Money-Saving Scrapbooking Supplies

If you’re like me, you just can’t have enough scrapbooking supplies. I can honestly say that I am addicted to scrapping & buying supplies for my pages. But as expenses for gas & groceries go up, something has to go down. In my case, it has been my supplies for my pages. Just because I’m spending less doesn’t mean that I’m scrapping any less. I’ve been able to reuse & recycle some everyday items into scrapbooking supplies.

Here’s some ideas-

- When our daughter was born, we received a pink mylar balloon with “It’s a Girl” on it in a balloon bouquet. I trimmed it down to fit a 12”x12” page, glued to a white sheet of 12”x12” cardstock & made it my background page. We had also gotten a small mylar balloon in a bouquet of flowers & I was able to use it as a decoration on another page.

- After my husband has a beer, I ask him to save his bottle caps. I can paint them to cover the beer logo & put letters, symbols or whatever I want on them & use them as embellishments. They work really great for that 3-D effect! (I love it when we have parties & barbeques!)

- Some cereal & cracker boxes use pretty sturdy cardboard. When the box is empty, I cut the box on its sides to make flat pieces of cardboard. On the printed side, I can use stencils to trace & cut out my own “chipboard” letters, numbers, shapes & symbols. By doing the tracing & cutting on the printed side, it leaves the plain cardboard side clean & mark-free. Then you can add your own color to it, to customize your page even more.

- Get with your scrapping friends & make things interesting. Take your paper, stickers, embellishments, whatever & have a trading party. Or if you like to play cards, use your supplies in place of chips or money. You’ll get rid of the supplies you won’t use & get new ones without spending a dime.

Happy Scrapping!!