Paper Scraps - How to use them?????

I have been collecting my paper scraps for 7 years. Yes that is how long I have been scrapbooking and until this week, I never threw away any of my paper scraps. I have 2 sets of Sterlite Plastic Drawers (6 drawers total) that I have been putting my scraps in sorted by color family.

• white
• black
• blues/purples
• reds/pinks
• greens
• yellows/orange/browns

Some of the drawers were so full that I couldn't open them without fighting the paper inside, so it was easier to get a new piece of paper to cut something out. The results -- more scraps to put in my drawers. Something had to be done!!!

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So I began by sorting cardstock from patterned paper. All the cardstock went back in the drawers. The patterned paper got cut up into card making supplies. When I make cards I use a nice quality linen cardstock with matching envelopes that I buy at XPEDEX. I get two cards out of 1 piece of 8.5x11 cardstock. I make the card fronts out of scrap paper and embellish them with machine stitching or doodling, ribbon, flowers, brads stamping, bling ... whatever I can find to match my paper scraps.

Next the patterned paper. I began by sorting the paper into 2 piles.

• Paper I liked and saw some potential for cardmaking
• Paper that all I could think was "why did you buy that???" I must have liked it at one time because I created the scraps with it.

The scraps I no longer liked went into the trash or a give away pile for the bigger pieces.

The scraps I liked got cut up into smaller pieces and put into 4 labeled ziploc bags

• Card Fronts - I cut my card fronts 3.75 inches x 5 inches
• 5 inch pieces - These are scraps that are at least 5 inches in one direction, but not big enough for a Card Front
• 3.75 inch pieces - scraps that are at least 3.75 inches but not big enough for a card front.
• All other scraps that will make small tags or diecuts.

Today I had a chance to go to an all day crop at my church. I didn't stay all day, but in a couple of hours I made 9 cards. The nice thing was that all I had to take to the crop was my Tote-ally Cool Tote and a small case of Embellishments. It was nice to be able to travel light.

It was fun hanging out with some good friends that I haven't seen for awhile. It was fun to have some girl time. And it was fun to be focused on my creativity without having to stop to take care of the daily chores.


Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams