It’s happened to all of us at some point or another. It’s a big fear from those who aren’t sure whether or not to buy a full paper collection or subscribe to a kit club.We see a piece of patterned paper, an embellishment, sometimes even a whole kit but write it off as something we could never use. Perhaps it’s just not our style. Maybe it has a motif or theme that just doesn’t seem to work with our own personal stories. I know have come across those ” supplies you never thought you could use.”. Actually, it happened this week. I saw the basketball/ team sports themed kit and I thought that it just wasn’t for me. The kit seems geared toward high school basketball which of course, my son has no interest in. I passed the kit by and moved on.

Then it happened. I was flipping through images in my photo library and what should I happen to spy? There was a photo of my son playing with a cheap toy basketball hoop. Surprise! Surprise! The kit I had written off just a short time ago was now the exact thing I needed to document the story.

 

Slam Dunk by Christy Strickler |Supplies Cardstock: American Crafts; Digital Kit: 3 Point Shot by Traci Reed;Jewel: Freckled Fawn;based on Inspired by a Sketch from Simple Scrapper Premium Membership

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find a way to Incorporate those supplies you never thought you could use into your scrapbook pages.

Now I am not saying to keep and hoard supplies or buy them simply on the premise that they might someday magically be the perfect thing for your layout. What I am telling you is to always consider giving supplies a second chance before you dismiss them. Could they help you tell a deeper story than the face value of the photo?

Look through your photos for unexpected stories.

My son may not be into high school basketball, but he did at one point (as a toddler) briefly play basketball. I chose to tell the story about how my son never developed an affinity for team sports, much the same way that his mother did not.

Can the theme or motif in these difficult to use supplies have an alternative meaning?

It wasn’t much of a stretch for me to adapt a basketball themed kit to a page about a toddler playing ball.  There aren’t a lot of alternative meaning associated with basketballs. There are times though in which you are going to run into supplies that do have motifs with multiple meanings.Supplies with motifs you might dismiss because you don’t usually work with them or feel don’t fit in with your story. Take a butterfly, for example. A lot of people would say it’s girly or it symbolizes spring. A butterfly can also symbolize changes and transition.I sometimes add them to a page with my son when I want to show he has changed or is growing.

 

I know the use of some supplies may appear quite a bit less obvious than this kit was. I admit to being stumped more than once by a pattern or motif, especially with the occasional product or two from a kit club or paper collection. When this happens, I set the item aside for a bit to reconsider how to use it. Ironically, that difficult item often becomes one of the first things I end up reaching for when it comes time to make my layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This isn’t the first time I have written about using a difficult supply. Check out this post in which I use a VERY bold sheet of patterned paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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