Tuesday 10 November 2009

Back to scrap

Well lots of you do admirable things with your scraps I must say! What a great lesson in OCD, philanthropy and storage that last post supplied me! Seriously, you make me laugh - blogging is so good for my health. So here's the plan. WHEN the box annoys the scrap out of me next, I will break it down into more manageable sizes so that it's not just the big bits that get used. You know those bits - all big and hanging over the edges shouting at me to use 'em just to get them out of the pigging way. Then, IF that causes me to feel the box is a bit well, jumbly, I'm leaning toward the suggestion of arranging them in vague colour order. I have come to understand a bit of logic in this since I arranged my Copics in the order that the code numbers intended. They make a lot more sense that way, so perhaps the snips and scraps will too.
I would like to take a line to defend myself too - my friend the Lunch Lady - you'll meet her at any 2 Scrap Ladies event - took a large box of unwanted and unused from my bulging shelves at the beginning of term to her school - I don't throw it out if I can give it away, honest.

There is a reason for the amount of scraps too. I average a weekly workshop for 10 or so people, and that cutting and preparation inevitably causes scraps. And apart from the scrapbook stuff I do, these days I don't make many cards that aren't specifically for workshops - which means that using up the scraps on the next bunch of cards isn't an option. But I have a large Chrsitmas card commission sitting quietly in the back of my head - just in front of the little door marked 'sleepless nights' and 'panic', so be assured, I'll use some scraps. But also bear in mind -nothing talks to me like new stash talks to me!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I am glad I am not the only one that new stash talks to ... it is just a shame that it does n't talk to the sensible me that says ... you have got waaaaaay tooooo much already :0)
That card is very cute - did you use scraps for that? Or were they just a tad too small or just slightly the wrong shade so you had to make new scraps and if that is the case did you file the scraps in colour order or have you just added them to your pile ... a pile that will probably end up next to your stamps to be cleaned pile and will in fact just turn into another scraps pile ... trust me ... I have loads of experience in this area ... you do realise you have just begun on a scrap filing journey that has no end ... don't you????

Unknown said...

Blimey ... that comment was rather depressing was n't ... I am sorry ... I think that was the hormonal ... already in panic and sleepless nights me ...

Kaz said...

Had to laugh at the doors marked panic and sleepless nights, I have them too!! I don't think you can beat cutting into a new 12 x 12 sheet can you? And once a bit has been cut from it, it's old. I actually went to my scraps place to use some of it yesterday. Trouble is, i found lots of bits of paper I'd forgotten I had, promised myself to use them, then closed the drawer!! xx

Chrissie said...

Well Julia, blogging may be good for your health, but visiting your blog is definitely good for mine! There are very few times that I don't have a laugh or giggle before leaving.
Oh and by the way, I'm one of those annoying people who have their scraps filed in folders by colour. Sorry, but if I didn't, trust me, they'd NEVER all fit in a box!
I now have FOUR (count them!) LARGE A4 binders full to bursting with colour co-ordinated scraps. OMG! I've just suddenly realised that there's probably no hope for me!!

Carmen said...

Mine are all lumped in the same box but it never gets to full as Phoebe thinks I don't notice she has raided it when I'm not looking and that I wont notice MY paper on cards and presents she has made me ;)The fact that she leaves a trail of devastation and destruction in her wake when she crafts is also a big clue.

My filing consists of one RUB for scraps, one for patterned paper and one for plain/cardstock. All sorted :D

Annie said...

Why not bag up the scraps and for your next craft day class make it a challenge to use them on their project :-) A x

Anonymous said...

My scraps are in a huge wheelable box.(Julia can't fail to guess who that will be!!!) I do dive into it from time to time, but more so when my now ex-neighbour comes to play as she doesn't have lots of scrap bits and it makes the play day a bit cheaper. That makes me sound mean and I am not really as am very generous lending stamps etc.

Lyn said...

Heh, heh, I'm with Chrissie and ever so slightly smug that I only have the one big binder of scraps! All hail to fellow OCD-ers!

I chuckled at your doors too. I have discovered I don't have doors. I thought I had panic boxes in my brain. I don't. I have Russian Dolls. Everytime I think I have opened one, there's another Doll, albeit smaller, poised to pounce. Evil things. Good job I did karate in my youth - I'm managing to block the attacks of the smaller ones.

Okay, this post is weird, even for me.... Going now!

Alix said...

i've got a new rule that i have to use something old or scrap, for every new item of stash i touch...its working wonders reducing my scrap mountain :)

and colour coordinating the bits and bobs helped too...if it takes ages to find them...i won't bother...lol

file this under *panic reduction* or *guilt free stash raiding* ;)

Jo said...

Julia your blog is fab, I have left you something on my blog. Hugs Jo x

Unknown said...

Cute teddy. I have loads of stash, but never seem to have just the right piece of paper!

Jay said...

I love that little card.
You should see my box of scraps, and my three files of scraps, and all the scraps I keep moving from one side of my desk to the other!

Teresa said...

Had a really good chuckle reading tonight Julia. Those doors are part and parcel of the scrapper I think, we always leave things till the last possible minute. Mine at the moment is I HAVE to get a haircut and I have been putting it off (means going to V V windy seaside town) and as I am doing an impression of an owl peeping out of a hedge already it cannot be put off any longer. Tomorrow it HAS to be as I am meeting up with friends to go to a craft show on Thursday!

Please do not think that I am smug in any way that I do actually use some of my scraps. It only gets done when the drawers that they are hidden sorry stored in gets so full that I can no longer get any more into it! And even then, as I put making cards off, I often just grab a bundle and donate to a worthy cause, sorry again, I think I mean pass it off onto any unsuspecting person I can get to take it! LOL

Paige said...

that sounds like a plan. Although You give a very valid reason for not using the scraps to make cards :) what about donating some of the paper to a local brownie pack or pre-school group. at least they way you can cut down on how many scraps and snips of paper you have. I tried wading through mine the other night but failed!!! only managed a few cards and got bored!

Liverpool Lou (Anne) said...

Gorgeous little card Julia :0 Ooh sorting our Copics eh, that definitely smacks of OCD! It must be daunting thinking about sorting your scraps when you have so many, I find it difficult enough when there's only my own to sort - as opposed to scraps from organising things for your workshops.
Anne xx

Liverpool Lou (Anne) said...

Oops that was meant to be a :) not a :0 - it's my hands working quicker than my head
Anne xx

Spyder said...

saw this card on the links thingy, and just had to come and say I love it!!