I was recently emailing with a scrapbooker about scraps. (You’ve done this before, too. Right?) Here was her question:
“What do you do when your scrap drawer gets out of hand (too big)? Do you throw it all away or take the (huge amount of) time to go through them?”
Going through them doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? Especially when you could be scrapbooking instead 😉
I assume the oldest scraps are on the bottom? So how about digging a bunch of the scraps out from the bottom … and either get rid of the handful right away … or decide how much time you want to give to it to go through it. Set a timer and then just dig through picking out your very favorite scraps to keep. For the rest, find a happy home. You could use them for a collage project of your own, or give them to your kids for a collage project (or two or three) or you could donate your scraps to a school or daycare.
Here are a couple of projects that use scrapbook paper scraps, direct mail postcards … and the even pages from some old scrapbook products catalogs. Here’s one Kailea made during the great ice storm of 2006. It was a gift for her Daisy Troop’s Secret Sister gift exchange.
And here’s how I killed time during the ice storm …
So if you have an excess of scraps, some extra magazines or catalogs, an empty box and some decoupage … you’ve got everything you need for a fun little storage container. You could use this in your craft space for stashing supplies, in your entry way for holding keys or receipts or anything else you just don’t want to look at anymore … or … oooh! I just thought of this: how about cutting a hole in the back of the box and running the cell phone charger cord out the back and creating a little cell phone charging station? Oh that could be fun. The possibilities … the possibilities! Have fun and if you have any other fun ideas for your scraps … I’d love to hear them!
What a great idea! Both of those projects turned out great! I’m not a scrapper but I want to be! 🙂
I usually give the older scraps to my kids they love that. I have also made serendipity squares. When it gets really out of control I have been know to make pages out of scraps. I usually have a lot of thin strips so I glue coordinate strips to a solid (usually black,white or tan)sheet and make my own pattern paper. Use a black and white photo and your good to go. Also use them for punching,die cuts,tags, or to decorate cards. I have also made mosaic frames and accents for my pages. I have gotten to the point that after I decide on the colors I want to use I always check my scrap folder first before I cut a 12×12 sheet. I use an accordion file to file my scraps by size and color. I have a pocket for every color and a manila folder in each pocket for the smaller scraps. I also have special sections for pattern paper and specialty paper. This helps to get those scraps easily and get them used. Hope that helps.
great ideas for using up scraps! My method is CARDS. I have my scraps sorted by color in a 6 drawer system. Every couple weeks I’ll pull out a color drawer and spend a couple hours making up some handmade cards with whatever I can dig out of the drawer. As I’m digging through I often find scraps I know I’ll never use, so just toss them. Helps to keep things under control and gives me a different type of scrapbooking project to work on once in a while.
~Pam
I tend to make cards from my scraps…and if I’m cleaning out ‘old’ scraps and no longer feel the need to try to use them, I donate them to the school kids.
Also, just in case you haven’t heard….The Container Store is opening on S.Brentwood just down from Whole Foods; it was formerly Organized Living. I believe the grand opening date is March 3rd. I’m ecstatic about it!!!
Great Idea! I have lots of scraps and some boxes I’d love to recover…so problem solved! What do you use to adhere the scraps with…tape or glue?
Oh, these projects are wonderful!!!!! I have always loved the look of combining different patterns in a collage! I especially love that pastel box!
I store my scraps in this:
http://www.lillianvernon.com/catalog/product_display.jsp?pdId=1934&name=Black+5-Tier+Stationery+Caddy&parentCatId=4&catId=26&subCatId=138
I divide my scraps into two stacks, patterned and cardstock. The divided drawers get smaller pieces and anything that is too large to fit in the undivided drawers goes back with full sheets.
what a great idea for scraps!!!
I have also seen scraps/stamps/embellies being used as “blog candy” give aways! so fun!!
great blog by the way!
I separate by color in giant ziploc bags. I use them and let my girls go through them when they want to make something *special*