Amy Kingsford

The Organized Stash: Finding Creative Uses for Your Paper Scraps like Karen Grunberg

I met Karen Grunberg last year through Masterful Scrapbook Design. I was so moved and inspired by the insights and ideas that she had to offer on a variety of topics and I was immediately drawn to her. Karen continues to be a huge inspiration to me both as a person and as an artist today.

One thing I can tell you about Karen is that she is very humble and when I first approached her about sharing with us she was worried–as she said that her scraps weren’t exactly what she’d call “organized”.  But once we discussed her system a little further it was clear to me that the Karen’s method of organization centered more around the “use” of her scraps rather than the “storage”–which I think we can all agree is still a very important part of maintaining our paper scraps.  And that is why I know you are going to love the ideas that Karen has to share with us today just as much as I did!

Let’s hear from her now!

When Amy first emailed me to tell you a little about my scraps, I was hesitant to reply. My system for scraps isn’t all that organized. I wasn’t sure I had anything valuable to add to the conversation. But then she convinced me to just share whatever I do so I agreed. I hope you will find some of these ideas useful, if not–just remember that I warned you about it first

Just because you keep your scraps–doesn’t mean you’ll use them.

Until about two years ago, I used to put my scraps into a basket under my desk. They sat there until the basket was overfilled and then eventually, reluctantly, I would end up getting rid of them.  What I learned then was that, with the exception of a project for my son’s school, I rarely ever dipped into the scrap stash.  EVER.

So it was just sitting there mostly because I was too sad to get rid of it. But it wasn’t serving any practical purpose and one can even say it was adding to the clutter in my house.

Improve your chances of using your scraps by narrowing your collection to those you truly love.

In mid 2010, I decided to change things up a bit. I created what I’ve come to call my “favorites bucket.” In this bucket I stored two things:

1. Products I’d bought and never used but really wanted to
2. Scraps that I loved and knew I wanted to use again

This bucket sits on top of my scrap desk and each time I am scrapbooking, I make sure to take a good look through it. Which helps me use the scraps a lot more often. I am considerably more selective now with what I save since it really has to be product I know I will use again. I’ve been using this system for over 16 months and I’ve only had to clear/reorganize my bucket once in that time (and this bucket is small.)

Here’s a recent photo of my bucket:

I know it looks messy and overflowing but that’s because I use my bucket almost daily now.  Not just on layouts but on a project I just started for 2012.

Put your scraps to use in your daily scrapbooking, art journals or mini albums.

One of the projects I’m doing this year I’ve called  The Savor Project–it’s basically an amalgam of December Daily and Project Life. I create mini layouts that are either 4×6 or 8×6 throughout the week and then store them in a Project Life album. These layouts preserve small moments from that week. You can see more about my project here.  But below is an example of pre-prepared pages I create before I cut them up and put my stories on them.

As you can see, these pages are small and use a lot of little bits and pieces. So my stash of favorite scraps is a perfect place to look for things. Since I started the project in November, I haven’t dug anywhere but my pile of scraps for these pages. I hope to continue that for as long as I can. It’s a great way to use leftovers of my favorite products.

What to do with the scraps you know won’t use but can’t bare to part with…

Besides my favorites, there’s a small set of products I’ve used and loved but I know I’ve used them often enough that I won’t use them again. But I love them so much and do not want to throw or give them away. I can’t bear to part with them. So for this subset, I’ve come up with a new strategy. I put them in a big folder:

And then I use them for another project I am working on for 2012. This one is called “David’s Book of Good Memories.”  My older son, David, is almost seven. He and I are putting a book together of all of his good memories from this year so that if and when he feels a bit down, he can just peruse through his book. We mostly use his ephemera for it but add scrappy items to make the pages more fun.  Here’s one of his spreads:

As you can see, this project is also perfect for scraps. Some pages have a lot of them and others none. And that’s ok. What I care about is that these products I love and can’t seem to part with, but will likely not use again, are going to a great use.

And that’s my scrap organization at this point. Two sets: those I love and will reuse and those i love but won’t reuse. The rest are donated to friends and schools. It makes it so all my scraps have an allotted purpose and I don’t have to worry about creating random clutter anymore.  I hope this is helpful to some of you and thank you for letting me share my crazy organization system with you today!

Thank you Karen for sharing your projects and your system for using up those scraps with us!  You can find more out about Karen and the other projects she’s got going on by visiting her blog Karenika–where you’ll find a pleasant collection of scrapbooking, photography, art journaling and daily reflection.  

If you are just joining us get more ideas for storing and using your paper scraps by checking out the rest of the posts in the series The Organized Stash.  And don’t forget to join me next Thursday–I’ve got a few creative storage solutions that you can make yourself  to help you keep and use your paper scraps.  See you then!