I have a problem. I used to buy lots of things to use as embellishments, and then never actually used them.

Extra wide wired ribbon? Have that. Seasonal stack of themed stickers from DCWV? Yep. Two sets of those. Halloween themed stickers and papers. Sure, how could I resist? Snaps and brads and eyelets in every color of the rainbow? Yes please!

In short, I have a lot of things, cluttering up my storage and my craft room.

What should I do with it all?

To start with, let’s make it easier to get at some of these items. All those little pieces of bling and brads and eyelets? Let’s put them at our finger tips.

One of the ways I look for things is by type: I look for washi tape or brads or wordfetti stickers, rather than something green, or something holiday related. Having similar sorts of things easily accessible in one place makes it more likely I’ll use a variety of them on a page.

I started out trying to use more embellishments by having a selection in my tool caddy. It quickly became clear that wasn’t that helpful, since I ran out of space and a lot of what wanted to use just didn’t fit.

Another way to use up items is to add a selection to a homemade kit. That has helped get more embellishments out of my stash and onto pages, but there is still so much more!

And then, I won this at a scrapbook crop:

Now it sits on my work table, filled with embellishments at my finger tips.

And some of these things are really old. Paper butterflies from the local stamp store before it closed. Eyelets from an eyelet setter kit back before the cropodile was introduced. Plastic slide frames that are probably older than my youngest, who’s nine. (Nine! How do these things happen?!)

So far, the ease of access has been helping me get these old items out of my stash. As I use things up, I plan on pulling in more old stash.

What are some things you have on hand that you could use to make older, forgotten product easier to access? Maybe an unused cupcake pan or small tool box would work for you. Don’t go out and buy anything. Look around for things you already have that you can re-purpose.

If all else fails, and I realize I am never going to use something I’ve had on hand for ages, there’s always the donation pile or the circular file. It’s hard, but sometimes you have to let things go.