I wrote this article for the ScrapAngels website in 2003 when I was a member of their design team. Since the theme is a timeless one, I thought that I’d post it for your entertainment.
The Journey To Scrapping with Abundance
Chapter One: A New Year, A New Change
The new year, what a great time to start fresh! Build new habits and get rid of old ones. It is a great time for forgiveness. Forgiving ourselves. I am forgiving myself for buying so much useless scrapping material. I am forgiving myself for not getting that “Ultimate Disney Album” started. This new year, I’m on a mission, and that mission is to “Scrap with Abundance.
What does this mean to me? This means that I get more pages done. 500 pages is my goal for the year: 41 pages a month, 9 ½ pages a week. It also means that I get one article written a month and two design projects ready to sell. It means that I am able to find that wire mesh that I know I bought a month ago to play with, but forgot where I put it. I have learned the hard way, that you can’t organize clutter. This is not my phrase. It was coined by the Fly Lady, who is one of my organization mentors (you can find her at www.flylady.net).
In my last article I spoke about this being a parallel journey that I am taking. What is good for my scrap room is good for my house as well. I have been busy donating and tossing items in my house. I find it easier for me to throw away that Costco sized bottle of pepper that we bought 10 years ago than I do tossing that ugly piece of cardstock that I’ll never use on any of my pages (what was I thinking when I bought it?)
Here is where guilt and forgiveness comes in. When I toss items, no matter how old and idle they are. I remember the time and money I spent in acquiring them in the first place, and feel guilty. Then the garage sale or Ebay comes to mind. Maybe I can get some of that precious money and time back when I sell it to some other poor unsuspecting soul on Ebay. Don’t go there. It is just more of your precious time to advertise, correspond with and finally mail your junk to someone else. Toss or donate it and forgive yourself!
I can do that relatively well with my non-scrapping “junk”. But I have a ways to go with my sacred scrapping supplies. I feel like I need to use that glossy, gaudy cardstock that I invested in (because I thought that I would make some money selling scrapping supplies.) I have to keep that cutting tool even though I don’t use circles and ovals in my scrapbooks anymore. After all, it was expensive and it still looks great! Well, this is one area that I have a long way to go to get to “abundance.” Don’t ask me why, I can’t tell you yet, but I am learning a lot about myself in this process, so humor me and let’s see where this takes me.
Since I am not ready to donate or toss my scrapping supplies, and I can’t sell them if my life depended on it, the only alternative is to use them. I made little dent in the mountain this Christmas vacation. My husband took a week off from work and I had some dedicated scrapping time. Despite the whole house being laid low with one bug or another, I managed to get 80 pages done in a couple weeks. I was so proud of myself, getting those memories into albums! But I have to admit one of the best things was using up some of the supplies that had been lying around for ages! Can anyone else relate to this…I didn’t need to go to a scrapbook store for any supplies, I had my own inventory. YIKES!
But what about those other scrapping supplies that you would never ever dream of putting on a layout. I am talking about paper, stickers, die cuts, and things that you have outgrown in style, or maybe you just bought them because they were 75% off! Here is an idea for you. It is very simple, it won’t win any awards from CK Magazine, but it does two things better. It uses your supplies and it will put a smile on someone’s face.
{I am trying to track down a photo for you!}
Greeting Cards
I made all of my own Christmas cards this year. Now it may not seem like such a huge feat for a crafter to do this, but in the past I just never had the time.
Cut a 8 ½” x 11” cardstock in half so that you have two pieces measuring 5 ½” x 4 ¼”.
Score each piece down the middle to form a card. Or start with inexpensive pre-cut cards.
Cut one piece of patterned cardstock about 3 ¾” x 5” and one smaller solid piece 2 ½ ” x 3”
Mount the small solid cardstock on the patterned paper and mount the whole thing on to the front of your card.
Embellish with a stamp or stickers.
Examples: Snowman Christmas Card decorated by Kai, age 6. Thank you card. (sorry not shown)
I went to the stationary store and bought a box of envelopes. This way I can use my own cardstock instead of purchasing pre-cut cards. It is cost effective and uses up more of my mountain of supplies. I use a Fiskars scoring blade in my paper trimmer.
I keep a box filled with blank cards that I have made. Whenever I need a card for any occasion, or if I just want to write a note to someone, I look in my box and pull out a card. I can embellish it with stickers or rubber stamp an appropriate design on to it. This box has been a great time saver. “Two birds with one stone”, use up my old supplies and feel good about giving someone something nice that I made.
Until we meet again, scrap with Aloha
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