Thrifty Thursday--Using Your Scraps

Today's thrifty tip is regarding how to make your paper go further. There are some pattern papers that I LOVE! But we all know that they can be fairly expensive, and when you use them it's rare to use the entire sheet. Well today's trick will tell you how to get even more from your paper scraps. I keep my scraps in plastic bins or Ziploc bags so when I'm making something that just needs a "little something" or I want to thin out the stacks, I grab those supplies and my square punches. Many of you have see the patchwork quilt patterns and that is today's project. I'll show you how I use every bit of my favorite, inspirational papers. The joy of this technique is that there is that it works just like a real quilt in that you don't have to have matching papers. The other nice thing is that it will work with any sized square. I tend to use 1" or 3/4" because I have so many scraps. :)

Step one: Punch out squares from your scrap paper. I don't really count, I just punch until I'm out of paper.

Step two: Decide what size you'd like to make you paper quilt and start gluing your squares down.

Step 3: assemble your project.

Here are two examples. In the first one, I chose to leave the quilt as my entire background. In the second sample, I used my top note die and shaped the quilt.

Let's see what you can make with your scraps!