Why Are You Making More Scraps?

Today, I am using six by six papers to whip up some cards with no scraps left over. The day that I organized my scraps, I determined that when I make cards of the future, that I would not accumulate any more scraps. So I developed a system of keeping my scraps to a minimum, small, manageable, ready pieces without adding to the heaps of scraps. And I'll talk more about that later. You don't need to buy huge organizational tools or containers to store and keep scraps. My philosophy is use the scraps and avoid creating more of them. This system has been working for me quite well for the past several years, and I make nearly 200 cards per year. These cards need two double-sided coordinating six by six papers. If you select from the same paper pack, it should be easy to choose two papers. I like to combine a busy pattern with a less busy pattern when I decide which side of the paper to use to go with which the other page. We also need two sheets of cardstock. One should be white and the other color, a coordinating color that goes with the paper colors you picked out from the six by six pack. We will use up all of these papers with these simple to throw together cards with no scraps left over. The things you may need are some decorative trims and a few large sentiments and whatever message stamp that you plan to put in the inside of the card. But you could always handwrite a message as well. My trims come from this set, Delicate Trims from Stampin' Up. I think that's what it's called. But you could use whatever you have. I also use the one, this one from the set, Delicate Edges, also from Stampin' Up. That gives me a variety of decorative edges to choose from. This is my system of storing my die cuts. I have repackaged some of the sets to fit into this great little storage box sold on Amazon. Amazon also sells these magnetic sheets to keep the die cuts on and these clear envelopes that fit inside the box. You can purchase them together as a set. The envelopes are organized alphabetically so I can find them. This system takes up much less storage space on my shelving for my crafting than the original package that they came in. I reused the original packing for stamp sets that did not come from Stampin' Up so that my stamp collection is uniform. They are also alphabetized so I can find them easily and I separate the Christmas ones from all the rest. The sets that have a green dot on them also have coordinating dies in the box along with the stamps. OK, let's get started. We cut our eight and a half by 11 cardstock in half. So place the paper on the five and a half inch mark to cut. The cardstock will be our card base. Now to cut the six by six papers. First, we cut four inch wide on both the six by six papers. Then I want the four inch wide papers to measure five and a quarter inch long so that when they placed on the card base, it will have a nice frame of color, making a border around the outside edge of the card. For those two inch wide strips, cut them also five and a quarter inch long. I'm cutting both papers at the same time. That will give us two color, two white, two of the four inch wide prints, two of the two inch wide prints and the narrow strips. The only leftover pieces are these little strips, which I will find later a use for. I use my bone folder to fold my card bases in half. The card sizes will end up being five and a quarter by four inch and a quarter. The standard card size for homemade cards, which uses the entire eight and a half by 11 cardstock sheet. We will make four cards. I lay out my four card bases. Then I start placing my printed papers to form the background. But I don't want to use the whole white piece. That's too boring. So I take my two four inch wide pieces, place them on the three and a quarter mark to cut off exactly two inches. This way, I combine two prints to form my background on the colored cardstock. For the white cards, I use two inch wide strips, choosing the side of the paper that I like best. I like to put the paper on the opening side, but you could place it on the opposite side if you wish. Then I use the narrow strip across the bottom. Still keeping the narrow margin all the way around our minds, I knows how to connect that line because our mind does not like incomplete things. I will just have these two small pieces left over, but I will find a way to use them somehow. My backgrounds are glued on. Now it's time to embellish or decorate the card fronts. I select from my pre-cut trims first. I like to test each one to see which one would look better with which papers for each card. Once I'm decided, I glue those in place. Working on this silicone mat for applying the glue to the detailed dies helps keep my workspace clean. I know I'm using liquid glue, but I'm just dabbing small little dots of glue over the surface. I cut off the ends, keeping my border frame around the edges clean all the way around. So here are my card fronts with the backgrounds in place. That was simple and quick. Now I just need to add the sentiment. The first set of cards I did were sympathy cards that I whipped up real quick. A woman died in our church where several family members were affected and I needed some sympathy cards. I don't usually make sympathy cards. I usually only make birthday and anniversary cards. It was so quick and easy that I decided to repeat this process for your benefit. For this set, I decided to make more birthday cards because that is what I need more of. I had some pre-printed sentiments, so I tested them out to see which ones I liked and where I want to place them. Before I glue anything down, I always test things out of the first two. I thought I had chosen the right shade of pink to go with these papers, but I was not happy with that color, so I set them aside. This color just didn't work with any of these cards. Some of the sentiments I raised up with dimensionals. Whenever I have colored bases, I always place a white card inside where the message will go. I just don't think it looks good to stamp the message on the colored cardstock. Except if you're using glitter embossed letters. That's different. That needs to be on colored paper. And that is also cut a four inch wide, five and a quarter inch long, which leaves a nice frame all around the outside edge. These cards are simple, nothing fancy, but the cool thing about them is that it uses up the papers without adding to your scrap pile, which is one thing many crafters find becomes a huge problem. If you're looking for ways to manage your scraps, I have lots of videos showing you different creative ways to use up your scraps. My most popular video using square scraps is one of several videos to help you maximize the use of your papers. I have videos on how to use up your leftover strips. I have several videos and different ways of using strips and videos using up your white scraps, too. We always have lots of white scraps and white strips. I've got videos on using those. All my videos are on the playlist Card Making. You will find more than 80 videos on that list with lots of ideas to inspire you and maybe help you get a little bit more organized. I really didn't need to make any more birthday cards because my starter bin is full to the brim. But I was determined to not have any leftover scraps. So I made more cards in different colors from the same paper pack. My starter bin is where I keep cards that are mostly done. The fronts are mostly decorated. Some may need a designated occasion and others are only waiting for the inside message once I know who they're going to. Because I started these cards and I had a little scrap left over, I was determined I had to make more from the same paper pack because I wanted to find a way to use up those tiny bits left over. I'm determined not to make any more scraps because if I did, it would bug me so much. So I made purple cards and some orange cards. For these two groups, I changed it out just a bit and I made the cards in the horizontal position instead of portrait, which left an even smaller scrap, a little square. I will show you what I did with all those last little bits at the end of this video. I decided these cards need some extra embellishments under the front sentiment. This is where my little scrap caddy comes in handy. When I finish a card making session, if there are any leftover bits, I square them up and place them in this caddy. When I need to make some small embellishments, I look through these first to find the colors I need for the current card. Hopefully I don't have to reach for a new sheet of cardstock. I do have a video on how you can make a caddy just like this. The half sheets and large pieces I keep with my main paper stash. They're always on top of the coordinating color section. The tiniest odd bits will be cut into small flowers, butterflies, leaves, hearts, stars, ribbons or snowflakes, depending on their color, before I throw the rest into the trash. I reached for some washi tape as a trim on some of the cards. This sentiment needed a little color around the edges, so I pulled out my mini thumb dobbers purchased from Amazon. By the way, I am an Amazon affiliate. So if you shop through my link below in the video description, I can earn a small commission at no extra charge to you. It doesn't matter what you buy at Amazon, as long as you get there through me first. It takes a great deal of time and effort to make videos for you. I make very little money making free content on YouTube. So every little bit helps support what I do. Here are the purple landscape cards and the orange or peach cards. I made some blue ones, some teal and some yellow ones. Now the yellow prints were so pale and not even a very good print, even though they were the same patterns that I had been using. I decided to pull out an embossing folder to add some texture to some of the panels to add a little more interest to the yellow papers. And I added some very colorful embellishments. When I think of the color yellow, I think of little girls. So the cute little kittens would be great for them. I colored the images with colored pencils. As challenging as the yellow pale paper was, I still made them work with more colors and texture. And I think they turned out pretty sweet. So even if you don't like the paper, there are ways to make a nice card out of them anyhow. Now we come to the conclusion. What did I do with all those small scraps, which wasn't a whole lot? What did I do with them? They're all pastel colors from the same paper pack. So I figured they could work together, all together somehow. I started gluing them onto a quarter sheet of paper. It didn't fill up the whole page. So I guess I need to continue making more of this type of card from the other colors so that I can complete this card background. I promise you they will eventually become a card backdrop. But for now, that is as far as I got. I do need some more children's cards for the young grandkids. So I'm sure I will use up some more of those papers and perhaps add some little animals to decorate the cards. Puppy dogs go pretty well with little boys. So once again, I can report that I did not add any more scraps to my scrap collection today. I used up all the papers. If you like that concept, you will like these videos, too, where the goal is not to build the scrap pile, but to use them up. That is a thrust of my card making playlist. Use it, use it, use it. I hope this video gave you some ideas and inspirations. If so, please comment, hype, share and give me a thumbs up. All of that will help my small channel to grow and expand the reach of my videos. Thanks for watching.