Organizing/Sorting Scraps

[SharonLovesMickey]

Hey Ya'll...I have been absent from the boards for a while since I now have a happy and healthy 5 month old girl! Sheesh! These babies are a lot of work!

Anyway, I am getting back into scrapping and things and I have been asked to write a guest blog post for a friend about sorting and organizing your scraps just for fun! I thought I would turn to you, my trusty craftie friends!, and see what you are doing with your scraps.

Do you use your scraps? How do you organize and store them?

If you have any layouts using scraps that you would like to share I would love to feature them and share your work with others! Feel free to private message me a link!

Happy Scrapping!!!

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Congrats on your new bundle of joy!!!

Yes, I use my scraps.. more so now that I sorted them into colors and put them into page protectors, put them in a tote on the floor so I trip over them!

I actually have them sorted by color (ROY G BIV) and than lights and darks..
Patterened paper by the color see most (so a pink/blue paisley, because the Pink if more dominate it's in the pink file)..
If the patterned paper is themed, it's in its on page protector.. Christmas/Valentine's/BBQ/Picnic.
Glitter paper is together...

I do use my scraps especially on 2" altered letters that are the rage here on the boards right now... I find now I use my scraps a lot more for cutting letters out too...

 

[hffmnheidi]

I have an IRIS box that I put all my scraps into. I choose not to sort by color or pattern, but I sort by size. I won't keep anything I can't get a medium sized tag out of because it's a waste of time and space for a little piece of paper.

I usually use my scraps for tags, journal boxes, or photo mats if they're large enough.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

same as Nancy.

If I can I'll cut larger sheets into 8x8 or 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 some get cut down into tags using my CM tag punch.
I always trim my scraps to have flat edges so they fit nicely into the page protectors. I try to keep the colors sorted to coordinate with how my cardstock and patterned paper is sorted.
So say I have a vanilla bazzill 12x12 sheet in slot one of my cropper hopper then I try to have vanilla bazzill scraps in page protector number 1 in the binder.

I don't save anything smaller then my tag punch. To much of a hassle.

 

[LindaBabe]

I have mine in an 8.5x11x2 inch box. It is rarely full because I "shop" there first for cards, paper to punch, or die cut. Like Bamb I don't save anything smaller than my 2 inch square punch, or a full length strip >half an inch wide (for border punches). I save all my "extra" letters from die cutting too, which I consider scraps, for instance if I cricut a title in several sizes to see which I like best, or roll a few 4x8 alphabet plates on my revolution in order to get enough e's. I keep them in a divided plastic box, by letter Those I do purge occasionally when their particular section gets too full. I can pretty often get what I need out of the box without getting out the equipment to cut new letters though.

 

[disney-akj]

I have a 13 slot accordion folder that I bought at target. It is 13 inches wide, but only 9 inches in height (but my scraps usually aren't that tall). I sort by ROY G BIV, black, white, brown, pink, misc. (for like silver, gold, etc.) I love how easy it is to find the scraps and portable it is. I love that it is 13 inches wide too, because I like to keep my scraps at least 12 inches long if possible (I use a lot of long strips of paper for borders, edges, etc.) If it is taller than 9 inches, then I trim paper to make it fit. I don't like that there isn't much room for my patterned scraps though, because they are all in the last few slots. My disney and christmas patterned scraps are kept in a different location though. (I keep my disney and christmas scrapbook supplies separate from my more common scrapbook supplies, because there is TOO much of it

 

[PaulaSue]

After my big crop in Feb I was so sick of my scraps that I went to AC Moore on the way home. Pick up some sleeves and a Magainze holder (all clear plastic) in the SB section fromt he name brand Nicole I think. Now they sit pretty and look like a rainbow in the mag holder. Everything was 40% off so I think I spent $10 for everything.

 

[DisneyIsTerrific]

I have a box on the floor by my work table that I store my scraps in. I find that if I have it within reach then I'll use the scraps more. I have file folders in there and sort the scraps by color (green, red, orange, yellow, green, pink/purple, white/black, blue, grey, metallic). I have my patterned paper in it's own smaller box behind the other box because I have so many more scraps of that.

I don't cut down any of my scraps, I leave them the size they are. I do cut all the edges to have them straight though. The smallest piece I keep is probably about 3x3.

 

[PinballFamily]

2.5 gallon zip lock bags

Scraps are sorted by color and the (10-12?) bags stand up in a milk crate. Works great for us!

 

[jacksmomma]

2.5 gallon zip lock bags

Scraps are sorted by color and the (10-12?) bags stand up in a milk crate. Works great for us!

I use this exact system except that mine are in a reusable grocery tote. I find that having them organized means that I use them so much more! Plus it is easy to share when I scrap with others.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

After my big crop in Feb I was so sick of my scraps that I went to AC Moore on the way home. Pick up some sleeves and a Magainze holder (all clear plastic) in the SB section fromt he name brand Nicole I think. Now they sit pretty and look like a rainbow in the mag holder. Everything was 40% off so I think I spent $10 for everything.

I like this idea.

 

[Sarah <3 Disney]

Here are mine (not so blurry in real life ), they are stored in those 12x12 Memory Keeper thingys by color:

So mine are incorporated into my paper stash, very easy access. I pull them out whenever I need a photomat, paper to punch/Cricut, whatever. The Memory Keepers from Hobby Lobby fit perfectly in the Cropper Hopper holders, so they also work as dividers between the colors/themes.

And congrats to you!

 

[pjlla]

I used to keep all my scraps in one large drawer... but one day I got sick and tired of having to dig through the entire thing looking for a particular color or pattern. So then I separated the plain paper/cardstock from the patterned. Then I took it a step further and bought 6 of those 12 x 12 Sterilite drawers (2 sets with 3 drawers each). I have the plain paper/cardstock divided by color (ROYGBIV). Red/orange/yellow, green/turquoise, blues, purples/pinks, brown/tan/cream, black/white grey. If I have a LOT of a particular type of paper leftover from a project, I will keep all of those scrap together in a page protector, in the appropriate drawer.

I've never been particularly neurotic about keeping/not keeping any particular size scrap or making them very neat, but I am starting to think about it more lately, as my scrap drawers are getting fuller.

For patterned paper I was keeping it all in a large drawer until a few months ago when I got fed up with it. I went through the entire drawer and sorted the scraps. All "same" scraps got clipped together with mini-binder clip or paper clip. If I had scraps from coordinating lines, I clipped those together. All of my Disney was clipped together with a larger binder clip, as was Christmas. ALL of this is kept in a large drawer.

I sorted out the "odd ball" patterned scraps that were old or had only tiny bits left and I keep those aside to punch circles and squares when I have free hands and extra time (like at the kids sporting events and such). I have even used a few of those punches lately!!

If I was doing this over, I might resort to the ziploc baggie system for the patterned scraps, rather than the paper clip system, as the clips kind of get hung up on each other in the drawer. But I went with what I had to work with that day.

I find that the neater/more organized my scraps are, the more likely I am to use them. Plus I am cheap and I often will challenge myself to use "x" amount of scrap in a day. Last winter I did challenged myself to do all of my July 4th layouts (about 8 pages per child, so 16 pages), using only white background pages and red/white/blue scraps. I did it and it felt great! Plus it was really stimulating to my creativity. Give it a try some time!!

HTH.... thanks for giving me the time/space to ramble!................P

 

[lynner]

Next to my Cricut I have 2 - 3 12x12 drawer stacks stacked up - 4 of the drawers are for scraps - ROY in one, GBIV in the next, neutrals in the next and then all the patterned paper. I just whip the paper off my Cricut mat when I am done and throw it in, and when I am looking through my scraps I usually take the time to cut them down into managable bits. I also have a Cropper Hopper scrap folder thingie next to the drawers which I use when I am working on a project that has complementary paper so I can just throw the scraps in as I go and then I don't have to sort through my whole drawer to look for the same complementary shade - for example, when I was working on Valentine's cards, I threw all the pp, white, pink and red scraps from the project I was working on and then when I got done with the cards, cleaned up the scraps and sorted them in the proper drawers. The Cropper Hopper scrap folder also goes to crops with me so I can throw my scraps in as I go, and then sort them all when I get home (I think it has 3 different pockets of varying sizes).

I use my scraps a lot when I am making cards - especially when my niece is over and she wants all these little things done on the Cricut...this weekend we did a rainbow, a butterfly and a cupcake and all I used were my scraps.

 

[PaulaSue]

Here are mine (not so blurry in real life ), they are stored in those 12x12 Memory Keeper thingys by color:

So mine are incorporated into my paper stash, very easy access. I pull them out whenever I need a photomat, paper to punch/Cricut, whatever. The Memory Keepers from Hobby Lobby fit perfectly in the Cropper Hopper holders, so they also work as dividers between the colors/themes.

And congrats to you!

That looks like my set up but mine is MUCH smaller.

 

[Sarah <3 Disney]

Haha! And my stash is dinky compared to some of the photos I have seen here and on Two Peas! I <3 paper.

 

[SharonLovesMickey]

WOW! Thanks everyone! I had no idea we had so many different ways of storing our scraps. The overall theme here seems to be cut them to a straight edge and if you can see them you will use them! Isn't that true of all our stuff. I finally gave up and bought a rolling bin to store them in. They are easy to put away now because I just open a drawer. I keep it right next to the table and it's the first place I go. I try to only keep big pieces.

Lynner: I love that you sort your scraps even at a crop! Maybe that is my problem! ha ha.

PJLLA: I LOVE making pages entirely of scraps. It sure does take the guilt out of buying so much paper and then only using some of it. I have really been working on using what I have this year. You are right! It has resulted in some really creative things!

LindaBabe: I think that you get the prize for using the most scraps because I tried using my letters that I cut from other projects, but I can NEVER make it work! I always have to cut fresh (as a note...anyone else frustrated with how much paper it takes to cut letters??? No matter what the machine! It seems like so much waste!)

Sarah <3 Disney: I love that you have incorporated your scraps into your stash. What a great way to keep everything together.

I am also happy to see that I am not the only one who keeps Christmas and Disney stuff separate. In fact, all those darn swaps I did have forced me to sort by character and by park!!!! Maybe if I actually scrapbooked those vacations I wouldn't have so much stuff lying around!

 

[pjlla]

PJLLA: I LOVE making pages entirely of scraps. It sure does take the guilt out of buying so much paper and then only using some of it. I have really been working on using what I have this year. You are right! It has resulted in some really creative things!

LindaBabe: I think that you get the prize for using the most scraps because I tried using my letters that I cut from other projects, but I can NEVER make it work! I always have to cut fresh (as a note...anyone else frustrated with how much paper it takes to cut letters??? No matter what the machine! It seems like so much waste!)

I also save every spare letter/shape that I cut out and don't use. I have used "leftover" letters for titles in the past with really decent results. It is usually on a fairly "plain" page and the mixed up letters just add some fun. I did it most recently on a page for our DL album and I wrote the words "Good night and good-bye" on two layouts, using only leftover letters. It worked well, especially since the background was kind of a plain speckled grey. I'd love to post pictures to share, but I'm not home and I don't recall if I put the pictures up on Shutterfly. I'll try to remember to share them next week.............P