Happy New Year’s Eve to you! Time to clear out the old and welcome in the new…. I love the possibilities a new year brings. In addition to my stand-by resolutions to eat better and exercise more, my goals usually involve a renewed commitment to organizing things around the house. This year is no different – holiday preparations and trade show projects have taken their toll on my studio and my craft supplies are badly in need of attention.

The other day I had a few minutes and decided to tackle my ever-growing pile of paper scraps. I came across an idea on Betsy Veldman’s blog and thought it was a great solution for putting those scraps to good use. I thought I’d share my take on the idea here.

The key is to work quickly and not over think the process… a kitchen timer can help with this… go ahead and grab one. Set it to 5 minutes and gather up as many paper scraps as you can find. This is what I came up with –

Now, give yourself another 10 minutes and start trimming… cut each scrap into long strips of varying widths. If you haven’t finished when the timer goes off, stop anyway… you’ll have plenty to work with and can finish up the rest in another session.

This is the pile of strips I had after 10 minutes –

Now, put another 5 minutes on the timer and start sorting the strips into piles – don’t get bogged down here – just start creating piles of strips that seem to want to be together… there is no wrong way to do this and I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results. Ready. Go.

Now, grab a few sheets of paper out of the printer to use as the backing. I decided to cut them in half because that seemed to work better with the size of paper scraps I have… if your strips are longer, you might want to work with the full 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet.

All set? We’re getting ready for the fun part, I promise… just a few more steps. Grab your favorite adhesive – I found a tape runner worked the best for this. This is what I used:

Now apply adhesive around each edge of your printer paper and then several lines through the middle.

and start adhering strips until the sheet is covered.

Now flip over the sheet

and trim off the overhang (you can save these pieces to make accents on cards, etc.)

You’ll be amazed at how quickly this goes – in no time at all, you’ll have several sheets of “new” paper. I probably spent 10 or 15 minutes and came up with these (and notice all the scraps I have left over in the baskets!)…

This is a great project to work on in front of the tv… maybe while watching football today.

These papers are great to have on hand for cardmaking, scrapbooking, or general crafting. I used some to make a few thank you cards using one of my favorite stamp sets.

I used the papers to create a border…

and as background paper…

(love adding dimension with a 3D Foam Square)

I also cut several strips from one of the papers and staggered them on the background.

(coil brads from Karen Foster Design)

I also die cut a border using one of the sheets and adhered it to the edge of a card using 1/8″ SuperTape.

Not too bad… considering it didn’t take much time and I was able to create all of these using supplies I already had on hand. I’d love to see creative ways you find to use up your paper scrap stash or other organizing solutions you have found. Let me know what you come up with and feel free to post photos to our Facebook page.

Hope you have a wonderfully creative 2015!

 

by | 22 Comments

22 Comments on It’s the End of the Year! Time to Organize Those Paper Scraps!

  1. lilianabeliliana
    January 1, 2012 at 9:57 am (13 years ago)

    This is a very interest kind to used the rest of papers!!! Thanks Liliana

  2. CariCreates
    January 1, 2012 at 12:59 pm (13 years ago)

    I *love* this! Such beautiful & fabulous results! What an ingenious idea! Thanks for sharing! 😀

  3. Therm O Web
    January 1, 2012 at 9:40 pm (13 years ago)

    Alice…I LOVE this idea! So clever and your cards are amazing (as always!). Thank you so much for sharing this great idea and a new blog I can check out!

  4. cindi
    January 2, 2012 at 10:03 am (13 years ago)

    I started doing that for Christmas cards a few years back. It’s a lot of fun!

  5. maobullock
    January 3, 2012 at 12:51 pm (13 years ago)

    love, love, love using up paper scraps! Thank you for the inspiration!

  6. Daniela
    January 4, 2012 at 10:47 am (13 years ago)

    This is a great idea! Love it!

  7. Kathryn
    February 12, 2012 at 8:38 pm (13 years ago)

    Thanks for your suggestions. I made a few of these tonight. It feels good to use up scraps and have less clutter!

  8. Cherie
    February 13, 2012 at 12:41 pm (13 years ago)

    Love this idea! It makes me want to clean up those scraps.

  9. Grethe Boisen
    February 25, 2012 at 3:42 am (13 years ago)

    great idea – I have to try that with all my left overs. You get som total new papers. Thanks for the inspiration . The cards you have made looks really great.

  11. Vonette Lane
    August 31, 2012 at 8:53 pm (12 years ago)

    Love this idea. I like to make quilts this way, so I’m sure it will work just as well with paper. Thanks for sharing.

  12. Donna
    September 2, 2012 at 12:20 pm (12 years ago)

    Instead of using tape to secure the strips to the paper, I used Avery Laser Labels in the 8 1/2″ x 11″ size! (available at any office supply store). Remove the backing and you have a sticky side to adhere the strips! I use those sheets for backing scrapbook paper that is not quite heavy enough for my Cricut to cut accurately. It’s like interfacing for paper!

  13. Sam
    September 30, 2012 at 8:44 am (12 years ago)

    This is just brilliant – what a great idea!

  14. Karol
    November 24, 2015 at 5:44 am (9 years ago)

    This is amazing idea..thank you

  15. Wendy Reynolds
    November 24, 2015 at 6:47 am (9 years ago)

    Great idea you all ways have heaps of scraps to good. To throw away

  16. kay wolters
    December 10, 2015 at 8:15 pm (9 years ago)

    how do I just follow You I just want information on paper crafts….Can I follow You on Pintrist I tried but got quilting which I have no interest in thank you

    • admin
      December 23, 2015 at 1:09 pm (9 years ago)

      Hi Kay…here’s the link to our main page on Pinterest. There you can choose which of our boards you would like to follow.https://www.pinterest.com/thermoweb/

  17. Daria
    December 21, 2015 at 8:41 pm (9 years ago)

    Great idea.

  18. Merry
    January 4, 2016 at 2:29 pm (9 years ago)

    Brilliant, just what I have been looking for. Thanks for sharing.

  19. Milena
    June 5, 2017 at 4:17 pm (7 years ago)

    Awesome idea! I will have try this with my paper craps.

  20. Carol Hearn
    January 30, 2018 at 9:48 pm (7 years ago)

    What a good idea. I deffinately will be doing this soon. I think I will use the new “sheets of paper” before I’d use the scraps. Thanks for sharing. Carol, New Mexico, USA

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