Tidying the Craft Room Scraps

 Hi Crafters

Well this is traditionally the time of year we get to tidy away all the bits in the craft room. Time off from work means we can finally put away all the things we used to make and decorate the presents.

I constantly tidy up my scraps and like most crafters hate throwing anything away, so I get them organised into usable sections

Largest pieces in one poly wallet and then 6” pieces. As well as these I keep long narrow strips and anything metallic or fancy finish. I also have a poly wallet of black, white and cream card.  All these are then stored in one canvas bag that sits under the craft desk, with the idea of going to the bag  first to see if I have appropriate pieces. This rarely works out in practice as we start a project with an idea of what papers we are going to use and the end result is usually more scraps rather than less. So at least once a quarter I get the bag out and make things from the scraps. My next couple of blogs are going to give you ideas of projects to use up the scraps, starting with folders, mini albums and pockets that are made from larger scraps.

Here are the items made in my latest tidy.

In the top picture there are 2 small folder wallets, 2 double pockets and a small concertina file.

Most of these were made with 12” strips folded. I will show you how i made the concertina file.

   

                                  

The first picture shows the 2 pieces of scraps used to make the file. The peach sheet measured 12” x 4 3/8”  and this I scored at 5”, 10 1/8, 10 1/4”, 10 3/8 and then cornered the end.

The second strip measured 12 x 2 1/4” and this I cut 2 pieces at 4.5” along the narrow edge i scored at 3/8”, 3/4”, 1 1/8” 1.5”, 1 7/8” and then folded them for the concertina side panels. As in picture 3.

These 2 panels are then glued to the bottom section of the large piece and a half circle cut in the base line

I used double side glue throughout the project for speed. 

We finished up with a useful file 5” high by 4 3/8” wide that will hold several pieces of cards such as addresses, recipes,receipts, bills etc

The second picture shows 5 money envelopes

6 notelets approx 2.5” x 2”      Ideal size to slip into a pocket or packet to leave a special message for someone

5  notelets 3 x 3” these are useful if you want to just say a quick Hello or Thank You note

1 wallet

3 pockets 

2 double pockets.    Pockets can be used to store receipts etc or to add to pages of journals or mini albums

Apart from these makes i managed a very cute mini album from these scraps 

This was made by gathering 6-8 pieces 4” x 12” and folding in half and then building the book with the hinge system. I then used scraps of cream card to make the photo mats, some narrow pieces of pretty card for the phot corners and other scraps to cover the pages and make pockets 

I really enjoyed making these items up and they are ready to send out as Happy Mail to friends and anyone who purchases my items on Ebay.

Back soon with items made from smaller scraps, so keep tidying, sorting and storing your scraps and be sure to check in again for the next list of ideas.

Dee