Hey Hey! It’s Ways to Work it Wednesday, the day we bring you an article on how to take something “ordinary” and turn it into something extraordinary!

Do you ever have scraps left over that you don't know what to do with? Whether it's paper scraps, leftover die cuts or any of the 3327502094832 other scraps crafters have laying around, it can get overwhelming!

Today on the blog, Caroline, Erika, and Nicole are talking about 3 ways they make the most of THEIR scraps!

Caroline - Wildflower

One of my current favourite ways of working with scraps is to cut them up really small and add them to my Memory Planner weekly spreads.

I aim to work with just one collection per spread (Wildflower in this case) and this has worked for me so far as I am a hoarder and keep all of my scraps!!! (Traci’s collections are all printable which means I can print more when I need it, but as I’ve already printed I like to use everything!!)

I work in a Happy Planner and work with box sizes that are 1.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. These sizes mean I can usually work with my scraps well across a double page spread. I tend to include two or three patterns on each spread which means I use up a lot of the patterned paper scraps.

In terms of embellishments, I do tend to print these a few times, but when working in my memory planner, I use up what I have left from that collection.

One of the things I am also classing as scraps for the purposes of this project are the leftover things that I’ve hoarded. In the spread here, it’s the travellers notebook signature in the centre. I’d saved that for the ‘perfect’ story, and it had just stayed in my stash. Great to add this directly into my planner as an insert.

If you don’t work with a memory planner, you could try this way of using your scraps by working in a grid format on a white card stock background - that would work really well. Another thing you could try is to copy this exact format on a white cardstock background and add it in to your binder.

Traci’s collections are always filled with such beautiful patterns and motifs, I hope you work with your scraps too to use them up completely. Good luck!

Nicole - Autumn Enchantment

Hey all, Nicole here with my layout for the Ways to Work It Wednesday: Scraps! I started this layout by pulling out what was left of my Autumn Enchantment. I pulled out this collection because I had quite a few scraps and the colors work well for a Valentine’s Day theme (believe it or not).

I think scraps are best for layering and that is what I did here. I didn’t go heavily decorated on this page and kept it quite minimal. The scrap papers and the scrap embellishments that I had from this kit really took center stage on this layout and worked well for the pic. I hope it gives you an idea of what you can do with your scraps!

Erika - Happy Day

Hi everyone, Erika here today with a fun take on using up your scraps. In this day and age, I try to be as eco-friendly as possible, and that includes using up my stash in a more conscious way. A fun go-to for me has been to use my scraps to mimic the background of my photos.

On my page you can see that I used scraps from the Happy Day collection to mirror the background of the photos of my kid blowing a dandelion into the wind. I love the optical illusion it lens to the eye as the photo seemingly continues being its borders. For me, the trick is to align the torn edges of your scraps up to the borders of each color in the photo as tightly as possible. I have found that this gives the best results. And don't worry about not having larger full sized scraps - I never do! I simply tuck the edges behind my photos and no one will ever know.

To support your mimicry, you could always add leftover embellishments that match the color used. I hope this inspired you to use your scraps in a different way. If you use this tip, please tag me @CaliforniaLucky on Instagram. See you next time!