What do you do with... your scraps?
By lisaviews
@lisaviews (184)
United States
February 11, 2008 12:47am CST
Ok... you've been cropping all night. You have done lots of borders, punchouts, backgrounds, die-cuts, etc. AND you have lots of itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, (maybe big ones, too!) colorful scraps of paper left. What do you do?
Do you throw it away? Do you save it? Or do you do something more creative with it?
Me... I usually put them into a shoe box for my 3-year-old to play with (while I scrap), and when it is full, I shred it! I clean out the paper shredder first, then feed the colorful paper in. I either use it for confetti, as a filler for baskets (Valentine's and Easter are coming up), or donate it to a pre-school for crafting. Then... I begin collecting the paper again. I am do this on a continual basis, and my daughter doesn't realize it is ever emptied!
Tell me what you do! I am always open to new ideas. Thanks!
5 people like this
13 responses
@SukiSmiles (1991)
• United States
13 Feb 08
Unless my scrap is teenie tiny, I keep it. I have a three binder that I organize scraps by colors and paper types. I also have some in a shoebox which has coordinating paper with different main colors. I use my scraps for card making, tag books, and for my daughter's Girl Scout troop to use. My husband sometimes needs scraps for his classroom. It's a good idea to shred it for basket filler.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
12 Feb 08
A scrapper NEVER throws away a scrap!!! I could get more "mileage" out of a sheet of cardstock that even I thought possible! I had a 3 drawer plastic drawer set and the top was print scraps, the middle drawer was solid scraps and the bottom was misc scraps. I always went to these drawers FIRST when I needed paper. Now my 8 YO GD does the same! You can read all the articles about my scrapbooking tips, and ideas on my blog Scrapbook Layout Ideas - link in my profile - It isn't as hard or as cumbersome as some thing! Nor is it as expensive!
1 person likes this
@enchantedleppard (1541)
• United States
20 Mar 08
I save it all. I will use it sometime down the road or even if I need to "test" something I can use a scrap instead of searching for something to try. Its worked well for me. I also save ribbons, buttons, etc.
@janujennifer (664)
• Philippines
26 Mar 08
I save it in a big box and once in a while I use the scraps to make matting and/or embellishments. Even a strip of patterned paper don't go to waste because I sometimes use it to bulk up a photo or a journal pad.
@Jezebella (1446)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I save the scraps and if I can do something with in on other pages then I do, if not then I toss out the paper. There isn't much else that I can do with it.
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
11 Feb 08
I rarely scrapbook anymore because i dont have the space to spread everything all out and i dont have the time between mylot babysitting and watching my own kid and doing housework and all that stuff that life leads you to do! But i really wish i could get into it again!!
@Razybabe (7)
• Australia
12 Feb 08
Hi, I usually throw out the little iddy bits. But the bigger ones I use to either cover chipboard letters or cut them out or die cut them for letters or flowers or jounalling strips or jounalling blocks. You can stamp them and add them as embellishments on your pages etc. etc. etc. Do you do on line cybercrops - they are the best. Have fun scrapping.
@squaretile (3778)
• Singapore
29 Feb 08
well I seldom have enough scraps left over to shred... basically i just use most of my paper up. one piece can go into 4 12x12 layouts. or if they are flowers then I"d cut some of them with my precision honeybee scissors and then save the rest for other projects.
so i have folders with some scraps that are more than 12x6 and others with scraps that are more than 6x6 and some other little itty bitty odd shaped ones. the smaller bits make nice embellishments for cards.
@SusanShayAvon (1003)
• United States
10 Mar 08
I always use the left overs. If it is good sized you can use it for more cut-outs. If it is smaller you can use it to punch out on like the small punches. You can then use the small punch outs (you know like a quarter of an inch to a half of an inch to make a frame. Put your picture on and make your own picture frame mat to go around the picture. You can also use the very small scraps for this. And you said also that when you have to many you shred them. That would also be perfect to frame the picture with or to put on the background for decoration. Creative ideas are what makes scrapbooks so special. Good luck fellow scrapbooker.
@above31rubies (1863)
• United States
27 Feb 08
I used to keep everything. Now, I have decided that I am going to only keep scraps that are at least 2x2...everything else goes in the trash! I have clear bins with lids that I put the scraps in, plastic drawers would work, too. Solid cs in one, bg paper in one. Bigger scraps of bg paper go into the package with the bigger sheets (like TAC papers or Basic Grey that I keep in their packages.) I will also let my boys (7 yrs old- they like to make cards, too) use the scraps...I used to not let them because I thought that was "wasting" it but they have a blast and they like going into the scrap bin and getting stuff for thier cards.
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
17 Mar 08
I also save up all the scraps, but I like to use them as confetti in home made cards. I make a cut out in the card, then sandwich punchouts made from the scraps between two sheets of clear plastic loosly enough that they can move around & fix it in the hole.
I guess I never manage to use up all my scraps though, so I make more, smaller punches out of larger pieces so that I've always got a ready made stash and compost anything that's left over.
