Scrapbooking has become a very popular hobby in the U.S. and is becoming increasingly popular around the world. Although it is a craft and hobby, the materials and tools scrappers use can become quite expensive. I would like to give you a few tips on how you can save money.
· Trade supplies you already have with other scrappers you know. You never know what you’ll find and what you might be able to use.
· Make use of your cardstock and paper scraps by keeping them for smaller projects or use them for punching out tags or other shapes. Use them for matting, journaling, as photo corners or for color blocking, etc. You would be surprised how you can use the smallest scraps on your layouts.
· You know those 3D pop dots? Don’t just use the actual dots and throw the rest away. Cut up the frame and use that as well. If you use punch out letters, numbers or shapes, use the remaining punched out paper as a stencil.
· Instead of tools like a bone folder, you can also use the back of a kitchen knife or a ruler. For quilling you can also use a toothpick instead of a quilling tool.
· Check out your house, in the drawers to see if you can’t find items to use, such as pop caps, bottle caps, paper clips, scraps of material you don’t need anymore, thread, yarn, etc. There are just so many possibilities.
· Use computer printouts for tags, quotes, shapes to embellish your layout.
· Inventory your supplies on a regular basis to see what you still have. You might be surprised at how much you find that you didn’t know you had a stash of.
· For chipboard embellishments, use the back of notepads or parts of cartons / boxes, cover in patterned paper, cut out and there you have your chipboard embellishment. You can also print large letters backwards on patterned paper and then cover the chipboard, then cut it out with a craft knife.
· Instead of a special scrapbooking caddy, use a kitchen caddy. Believe me, it does the trick. You also might want to use transparent organizing bins that you can find in a hardware or office supply store, rather then purchasing expensive “special” scrapbooking organizers.
· Check for discounts (obviously) on scrapbook items. Check out Michael’s or Joann’s. They usually have great deals on a regular basis. Also check out your local office supply store. They might just have something you can use and it’s usually less expensive than at your local scrapbooking store.
Hope this helps you in your endeavor to “save money” while scrapping fabulous layouts!
Jacqueline M. Schimmel is a Professional Scrapbook Designer who designs custom and premade scrapbooks, cards, frames and teaches scrapbooking courses in Germany. Her portfolio consists of over 580 designed layouts and she was hired to design an album that was given to his Holiness the Pope in 2005 on his visit to Cologne, Germany. The name of her business is Memories Artwork?, http://memoriesartwork.typepad.com.
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Scrapbooking supplies are not cheap. The cost for colorful paper and card stock, stickers, embellishments, and adhesives can really add up. If you are looking for frugal scrapbooking ideas to help cut back on these expenses, keep reading. By using discarded items you find around the house, you will save money and recycle things that would otherwise end up in the landfills.
1. Cereal Boxes
If you have a die cut machine capable of cutting chipboard, such as the Cricut Expression, don’t buy chipboard at the craft store. Instead, use cereal boxes. Once you adhere colorful paper to the cereal box die cuts, no one will ever guess it came from your pantry! You can also use inexpensive cookie cutters as patterns for your cereal box chipboard shapes.
2. Wallpaper Remnants
Many wallpaper remnants are as beautiful as the pricey papers in the scrapbooking stores. Make regular stops at your local paint and wallcovering stores, get to know the staff, and ask them to call you when they have discontinued sample books that they are discarding. Unfortunately, there is a good chance that these samples are not acid-free. Although they may not be suitable for your scrapbook pages, they are the perfect touch for handmade cards and other paper crafting projects.
3. Gift Wrap
Think of all the beautiful gift wrap that ends up in the landfill. Instead of throwing it away, recycle it. At birthday parties and other special occasions, check with the guest of honor to find out if he or she has any plans to use the gift wrap after unwrapping presents. If they plan to throw it away, you should be able to collect a good assortment of gift wrap paper that can be used for your frugal paper crafting projects.
4. Fabric and Ribbon Scraps
If sewing is another one of your hobbies, you already know that fabric and ribbon scraps are the perfect complement to your paper crafting projects. Many of these fabric and ribbon scraps are too small for sewing, yet are the perfect size for accenting handmade cards and more. Ask your friends and family members that sew to keep a ziploc handy to collect their scraps. These bits and pieces of ribbon and fabric are perfect for your scrapbook and paper crafting projects!
5. Office Supplies
Many of the products in the scrapbooking aisle are simply embellished office supplies. Office supplies, however, are much cheaper, and can be jazzed up with very little effort. For example, instead of buying the colorful brads at the scrapbooking store, pick up a box of paper fasteners. Paint them with inexpensive acrylic paints to coordinate with the your layouts.
With a little imagination and creative thinking, you will surely find even more common household goods that you can use for frugal scrapbooking ideas. Keep an inexpensive container handy, and as you come across odds and ends that could find a second life in one of your projects, place it in the container until you find a use for it.
This article was written by Dawn Hall. To save money on scrapbooking projects, she recommends investing in a few good tools, including a Cricut machine, to make your own die cuts. You can read about Cricut cartridges and more by visiting her blog.
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