Sometimes you've just got to do it, I need to remember this. Like many scrapbookers out there, I seem to collect more pretty papers than I use. With each new release of paper my resolve not to buy anymore just crumbles once I set eyes on more prettiness. A short while ago I purchased a class from True Scrap featuring Shimelle Laine and great instructions of how to go stash diving. The idea is that you collect a bunch of coordinating papers and plain cardstock, then you just chop the patterned papers into blocks. Because you've cut it you have to use it.
I gathered together the My Minds Eye, Lost and Found papers, I used mostly blue based colours and mixed up between the groups. That was as far as I went for a few weeks, I still didn't want to cut the paper, they all looked so lovely together. I watched the video a few more times, then when the craft room needed tidying again I found I was gathering the papers to put them back. Why?
So I just did it, I cut them up, some of the papers had elements I wanted to use. I carefully cut those out and the rest I chopped into blocks. OMG, what had I done. I had to walk away and have a cup of tea, then come back and look at the damage.
To get me going I decided to scrap lift the double page layout, then a couple of the other layouts, before I knew it I was off and running. I even used the brand strips from the bottom of the papers. Scrapping without photos, just placing pretty papers in pleasing patterns. I have finally made one double page layout and six single pages all in a couple of evenings. Now I just need to find photos. I still have some blocks left and because I bought the papers in a real magpie moment, I have some more papers from the collection that I can cut into.
I will use this method again, it would work really well with some of the kits I have bought and not cut into. I also thought if I went through my scrap box I could use up quite a bit of that. I can also use it to make pages from the scraps of other pages, then the scraps don't even make it into the box.
Here is the double page that I lifted from Shimelle's video
The classes from this year are now availalbe at True Scrap and Shimelle has classes for using your pretty papers now.
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