Hello, Friends! It's that time of the month where you have dug into your kits from the Tranquility Collection while also wrapping up your creative time with your kits from the Poppy Fields Collection. At this point, you likely have several paper scraps in various shapes and sizes, begging for a chance to decorate your spreads. In today's post, we are putting the "scrap" back into scrapbooking and focusing on those pesky, but useful, paper bits. We hope this post helps you love, and make use of your scraps from your monthly kits!

Check out how Jill uses her scraps from the Tranquility Collection to create a stunning background for her layout. 

"If you find yourself wanting to make a 12x12 page with large photos but don't have enough paper left from the kits to mat them, I have a creative solution to share. Gather scraps from your desk, punch or die-cut them into squares and layer them under the edges of your photos. I did that here with the lovely papers from the Tranquility Collection. I varied the sizes of my paper squares, included some washi strips from the Tranquility Travelers Notebook Memory Keeping Kit, and hand-cut a few circles to layer on top of some of the squares for an organic touch. I was excited to use the beautiful leafy vellum branches included in the Tranquility Modern Memory Keeping Kit¬†which I layered under the photos to fill out my areas of partial photo mats. This page is about a statue in front of the library in Ludington, Michigan, where my mother lives. It's called Flights of Learning, and I love its focus on reading, different forms of knowledge, and the implications of such knowledge when it takes flight both in childhood and later in life. I journaled about what each bird represents, according to the sculptor. I used the "never stop growing" stamp from the Tranquility Memory Keeping Stamp Sets to reinforce the focus of my journaling, and the stamps and rub-ons featuring potted plants helped me evoke the green space surrounding the sculpture. Small stamps and glitter dots round out each of the embellishment clusters. So have fun with those scraps! Little bits of patterned papers can go a long way, especially when combined with other elements in the kits." Jil's scrappy patchwork pattern is the perfect addition to this layout. By using scraps, she is able to include several of the gorgeous pattern papers from the kit, without overwhelming the page.   What is April's solution to those extra bits of paper? Punch it! "I love using scraps with various punch sizes to make embellishments. I also love to cut and trim journal cards (keeping all extra pieces just in case). For these pages, I had fun using a leaf punch with papers from the Poppy Fields Traveler's Notebook Memory Keeping Kit to layer along the edge of one page and then match on the opposite side under the photo. Next, I trimmed journal cards from the Poppy Fields Modern Memory Keeping Kit and mixed alpha stickers to finish off the page. This is a fun way to use up various sets of alpha stickers if you run out of certain letters. For me, ‚ÄúO‚Äù stickers are always the first to go as I use them often for words like boys, Jacob, Tyson. Using scraps is such a fun way to add depth, texture, and pops of color to any page." What a great way to use your scraps and create texture and visual interest on a spread! We like how she used a scrap in a similar pattern to the background, while also including the bold poppy color pattern and serene blue watercolor pattern. Using my scraps is such a fun creative exercise and often is the kickstart I need to complete multiple projects. I have a process video, sharing my tips for organizing and using paper scraps. In the video, I share my process for putting several pages together in my Poppy Fields Simple Dori, which I have trimmed to roughly A6 size and disc punched.¬† One of my favorite tricks for utilizing scraps is to find ways to immediately use a scrap created from trimming, punching, or tearing paper. Here, I made triangles that dance along the top of the paper from paper scraps used on the reverse page. By focusing on my paper scraps, I was able to create several pages quickly. I like to call these foundation pages "scrap starts". The paper scraps are the creative jump start I need to build a page and stretch me creatively. I also love to use paper scraps in my memory planner. It is so easy to build a grid, "project life" style layout when I paper scraps trimmed to the appropriate size for this memory-keeping format. For this layout, I used paper scraps to cover the days of the week and built my own journaling spot using a strip of paper from my my scrap pile. I also trimmed several of the paper scraps to 2x2.5 to act as the foundation for decorative boxes. I was even able to use my small scraps by creating a decorative grid to feature the turquoise and poppy red in this spread. I love the possibility that paper scraps provide! We hope you are inspired to look at your scraps in a new light. How do you utilize your scraps in your designs? Share with us by tagging @cocoa_daisy on social media or posting to the Cocoa Daisy Fan Page.

Best,

Rachel, Memory Keeping Team Blog Coordinator