Good morning, everyone! It is time for another tutorial, and this week I am going to continue on with more ideas of how to use up those paper scraps 🙂 So far, we’ve covered a dozen or so ideas…here’s a quick refresher on what we’ve already learned:
Part 1
In part 1 of this series, I offered several ideas for using up some of those large pieces of scraps:
- Card bases and mats
- Pop-up gift card holders
- Gift card envelopes
- Wallpaper for cards
- Paper Envelopes
- Junk journal pages
Part 2
In part 2 of this series, I offered a few ideas for using some of your medium to smaller sized scraps:
- Miniature cards (3″ x 3″)
- Die cut labels
- Punched labels, tags and tabs
- Paper flowers
- Paper letters/alphas
What other ideas have I got for you, you ask? Well, let’s have a look…
Scrapbook Layouts
Ok…so, this first idea may seem obvious, but it may not. The options for creating beautiful scrapbook layouts using your bin of scraps is quite endless. You’ve probably heard me say this before, but one way to add a ton of interest to any project (including layouts) is to…layer, layer, layer. In fact, I even have a tutorial on layering right HERE.
There are numerous ways to incorporate and layer your otherwise recycled patterned paper onto your layouts. You can cut squares, circles, strips, banners, and pennants. You can even just tear random shaped bits and use them to frame your pictures. …and just to get you started, I even create a Pinterest board filled with many different layouts that use paper scraps in a variety of ways 🙂 Just click HERE to see all the layouts I found and get ready to be inspired!
Here’s one of the layouts you will find there…it was created by Lisa Dickinson 🙂
Handmade Cards
Why stop at layouts, when you can incorporate some of those scraps into your handmade cards? You can easily layer the same elements you would use in your layouts and just use them in smaller scale on your cards 🙂 …or why not create a bit of a grid on the front of your card like Jacqueline from myscrapbasket did here:
I created another Pinterest board for a little more inspiration…this time focusing solely on cards. You can find it right…HERE 🙂
Card Backgrounds
I know we just talked about using our paper scraps on cards, but hear me out on this…Cara over at Crafting Adventures uses the thinnest strips of paper scraps to make some pretty amazing card backgrounds. She even put together a wonderful tutorial on how exactly she does them right over HERE.
Here’s a look at exactly how Cara arranges her paper strips to create amazing backgrounds:
Paper Piecing
Now, if you have a lot of patience and like to fussy cut, paper piercing is a great way to jazz up some of your stamped images for the front of cards. This is also a great alternative if you’re not confident using Copics. I do have to admit, I have never attempted paper piecing, but I do know there is more to it than stamping an image on a bunch of pieces of paper, cutting the pieces out and layering them. In fact, lalalandcrafts has a fantastic video on YouTube showing exactly how to do this:
Paper Collages
This next idea is a great one to do with the kids (or grandkids)…paper collage 🙂 Is there anything more satisfying than tearing paper into tiny little pieces, rearranging them and sticking them down? Okay…there are a few other satisfying things, but paper collage is pretty fun, too! Maybe the next time you break out the coloring books with the little ones, you should supply them with paper scraps instead of some crayons 😉 I think adding a little bit of paper collage to your next art journalling page would also be a great way to add alot of texture without any added dimension 😉
Paper Beads
So, I had to come up with at least one unique idea that I thought very few of you would have thought of…and that is to make paper beads!!! I can pretty much guarantee you that you have all the supplies you need for this one, too 🙂 It’s quite amazing what you can do with a few scraps of paper, eyelets, glue and some UTEE (embossing powder would work too). Rather than reinvent the wheel here, I thought it best to direct you to this tutorial that was put together by KarenK116 on instructables.com. Here’s a look at the finished product:
Well, that about does it for this month’s tutorial 🙂 Thanks for hanging in with me during this very busy time! I do have some projects to share with you very soon 😉
