My scrapbook stash has grown so much over the years! Can you relate? Please tell me I’m not alone!
I love all my scrapbook stuff. I love that I almost always have what I need when I’m inspired to scrap. That being said, as I was making this layout my eyes were opened to how much stuff I have and how much I get in my own way during my scrapbooking process.
Where did all this stash come from you ask? It’s years worth of my online purchases (Oh how fun it is to buy the latest and greatest papers and embellishments!) and many months years of being a Studio Calico kit subscriber. If only I were as good at scrapping as I am at buying. Sigh.
I’ve have an awesome stack of 12 x12 storage containers to house all my SC kits from way back when to present. I’ve always kept my kits together…I love the idea that everything is put together for me. The problem? Well, the problem is (I’m very embarrassed to say) that I NEVER USE MY KITS!!
Sure, I rummage through them from time to time as I’m trying to find something for a layout. I’ve pulled out alphas, washi tape, a few embellishments, stamps, and labels, but for the most part, the majority of the contents of the kits are still together. I’m not sure why I don’t pull out a kit and try to use as much of it as I can. Probably because I’m making layouts very sporadically, and I’ve never really had much of a scrapbooking plan.
As I was rummaging through while making the layout I mentioned earlier, I thought about how I need to break these kits apart. I’ve been thinking this for a long time, but I could never bring myself to do it. I’ve finally had enough. I realized that I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF that I could be using! Instead, its all crammed together, and I don’t have a clue what I have. It was time to break them apart and find out.
It took about two hours to break apart and sort all the kits I have. I photographed a lot of the supplies, too, but didn’t photograph everything. The longer I spent sorting through all of it, the more aggravated I became at myself for accumulating all this stuff!
Let’s take a look at some the supplies I still had grouped together in those storage containers, shall we?
First off: Patterned paper and card stock! Look at all of this!! Who needs THIS MUCH stored away, hidden from view? Please keep in mind this is in addition to all the patterned paper and card stock that I already have in my stash!
Now let’s take a look at the scraps of the paper I’ve pulled out of these kits and used. Not much, huh?
Next, stamps! Seriously! Look at all these stamps! Some of these I’ll never use! Again, these are in addition to what I already have in my stash! I know I can get rid of some of these, but I need to spend some time organizing the ones I keep into all the other stamps…some are great for PL, while others are better for layouts.
Alphas! As many alphas as there are here, this is not all of them. That’s the one thing I’ve been pulling out of these kits and using. Some of these I don’t love and I’ll let them go, but there will be plenty joining the others in my stash. I’m not so unhappy with the alphas because that’s the one thing I can happily say that I have used.
Let’s move on to wood veneers, washi tape, and ribbon. Ugh! There are repeats of wood veneers! I need these washi tapes like I need a hole in the head! And ribbon? I don’t really use ribbon.
Lastly, there’s this:
What the heck am I supposed to do with this?!! I’ve been sent four of these bags over the months/years as a SC kit subscriber, and it’s the most random combination of stuff for confetti! I get that there was a shaker pocket craze at one point, but I’m at a loss for what to do with this. I’m getting rid of it because I don’t want to waste any more time thinking about it.
Now there is still so much stuff that I didn’t photograph. I found labels, sticker sheets, flair/badges, buttons, epoxy shapes, tags, envelopes, paper clips, shaped paper clips, sequins, clothes pins, photo overlays, rub-ons, enamel dots, die cuts, velum die cuts, patches, cork stickers and shapes, one bottle of mist, a roller stamp, a watercolor brush/pencil, a handful of 3×4 and 4×6 cards, and a couple of stencils. Seriously it’s a lot of crap stuff! Too much stuff.
You know when you get so fed up with something and you FINALLY take action on it? You know that feeling of frustration when you say enough is enough? Have you ever found yourself in a whirlwind of purging, sorting, and attempted organization because you’re sick of looking at a pile of stuff that isn’t serving you well? That’s what happened to me in the hours leading up to my writing the core of this post. I’ve had some time to reflect on this since then, but my feelings haven’t changed. I’m so glad that I took the time to tear into these kits and pull them apart.
In part two of this post I’ll go into more detail about this huge stash of supplies was really holding me back from being a productive memory keeper. Please watch for that post coming soon.
Do you have a handle on your stash? Have you ever experienced anything like this? Stash is something almost all of us have. Let’s talk about this!
