Special Guest Blogger: Maggie Holmes

Hi there everyone, I’m Maggie Holmes, a member of the 2009 Creating Keepsakes Dream Team. I’m excited to be this week’s guest blogger! Even though it is Summer, I am in the mood for cleaning up and clearing out. Well, actually, it seems like I am always in that “Spring Cleaning” mode around here—always trying to keep control of the constant inflow of papers, packaging and stuff! And especially here in my scrapbook room; it can be hard to keep it under control!

And even though I do love the feeling of purging and throwing out the excess, I also feel bad about just throwing things away—especially if they are cute and usable! I have always been a fan of cute packaging and I love to repurpose it and use it on my scrapbook layouts when I can. And it means that I am throwing out less and being a little more “green.” You gotta love that, right?

I have found that manufacturers seem to be making their packaging cute and reusable even more so lately, which is so fun! A few of my recent favorites that I have added to my stash are these adorable ones from Sassafrass, Making Memories, Studio Calico and Elle’s Studio.

Another one of my favorite things is to use my punches to create custom accents for my scrapbook pages. Then I can make things the exact size, color and shape that I want them! So, combining both of these—packaging and punches—makes me a  happy girl!! Doing this very thing, I created a layout of my little girl, Emily, and I managed to use all four of pieces of packaging on my page! Plus, I still have quite a bit of each one left that I will be able to use again in the future.

In case you can’t tell where I have used the packaging, here are the details:

1. I used my favorite corner punch from EK Success to create both of these photo corners from the Elle’s Studio and the Studio Calico Packaging. After punching them I used a black marker to outline the edges just to give the corners a little more definition.

2. I used the upper crest border punch from Fiskars to punch a strip of paper from the Making Memories packaging.

3. I cut out a strip from the Sassafrass packaging and tucked it under the other strip. I LOVE to add little strips of paper to my layouts and packaging is perfect to use for these. I will often use my scallop scissors to cut strips from packaging as well.

3. I used a square punch and the Sassafrass packaging to create these two boxes. Then I simply used a marker to outline the box and a rub-on for the check marks.

If you aren’t already saving your packaging to use like I do, I challenge you to look more closely at it before you toss it into the trash. You will probably find that there are lots of cute things you can save to use on your scrapbook layouts. Once you learn to see the potential in those typically tossed scraps, the sky is the limit!

Have fun!
Maggie

For more from Maggie, check out her work in the July issue of CK and visit her happy blog!