Five Amazing Ideas for Using Vinyl Scraps

When I started working with adhesive vinyl, I watched lots of YouTube videos. Some of the crafters would carefully trim the vinyl before cutting designs with a cutting machine. Then they would save the scraps. Others would cut and toss whatever was left. Some of them would use vinyl scraps for giveaways.

Being the thrifty person I am, I started saving my vinyl scraps from each project. My mantra was, and still is, we don’t waste product. At first it was fine. I had a small plastic ZipLock where I stored my leftovers. Gradually I transitioned to a plastic shoe box for storage.

The Vinyl Take-Over

Before I knew it, though, I had a large, clear, plastic tote box with all kinds of pieces of vinyl. I had glitter vinyl, removable vinyl, and permanent vinyl. The question was: what in the world am I going to do with all of this “extra” vinyl?

I started organizing and quickly found that some pieces were just not worth the trouble of keeping. If I didn’t care for the original piece that the scraps came from, there was no use in saving the leftover pieces. If the pieces were way too small to reasonably use on another project, I got rid of them.

After purging, I was down to a manageable amount of scrap vinyl. I gave some away as part of starter kits. I put some aside for my daughters to use as practice pieces. And I started trying to come up with more ideas for using my precious vinyl scraps that I just could not stand to part with.

I want to share with you five ways I’ve been able to utilize the vinyl scraps that I’ve been able to justify saving. I think number 5 is my favorite.

Ready? Let’s go!

Decorative Stickers

Making stickers using your Cricut, Silhouette, or Brother is a big deal right now. But have you thought about using vinyl scraps along with decorative punches to make cute sticker decals? These are super cute to use as reward chart sticker or small window decals. All you need is a punch like the ones below. Punch out all kinds of shapes from your glitter vinyl, patterned vinyl, or solid vinyl. Instant decal!

I have found that vinyl with a thicker backing, such as Oracal or foil vinyl, works best with my punches. If the backing is too thin or too flimsy, your vinyl will get stuck and you’ll be upset and want to throw it against the wall or something. Oh, wait… That’s just me…

Accent a Bigger Project

Have you ever gotten through a project and it was missing something? Or maybe you knew you needed to add some more color to your piece but didn’t want to cut into a whole new sheet of vinyl.

Well, how about hitting your scrap pile and using what you’ve got to add some pizzaz and color to a bigger project. Check out this sign.

I wanted to add a little more color to make it pop a little. So I used scrap vinyl to cut out white snowflakes. That way, I still get the glitter from the original silver. But the white snowflakes give the sign a little something extra.

Labels for Small Items

“I’m going to organize my space for sure this month.” How many times have you said that? Well, if you have vinyl scraps, you’re a step closer.

A lot of the things we have in our craft studios and throughout our homes can easily be organized be adding labels. I love adding vinyl labels cut on my Cricut to label my supply storage areas. In the example below, I used scraps of purple vinyl to label my mini organizer.

You can also use scrap vinyl to make labels for notebooks, spice jars, pantry items, and laundry room organizers.

Come through with those organization tips, Mrs. Craft Lady!

Decorate Vases

This one is not complicated at all. I had as many vases as I had vinyl scraps! I have no idea how I accumulated so many. But I did.

I love flowers and I love pretty glass vases. But let’s face it. They can get boring after a while and they all start looking the same.

What if you could dress up a vase for the season, any season, using… VINYL SCRAPS?!!!

Here’s an example of a vase I decorated using scraps of vinyl. It was super easy to decorate. In fact, I used these files from Creative Fabrica and cut the vinyl on my Cricut. Easy peasy!

Vinyl Swatch Notebook

OK, Craft Buddies. Are you ready for this one? I think this is probably the best idea of all.

You can make a vinyl swatch notebook!

“What is that, Mrs. Craft Lady? And why do I need one?”

A swatch notebook is perfect for keeping track of cut settings for specific vinyl pieces. You know how sometimes you need to add pressure or decrease pressure for a certain kind of vinyl? If you add a scrap cut of each type of vinyl your use along with the cut settings to a notebook, you won’t have to guess which settings to use next time.

Or how about this: You found the perfect kind of vinyl to make a project. Someone asks you to make the same project again and you cannot remember what brand of vinyl you used. Was it teal or was it turquoise? If you take a swatch of the vinyl, add it to your notebook along with details about the brand, color, and a picture of the project, it’s there for you when you need it.

Come on… You can’t tell me that’s not GENIUS!! In fact, I think it’s such a good idea that I’m including a link to my shop for you to download the template I use.

Grab Mrs. Craft Lady’s Vinyl Swatch Page HERE.

What Do You Think?

Well, my friends, there you have it. Five ways to put those precious vinyl scraps to use. None of us want to waste material. Crafting can be a pretty pricy hobby, and an even pricier business. So we want to be sure to get the best use from what we have.

I hope this was helpful. If you make a vinyl swatch book or use any of the other ideas I shared here, I’d love to see. Please tag me. I am EJsFunCrafting on all platforms.

P.S.

Speaking of getting the best for our money, I want to also tell you about Heat Transfer Warehouse. They have become my source for both HTV and adhesive vinyl. Their prices are reasonable, the customer service is excellent, and the shipping is super fast. Take a look around their site. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll like.

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