Trend Watch – Using Up Your Secret Stash of Scraps

I know I am not the only one.  I am a bit of a paper hoarder, okay I am a full fledged paper hoarder. Whenever I have a little extra paper form a project I hear my mother in my head “you can use that!”  So I keep them.  The problem is I  have bags and bags of scraps and sometimes I need inspiration to use some of them up.  This week is all about cleaning out each of our secret stashes of scraps and making beautiful things with them.

I love metal dies – they are so versatile and make projects look awesome.  You don’t even have to throw away your negatives.  If you cut your image out of the center, you can lay paper scraps behind it for a custom designer paper look.  And look bonus, you can run a strip of tape down the side and lay on paper scraps to make  cool edge like this card.

card by Jana Millen photo courtesy of This little card of mine

You don’t even need large pieces of paper scraps.  Look at what the ever-so-talented Teri create with her scraps: a mini collage with embellishments, just awesome.

card by Teri Anderson photo courtesy of Studio Calico blog

Strips of paper with banner flags cut into them create a multi-texture background in this colorful card by Aly.  There is so much happening in this happy card. Think of all the scrap paper you could use up in this one.

 

card by Aly Dosdall photo courtesy of Echo Park Paper co. blog

I’m a sucker for a pretty banner and I just love this one down the side of the card that Shannon created.  And just look at her envelope liner.   It is so pretty and is such an inspiration for what scraps can do in the inside of envelopes too.

card by Shannon Jaramillo photo courtesy of EZ Peasy Cards 

 You can use coordinating paper scraps to make adorable flowers.  These were made with metal dies but you could also cut circles yourself and make a lovely paper garden.

card by Lisa photo courtesy of I’m in Haven

In addition to adhering them to your projects directly, you can also color, distress and paint them to create cool looks like this one.

card by Amy Sheffer photo courtesy of Pickled Paper Designs

Polaroid frames are so hot right now  Give them a custom color look with paper strips as a background. 

card by Teri Anderson photo courtesy of A bit of this.  A bit of that

 I just adore how this page turned out by sewing and folding paper squares.  You can punch the squares out of any leftover paper without a project home.

page by Paige Evans photo courtesy of Studio Calico blog

The cups that Lisa created have so much personality.  They’re simple and very sweet. 

card by Lisa photo courtesy of I’m in Haven

Vicki made this card with washi tape but I thought repeating scrap paper strips and lifting a die cut negative over the top of it would look just as cool as her happy creation.

card by Vicki Wizniuk photo courtesy of Wizard’s Hangout

Jen found some previously water colored paper and cut them in squares and glued them to a black background.  It looks so striking, I just love it.

card by Jen Martin photo courtesy of My Paper Epiphany

So instead of having guilt and obligation about your paper hording eco friendly practice of saving scraps, I hope I have inspired you to use them (by marcy).  I’d love to hear how you use your scraps.

So go ahead… make something pretty.

I found a few dies and washi tapes that might look great with some of your awesome scraps