17 Tips for the Frugal Scrapbooker
March 9, 2007 by Genie Balfour
The frugal scrapbooker is always on the look-out for ideas to make her scrapbook pages look good but cost less.
How often have you spent hours, days, and weeks on a jigsaw puzzle? You were so excited to have the end in sight … you were planning how to preserve your masterpiece
only to get to those final few pieces to discover the last crucial piece is missing! Aaagh! Not again!
You can’t do anything with an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. Even with just one piece missing its ruined and no use to anyone, is it?
Think again.
A frugal scrapbooker can make great use of it
There are many wonderful scrapbooking embellishments out there, but buying them can seriously damage your wallet, especially if you are on a tight budget . So have you considered making your own?
Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing
We started off with incomplete JIGSAW PUZZLES. What can we do with them? How about trying some of these ideas?
Paint the pieces to match your layout.
Ink the edges of a few pieces.
You can stamp letters on them to make title tiles.
Or cover with paper - matching/contrasting - to use as accents.
With larger children’s puzzle pieces, tie ribbon round them or add flowers, buttons or brads.
Cover with dark or contrasting paint, ink or paper and write on it with white ink. If the pieces are big enough they can be your journaling blocks.
What else can we use to embellish a scrapbook layout? PAPER
Cut flowers from SCRAPS of paper and lightly emboss the petals or curl them around a pencil to give definition.
Layer different sizes of PUNCH OUT flowers together.
Add tiny BUTTONS OR BRADS to the center of paper flowers and attach to your page with glue dots or foam tape.
Cut narrow strips to make PAPER RIBBONS . Thread them through ribbon slides or use with book plates to decorate your page.
STAMP onto scraps of paper or card and cut them out - flowers, hearts, letters, words etc. Again you can lightly emboss, distress, ink the edges or curl around a pencil to shape them.
Some more ideas:
Enlarge PHOTOS to fill most of your page. Some photos are so good they can stand on their own. Then you need only a few bits to finish it, e.g. the mini jigsaw pieces as a title.
FABRIC can be a really great scrapbook embellishment. Old shirts, jeans, dresses or skirts can have a new lease on life. Use in large swathes or small accents.
Make FABRIC TAGS. If the fabric is particularly light, attach to card to make tags and add scraps of ribbon or fibers and a photo or some journaling.
Sheer fabric could add mystery to your layout.
Make cards with paper left over from your layouts.
Why bother making your own embellishments?
Its fun
Stretches your imagination
Inexpensive
Uniqueness
Color matching becomes easier
Do you have more tips for the frugal scrapbooker? Share them with us in the comments section below.
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Tags: scrapbooking embellishments, start scrapbooking, scrap books, Tips n Snips
Tags: scrapbooking embellishments, start scrapbooking, Tips-n-Snips
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