Make Your Own Collage Paper with Just Acrylic Paint and Copy Paper

If you’re wondering how to create beautiful collage papers without needing any skill in painting, or using expensive supplies or specialty paper, in this video I’m going to show you how to make your own collage papers using recycled office copy paper (or scrap paper from your files) and any type of acrylic paint.

I’ll show you exactly how I paint my collage papers, including what kind of paint gets the best result. I’ll also show you how my handmade collage paper looks inside of my own visual journals, combined with the pretty scrapbook papers you might already be familiar with.

Making simple collage papers to use in your art journal, visual journal, collages and in your paintings is so satisfying.

I’m inspired by the Matisse cut paper collages — which he created by painting on paper. YES! Matisse painted his own collage paper and it lead to his most iconic work. If you haven’t yet tried to paint with collage paper, I hope you’ll take away some ideas to get started.

While it’s fun to collect scrapbooking and decorative paper to use for mixed media collage backgrounds, you can easily make your own scrapbook paper, in whatever color palette or design you like best. This collage paper tutorial is perfect for your DIY paper collage paintings, and art journaling, and you’ll be finding new, creative uses for that stack of office copies clogging up your file cabinets.

Thanks for watching! I’d so appreciate your thumbs up if you liked it — and invite you to subscribe to my channel for more mixed media visual journaling tips and tutorials.

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[ ABOUT ] Lisa Sonora & Visual Journal Studio

Hi! I’m Lisa Sonora, a visual artist, author, and former art therapist.

Creating art can transform your life, but self-doubt and judgment make it hard to get started — and that’s why I teach Visual Journaling — a powerful creative practice that can disarm your inner critic and free you to make meaningful art with confidence.

If you're curious how visual journaling can help you make more meaningful art AND support your emotional well being, then I'd love to send you my free illustrated visual journal guidebook.

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#MixedMediaTutorial #MakeYourOwnCollagePaper #VisualJournalStudio

[LisaSonora]

Drop me your favorite emoji if you're inspired to paint your own collage papers! 🌈 or one of your favs -- I have a lot of fav emoji's! 🦋

[carolhedberg]

I really needed this video. I'm with hubby at a transplant house for months & my creativity is sparse. So i bought a gelli plate, some Golden paints, & some tissue paper. But now, after making 50 billion pages, I discovered your wonderful video. You'll give me hours more of art therapy. Thank you much!

[blythemountainspirit]

Just spent an hour painting on old pages from a book. Thanks for the inspiration and creativity. Keep the videos coming.

[NatalieLightSeeker]

I LOVE doing painted papers of all sorts, and I love painted paper videos!! SO inspiring- thank you so much!!🌈🤩

[wendibridge]

Finally found someone with the sense to create collage papers from your recycling. Its amazing how many artists out there use fresh copy paper🤔. Thanks for the inspiration and confirming what I have been doing for a while now, I also use inks and almost any pigment I can find. Its most satisfying when you finish of an ancient tube of paint and create an interesting page.😀😀😀

[belindaswick]

Thank you so much. I knew I started keeping all this paper from my office for a reason!!!

[DavidTheDave]

Thank you for recycling materials so beautifully.

[kathyb]

Love to paint papers for collage material or for backgrounds....very relaxing.

[ruthshareski]

😊love the simplicity. Do you add your own pages simply by gluing them to an existing page?

[nschmidt]

I love paper art but have never considered myself a painter. I see so many collage artists using their painty papers and I have paid for so many digitals. You have given me courage to try. This was very informative and you make it look not only simple but non-intimidating and freeing. I am going to try my first papers this weekend! Thank you!!

[patriciastreufert]

Beautiful papers. I like making my own painty papers. I reuse the multitude of papers that come with my meds. Most any paper is fair game in my art.

[marehardy]

Fun! Love the recycle and make it your own message.

[MrsPatJones]

🎨🎨🎨how relaxing that was. I love just splodging around with paint. Shall have a go tomorrow - my Art day this week!

[soniaperez]

I loved this class Lisa!! I have started visual journaling again because of these inspiring videos. Thank you! Blessings!

[paulinestewart]

Great idea for using original artwork for junk journals rather than printing paper which can get very costly.

[aaronying]

This was exciting to see. Eric Carle did a similar process of painting paper he used for collage. It was really inspiring and I loved the child like creativity in it.

[kewhitworth]

I enjoyed your video for simple and inexpensive ways to start creating your own collage papers.

[a.fayeday]

Thank you for these exciting ideas - can’t wait to try them. Your handmade collage papers are unique, intriguing, & a personal expression of you! So cool.

[Kayenne]

Looks like lots of fun! and getting surprise results is even better. Thanks for the inspiration 🐬

[AngieTrianta]

⭐️✨❤️Emojis galore! 😄 I could sit here here all day watching you paint, Lisa. I’ve always been curious about your handmade collage papers as I’ve heard you mention them before. This was awesome. Now I know what to do with my orange paint (my least fave colour) because I love brown. I also love how you’ve bound them into a book cover. You’ve given me so many ideas and inspiration. The possibilities are endless. Thank you for making this video and sharing it. 🙏