Creating with Scraps

All crafters have them. We can't bring ourselves to throw them away.  They are all different sizes and shapes.  They are all different colours and patterns and textures.  They are our scraps. Some of us are very good about organising the left over scraps after each project, cutting them into a manageable size and filing them away.  Some just toss them into a box altogether.  Others put them back with the main paper they came from.  While we all think we will use these scraps again, some of us, forget they are there, or the projects we do just don't require those smaller, odd shapes.

While moving and setting up the craft room, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the scrap paper and I decided it was time to do something about it.  Time to use it all up.  I want to buy new paper but I can't do that until I have used up all these other scraps.

My method was simple.
1. Tip out all of my scraps onto my worksurface and sort them by colour and usefulness.  I'm not going to lie, some scraps went straight into the recycle bin.
2. Pull out one card base and create a background using strips or shapes from various piles. I didn't adhere anything at this point, I just played around with the placement.
3. Set it aside and repeat step two with another card base.  I wish I had taken a photo of the layouts before I set each one aside; although it didn't really matter.  I repeated step 2 about 4 or 5 times.
4. Take one card base (with strips or scraps) and adhere the pieces onto the card base (you could use a front panel if you are nervous about messing up and don't want to waste a card base).  Repeat this step for each card base/ background you designed earlier.
5. I pulled out the word die cuts left over from other projects and pre-stamped sentiments that were in my pile of scraps and laid them onto the backgrounds until I found ones that I liked.  I decided a few of the backgrounds would look better with a fresh sentiment stamped directly onto the card base.  So, I got to do some stamping... my favourite! I also inked around the edge of some of my paper strips/ shapes to give them a bit of dimension.  I got inky. :)


Sounds easy enough, right? It was easy.  It was a bit time consuming though.  I was inspired by a few cards I pinned on Pinterest, but it took a bit of trial and error and trimming to get each one looking how I wanted it.


Here are a few cards that I created using nothing but a card base and my scraps... oh and a couple of stamps!

As these are all scraps, just enjoy the picture.  

See what scraps you have and try the lay out or a completely different layout. 

Diagonal stripes are easier to work with and more forgiving

if you struggle to line things up. 

I love how this card turned out! 

The sentiment is a Neat and Tangled stamp set called "painted thanks". 

I don't usually go for this colour palette, but it works.  

I took some inspiration from two You Tube videos and several pins on Pinterest.
Jennifer McGuire makes rainbow cards using scraps.
Black Sheep 303 uses scraps to make a pretty New Year's card.

I would love to see what you create using your scrap cardstock and patterned paper.  Leave a photo or link to your social media in the comments.  :)