lots of old art lying around in piles. Unless you’re insanely organized, of course, in which case you might need to rifle through your labeled boxes and choose some pieces you could part with for this project.

At home, I throw lots away (when they’re not looking) but I also keep
lots (mostly paintings) for later use. Sometimes we cut them up and use them for birthday cards, or cut letters from them and make signs. This time we made paper chains! I love this craft because it’s easy, we are recycling, and there is no mess!

To make your own paper chain you’ll need:
- 10 to 15 pieces of old art (we used about 12)
- Paper cutter (or scissors + a ruler and pencil)
- Staples (or you could try double sided tape)

Cut your old art so that they are all a uniform width. Mine were cut to 8.5” wide. I then cut them into 1.5” strips. My “assistant” (12-going-on-20 yr old daughter with strong opinions) and I discussed how to fasten the circles, and also how to organize the colors. I wanted to use double sticky tape, she wanted to use staples. She thought tape would not hold since our art was on cardstock paper, and she could be right. But we’ll never know since she won that debate and we used staples. From far away, you can’t see the staples so I was happy.

As for arranging color, we both agreed that we should keep the chain color-coordinated this time. But next time, we want to try a random look.

You can find more of Barbara’s art projects at Art Bar Blog or shop her card shop (hello thank you cards) at Late Night Cake.