Hi, it's Ruth here with a Stash Busting post for you all about ideas for using your 6x6 papers. I love to use the 6x6 papers in the 1/2 pad we get in most of the September Strawberry Fields Pocket Life kit to create my project life layouts, they are the best both for getting a wide range of colours and designs that all coordinate and because i feel quite free to layer and cut them to my hearts content as there are lots of pages and they are not as thick as cards, so they dont get too bulky.
The only problem with 6x6 pads is that they are so many sheets that it seems like they build up in my stash really really fast before i know it and I want to get those beautiful papers in my scrapbooks and off the shelf, so here are 3 big tips to help you do the same.
Tip 2: Don't be afraid to use lots at once
The thing about having lots to work with is that you can use lots and not worry about running out, imagine this is the only layout you will create with the 6x6 pad and dont save any for another project, just use it with total abandon, there are lots of sketches online good for using 6x6 too, every Scrappy Canary sketch has been full of smaller peices that are great from the smaller prints in 6x6 papers.
Tip 3: Before you pack away, make another small project
Not every project needs to be a creative masterpiece, sometimes you can whip up a quick and simple project from the leftovers before you put them away in your stash. Here I mixed tip 1 (use a 3x4 cutapart with the papers) and tip 2 (use the paper with abandon) and I stuck 2 6x6 papers together to make an 8x6 canvas, folded in half to be a 4x6 card, no card base, just the 6x6 papers, and then added some embellishments from the September Penny Lane Scrapbook kit and Abbey Road Embellishment kit to make this quick, cute and versatile card for a birthday or any occasion.

I am using the August Scrapbook and Addon kits but the newest kits are now out and they are stunning!!

If you wanted to have a go at the sketch you can find it here and it remains open for entries till the end of the month. Without further ado here is my take on the sketch.

Hi There, it's Ruth with a couple of cards from the Bohemian, Nomad and Gypsy kits. I LOVE these bright colours and the stickers, ribbons and tapes were so fun I wanted to make something to share, so I whipped up a couple of cards from this month's kits. The only think that was not in the kit was the circle punch and the die I used for the word happy.

Both cards are a technique partner to layouts I shared previously in the month, this first one is the same idea as my stash busting layout which was filled with punched hearts, though this time I pulled out my circle punch instead and because the patterns were quite busy and bright, I left them whole.
There are lots of awesome embellishments in the kits that work for cards as well as other projects like the little circle tags from Chic Tags that worked just beautifully as a sentiment for this card, which I plan to use for a birthday but could really use for any happy occasion that we are celebrating, wedding, baby, whatever!

Hi, it's Ruth here with my week 21 spread, this month I mixed my Day Trip PL kit with my embellishment kit and just a few extras from the scrapbooking kit, and one thing I noticed immediately was that I really loved some of the embellishments that we got more than one of and decided to channel a bit of Ali Edwards and embrace the repetition in my journalling, my embellishments and my designs.
Another repeated element is the heart punches, which were leftover scraps but which I used as negative space in this layout to create another repeated design element. There are hearts in the die cuts and that creates a triangle of hearts, top left, bottom right and bottom left.
Most of the repeated elements are in 3s across the layout, some of them are more subtle and some more obvious. The gold lettering is repeated on both sides, as are the stars in wood and enamel.
Here are the full pages for each side, I try to include loads of photos but also have a lot of creative play too.
Finally here is the full spread, you can still get this awesome project life kit, Day Trip, in the Scrappy Canary shop.

 Hi, it's Ruth here to share a layout using the Bohemian Scrapbooking kit with a bit of the Gypsy PL kit too, one of my very favourites with all those bright happy colours!
This layout started from the paper, I just drooled over it and wanted it to be as much the hero as the photograph, they needed to sing to each other like the sky and the sea and after a lot of shuffling I came up with this pie-chart style page. Bernii was sitting next to me while I was making it and I credit her with the suggestion of the stitching which I think is the perfect finishing touch, thanks Bernii! :)
Here is the whole thing, I used lots of things in the kit, the stamp, a lot of the papers including using the paint stripes to make the bows, I need to add the date on the right hand side in the blue enamel frame, but I forgot to do it before I photographed this. There might be one of these kits still in the scrappy canary store, but I would be quick as I dont see how it will last, this has to be one of my favourite kits of all time!

The second layout I am sharing today using the Bohemian kit is extremely light on the patterned paper by contrast, I used a white cardstock base and then used the paint striped paper in the kit to make a "messy without getting messy" layout. I was really drawn to the paint stripes paper and too a while to figure out how to make it work for the layout I had in mind.
I trimmed the paper into individual colours and then cut them at various lengths and attached them to a fresh piece of white card stock to make it appear as though I had painted the lines where I wanted them to frame my photo and embellishments.
I used the rest of the paint strips to die cut out the bows in the first layout, I know that you can tell if you look closer that the paint is on another layer of paper, but I love the way the colours work on the page, along with those flashes of gold in the title and stickers.
You can find the Bohemian kit for sale in the Scrappy Canary store, I promise you will have a ball playing with this fab kit, the die cuts and transparency are so fun and the gold is so fun!

Hi it's Ruth here on Release morning with a great project for using up all your odds and ends and leftover peices of patterned paper. This month I used everything that was left from my july kits, I literally only have alphabet stickers and a few brads etc left, but have used up the paper from my Main and Pocket Life kits and almost all the embellishments from both those and the embellishment kit in this fun and bright mini album for my niece.


I love to use mini albums as a quick and celebratory look at a recent happy event, since that is when I have a million photos in a short time span. This time it was for a fourth birthday party, with all the usual trappings of presents, cake and games.

I used an inexpensive clipboard from Daiso (a discount store that recently opened in a nearby shopping centre, but any clipboard would work fine). This one caught my eye because it was aqua and the orientation was horizontal instead of vertical, but I was planning on using a regulation masonite vertical one from officeworks before I found this beauty, and it would have worked great too. Lots of places have great clipboard for sale if you would something a bit pretty, like these cuties from typo.
I started this project by piling up all the paper I had remaining and triming some of the peices a bit smaller to make extra border peices for other pages, then I selected 6 sheets that would be the "pages" of this mini album and lay them out with a photo each.
Then I assigned the rest of the paper scraps to each page so I knew I wouldnt leave the later pages short by using them all for layering on the first few pages. I deliberately mixed up the sizes as I wanted the pages to peek around the edge of each other.
After building each page to a certain point I think planned out the journalling, adding in spare pocket journalling cards and a few bits of kraft cardstock as needed, I didnt write the journalling yet but made a plan for where it would go.
I was now up to the final stages, so I got out all my remaining embellishments and letters and put them in front of me, it was quite inspiring to see all the yummy goodies I could choose from that were in the July kits.
Next I put the pages in order next to me and worked through them one page at a time adding all the embellishments, titles and journalling from my pile of goodies plus my basic tools like scissors, pens etc.
Knowing that I have made several pages from these supplies already I gave myself permission to cut out images from journalling cards, add flair with abandon, I was not "saving" anything for something better, I was just going to enjoy adding anything in my pile that I felt inspired by.
I really find that giving myself permission to be free with the way I use items fuels my creativity and inspired me for future projects too, it helps me get a bit out of my box as I dont worry as much about wrecking something, since I will be fine with it not working, I have made enough from this kit that the rest is free for playing with.
I had a lot of papers with heart shapes missing from one of the layouts I made this month and just popped something behind them and let them be a recurring shape in my mini album. I love using hearts and I adore my niece so it worked for me.
You can see the letters from the frames mixed up to make new words, it meant leftover letters unused, but I love the words I made so it was worth it to me.

Welcome to Stash Busting with Scrappy Canary, it's Ruth here with an example and an idea to use up lots of smaller pieces of patterned paper. July's PL kit has gorgeous 6x6 paper from Teresa Collins, with really dreamy colours, I wanted to bust a lot of that gorgeous colourful stash in my layout, so I pulled out a trusty punch.

A word about buying punches, I find the most boring designs to be the most useful. Circles, hearts, stars and scallops are the ones I pull out most of all, they match everything and don't fight with the other patterns. Next most popular for me are simple and unthemed designs like butterflies and notepad borders, things that can add meaning to a page without being super themed on their own. Butterflies might mean light, whimsical, free, girly, outside, flying, happy and notepad borders might mean school, teacher, writing, learning, serious, youthful, untidy or any number of other things, if you pair it with a relevant story. When you buy your punches, think about what you might use it with. Highly specific shapes can be hard to use on lots of pages without it being a bit repetitive, BUT if you are making lots of travel layouts or mini albums, then an aeroplane punch might be the image that ties all your pages together, so I'm not saying dont buy themed shapes, just that you need to know you will get value from it, whereas circles are easily used over and over and over.

 With so many patterns that all match each other and look good together, using a repeating punch to bust some 6x6 paper pad stash is a great option. You know that the papers will all look good bunched together as a very clever designer out there has already made sure of it! I dont know about you but I find that I get a lot of 6x6 pads piling up unused. I use a handful of pages for a layout, card or PL page but there are still so many left, well I say PUNCH it up!!
Cover the page in the, if you want more ideas for how to cover a page in punched shapes, check out the amazing Paige Evans who does a lot of quilt-inspired piecing on her layouts and uses her punches a lot!!
Once you have the background covered in punched shapes, just treat it like another peice of patterened paper, don't be afraid to cover up some of the designs with your photo and papers as you create your page, or work from a sketch (your own or one of ours!) and then you will know where the photo and embellishments will be later and can save yourself from punch a few of those shapes?
In my final touches, I added some bling and brads to a few of the hearts in a visual triangle, sometimes those little details can really make it feel finished. I hope you feel inspired to stash bust some patterned paper too and share the results with us (#scrappycanary #stashbustingSC)