and
Other Money Saving Tips …
Below
are ideas for scrapbook page embellishments that are from items commonly found
in the home or are low cost items from sources you never even imagined! I’m
also including money saving tips. I
constantly remind my husband that I always use coupons and only
buy things when they are on sale. Do
these guys realize all of the money we are saving them?? I think not!
Friend of the
Library book sales, flea markets, or garage sales are the greatest sources for
embellishments. Old books that are
falling apart, literally, at the seams, can be taken apart and used as
decorative items on your page.
Turn-of-the-century
books contain the most beautiful wood block drawings, sketches, etc., and can be
copied onto cardstock and used on your pages.
Old cookbooks
(not your family treasures!) can be disassembled and the pages used as your
background behind vellum paper. Use
them as your border behind your recipe and ingredients will peek out from behind
your recipe. Old and vintage cookbooks can often be found for less than a dollar
at used book sales.
Paper outlets
in your area carry sample booklets of the types of paper they have in stock.
When I first started scrapbooking, I used these quite often.
Most places are more than happy to provide you with these.
It’s probably a good idea to purchase something from them, on occasion,
so they don’t think you are taking advantage of their sample booklet supply.
It would probably not be right to ask for these free sample booklets all
of the time and proclaim, “I am the paper purchaser at my place of
employment” even though you know you are just using them for scrapbooking and
you don’t even work outside of the home.
That would be what we scrapbookers like to refer to as “an
embellishment.”
Old, used
stamps are fun to affix to a page. They
add a splash of color in those empty spots on a page.
Cartoon pages
add a fun twist and lots of color. Many
cartoon pages even feature a cooking theme (ex. Blondie, Cathy, etc.). Copy your
cartoon onto white cardstock.
Antique stores
and flea markets are the best source for old postcards. The older postcards
contain the most beautiful and humorous images.
Don’t cut the postcard up though. Deltiologists (postcard collectors)
cringe when they see wonderful vintage postcards chopped and cropped. Copy it so
you can re-use over and over again.
Paper dolls
make an excellent addition to your cookbook page and they can actually be
trained to hold recipes in place for you! I
recently made a card and used a paper doll to hold a little envelope (cut
carefully around the little hands with an exacto knife) with a small personal
note inside. It was cute …
Wrapping paper
comes in a multitude of designs, textures and weight. Avoid purchasing paper
that is real thin. It’s very
difficult to work with.
Look for old
songbooks and hymnals for your page backgrounds. Again, your recipe copied onto
vellum looks beautiful with the notes in the background.
When you enter
your favorite craft store, don’t limit yourself to the scrapbook section.
Beautiful items such as glass hearts, and small mosaic tiles can be found
near the stained glass section.
Paint chips
samples from Sears, Home Depot, etc. make excellent scrapbooking embellishments.
Plus, the price is right – they are free and they come in a huge array of
colors. I don’t think they mind
how many you take … do they?
Browse through
your local dollar store and Big lots. I
have found great name brand scrapbooking embellishments at Big Lots for a
fraction of the cost.
CD jewel cases
are a great way to store your quotes and page embellishments. They are thin and
you can label on the side. They
will absolutely help you to become organized.
S.O.S. –
Save Our Scraps. Do not throw away
your scraps. I have a plastic
shoebox that I drop them in. I go
through this box for every project I am working on.
I sometimes have a “scrap only” card making session.
S.O.B. –
Save Our Buttons (sorry about that …) – Don’t you or your mom have a
button box? Buttons are so much fun
to use on a page. They add color
and they are easy to attach. I
place a piece of mounting tape on the back of the button, then use my piercer
and punch through two of the holes and use a thin wire to attach (I don’t sew
buttons on my own clothes so I am not about to sew while I scrapbook!).
Save all of
your cards! They are already on
cardstock, they are pretty, and it’s a free piece of clip art or
embellishment. I think scrapbookers have a different way of looking at things.
Every object out there is a possible scrapbooking element!
I’ve been out to restaurants (ok, bars) with friends where they give
you those neat little drink coasters (great for scrapbooking!).
I used to say to my friends, “are you going to use that?”
Now they just hand them to me.
If you are like me,
when you first started scrapbooking, you subscribed to every imaginable
scrapbook magazine out there for ideas! Don’t
just stack your magazines somewhere to “save them.” You will end up throwing
them out and that is a tremendous waste of money.
I look at the magazine and tear out pages that I want to save.
Pages that I intend to glean ideas from go into my 3-ring binder with
sheet protectors. I now have
several. I no longer have stacks
and stacks of magazines, collecting dust, and threatening to topple over…
well, unless you count those piles in the basement.
  
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