To do scrapbooking right, you need to use the right scrapbooking material. This can get costly. We do our best to help by keeping the cost down on our scrapbook supplies. You can help lower your cost by being creative with how you use the scrapbook supplies you have. Here are some ideas to get you started. | |||||
Cookie cutters are great for making die cuts and even templates. My youngest likes polar bears so I've utilized my 'polar bear' cookie cutter for shapes in his scrap books.. Be creative - use those gingerbread boys & girls, hearts and stars, trees and cats, pigs and camels to decorate your pages and even crop your pictures!! Kati DeLaurier - Pine Mountain Club, CA | |||||
A great way to use those discarded scraps of acid free paper (patterned or solid) is to piece together a crazy quilt. Adhere your scraps down to your album page to make a crazy quilt background. Use your pens to make fun or fancy 'stitches.' Theresa Segal | |||||
I have several old pictures and some I borrowed from my extended family that I took and scanned into my computer. I then adjusted tints, cropped, and then printed them on my printer using photo paper. This enabled me to print as many copies of the pictures as I wanted (in case of mistakes and for multiple projects I have). Using the scanner I can make the pictures any size I want (up to 8 x 10) and can get several to a page if I choose, making this very cost effective. I was able to make a great wedding gift for my nephew using borrowed photos of his extended family...pictures that he otherwise would never have seen. Marilyn Lyons | |||||
I like to keep a small flip notebook in my purse with all my supplies listed on it so when I go to a craft/scrapbooking store I don't buy duplicates of things like decorative edge scissors, pen colors, punches, etc. This works really well. Whenever I buy something new, I just add it to the list before putting it away in my storage case!! Lori Farrell - Phoenix, AZ | |||||
Coloring books are a great source of clip-art. I use a copy machine to copy the image onto a transparency (reducing or enlarging asneeded). You can then use the transparency with a lightbox to trace onto your scrapbook page. I found a Winnie-the-Pooh coloring book for all through the year. It has cute pages for all the holidays and seasons. And don't throw the transparency away when you're finished...loan them to your scrapbooking friends. | |||||
I love to surf and collect lots of online layout ideas, but it gets really expensive printing them out. So I got a 3-ring binder, bought some paper, and divided each sheet into squares. I only use 12x12 albums, so square grids work well. Then when I'm online I jot down (or do a rough sketch) the page layout in color coordinating markers and I eventually end up with 9 layout ideas on 1 sheet of paper. It saves paper, time, and lots of trees. Tiffany Arnesen - Bonney Lake, WA | |||||
I use leftover scraps of patterned paper and cut out photo corners. These tiny pieces of scrap paper look like they could never be used for anything, but look again! Julie Hartnett - Derry, NH | |||||
Carrie Cefalu - Hartland, WI | |||||
After using a circle cutter or punch, you are left with a piece of paper with holes in it. At first glance, this is just scrap paper...but wait! Can you position a photograph OVER the holes in the paper? The cut-outs will never be seen and the paper will appear "intact" to the viewer. John and Carrie - Cut'N'Fun | |||||
Don't throw away those scraps of acid-free paper you may have left over after cutting out mats for photos or shapes from templates! Since some acid-free papers can be expensive, use the scraps that are left over in conjunction with your craft punches to make punch-outs to be used with future scrapbook pages. Position your punches at different angles to get the most out of your scraps! To store your punch-outs, use plastic snack bags, a fishing tackle accessory box, empty film containers or any method that would best suit your storage needs. Chel Morgan - Jacksonville, FL | |||||
Another use for unused pictures is to check at your local craft stores and especially any scrapbooking stores in your area. Some may give you free or discounted products for giving them your unused pictures so that they can make scrapbook layouts for display. One scrapbooking store in my town will give you die-cuts in exchange for pictures. Terri Foster - Bakersfield, CA | |||||
The plastic lids from coffee cans and shortening cans are great for making your own templates and even die cuts. Then they can be put into ziplock baggies and filed in the order you want or the way I prefer is to use a 3-ring binder and slip the templates and die cuts into plastic protectors and index them in the binder. Cathy Brown - Las Vegas, NV | |||||
Use children coloring books for a template or as background art. The coloring books with large simple pictures work best. Susan Borden - Louisville, TN | |||||
A fun way to make shapes of your favorite photos is by using cookie cutters. Bennita Ellis - Minot AFB, ND | |||||
After using all of the letters of the alphabets stickers, I cut out the outside overlapping colored part of the letter and then put on different colored paper. This gives me the letters and they look like they have been outlined in different colors. Jackie Scheck - Sterling, CO | |||||
Always get your prints made double, it is much cheaper than reprints. This way I have extras to use when creating pages. Karen Kasper - Avenel, NJ | |||||
Before investing in corner rounders, try using your fancy scissors. Some of the designs (i.e. Fiskars' Seagull scissors) will make both a rounded corner or a fancier corner depending on how much paper is cut! Terri Williams - Joplin, MO | |||||
When I can't find a template or cutout that is "just right" for my scrapbook page, I pull out my old decorating project stencils and make my own cut-outs or draw the designs on my pages. They come in almost anything you can imagine--flowers, vines, flags, toys, victorian, country, etc. Rosellen Goodwin - Chesapeake, VA | |||||
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