Creating with a load of old scraps

Well hello there, welcome to the




You should have arrived here from Mini Owner's Blog. If you have arrived here independently of the hop, then why don't you join in, just hop through all the blogs taking part, leaving a comment on each one as you go. Finally return to UKS and leave your comment on the blog hop post to be in with a chance of winning some scrummy prizes.

If you haven't visited The House of Bears before, this is a blog with a slight difference, it's written by bears, yes, that's right, over a year ago now, the bears of the house staged a coup and took over the blog from the human, who we considered led a rather boring life. Now we craft and create, and blog about it too. Don't worry though, the human has been stashed safely under the bed in case we ever find a need for her. We now refer to her as the acronym, THUTB.

Horace has been voted as bear best suited to hosting the hop post, so, over to him.

Hello there, Horace here to show you my leftovers page.




No, that's not it. That's a photo of me! keep scrolling!

I've just finished a LO with a lovely scrapbook kit, and I was sat pondering what to do with the scraps I was left with, there's too much to just throw away and, like most crafters, I don't like waste, but I also dislike the ever growing stash pile that can accumulate from saving every piece of paper 'just in case'.




Most scrapbookers enjoy other crafts, and the bears are no exception, so I'm going to show you how to use those scraps and other items that many crafters will already have, to create an art journal page. Don't be put off if you don't indulge in art journalling, these techniques can be used to create all manner of projects, from a standard scrapbook page using up scraps, to a greetings card, or even mini projects such as ATCs or mail art cards.

To begin, I opened my journal to a random page, and using the scraps of paper shown above, I began to rip and place them onto the journal.




I didn't want too much order to my project, so I ripped and stuck the papers in a haphazard manner. If you are creating a card or uniform project you may want a more ordered effect to your artwork, but for journal pages, the freer you can be, the more fun it is.




I always feel more creative if I use the biggest brush I can find for gluing purposes!




I usually use Golden Gel medium to adhere my papers, but this is a 'use what you have' project, and your usual preferred glue should work. Glue as much of the paper to your page as you feel fits your particular project. As you can see, I was quite generous with mine, and all of the papers below were leftovers from the same kit.




You may like to leave some white space on your page, but I decided to be daring and go for maximum coverage with some mists. If you are using clashing patterned paper this will have the added effect of blending everything together and toning down anything too garish, meaning you can use almost any scraps for this project! Yes, even those 'what was I thinking' papers from the first days of patterned paper sales when we all thought we must rush out and buy one of every sheet available.

Most scrappers will have mists or equivalent products, so use what you have, be that paints, mists, inks etc to cover as much of the patterned papers and white spaces as you wish.




I find it best to protect the desk whilst working with mists, as they seem to have a mind of their own once in my furry paws. I use old advertisement papers that come through the door periodically and place them between my pages to protect the rest of the art journal (and the desk!)




I always mist water over my page before spraying the mists onto one side of the journal, closing the book and, to spread the colour, I like to use the bears' own inimitable squishing technique.




Don't worry though, there is no need to sit on your project to achieve the spreading effect, hands pressing the page work just as well, it's just not as much fun.

Ah, colourful loveliness! This effect can also be achieved with distress inks, water colour crayons or pencils, or paints, just blob (we like our technocal terms in The House of Bears!) different colours in random areas and use water to disperse and blend the colour.




Next, you will need some embellishments to enhance your creation, we all have those bags of leftover embellishments or die cuts and stickers don't we?Well here's your chance to use some to create a fun and funky project. I chose a mix of magazine images and the legs from a Dylusions stamp. Again, use what you have, and what fits your page.




Oh, if you don't have quite enough stash, the bears have had a rummage through the stamp box and found these lovely journal stamps




Which we would like to offer as blog candy to one reader of this post. What do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning them? Well, as you've obviously read the whole post you're halfway there, as this is hidden candy - and If you would like to go in the draw to win, write the word Podgy somewhere in your comment, just so we know you've been observant ;) try to incorporate the word into your comment rather than as a random word, just to make it more fun for us. We'll put all the names in Pooh's hat and draw a winner from it tomorrow, once the hop is over. The candy is open to anyone who wants to play, regardless of whether you follow our blog or not.

Back to the journal page and adding some journalling for interest. Remember all those alphabet stickers you have languishing forlornly in your stash?




Now's the time to use them to form a sentiment for your project. You can use just one alphabet font, or a range of styles to use up oddments of alphabets, just have fun with whatever you have, experiment and see what you like best. I didn't have enough of any stickers to make the sentiment I wanted, so turned to the trusty Cricut.




Of course, if you don't have any alphabet stickers or cutting dies, you may have some alphabet stamps you can utilise, and if not this still doesn't preclude using journalling on your page, cut random letters or words from magazines, or use a journalling pen, or even a regular felt tip on strips of card. Be inventive, look around and see what you have, the beauty of art journalling is you really can use anything to create your page.

I hope this post has given you some ideas of ways to use your leftovers along with your every day stash items. Here's my creation. As you can see, to add some interest to my background I've randomly stamped over the misted background to create patterns, again, you don't have to own stamps to achieve a good background pattern - bubble wrap painted lightly then pressed onto the page creates a fantastic effect, as does inking or painting bottle tops, either side, and pressing them over your background in as random a fashion as possible. Experiment, have fun, use your imagination, but most of all, use those scraps.




Now it's time to hop over to Sarahfor more great inspiration. Happy hopping.

With love from the bears