Quite of few of these suggestions were posted on AOL by StampnAndi (Andrea Overton). Here are some ideas for using all those wallpaper samples that you have gotten but don't know what to do with.
Background
You can use wallpaper as the backgrounds for some of the laminated pins and magnets.
Use it as background for your card. Either by itself, or as a background for stamping. Just glue a piece of wallpaper to the front of the note card (cut it bigger than the front of the note card). When it dries, cut the wallpaper to the size of the front of the note card. You can do collages on the front of note cards too.
Some of the wallpapers (checked, striped, small patterns) look almost exactly like some of the "background" papers that you would buy from some of the Rubber Stamp Companies (for example: Embossing Arts). You can use the smaller wallpaper samples as background in the same way that you would use these background papers.
Book Covers
Either the same way that you used to cover your school books, OR if you want a permanent neat cover, you can cut the wallpaper slightly bigger than the book (paperback, blank book, etc.) when it is closed. Then glue it onto the book (while the book is closed) and let it dry (put weight on top if it looks like it might not dry flat. If there is an indention along the spine of the book, make sure to get the wallpaper into (as much as possible) that indentation. When the glue is dry, trim off the excess paper.
Bookmarks
You can also use the wallpaper as background for bookmarks. Like putting pressed flowers on a nice textured wallpaper, then laminating it.
Covering
You can also use wallpaper to cover objects. Like cans for that designer pencil holder look. Certainly doesn't work as well as self-adhesive shelf liner, but I have covered many a Baskin Robbins ice-cream buckets with wallpaper to make a matching trash can.
You can use it either as single pieces or as a college to cover "ugly" boxes that you might want to use to hold stuff on your desk, paper mache boxes, hatboxes, gift boxes, etc. After you cover the boxes, you can fill them and use them as gifts. Especially if you seal them after making them, with a spray or brush on finish.
Cut-Outs
Speaking of cutting out images, how about little shapes of clothes? Like the shape of a dress, then embellished with ribbon, bows, faux pearls, etc. Remember the fun of paper dolls?
Decorations
You can cut out pieces and decorate paper bags for gifts. For instance, a tan gingham pattern which you can trace gingerbread people, and then paste them onto the bags along with raffia bows. Nice way to share the homemade gingerbread mix w/ recipe at the holidays.
Gift Bags/Boxes
Make gift bags and boxes. You can usually find patterns for these in various books and magazines.
Cut 2 squares, one 1/4" smaller than the other (Any thing larger than 5" tends to be flimsy, so try a 4" and a 3 3/4" for practice.). Mark the exact center on the back of each one. Fold each point into the center; crease well. Leave them folded in. Next, fold one edge into the center, then the opposite one. Crease. Open these edges up and do the other two edges. Open these last two-part way, and cut on the folds until they meet the first two edge-folds. (You will have to do it in person to see what I mean unless you are familiar with the process.). Pull the cut points out. Fold the uncut edges up to a 90degree angle and turn the edges in. Fold the point back over these edges. Repeat for the other side. Glue points in the center. You should now have a little box. Repeat with the other square; they will fit together to complete the project.
Note Cards
Make matching note cards to go with the envelopes. You can put together a bunch of them with a ribbon and give them as gifts to people. I usually try to keep either the same color family (i.e. ivory backgrounds) or the same wallpaper pattern but in different colors when I make sets as gifts.
Make note cards that only partially match the envelope. You can do the sets this way too. For example, if the scraps you have left after making an envelope isn't big enough to fill the entire front of a card, you can cut out pieces of the images (some flowers for instance), make a background on the front of the note card (brayered, splatter, etc.) and then glue on the pieces that you cut out. You can also use florals from other wallpapers, rubberstamp images, etc.
Other Tips And Ideas:
Ideas shown on "The Carol Duvall Show": Carol was showing all the things you can do with wallpaper. She was wrapping boxes with it. Making envelopes like we all do. She was also cutting it into shapes and then gluing it to the front of cards. She had some darling bird house ones where she had cut one pattern into the shape of the roof, another for the house, and a third for the pole. There was a cute border pattern with a row of chairs, and she just cut out each individual chair and used those. She placed one on an invitation, and the saying was "This seat is reserved for you. "Another good idea she had is that we also get free little fabric swatches in some of the books, so she was using heat n bond to glue those onto things.
If the wallpaper isn't heavy enough on it's own for the boxes and such, you can either glue two pieces back to back so it is patterned on both sides, and use that, or you can glue it to heavy paper or cardstock.
Ideas from Jan Ruhnow
Here are some other ways you can use wallpaper samples: Stationary, Name tags, Place tags, Crackers, Paper mache things (cut strips, dip in the glue/water stuff), Paper fans, Paper weaving (like ribbon weaving but use paper strips), Xmas ornaments - little stockings, snowflakes etc, Paper doilies- (cut patterns from the folded paper, etc), Party hats, Gift tags, Candy cones (paper rolled into cones - filled with candy), Decorative masks, Mobiles, Cover cans etc for pencil holders and crayon holders.
