Due to the economic situation we are all in now, we have compiled some tips on how to scrapbook on a budget. You may find that you have more ideas to save money too! Please add your tips by clicking on the “comments” button.
- Use any and all materials you have on hand in the house first
- Buy seasonal embellishments during “off time” of the season you are working in. (i.e. buy Christmas embellishments a week or more after Christmas, etc.)
- Seek page layout ideas from the internet, as opposed to buying high priced scrapbook ideas books at the book store.
- Swap tools and embellishments with your friends and family who are not using them now.
- Only buy your supplies when they are on sale.
- Don’t overstock yourself on embellishments in advance…you may be building up inventory that you may never use again.
- Build a “scraps” collection of unused or “extra” scraps of paper of unused materials. You can always make use of these scraps later.
- If you use stamps, contact your scrapbooking “buddies” and trade use of your stamps for theirs and swap them back.
- When getting photos reproduced, don’t over order duplicates thinking you are going to use all of them. Plan in advance and only order the photo prints you are going to actually use.
- If you are going to use a lot of a particular embellishment, get your scrapbooking buddies to chip in money to buy them and share the embellishments with them.
- Contact your scrapbook buddies and ask them if they have any embellishments or materials that they don’t intend on using and ask for them.
- Always be on the lookout for discount coupons at art stores like Michaels. You never know when you will have need for them in a moment’s notice!
- “Shop” the internet for scrapbook supplies….quite often they are cheaper than you could buy at a local store.
These are just some ideas to make a scrapbook on the cheap. There is always creative ways to make scrapbooks. The main expense on any scrapbook project is going to be the binder. Don’t sacrifice on that….you want the binder to last for a very long time. As always, use acid free paper for mounting photos.
Scrapbooking is catching on around the world, but no where is it most popular right now as with the seniors. Since they have much more time to spend with this project versus their children or younger counterparts, this is a natural hobbie for them!
To start out, seniors have so much life experience that it is no problem trying to find topics of interest or the people in their lives that they can dedicate a scrapbook too.
The only thing that may be a challenge is the budget. We went over that with an earlier post regarding scrapbooking on a budget. There are plenty of knick knacks around the house and of course tons of pictures in boxes and and everywhere at relatives houses and such. The first thing a senior should do is pick an obvious topic for the scrapbook. Do you know what we are thinking at the top of the list?? Grandkids!!
There is no end to how many pictures there have been taken with the grandkids, especially from the time of birth at the hospital. What senior does not have pictures of the grand children from at least their first several birthdays. So, gather the pictures first. Next, comes the theme of the scrapbook. It could be the "growing years" or the "next astronaut." or the "future rock star." If these young ones show any aptitude for any musical talents or dancing, or "brains" answering each city name in Africa, the themes are endless.
Once set on a theme, you should get embellishments and other scraps to complement the theme. Going to a scrapbook store near you could give you so many more ideas of the page design, embellishments, and other material items. I would suggest not to plan for a very large scrapbook because it could get so bulky that it will be uncomfortable to lug it around.
If a senior has never done a scrapbook before, it is wise to buy a beginning book in scrapbooking. Make sure it has a lot of pictures. The less words the better! We want the seniors to have fun while learning.
This post will talk about the many different items you can add to your scrapbook. The most popular category is embellishments. They can consist of anything other than a photograph, page or a journal entry.
Here are just some of the materials you can add to your next scrapbook.
Buttons are most common. They can be found on hand me down clothes, or bought very cheaply at your local fabric store. Speaking of fabric, you can buy very unusual and decorative fabrics that you can use to spruce up photos, full scrapbook pages, or make shapes that accents the theme. Paint can be a very viable way of making your pages unique. Just think of what you can do with custom colored paper and then add a touch of paint from your own paint brush. Ribbons can be used to make patterns or frame photos. Rub on transfers and stickers are great to add a special touch. Stickers are available in many materials such as paper, plastic, foil, vellum and glitter, to name a few. And of course we cannot forget the many different paper and paper textures available. The sky’s the limit on how you can use paper.
Some helpful tools used to make your scrapbook are: punches, scissors, and edging scissors, knives, paste, glue, ink pads, embossing machines, die cutting machines, double sided tape, adhesives, brush markers, cutting mat, eyelets, mini drill, glue gun, laminating machine, stencils. paper trimmers, stiching machine, foil press, and acetate. Of course there are many other tools used for making scrapbooks but these are the most common.
When scrapbooking, the most important thing to know is that there is no right or wrong way to make one. There is no rule that says you have to do anything in a certain way. Actually the more you are a "newbie" to this craft, the better! Make sure you have a plan of at least knowing what the theme is and make it consistent with the theme. For example. if you are doing a Valentine scrapbook, make sure you are consistent with having the color red throughout the binder and pages.
As we end January, Valentines Day is just around the corner. As mentioned in a previous post, any avid scrapper should keep track of all holidays and national celebrations for ideas on making your next scrapbook.
Which comes to the point of time management. Many of our email tells us that scrappers often do not have enough time in the day or week to keep building their scrapbooks. A good way of making sure you are getting your scrapbooks done in time is to make sure you have a scratch pad on a table in a set place and a daytimer with you at all times that you keep track of "to do’s" That way, you can make an entry in the scratch pad and the daytimer of when you need the scrapbook done by. In either case, make sure you start a system in which reminds you of the deadline in which to finish your scrapbook. This is true especially for time sensitive themes such as birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.
For Valentines Day, now is the time to go to your hobbie or craft store because they probably now carry Valentine themed embellishments. Do be late! You need to start looking late in January or early February before all the products and embellishments are all looked over the the best of the best items are taken!
Obvious embellishments are: foil valentine shapes, red colored yarn, small valentine shaped candy, cutting heart shaped silouttes from construction paper, red buttons, lace, call out "clouds" that you can fill in "love you" messages in it, small valentine shaped sprinkles, and so on. A great idea is to cut out a medium sized heart shape out of construction paper and insert a picture of you and your loved one behind it so the heart shape becomes a "frame" around it.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, start your scrapbook now!
One of the most popular of embellishments on scrapbook pages is flowers. For those of you who remember the 1960’s when flower stickers were all the rage, it seems like what is old is new again.
What is cool about flowers is that it never goes out of fashion and can be sized to fit any page or binder cover. They come in all sorts of colors, made of many different materials, and works with many different themes.
Here are some ideas using flower embellishments:
- Layer flower designs on top of each other across the page
- Use flowers to border a photograph
- Use flowers to bullet point your journaling
- Fashion your own flowers using looped ribbon for the petals
- Crochet your own flowers in minutes using a template from a Crochet Pattern
- Fold fabric flowers in half and attach behind a photo or patterned paper
- Use pictures of flowers from the Internet to make a collage
- Add a 3D feel to silk or fabric flowers by stamping them with ink and then sprinkling with embossing powder
We will have another article on flower embellishments coming soon.
For those of you that need more ideas for making a Halloween scrapbook, we have an excellent idea. At this time of year (October) take a trip to your local party store. These are the stores that have imprinted balloons for birthdays, party napkins, holiday decorations, greeting cards, and tons of miniature toys. Well, you will find the aisle that has miniature toy packets. You will find that there are many 3-D items in the form of: small plastic halloween masks, witches broomsticks, miniature jack-o-lantern faces, orange colored Halloween stickers, etc.
The perfect plan for a Halloween scrapbook would be to, take lots of pictures of your children and family in full Halloween costumes. Buy a load of miniature Halloween themed toys from your local party store….which is going to be your embellishments. Then get a good sized binder/album and make sure you decorate the cover in orange and black. For pages, use alternating black and orange construction paper to mount the pictures. Now you see the unlimited possibilities with using the miniature Halloween toys throughout the scrapbook pages? Of course, your Halloween costume pictures will speak for themselves. If you have a pet, don’t forget to "costume" them up too!
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If you have a hard time finding a theme for your next scrapbook, how about picking a theme on national or international holidays and celebrations? As we start October, we think of Halloween (USA celebration) and the popularity especially among children. As mentioned in previous posts, scrapbooking should be a home hobbie that is family friendly. The kids will enjoy working on the scrapbook with the grown ups.
This theme is a great one for embellishments. Imagine, candy corn, wax pumpkins, yellow and black construction paper, pictures with the kids in their Halloween costumes, silhouettes of witches and goblins, and many more items you could insert with a nice 3-D effect.
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After getting some emails from our visitors to this blog, I find that scrapbooking is truly growing around the world! I welcome everyone and will promise to keep you updated on the best tips and news on scrapbooking. To all of our worldly visitors, please make a comment on any post we have here to help us make it a better place to visit!
For those of you in different countries, please send in your pictures of your scrapbook creations. We would love to publish it here on the scrapbook submissions part of our blog. If you have an interesting story that goes with a scrapbook page, please attach a message with it. We will gladly add it to our collection of submissions
Soon, we are going to publish our very first scrapbooking ebook for everything scrapbooking.
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The most devestating thing that happens to photos with age is fading and deterioation. You know what I mean…the old photos turn yellow, get brittle, even stick in pieces to the sheet protectors they were mounted on.
This can be alleviated by using only acid free paper and sleeves. Use sheet protectors to mount photos. Anything that can shield pictures from oxidation and constant touching by human hands is strongly suggested. Stay away from any "sticky" albums or adhesive to self mount pictures or "magnetic" cellophane. All of these materials can deteriorate pictures immediately.
When you get photo prints from a photo processing company, make sure the photo paper is acid free, lignin free and ph neutral. Believe it or not, some photo processing companies will sometimes give you prints on acid materials without you knowing about it.
If you print out photos on your own ink jet printer, make sure you check that the ink is acid free as well. Keep all images and picture surfaces away from direct sunlight, humidity and liquids.
Lastly, make sure you digitally back up all your photos on a CD of DVD. This precaution can come in handy if you should ever run into damaged photos in your scrapbook for whatever reason.
If you take good care of your scrapbooks, you will enjoy many years of enjoyment of your "prized" scrapbook!
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Scrapbook albums or binders come in 2 basic sizes…either 8 1/2" x 11" or 12′ x 12." Although you would think that 8 1/2" x 11" would be a most common size used, the 12" x 12" has been the most popular just because of the size of the pages you can work on. Think for a moment of the various pictures and journals and embellishments that would be spread out on a page, and soon you will discover that the larger would work better.
You might think that you won’t be able to find paper or sheet protectors and other items that fit a 12" x 12" album but all scrapbook stores and scrapbook supply websites have plenty of them for this particular size.
There are 3 types of scrapbook binders that hold the pages together. They are; 3 ring binder, post bound, and strap bound. The easiest of all three is the 3 ring binder because it is strong and flexible enough to accomodate pages and switching out of pages. The post bound involves three vertical posts that have screws that can be removed to add pages when needed. This type is very flexible too. Lastly, the strap bound is made up of an expandable strap hinge that weaves through each page edge. It is the least flexible of all three types.
Whatever album or binder that you choose, make sure that it is made of acid free and and the paper in it is lignin free. This will avoid any discoloration and deterioration to the contents of each page in the years to come.
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