Use it Up!

I have tried over the years to "use up my stash" but I seem to bring new stuff into the house faster than I can use it. (Can you imagine?!) However, with the terrible economy, and my dh's job not in a stable industry, I have to try HARDER to use what I have. And if I want to be honest, I have enough stuff to NEVER have to buy more in this lifetime.

But, I still LOVE getting NEW product. And I have such a hard time with impulse shopping. To help me solve that issue I decided to purchase a kit each month (Apron Strings Designs Smaller than a Bread Box kit). I chose this kit for three reasons:

1. I get a designer discount
2. You get three paper lines to try each month
3. The papers in the kits are usually my style

Below is a page I made with the February kit, which came with Basic Grey, October Afternoon, and American Crafts papers, plus Bazzill cardstock. (There are 3 page kits that you can use to make 3 double sided layouts.) I used some of the Basic Gray paper for the background of my page. To stretch my paper, I cut the center square out and used it behind my photo! You can't tell that the base page is just a frame since the scallop cardstock covers it! I also used a strip of October Afternoon (the dots) out of the Feb. kit. The scalloped sheet of Bazzill cardstock that was in my stash for well over a year! The large flowers (Heidi Swapp), buttons, and Basic Grey letters were also from my stash.

Also I will note that the page is based on a PageMaps sketch that was a challenge on Crop Stop for February. So I killed a bunch of birds with that scrappy stone!

I really hope that getting this kit each month will help me to NOT shop so much! (All of you who are laughing can just leave the room now! Especially those who also know that I get a kit at my LSS club each month! But can we please talk about that another day?!)

In the spirit of trying to USE IT UP, here are a few more projects.

The card below uses all NEW product, which shows you I CAN use it rather than hoard it.

I purchased two DCWV 8x8 pads (baby themes) of paper in January on sale. I don't have babies, and my kids' baby books are finished, so why did I need this paper? It was cute. (insert big sigh here) Any way, I used some of it to make cards, which means I have tons left! The card I made was for My Sketch World, and helped (in part) to win me a spot on that DT. So the paper was worth it!

This next card is all scraps, baby! The brushed gold paper is OLD. I purchased it from Stampin' Up about 6 years ago! It was just sitting in my stash. I dragged it out and embossed it with a Cuttlebug Folder, and TA DA. A card. This card below was for a challenge on Card Patterns. (And, no I do not DT for them! I just think they are a fun site to visit.)

I challenge you to USE IT UP. Maybe you can give up buying non-essential scrapbook supplies for Lent. Or maybe that's a bad thing! If we all give up buying, the industry will crumble. I guess it's all interpretation as to what is "non-essential" right? Anyway, let's see what you can do with your stash and scraps. Post here so I can see that you made something.

Happy Scrappin'!