Too much scrap paper...what to do?

I am sure i am not the only one in this situation. I have way too much scrap paper, you know, the left pieces from a LO you did in the past. I save them but now i dont know what to do with it. i also have a lot of letters left from older alphas. But every time i start a new LO, i dont want to use the old stuff. What do you do? I saw a post here about charity scrapbook albuns, I thought that would be a good idea, but i cant find the post anymore. Anybody can help? All ideas welcome.

A lot of people use their scraps to make cards. Just an idea.

- Freecycle
- Craigslist
- Yardsales
- Charity/Donation: Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Sunday School, Hospitals, Schools, etc.
- Mini Albums
- Cards
- Title block tags/strips
- Tags
- mini square & circle-punched out tags & tiles
- According to Holly, begin wall-papering

HTH!

I recently moved my scraps closer to my work area. I have them in files by color. I was hoping if they were closer I would use them more. I am actually thinking about moving my c/s across the room to make it harder to get to (it would be behind stuff) to encourage me to use the scraps firts. Lets see if it works this way before I reorganize.

Andrea

I keep my 12x12 paper in Iris boxes by color. I have a zip lock bag right on top of each paper stack where I put my corresponding colored scraps. That way when I reach for a new sheet of paper, the first thing I see is my bag of scraps in the appropriate color and I'm much more likely to grab one of those if all I need is a small piece. I don't save scraps that are too tiny - I just don't use them.

Good idea, i am gonna try this!

Lots of good ideas, thank you!

Believe it or not, every now and then when I feel like I have too many scraps, I look through them, pick out the ones I know I will use and put the ones I know I will NEVER use again, but am just hanging onto, in the recycling bin. My mom scraps too so I offer then or to my sis first, but if no one wants them, they get recylced. I hate to feel overwhelmed with tons of tiny pieces of paper! LOL

My scraps are sorted by color into Sterilite drawers and the drawers sit right behind my desk. I always go to my scraps first if I need a mat or a journaling block, etc. 99% of the time I can find just what I'm looking for in my scrap drawers.

Instead of clearing/cleaning off my desk, I've made 8 cards so far and hardly put a dent into the scrap mess.

My scrap storage is already packed and it's either cards or the trash can.

Most of these cards are general cards with a few being baby cards since I last worked on baby layouts. So later I'll add a quote or word on the front. Just using up papers right now is my goal.

Good luck.

I have a 3-drawer sterlite container. The top drawer is for adhesives (I'm a total adhesive junkie), and the second drawer is for scraps of patterned paper , the third for scraps of solid paper. It's a great system for me. It works great for cards, matting, homemade embellies, etc. When the drawers get too full, I go through and recycle the smallest pieces.

I keep my scraps in an accordian file on my desk, and the c/s is further away, too. It works so well! I have found that I use my scraps up much faster, and I've in such a habit that I will find something to make it work, rather than cut into a full sheet of paper. It makes me sad to do that!

This is something I need to do; thanks for the suggestion on how to get started!!

take a bunch of the patterned paper scraps and cut them into the same size squares. i think it's easier to use scraps if they are already cut.

i also like to take an assortment of squares and make a block on my layouts, kinda quilt-like. or even to run a border of single squares along an edge. sometimes the more 'different' the patterns are, the more eclectic the look.

• KellyCali Said:

OMG, I was just going to suggest this!!!!!!!!

You could take coordinating colors and make "handmade" paper. Tear the paper into small pieces, whirl them in a blender with some water, you then lay the slurry on some screen and air dry.

Great fun for the family and you can use the handmade paper to make cards and such. You can add in small flowers or flower petals to make it even more pretty. Or add in a packet of seeds and your card recipients can plant the card in the garden and see what blooms.

I am sure you can find more precise directions on google.

I use all my scraps for cards. I have 2 of the 12x12 flat storage boxes from Ms. One for CS and one for PP. The CS box is sorted into large ziplocs by colour. The PP box has the the biggest pieces loose, the smallest useable scraps in a large baggie and the leftover strips of paper in another baggie.

This is the paper I also offer my kids first when they're scrapping or cardmaking.

My system is exactly like sew crafty girls "Christine's" system. I have a Cricut and am always trying different sizes or patterns. All shapes go into a shapes baggie for cards. When I get a new punch. I practice a few times just using those tiny scraps. Honest I don't keep anything smaller than an inch square! Those pieces are too small to hold when trying to punch them. ...........but then there was a day that I took a class that we used tiny little squares, triangles and circles to make our frames look like they are mosaic tiles. You cover them with that great glossy glaze that comes in a bottle and makes them look like ceramic tiles. Well that was the end of throwing any scrap away before its time. I make alot of flowers for embellishments and when I get down to a itty bitty scrap that I can hold with tweezers I use my 1/8 hand punch and punch circles for confetti for the center of flowers. I get alot of comments on the centers of my flowers due to the variety of colors I use! I used it as sprinkles on cup cakes too! I keep it in the snack size zip lock baggies! OK, what can I say I love making things out of pieces of paper! No I don't use it for wall paper! I think that is going over the top! Those people need help with their addiction! ROTFLMBO I never thought I would admit to this in a public forum! I guess it is part of the healing process!

I use scraps all the time - you can cut out letters with a cricut, mat photos, etc.

You might consider checking out some of the challenges where you use only scraps. You could get a lot of ideas on how other people use their scraps.

I keep all my scraps sorted by color. When I'm doing a page with blues (for example), I get out the blue folder and flip through my scraps to see if anything coordinates with the photos/paper I'm using.

I go to my scraps FIRST they are organized in sterlite containers by color. I was thinking of taking the small stuff soon and making paper. Love the idea of mixing seeds in so the recipiantc can plant the card NEAT idea.

I use my scraps to make cards & 8 X 8 gift albums...

I use these. I label them by color and just drop the scraps in, smaller pieces in front, larger pieces in the back pockets. Everything is easy to see.
They all fit in a Paper Holder so I can reach for them every time I scrap or make cards.

I think most of us find ourselves in the same situation. We keep buying new paper and alpha's and never get to finish up our old stash. I wish I could help you but I'm also in a position of having to many scraps.

Thank you for all the tips. I made some scrapbook pages for the foster care kids with my scraps. And I organized the rest in draws by color. feel better now. Thank you to Erin in OK for the tip with the foster care kids! If anybody need information please let me know.

an idea for those leftover letters....hope I can describe this....

everybody has those sheets leftover with lots of letters but no vowels etc. Don't look at the color, look at the font. See if you can combine letters to make what you need........

use an F and a piece of another letter to make an E
use a c and a piece of another letter to make an e

do you get the idea???

put your title on the paper with the letters spliced together to make a mask......use ink, paint, or chalk to mask your title onto the paper then pull the stickers up. Your background paper will show throw the inking/chalking/paint and give you a new look for a title as well as use up some of that growing stack of alpha stickers you can't seem to part with but can't make a whole word out of.

Clear as mud????

• j3Mel Said:

that's a great idea!!!

i use leftover letters to just put the beginning letter of a word then hand-write or stamp the rest of the word.
i also use individual letters on a tag or square to emphasize the title or person's name.
oh, and i mix-and-match lots of letters to make a word and get a very artsy look. (although that isnt much help when there are no vowels!)

try challenging yourself to use nothing but scraps on some layouts

I recently got into making ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and inchies... this was a great way to use up tons of my scrap stash. ATCs are cards cut into 2.5 x 3.5 inch pieces of cardstock or PP, so I went through my stash and cut out pieces of that size to make ATCs with. With my smaller pieces of paper, I used my 1" punch to cut out inchie-sized papers. I threw away everything else that was smaller or unusable, and this definitely put a dent in my stash!

• mariposa326 Said:

But then what do you DO with the ATC's and Inchies? That's why I've never gotten into the swaps with those...don't know what I'd do with them.

• scoot297 Said:

You can either trade them or put them on your LO pages!

• dwelch Said:

that is a great idea !!! i'm totally gonna try this !!!

I just used a bunch of my scrap paper to make a mini album for DH. Bought a spiral bound 5x7 at HL for $2.50 (on sale) and used some leftover pics from DS 1st year album. It came out really cute. I also got rid of all that scrap and tried some new techniques.