What to do with overwhelming scraps

I wish I could say I thought of this but alas tis another

"steal" from soaphouse mama.

As you can see below my scrap box is overwhelmingly full

and quite annoying.

I decided that something needed to be done.

I took assorted scraps and tossed them into this adorable little album.

No rhyme no reason - just folded papers

I thought would work and then stitched them down the middle.

As I was sewing this one - I must've stuffed it too full

because in the middle my poor sewing machine lit up like a

Christmas tree and stopped.

I made some adjustments and managed to get it stitched but the 

back was soooo messy I added that binding to

make it look pretty.

Here is the inside and sorry for the blurries

I can't redo because I gave it to my friend Holli

who is in the process of scrappin it.

 As soon as she posts it - I'll link you up.

 Since there was still a lot of papers in that box

I threw together another one (for me) and didn't go quite as

crazy out of respect for my poor sewing machine.

Using scissors is not my friend right now and 

I gots the pooch mouth because my arm is out of commission 

more or less (tendonitis)

I am so not in the mood to do anything right now.

However, 

I was still not satisfied with the amount remaining in the scrap box

I decided to toss together a 6x6 album for the

little trip we'll be taking next month.

I was debating on using the album above, but I would

only have a finite amount of pages and then I would

need to be careful so I didn't run out.

I'll be seeing grandkidlets so who wants to ration pages.

 I used some chipboard for the cover that I need

to snaz up and then tossed

different bits and sizes of papers and PL cards in it.

 It really looks cool and some papers

have a white back that I'm totally fine with

as I'll have a place to journal.

And in this case I can just keep adding paper or PL cards

if I need as we travel along.

And ta-da.....

Here's what's remaining and it does look a bit

more manageable now.

Whew.

However, that adorable old basic grey baby paper

there maybe enough left of those papers 

to eke out another small album. 

Storing different size pages in your 12x12

I have an acute tennis elbow or tendonitis in my right arm.

Let me say there's nothing cute about it.

Its keeping me from doing things I love; such as,

crossfit, scrapping, typing, any repetitive arm movements.

Extremely annoying I must say.

So therefore, I haven't done any scrapping - except minimal stuff.

I have seen this question or issue pop up in some threads 

and thought I'd address it.

It appears that some scrappers love creating 8.5x11 or 6x12 etc

but feel that if they scrap in that size they would need

that size album.

I'm here to say au contraire, my friends.

I have been doing this for years - putting all sizes in my 12x12 album.

And I must say its really fun to flip through.

Not so much photographing though

LOL.

But fun to have them in my albums and mixed in between because

 A. There's no rhyme nor reason to my albums

(very freeing) I scrap whatever photo or story as the mood moves me

for my every day stuff. Therefore

 B. there's no matchy matchy (which I can

do in matchy matchy in like baby or heritage albums) 

and also means there is absolutely no cohesive-ness to my albums

which I know that will drive some of you crazy.

I'd say welcome to my world - but I'm okay with it.

 I tend to let some things dictate what size I will scrap, such as:

A. Size of the photo

B. How stinkin awesome the papers are on both sides

and do I want to use both sides somehow

C. The size of any leftover and/or hoarded paper I deem awesome again

and still want to use.

D. The size or lack thereof of the journaling, embellishments and titles.

 So as I complete pages they get tossed in in random order.

As you can see here, I found some different sizes

that could use another page in them.

I love that - 

Also you can see I have assorted sizes, 8.5x11, 8x8 (which you

usually have to punch a hole for it to sit right in the book) and

6x12. I'll soon have some 9x12 - can't wait to try that size.

Pocket pages are totally fun to add in

especially when I think I have so many amazing photos (in my head)

that I want seen and a windy story to tell.

I also have some leftover pocket pages that are random sizes from

my last travel trip that I'll be tossing in too.

Just because I can.
I love not being bound to the same size all the time.