20 point items- Use your stash challenge

This section of the challenge is about things we love to use but have tons of and can't stop buying anyway. Even if they are sometimes a challenge to use. Twenty points may not seem like much- but use five things from this list and you have 100 points!

1. Vellum- colored- you know the white and use it all the time but have you used the color vellum in your stash?
2. Flowers- silk or paper they add some flair with jewels or brads.
3. Ribbon- 11/2 inch or wider - use it in place of a strip of paper as a border or diagonally in the corner of a page
4. Brads- shaped or themed- not your ordinary round brads 
5. Mat stack paper- its already cut to 4 x 6 - can you use it? yes you can!
6. Label tape- break out the dymo
7. Glimmer mist- some of us fell for this one- and if anyone can tell me how to use it without the paper curling it would be appreciated.
8. Buttons- shaped- aren't they adorable?

PLAY with Acylics and Rubons!

       Recently, I have noticed several of my fellow scrappers on different websites saying that they have "those ghost letters from Heidi Swapp but don't  know what to do with them." Those clear acrylic letters and shapes are one of my favorite embellishments.

    In this layout I used one of my favorite tricks with them. I used Rub-ons to create the acronym PLAY, rubbing on words to enhance my title.

    In this layout. I scored big use your stash points- enhancing the subtitle with rub-ons and acrylic combination.

Memorobilia- The Bain of Any Scrapper's Existence

We all have ton's of it. We have trained our spouses and children to save it for us, to join us in our quest to save every ticket, playbill, and zoo map. The trifles, relics and memory triggers of the past that we save with intention to scrapbook it, and then we struggle to add it to the page. Or your child's artwork that you just don't want to toss. It  is too large, or the wrong color, or just plain too thick to add. For those who are ecclectic style scrappers it is simple, you just layer it into the design of the page and voila you have your shabby chic layout; but for those who like a cleaner look, it's tougher to include. Here are a few tricks I have used to include memorobilia.
Report cards- Hidden yet still included.I folded a piece of paper into three sections and stuck his report card inside the closed doors.

 

Xrays- and other documents-I stitched around the edges of this look alike file folder to hold the documents in place, but you can staple or use foam tape too!

Kids drawings-Sometimes you just gotta save them. But they are too large to put in the book - so shrink them down with your copier.... they make an adorable addition for your child to treasure!

Organizing your Printed Photos

     It's official, I have decided that digital cameras may be the downfall of my favorite art. Until recently, I have been very good at printing my photos out in a timely fashion. With 8gb memory sticks and cards,and a busy two year old to chase around with my camera all day, even I have been falling down on the job of keeping up with myself. Which brings me to my next favorite excuse as to why I am falling further and further behind in my scrapping... "I have to get those pictures printed out."
     See we have all become very good at downloading them, uploading them and some of us are even smart enough to back them up, but none of us have them printed anymore. Why? Storage and organization.

      Several years ago, I decided I needed to be ready to crop at a moments notice because many of my friends would call me and say- "Hey- let's crop tonight", and my automated response was I don't have anything ready. So, as any good scrapbooker should, I started with the pictures. I sorted each and every photo I had printed into the black plastic photo files you can get at Hobby Lobby or from Creative Memories. The photos that were doubles, (from back in the day of real film when we were automatically given doubles) into each persons box by theme- ie Christmas,School, Firends, etc.... This way when one of my children came home from school with a "STAR student" packet that was due the next day I knew exactly where to find the photos with that person in them. (Also handy for memory boards for funerals)
       I then went through the photos that I had not completed, sorted them into subjects or dates- like for instance a birthday party- I sort them into cake and eating, gifts, and party fun. Stick each theme into an ordinary envelope, mark the envelope with the date,and occasion and then in the corner I add which album the photos go into.(Like sometimes I have some shots for the family book and some for the child's book)

     At that point I sort the envelopes chronologically. This makes it easy to find photos to grab and go to an instant crop! It was a few nights in front of the TV and I now have an easy to maintain system for organizing my photos and I never have an excuse to say to my friend, "I would love to crop but I don't have anything ready."
      You can theoretically do the same thing for those uploaded photos in most Photo storage programs. Just separate the pictures as soon as you upload them into theoretical envelopes-or files,  then you won't have as much to sort through when you do have to print photos for a crop. The key is to keep up on it once you start a system, stick with it. Personally, I still prefer to print my photos asap, so they are ready and waiting, but digital cameras have definitely made it less a priority, even for me.

Choosing the Perfect Layout

     I know. It's scary. People ask me all the time. How do you choose the layout, how can you visualize the page in its completed form? These questions are the reasons scrappers think they can not step up their creativity.
The answer? I use simple logic.

Step one: Finding the sketches. Like most scrapbookers, over the years I have been collecting plenty of scrapbook stuff, paper embellishments, tools, but one thing I do not regret collecting is ideas. Taking a cue from Becky Higgins, I started with a rolodex, cutting out and pasting ideas and layouts onto the rolodex cards and sorting them by the number of photos on a page.  I made sure to note where I found the layouts and how many possible photos are on the page. This way if I have a question about it, I can always go back to the magazine or website and relocate the sketch.  After I did this for a while, a friend of mine borrowed my collection and copied the sketches into a three ring notebook. Which I then adopted for portability reasons.

 I am constantly updating this book with new sketches, cutting them out and pasting them into the book.

Step two: Choosing the layouts.
 When I am planning my pages for a crop, I begin the process by sorting my photos into what would be a layout- say its a birthday party and I have dozens of photos, I sort them- by this is the dinner, and cake, and this is the gifts and this is the games- each pile goes into a plain office envelope with the "theme" marked on the outside of the envelope. I then take each envelope and count the photos I want to use on the layout.
So say I have 5 photos. Two are vertical and three are horizontal. I estimate that I want to crop at least two of the horizontal photos down and I know that the vertical photos are my focus photos.  I turn to the section in my sketch book where I have sorted all layouts with a possible 5 photos on it and I begin to scan the pages for layouts with two vertical photos on it, knowing that I can cut down the horizontal ones to match if I need to. Sometimes, I lay the photos out on a table as if I was laying them on the page, trying them in the layout. Usually it isn't long before a sketch catches my eye, either because it's obvious theme jumps out at me, or it fits the photos perfectly. I note the sketch, either drawing it on the back of the envelope or using a matching index notecard from my rolodex and sliding it into the envelope. The envelope then goes into the choose paper pile.  (choosing paper will be next weeks topic) It's that simple.Try it- try it several times and before you know it you will nearly double your production of pages.

The "I could never do that " Syndrome.

    I hear it all the time. My fellow scrappers who look at my pages and say "Wow I don't have the time to do that much on a page... I just need to get this done." Or the ever popular, "I am just not that creative." I say-BULL!
    If you are a scrapbooker you have it in you. You do have to learn how to tap into it. In my nearly twenty years of scrapping I have seen people go from beginner to wow look what I can do in two crops. The secret? Let go. Let go of the pressure and use the tools you have right in front of you. COPY.  Scrapbooking is mostly copying, duplicating and altering what someone else has already done.
     In the last ten years I have coordinated two to three weekend retreats a year- bringing together up to 84 ladies scrapping the weekend away together. A few years ago, I started noticing that as my friends progressed and got more experience scrapbooking, they come to a point where they start to slow down and feel well, stuck.  And I can remember feeling the same way. What brought me out of it was discovering "Becky Higgins' Sketches". It is a book she wrote with her own designs and layouts for pages. I bought one and fell instantly in love with her method. 
    There are thousands of websites and books with millions of layouts, already pre-thought out by trained artists and other scrappers. Tap into it, use what they know and are sharing with you to step up your creativity. I know, you are thinking "But that takes so much time." Wrong again.
    One weekend, I got tired of hearing my mom and her friends sigh and moan that they could not spend the amount of time doing the type of page my favorite pals and I did. So I challenged them to a duel. We would all count our pages at the end of the crop and see who did more. Now, when I laid down this gauntlet I never expected to win; I just thought it might spur them on and give them energy. The big surprise was that my friends and I, with our fancy embellished style, outcropped the simple scrappers nearly two to one. WHY? Because we all used sketches and took the agonizing "does this arrangement look good" part of scrapping out of the equation.   This method actually speeds up the process of scrapbooking. If you think about it, it makes sense. Have you ever used a pre-done kit? Speeds you up doesn't it?
     Pay attention to what you are doing the next time you are scrapbooking. How many times do you move around a single picture before you find its perfect spot. How long do you sit there deciding where you need some paper to make it look right? How much time do you waste adjusting, and readjusting pieces that have moved slightly during the process of creation. I have been watching lately, and I can tell you my friends, we scrappers-even fancy scrappers, waste ALOT of time adjusting the pieces. When you find yourself at that point, hear my voice saying "Just glue it down already!" You can always use undo if you have to.
     Initially, I find that people resist using sketches, but once they do it a few times they realize that it takes the "pain" out of the art and gives you a spring board to leap from. You don't have to copy it exactly, just use it as a starting point and then let your creativity flow. You CAN do it, You DO have the time, because it takes less time than just "feeling" out the layout, and you can learn to play with your stash and create pages that will make your friends and family "ooo" and "ah" too.  Many times the sketches have ideas for embellishments too, and that can help you "Use your stash" too.

  

70 point items- Use your stash

When my friend and I created the points list, there were initially some items we forgot we had. These items soon revealed themselves as we were digging through our trays of fun little embellishments and old files of this and that. They became our 70 point category.

1.  Pre- Created Hostess club pages- these are the layouts that we started at one of those in home  parties without photos. (Close to my Heart, Stampin Up, etc..) Add photos to them and voila-70 points!
2. Big Bling Flourish or Swirl- these are those pretty rhinestone shapes- they can really dress up a page!
3. Pre- cut paper tags- These are so frustrating cause they are almost always the wrong color, but add your own ink with a sponge or daubber or paint, and a loop of ribbon at the top, a few embellishments at one corner and you have an instant journaling spot. 
4. pre made wire words- They were so cute, we had to buy them, and carry them around for years cause we want the perfect layout to use them on. 
5. Memorabilia- You have saved drawers and boxes of it- the tickets, the maps, and brochures, but how much actually makes it to the album? Make a pocket page behind the photos to slide it in or use a flip pocket, or a double door style hideaway- put it in the book. That is what you saved it for, right?
6. oversize chipboard- 6" or larger- those giant chipboard letters that are all the rage on the wall- use them in your book for a big impact- modge podge paper on them, paint them, ink them up- cut photos to cover their shape creatively, add words to them and use them as a journaling spot, fool the eye and make them stop and look. 
7. original die-cut-not one you cut out yourself with your cricut or die machine- we are talking about old school die cuts- the ones we spent hours looking through at the LSS or bought from CM. They are just plain single color die cuts. Often a challenge due to the color or size or just plain too simple for an advanced scrapper to use. Or are they? BE creative- dress them up with stickles, or 3-d micro beads or confetti and a transparency. Make them pop off the page with foam tape or pop dots.- layer them with your own add-ons. 

Unique way to use shaped brads and eyelets

Awe, aren't they adorable, those cute little stars and hearts and hands and legos and dinosaurs... yup got them all by now. Those adorable shapes they enticed us with, and we bought by the hundreds. Sometimes I forget I have them. Shaped brads and eyelets can present a challenge to use because they are so small, and a little too cute. Here is a layout I found on a cafe mom challenge, and I used it to inspire me to use up quite a few of those cute little buggers.

organizing stamps

The biggest problem with stamps is that they are hard to keep organized enough to find what you need when you need it. When the acrylic stamps first came out I decided that I needed a better way to organize my rubber stamps. So I stopped mounting the new stampin up stamps and mounted them on a piece of transparancy  then used Aileen's restickable glue to spray the back so I could use them on my clear blocks. To store them I use the old thicker cd cases.

YOU have me in stitches!

I know, what you are going to say, "That just takes too much time!" But really it doesn't take as much time as it does effort. I know lots of my friends who sew as a hobby all the time but do they incorporate their talents into their pages? Nope. Cause they think its too hard or they don't want to go the distance. But I guarantee you stitching will definitely add that perfect touch, and as a bonus, embroidery floss is big points!

50 point items-Use Your Stash

Paper and rubons and glitter oh my! We have so much of these items they just keep stacking up and we feel buried in them.  So let's give ourselves 50 points for using them.Glance through your stash and customize your own list of need to use....

1. SEI paper
2. Basic Grey paper
3. Chatterbox paper
4. Mulberry Paper
5. Cork Paper
6. Mesh paper
7. Pre embossed paper
8. K & Company paper
9. Sandy Lion paper
10. Paper pizzaz Paper-remember to use small amounts of a busy print
11. Glitter Paper- hard to glue stuff on. Use a transparency over it with brads to hold the layers together.
12. "real Photo" style paper- these are those papers that look like someone took a photo and blew it up
13. Printed Vellum paper- for a greater impact use white behind it with brads or xyron adhesive.
14. Monogram rubon- make a statement with one letter or use them as alphabet rub-ons
15. Glitter Glue type rub on- rub them on a button or tag and then use fine glitter or foil.
16. Fabric- sew it on to make a cool embellishment
17. Fabric patches- yes you can iron them on!
18. Confetti- use them with liquid glass or in a shaker or behind magic mesh.
19. eyelets- Shaped - mix them in with plain round ones and create a circle or line of them
20. ordinary glitter-the kind you use with glue

You can never have enough RIbbon...

Or can you? To quote my friend Wanda, "How can I have too much ribbon when I leave so much good ribbon at the store?" Fiber, and Ribbon. It's cheap, easy to find and easy to use on a page, but impossible to find the perfect storage solution for. I have personally reached the point of literally outgrowing my storage solution for ribbon, and am currently in search of a new one, but one thing that will remain the same for me is those adorable little floss cards that I use to wrap my ribbon on. I love them. It gives me just enough of each type of ribbon for a weekend retreat and is very portable and easy to maintain.  

Recently I tried to switch to that new ring and plastic card type and I really am not excited about it. it is portable, but I have had trouble with the rings opening accidentally and all of my ribbon ends up on the floor. Also, I like to carry a little more than the recommended length they suggest so mine is hard to hang high enough.  So the search goes on. Any suggestions?

Making an impact with Brads or Eyelets

I have literally thousands of them. Those adorable little brads and eyelets. One of my favorite tricks to do with them is create a circle of them to draw attention to a particular item on my layout. It uses alot of brads, but if I don't have enough of them I just mix and match them, just like the letters. The hardest part is getting the holes evenly spaced. I use a template that I found in my local lss for the circles, but you could also map out the holes using a plastic needlepoint canvas.

Steppin that layout up!

One of the most common things I hear at a scrapbook retreat is "Help! What does this page need?"
Lately, I have discovered the answers right in my stash. The problem is finding something that triggers the ideas that I have seen in magazines, idea books and online sources without carrying the hundreds of magazines with me or wasting precious crop time online looking for them.
   I have definitely discovered that our Use the Stash Challenge list certainly helps me recall what I have in stock, and sometimes just seeing the list can inspire me to use something I might have otherwise forgotten I had. When I feel like I want to ask someone what does this page need? I just ask my little Use Your Stash notebook. I am often surprised at how quickly the points start to add up on a layout when I start rummaging through my little treasure boxes. Some things may only be worth 10 points, but 10 points is 10 points. and before I know it there are 60 more.
   Another recent discovery I made? I spent a few nights in front of the TV before a recent weekend crop and jotted down all of the cute ideas that I really liked for embellishments and titles and etc... in a five subject notebook, separating them by what type of idea it was and what item was used.  This really helped in two ways. First, I had refreshed my memory recently enough that some of it just stuck with me for the weekend, sort of like cramming for a test. And Second, that little notebook I created has proved invaluable when I get stuck for an embellishment idea. I have a lot of great ideas packed into it- gathered from all of my favorite idea books without actually carrying all of them with me.

40 point items-Use your stash

This is probably my favorite section of the points list.It has things that I would not necessarily think of using without a prompt, but that totally up your page to the next level!

1. Eyelets- create a circle of eyelets or three on your page for a cool accent!
2. Raffia- great to add a natural look
3. Bookplates- these are hard to use- they are always the wrong size- try using them for a date plate
4. Letters-Metal
5. Letters- Plastic
6. Metal Frames- use as a shaker instead of a frame around a photo, or use it to frame a single word
7. wire- stick it through a crimper for a cool wavy effect
8. color photo corners- they can be used on a journaling block too!
9. snaps- try using on the corners of a denim sheet of paper
10. distressed stickles- these aren't as sparkly, but can be cool to dress up an old die cut or sticker
11. shaped metal rim tags- stars, hearts etc...
12. Bling- Jewels- add a bit of sparkle to your layout! Add to an old sticker or a diecut to dress them up
13. Frost stickles
14. Tag makers tags- they always slip out on me anyone have a solution?
15. Clothes pins-and mini hangars- arent they adorable?
16. Embossing Powder- I love to use white or clear embossing powder for letters (see bored with your stamps oh no!)
17. Sticker 3-d- that darn Jolees, making me buy it cause it is so darned cute, but can I actually use it on my page?
18. Laser die cuts- dress them up with stickles, googly eyes, layer them to give 3d effect with foam tape

Drowning in leftover letters?

There is a multitude of fun alphabets out there, and most of them are in my stash because besides paper, I am a real alphabet junkie. The problem with the cute alphabets is that you need to keep re-purchasing the same one to keep using all of it right? WRONG. The scrapbook embellishment companies thought they had us right where they want us... But we are too clever for them. We can mix and match! We like eclectic things. I was missing one pink plastic letter to spell out homecoming... so I got to thinking. Hmm maybe I could split the word in half to draw attention to the title. I love it! Points for me for figuring out that I did not need to buy another set of these letters! AH-hahahaha! (Evil Laugh) This method can really build points on a page. GO for it, try using several different fonts or types of letters throughout a title and see how many points you can add to your page using just the title.

Bored with your stamps? OH NO!

This will get you stampin again! I have a clever CTMH consultant that taught me this one.
We used versa mark ink to stamp the letters on to the tags and then heat set clear embossing powder on the letters. After it cools, you lightly dry brush a contrast color of acrylic paint over the letters in quick strokes. Let it dry. After the paint is dry, lightly sand over the raised embossed area to remove the paint from the letters. The result is a shabby chic teen anyx look that really makes a page! The best part? I used, metal tags, brads, and paint all on one piece of the layout. Oh yeah and don't forget the 8 x 10 paper I used as a strip of red under the row of photos! If you look closely, I also added silver star brads on the upper right hand border on the guitar, making the background image jump forward.

 And speaking of the background paper? Did you catch that it is a right side only sheet of patterned paper? I used a plain black sheet for the left side background and dressed it up with foil diecuts to blend with the printed page on the right. You gotta watch me, I am clever sometimes.

10 point use your stash items

Ok I know it does not seem like these are worth using, but they are items that we have a lot of, but that we use often. Remember that sometimes the little details are what make your layout cool.  The truth is, sometimes you just need to build some points on a page and this is how we decided to remedy that.
We still need to use these things up after all.

1. Photo Anchors -can direct your attention to the right place on a page.
2. Safety Pins- use one to pin that bow on.
3. Paint-how many shades can I possibly have?
4. Alcohol Ink-Magically colors chipboard, plastic or metal
5. Ribbon- can I do a page without my ribbon... no.
6. Button- use them as an O, or as a fake closure, or just make a row of them
7. Google Eyes-really cute on an old diecut or new cricut animal
8. Waxy flax- great for tying in button holes to make it look finished
9. Brads-good for anything
10. Stickles, Regular- need a little flash? Stickles are the perfect glam up your page embellishment
11. Tag- metal rimmed circle or square
12. Lace- Use it around a tag or behind a matte.
13. Rick rack- can totally give your page a fun feeling
14. String/Twine- tie it on, weave it through for a natural feeling
15. Fiber- every one needs fiber, ask anyone. great for tying or lining the edge of a paper. (use with brads for extra points!)

Here's what I'm Thinkin.

I think I need a place to voice my thoughts as I take this use your stash journey. Last night I was forced into using one of my last acrylic tags and a few of my last Old West letters on a page. OUCH!!!! Why is it so painful to use what I bought with the intention of using it on a scrapbook page? It seems almost illogical.
   Maybe its the same reason I refuse to digi scrap. I like the little things. I like to dig through my stash of the charms and the fun little buttons, brads and doo dads.  I like the sound as they dump into the tray almost as if they are calling out to me, "Use me! Use me on that layout!" It is then that I realize just how much I do love this craft. It is so very theraputic for me to lose myself in my layout. To tune out the rest of the world for a while and just be me. When I am scrapbooking I can take off the Mother,Wife, Daughter, Sister, COOK, MAID,  ACCOUNTANT hats and just be me.  When I am away at one of my weekend retreats, I love the feeling of freedom it gives me. The freedom to scrap till I can't see straight... This craft really is an escape for me. So why is it that I struggle so much to use those treasures in my bag that I have been saving for the someday I will make a layout of pages. Maybe this layout IS that perfect layout. Maybe this will be the day that my box of treasures will reveal the perfect embellishment again.

Chipboard circle idea

I love it when an accidental idea turns into the page making embellishment! I was showing this page to a friend when she asked me where I got those cool leather embellishments... I had to smile. Those are just chipboard circles, painted with a few layers of brown acrylic paint, stamped on, with a layer of matte modge podge on top of the stamped image. The truth was that I just wanted the paint to shine a little and grabbed the wrong bottle of modge podge.

Sometimes people are just not willing to take the extra time to create their own embellishments, but it really didn't take me that much time to do this layout, the acrylic paints and the modge podge both dry quite quickly, and it is worth the results!