Not Just Scraps

Well, hello New Year, with your fresh start and alluring invitation to start something new. And hello, blog. The forgotten corner of The Stamped Lily which begins each new year with the best of intentions…we meet again!

Just like the previous years, here I am attempting to remain consistent with this craft that I enjoy but also dread each time I lay my fingers on the keys. Writing is a tricky business y’all. Why is this? Only God knows, but alas here I am.

This time I really do want to share! (As if the last two years I didn’t…sheesh) But, I have the coolest idea and it will be so fun to bring you along. Thank you for the endless grace and the readers who stop to read the handful of random blog posts I manage to get up each year. You are a blessing to me and I appreciate you!

Okay now let me tell you about my bucket. 

I have a large tin bucket that sits on an open shelf in The Stamped Lily workshop. This tin bucket got its start in the TSL Workshop at the very beginning of this business six years ago.  As I’ve moved from the kitchen table, to the garage, to my current workshop it has come with me. I hold onto it and its contents because I can’t seem to get rid of it!

What’s in the tin bucket? Scraps.

Eleven pounds of scraps to be exact. Over the last six years I’ve tossed random pieces salvaged from leather belts into the bucket. I’ve got leather, metal, complete leather belts, and there are probably some mysteries to be found at the bottom of this treasure bucket. It reminds me of Mary Poppins’ carpet bag. 

I don’t know why these leather pieces made their way into the bucket instead of being repurposed in my jewelry, thrown away, or placed in another scrap bin. (I have a hard time throwing away leather, can you tell?) However, the bucket is starting to overflow so…it’s time.

I’ve watched various artists take their followers along on their creative journey and I’ve admired them and wondered if I was brave enough to do the same. Yes, I use the word brave because  for a gal who serially starts big projects and rarely finishes them, this is terrifying. The thought of letting others in on the journey and not finishing threatens to keep me from starting all together.

But the new year with its enticing invitation has sucked me in and I’m RSVP-ing “YES!”

I plan to call this adventure “Not Just Scraps” (thanks for the cute title Sarah). If there’s one lesson I’ve tried to live out in  creating jewelry is  that nearly everything can be given new life. I do it all the time here in the TSL Workshop. It’s my favorite part of what I do.

So, what’s the plan?

I plan to create a collection that consists of jewelry using only the materials in this bucket. Let’s not get technical with chain and rivets, etc., but my goal is to use as many of the pieces in this bucket that I possibly can. Limitations, I’ve learned, can be the seed of creativity; sparking new designs, ideas, and pushing me outside my comfort zone. And this, my friends, is where the good stuff happens.

I hope to create some unique pieces from this collection that you’ll love! When you wear a piece that comes from the “Not Just Scraps” collection I hope you’ll remember the years that these pieces sat unused, not forgotten, just resting in the bucket for the right time to be given a new purpose.

This journey will serve as a reminder of what I always seem to come back to: What looks broken may not be broken at all. It’s just a step in the process of being repurposed into something even more beautiful than you can imagine.

​​”Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” -Ephesians 3:20-21