With CHA buzz growing louder by the day, I’m starting to worry that I won’t have anywhere to put all the new goodies that I’m starting to want/need. So I’ve decided it’s time to reduce my stash. And since diet is a four letter word around here, my only options are to use it or give it away. I have issues with letting go of my stash, so I’m going to work on using it. From now until CHA opens (Jan 28) I’ll be challenging myself to use up a lot of my stash – one week to clear some space for some fun new supplies. I know a lot of the new product won’t be reaching me here in Canada until late February at the earliest, but I also know that I’ll be doing Lain Ehmann’s LOAD challenge in February (more about this soon), so I shouldn’t have much trouble using supplies next month. I’m hoping that this week will be a good warm up for Lain’s challenge next month.
In order to make the biggest dent in my stash, I’ve been thinking about what I love to shop for and comparing that to how I use my stash. There are (quite) a few things that I love to buy faster than I use:
- Paper – obviously, this is my biggest temptation. If I’m honest, pretty paper is one of the main reasons I started scrapbooking. It’s inexpensive and so versatile. I’ll be looking for ways to use paper to make my own embellishments and use more patterned paper on each page.
- Fancy brads – A new love of mine. I need to figure out how to use them on my pages. Somehow, they don’t seem to come naturally to me.
- Letter stickers – not sure why I hoard these, but I always find more that I must have, so they’ve become a must use item. I see some long titles in my near future!
- Chipboard – I have a storage issue with chipboard, it’s out of sight so I don’t think to use it. I’ll be creating page kits and looking for bits of chipboard to include.
- Ribbon and trim – I’ve stopped my buying spree, but still have hoards of it that I’m not using as much as I’d like.
- Die cuts – are scattered and disorganized, so they’ve become frustrating to search through. Time for a new storage/organization system for these
- Tapes – First I had to have the 7 Gypsies gaffer tapes, now it’s paper and washi tapes. Maybe if I put them in a pretty glass container on my desk, I’ll use them more.
- Rub ons – A great item for layering on layouts, that I simply don’t think to use. I’ll be putting these in my page kits, too.
For the next week, I’ll be scrapping my heart out and challenging myself to think of ways to use more of my stash on each page. I’ll post daily showing everything I create and discussing my inspirations and stash diving adventures along the way. I’ll also be creating a package of goodies from my stash to share with a lucky commenter. Every comment on every post this week will be entered into a draw on Saturday January 28. And because I really hope you’ll join me and play along, all comments that include a link to your stash-reducing creations will be entered twice.