Shredded paper strips

I've been getting a lot of inquiries from friends and fans of quilling regarding how I manage my shredded paper strips. Honestly when I first started quilling, I had ZERO idea on how to store the shredded paper strips. I used to dump it all in one big box.......all colors mixed into one big box. That was a really really bad idea.

Although it may seem easy to shred the papers and dump it all in one big container, however in the long run, the paper would get entangled with one another and it's difficult to pick them out from the box when they are mixed altogether like that. Especially when you wanna use a lot of one particular color at a time. It  becomes stressful for you to choose the paper strips when that happens.

One day, I saw a photo on my friend's blog that changed everything! In the photo, my friend Asma' showed how she arranged all her shredded paper strips and it looked so neat!! It was from that day onwards that I followed her idea. It made my quilling activities so much easier hehe! All you have to do is put all your quilling paper strips in one long plastic casing. One plastic casing for one type of color. This way, it's more organized. :). You can get the long plastic casing at any hypermarket like Tesco or Giant. It's pretty cheap too. :)

After putting them all in plastic casings, then you place them all in a mini dustbin like the one you see above. Ok, this is just a suggestion ya?  It's what I'm using for myself and I find it very convenient. But you can use any kind of tall container for the same purpose.

As you can see from the above photo, these are the paper strips that I get when I shred one piece of A4 paper. The big bunch of paper strips at the top of the photo are the paper strips that were shredded nicely from the mini paper shredder. The little bunch at the bottom of the photo are the rejected ones. Usually when I shred one piece of A4 paper using the mini paper shredder, I would only get about 50 - 53 pieces of paper strips each time I shred them. More or less. I usually don't throw away the rejected ones. I recycle them for other quilling projects. :)

I usually shred paper that are not too thick. They weigh about 80gsm - 120gsm per piece. If you shred paper that are thicker than that with your mini paper shredder, it might not be a good idea because it's not meant for heavy duty shredding...hehehe. The cutter from your mini paper shredder may not last long if you do so.

I hope what I share with you all here today can somehow give you an idea of how I manage my shredded paper strips and how you too can manage your own shredded paper strips and make quilling more enjoyable. Especially for those who are just beginning to try their hand at quilling. All the best to everyone! ;)