I never throw away my scrap paper. I buy both 8×8 and 12×12 paper. I buy both patterned paper and cardstock. When I frame a photo, I have at least ¾ of a sheet of paper left. If I cut a border for the page, I have at least ¾ of a sheet of paper left. Even if I cut a 12×12 paper down to 8×8, I still have ¼ of a sheet left.
So what can you do with all of these scraps? One of my favorite things to do is to cut out shapes with hole punches. I then attach the punches on the scrapbook pages. I have hole punches that are circles, squares, diamonds and hearts.
If you make a 6×6 album, you’ll have tons of papers just the right size. Recipe albums make great gifts. Write or type your recipes on an index card or any colored paper and then cut to fit the album. You’ll find you can use many of your scraps when making these small albums.
I like putting borders on my pages. I often put a border on either the left or the right hand side of the page. You only need a strip 12×1 or 8×1 to do this. I’ve also put a strip of paper across the middle of the page horizontally. This requires a scrap only 1/3″ thick. I make the middle page borders very narrow.
Coluzzle makes alphabet templates. It only takes a small amount of paper to cut out letters to attach to your pages.
Now comes the question of storage. I’ve seen folks spend hours sorting scraps. Personally I would rather spend those hours adding new pages to my scrapbook. A few systems that I’ve found that work are accordion style folders. You can use a different slot for various colors. I do not sort my paper by solids and patterns, I just pick the predominant color and that’s where the paper gets sorted.
You can also buy sheet protectors and a 3 ring binder and sort by color this way. Again, some folks I know sort by solids and patterns. I’ve never taken the time to sort my scraps this way.
The final system that I know can work is the small rollaway storage carts. I’ve seen them with 10-16 small drawers. They are very compact and can easily be rolled into a closet or corner. With storage carts you can also store small items like cutting templates, hole punches and scissors.
When your scraps are organized, you’ll find that you’ll use them more, saving you money on buying new supplies.
Audrey Okaneko has been scrapbooking for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com