Posts Tagged ‘scrapbooking’

Believe it or not, the hobby of scrapbooking is now more popular than golf! A scrapbook used to be a simple collection of newspaper articles, cut-outs from magazines, or a group of related photographs. In the old days, you wouldn’t see nice borders and designs in a scrapbook.
Today, scrapbooking is an art form and a billion-dollar industry. Where once it was hard to find scrapbooking materials and accessories, an overwhelming variety of albums, papers, designs, and embellishments is available to scrapbookers. And the community of collectors and vendors continues to grow.
As the craze grows, more and more websites devoted to scrapbooking are popping up on the Internet. They offer free advice and items for purchase. Some sites make free page templates available and contain many great suggestions for theme-based scrapbooks.
If you’re new to scrapbooking, the Internet offers all the information you need to build a beautiful container for your precious memories. And whether through a local retail or the web, you can find an endless variety of supplies to accent your personal photos, decorations, and embellishments.
In fact, the range of products is amazing. You can find anything from scrapbooking software to help you create your own pages electronically to stick-ons that add sparkle to your scrapbook pages.
One basic step in scrapbooking is deciding on your layout – the basic design or format for your presentation. A good layout helps you carry your theme throughout the scrapbook and brings your bits and pieces together to tell a story. Your layout expresses your personality and style and helps you organize every page.
Here are some popular layout plans that you may want to try for your first scrapbooking adventure. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, so review these descriptions for ideas. You may come up with some original layout plans of your own.
1. Newspaper Style. Newspapers have worked on efficient layout for hundreds of years. The layout is a great way to tie pictures and text together. The layout creates the impression of a newsy journal, and it’s a wonderful format for events like birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. The basic layout is columns. Depending on the size of your pages, you can use from two to four columns to create an interesting newspaper-like impression. You can choose fonts resembling those in the news for further effect. Times New Roman is an accepted and easy-to-read font, and Old English is wonderful for bold titles and headings.
2. Handprint Approach. Best in albums about your children, you trace their hand or foot to use on every page. You can use the outline on the pages as a background. You can use it as a frame for photos and mementos. Or you can use it to make a stick-on for your pages to frame your favorite pieces.
3. Rub-on Transfer Technique. Rub-ons have long been a favorite of scrapbookers. They create a textured effect that make your page layouts special. You can apply them to cardstock and a variety of papers. Whether patterned or solid, the rub-ons add a special flare to your pages. Be aware that it takes some time to get good at making rub-ons. You’ll want to practice the technique before using it in your scrapbook. But once you’ve mastered the technique, you can incorporate other media like ribbons, mesh, and glass. A tip: rub-ons need to be adhesive enough to create a lasting effect.
4. Chalk for Texture. Chalks add a nice texture to your paper. They give color and dimension, and they adhere well to most surfaces. You can use soft colors for your baby’s scrapbook and deeper dark colors for your memorial scrapbooks. Chalks add a unique effect you can’t duplicate with any other medium, but they can be messy. You’ll need to use a fixative spray to be sure they don’t rub off your page onto your treasures or your hands!
These are just a few of many layout approaches. You can combine layouts to make the scrapbook more interesting, but be sure that you use your final layout plan consistently throughout your scrapbook to maintain your theme. Layout design can be as simple as a page border or as fancy as you can imagine. They bring unity to your photos and mementos and add your personality to your pages.

The internet contains a lot of scrapbooking software’s that are free for downloads.
Searching the internet gets you to them. They are downloadable within seconds. They provide a wide range of designs for scrapbooks. They are absolutely cost-free.
What is a simple scrapbook? Don’t guess that it is always plain with a dull look and no colors. Beginners are never appreciated to use simple scrapbooks. The creativity that is necessary for a novice is refused and sometimes the contents are suppressed too. This makes the difference between a simple scrapbook and a normal one. So are you still wondering what a simple scrapbook means?
Simple scrapbooks generally mean an easily manageable album and are normally small sized. Simple scrapbooks are meant for those who refuse to include “non-events”. Events such as relationships, dreams, beliefs, family traditions, hopes and fantasies are neglected in simple scrapbooks. But they serve the general purpose of an album i.e. to preserve your photos. Photos are arranged in any order as per your taste.
Components of a Simple scrapbook:
There are five components for creating a simple scrapbook. They are the Structure, Format, Completion, Too fast and Liberty. These are discussed below so that you get to know the whole idea.
The Structure:
Structure is very essential for all works. A framework is always constructed in the initial stage. It envisages the final model that would result. The framework forms the basement for any scrapbook. The contents table with the title pages forms the framework. Overall, they are essential to provide the result. The normal process involves the completion of the structure first followed with the work in different sections.
The framework or the structure is made up of the introduction page, contents table page, the sections page, the materials for the album, the fillers page and the closing page.
The Format:
The format chosen should match with the scrapbook. Normal characteristics of an album are present with the formats. The formats have a lot of things such as the size, the arrangements of the contents, its organization, the design used, the colors and the materials too. This process facilitates the uninterrupted flow of ideas for making a complete scrapbook.
The Completion:
Always complete a work when you start with one. Never leave it incomplete. Never give up a project. A simple scrapbook is one which can be completed in a small time. We get benefited with the framework as we already know what to work on. In the end, scrapbooking is a funny activity. So enjoy it!!
Too Fast:
Simple scrapbooks can be completed at a high speed as they are generally trouble-free. They are easy to work on. You should be prepared with the designs and formats before starting the work. This enables the fast completion of the project. Place the pictures at places where they deserve.
Liberty at work:
The finest element of the simple scrapbook is the liberty it provides you. You can pour your thoughts on papers, create what you like and give them a final touch for a good look. Simple scrapbooks can please you with the style and trend.
What are you waiting for then? Get ready!! Grab your free scrapbooking software and have fun with it!

Scrapbooking reflects the principle of “organized chaos.” You can put almost anything in a scrapbook, and creativity is a major asset for people who make scrapbooks (or scrappers). You can combine a wide range of materials, colors, textures, and images to create something as unique as you are.
Yet, every scrapbook is organized around a theme, the subject of the scrapbook. It may be a person’s life, an important event, a favorite vacation location, or any number of things the scrapper wants to remember. Scrapbooks are meant to preserve and interpret favorite memories, but the best scrapbooks do it in a way that tells a story.
The theme ties every element together in your scrapbook. If you’re making a scrapbook for a gift, your theme may be something that is important to the recipient. A very popular theme for young boys is firefighters.
Especially since 2001, all of us have been more aware of how heroic these public servants must be. Many grown men still dream of becoming a firefighter long after childhood is over.
Creating a scrapbook on a firefighter theme is a great project that you can ask your young man to join. Even though young boys may find the idea too girlie at first, they’ll love helping find the images and embellishments representing firefighters. You and your project assistant can have a great time collecting the elements and creating a firefighting scrapbook honoring the profession and telling the child’s story at the same time.
Here are some ideas for themes and supporting elements that may get your and your young potential firefighter off to a good start.
1. Colors.
There are several colors we associate with firefighting that make great color schemes for scrapbooks. Beginning with the ever-popular “fire engine red” and white, you recall the familiar fire trucks and sirens. But you don’t want to create an “ambulancing” scrapbook, so you can add other colors common to firefighting. Mustard yellow is the color of a fireman’s coat or parka and the oxygen tank he wears into burning buildings.
Another nice touch is to use the colors of the traditional firefighting dog. Black spots on a white background help honor the Dalmatian and keep your scrapbook color scheme interesting. Combining red and orange with a deep blue represents flames, and adding aqua or light blue introduces water.
2. Images and Firefighting Shapes.
Images are an important basic element of any scrapbook. Using familiar images, shapes, and symbols maintains your firefighting theme and adds to your scrapbook pages. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
3. Fire Engine. This popular vehicle is easy to recognize and easy to reproduce for your scrapbook. Your young man will quickly know what it is by its familiar shape and bright fire engine red colors. You can use it as a background image or make cut-outs to frame your photos and mementos.
4. Firefighter. Firemen have a familiar and recognizable silhouette, with their fire hat, parka, and axe. You can show your firefighter in different poses and positions throughout the scrapbook to add a sense of action to your pages. Holding the fire hose, climbing the ladder, or bringing a person out of the flames are all exciting ways to honor their courage.
5. Fire Hydrant. Another familiar shape and image is the fire hydrant. You can add that mustard yellow color to complement the firefighter’s parka, and the hydrant shape makes a great frame. But you may want to be careful in how you use it, given the hydrant’s popularity with dogs.
6. Hook and Ladder. This vehicle has very distinctive features that represent the firefighter in action.
7. Firefighter Symbols and Shapes. Several shapes come to mind when thinking about firefighting. The familiar shape of the fireman’s badge is a nice one for scrapbooks. The fireman’s hat is a distinctive shape easy to recognize. You might also consider cut-outs of Dalmatians, flames, the fireman’s axe, or the siren to accent your pages and make your theme loud and clear.
These are just a few ideas for a firefighting scrapbook. You and your young boy will have a great time thinking of other ways to incorporate the firefighter theme in your scrapbook.

One is always looking for new and innovative ideas for scrapbooking and sometimes one does not come up with great ideas, which actually make scrapbooking fun yet enjoyable. Then one thinks of looking up for assistance from friends, peers, children and family. However, not any more, as the Internet is the biggest resource of free scrapbooking printables. In many cases, you will find what you are looking for faster than searching a catalog or even at your local craft store.

Free scrapbooking printables will also save a great deal of money in the long run because all one has to pay for is the paper that is used for printing the designs on and the ink for the printer. One can easily download these free scrapbooking printables as they are available in JPG format. Free scrapbooking printables come in various layout designs and one can also customized them according to one’s requirement. In fact one can choose from a variety of designs, such as Easter egg backdrops, birthday frame layouts, school frame layouts, and baby letters, stocking letters, stencil sheets, rose pictures and heart frame layouts. Free scrapbooking printables can be selected in various sizes also. Many times one has to settle for what is offered by the manufacturers. For example, one can print the same free scrapbook printables of stars but can change the size accordingly. The overall look then appears like the stars shooting from the sky. One also has the choice of the colored paper that one wants to use for printing the free scrapbooking printables for their scrapbooking projects.

The choices of free scrapbooking printables to be found online are endless. One can also choose from numbers, pictures, animals, symbols, and more. In fact, many website offer a free newsletter with weekly scrapbooking pages. In some cases, one can even design one’s free scrapbook printables from different clip art options. Free scrapbooking printables with borders can add dimensions and completely change the overall appearance of any scrapbooking page. There are literally thousands of different free scrapbooking printable boarders you can choose from. Some of them are elegant and others are quite simple. For a bolder look that adds flare, choose one of the innovative free scrapbooking printables.

One will run across several sites online that offer free scrapbooking printables, yet they ask for a donation of a dollar or more. This is to help cover the cost of keeping the site operational. While donating to this cause is certainly your choice it is encouraged. After all, there are not too many places to find so many scrapbooking printable options for only a dollar. There are so choices that are available that it some times leads to confusion as one is not able to make a choice and it additionally takes lots of time to choose from a given layouts and designs. In fact, weekly scrapbooking page ideas are all around us, waiting for free pickup. If one establishes time for collecting them, one will soon have all one can use.

We all wish that only if the good times would last forever but only if wishes were horses! The best we can do to hold on to the memories is click snapshots of the good times or make videos of the moment and hope to relive the memory through these means. A photo album has always been one of the best methods to remember old times and it is sure to bring a smile to our faces when we remember special incidents and people through the pictures. An interesting way of preserving these memories in a different manner is the concept of scrapbooking. The concept has been around since ages and most of us remember creating colorful scrapbooks with various themes while we were in school.

The hunt for a good scrapbooking layout idea is perhaps the most interesting aspect of making a scrapbook. Once you have shortlisted a theme and a layout idea, half the battle is won. A unique scrapbooking layout idea is a sure shot method to make your creativity stand a class apart from the others. The modern day options and facilities available for creating scrapbooks has seen a tremendous surge in this kind of activity with adults participating in making their scrapbooks as enthusiastically as children. Various online scrapbooking sites have come into existence and these are some places where one can get a great scrapbooking layout idea for their own scrapbook making project. The various accessories available for decorating your scrapbook simply add to the fun of pursuing this activity.

A scrapbooking layout idea can be inspired from any event, person or perhaps even from one’s surroundings. A birthday party or a wedding in the family could be as good a theme as perhaps the last day at college. The availability of online scrapbooking sites has made the process of experimenting with ideas an even easier task. One can simply select a theme for a scrapbooking layout idea and choose the designs and styles accordingly. It can then be applied to your virtual scrapbook and you can get a look at how your final scrapbook will look if this layout idea were to be implemented. In case you are not happy with the result you can simply remove the effects and try out something else which is completely different. As the time and effort taken to create and recreate scrapbooking layouts are minimal, thanks to the web applications, you can let your creativity run wild.

A person can also purchase various scrapbooking accessories like paints, paper, glue and even embellishments from the online stores selling scrapbooking accessories. All these additional attractions to the basic concept of scrapbooking have made this art survive and achieve popularity through ages. Initially scrapbooking was a concept like that of storytelling but the difference has always been the visual and tactile effect rather than the oral focus of storytelling. And the additions to the art will ensure that scrapbooking continues to be an immensely popular activity for times to come.

Scrapbooking is perhaps one hobby that has a universal appeal. No matter, in which corner of the world you stay, you are bound to come across people who are passionate about scrapbooking as a hobby. Scrapbooking as a hobby is done by people all over the world, perhaps the way they do it is different, but the basic idea is to make a book where they can preserve all the special memories of their life. As we grow old, memories are the only thing that remain with us and that is why we are so keen to preserve those memories which will last for a lifetime. Apart from preserving your memories, scrapbooking is the perfect means to use your imagination and creativity. This is the ideal platform where you can experiment with colors, words and pictures and perhaps you can find out your new abilities, which you never realized that you had in you.

Today with so many innovations happening in the field of science and technology, for people who are doing scrapbooking as a hobby, things have improved drastically. They have a whole lot of option, which earlier, scrapbook enthusiasts did not have and memory scrapbook scrapbooking has become pretty easy. There are also softwares available that has made the task easy, you just need to know how to use the software, so that you can make the scrapbook just as you want. The photographs that you use in your scrapbook can also be changed as you like, with the help of some of the photo editing software that are available in the market. You just need to know what software you can use and also how to use that properly.

There are several sites on the web that act an ideal platform for all those scrapbook enthusiasts, who wish to try their creativity at making a good scrapbook. The sites offer different types of layout from where you can find a layout which matches your choice. One can use the trial and error method to find out the perfect layout that they are searching for. Scrapbook can be created, based on a certain theme, so it can be about a wedding, about your school picnic, a family gathering that you have been part of, or any other aspect or occasion. So if you are one of those who love to indulge in this hobby, irrespective of what your age is, the web can be of a big help to you.

Memory scrapbook scrapbooking is especially appealing to people who have loads of memories and want to preserve them at all costs. Some sites also give the option of loading the scrapbook online. Here, you can do that and invite your family and friends from anywhere to see your scrapbook. Only those who have access can see your scrapbook, so you can easily choose whom you want to show and to whom you do not want to show your scrapbook online. Scrapbooking is the one hobby that can help us in preserving all our memories in just the way we want.

You know that you love scrapbooking as a hobby, but have you ever considered scrapbooking full time, as a business? Statistics show that the most successful businesses are those in which the owner of the company thoroughly loves and enjoys what they do. If you’ve been looking for a way to create additional income and are a scrapbooking enthusiast, you may want to consider merging the two ideas and begin scrapbooking for both fun and profit.

Some of the benefits involved in running your own scrapbooking business are that the only qualifications that you need are to be an expert in scrapbooking. If you are skilled in scrapbooking, then you have already gained the majority of the experience that you need. If you’ve never run your own business, you may want to take a business course. This will help you understand the legal, financial, and marketing aspects of your business. You can contact your local Small Business Administration for more information, but you’ll also find much of what you need available online for free.

There are a number of different scrapbooking businesses or services that you can choose. First, if you are an experienced scrapbooker, you may want to consider teaching others how to scrapbook. This is an excellent business and could be held in your home, or you may prefer to provide instruction in the student’s home. You can charge a set fee for the classes, determine how many classes you will give, and also determine a material list that the student will need to purchase.

Since many people love scrapbooks but simply don’t have the knowledge, time, or the desire to learn how to create these memory holders themselves, you may find that it is more profitable for you to create scrapbooks for clients. In this type of business, you will need to invest in software, a website, business cards, and materials. Since the scrapbooks will be created according to the client’s preferences, you will most likely need to choose the materials with the client. You may require the client to pay for the materials before the scrapbook is complete as well. There are a lot of different marketing and advertising avenues out there, but studies show that the best form of advertising is word of mouth. Create beautiful scrapbooks for clients, and you’ll find that business will increase simply by satisfied clients telling others who created their scrapbooks. Make sure to always have sample scrapbooks on hand for display and advertising purposes.

Some people prefer to run a direct sales scrapbooking business. In this type of business, you would sell scrapbooking materials, kits, and supplies to other scrapbookers. There are vendors that provide these materials and many find that these are very profitable businesses to run.

No matter which type of scrapbooking business you choose, one thing is certain. Scrapbooking is here to stay and it is becoming increasingly more popular daily. New shows, magazines, and books are continually being produced that attest to scrapbooking’s popularity. Those who choose to turn their hobby into a business are rewarded with earning a profit from a craft that they are passionate about.

Do you know about recycle scrapbooking? I have learnt about recycle craft, but not too sure about recycle scrapbooking, until one day my 3 years old daughter show me her scrapbooking using recycle material that she used to keep her craft and papers. My little angel gave me an idea of we can recycle our children school craft to create a very creative memories craft! Here I share my experience and 7 secret of recycle scrapbooking, if you are a cost saver person, you may find it useful!
Secret #1 Think twice before you throw anything.
Lots of material at home such as color paper divider of your file folders, your childrens’ craft work from school, faulty printed paper, tissue paper cover, presents wrapper, ribbons etc if the design is neat, clean and nice looking, keep them for your scrapbooking. You can use them as embellishments or decorations in your scrapbooking. I used to throw all these away, but now I am getting passion on recycle all the them!
Secret #2 Storage for recycle stuff.
You need to have some storage space to keep all your recycle stuff, try to keep in sorted or grouping by same category for easy of searching.
Secret #3 Recycling from other craft.
If you have been doing lots of craft at home, reuse this craft material again to do recycle scrapbooking. For example, if you have created a pencil case craft using recycle cartoon box, cut out excess area of cartoon box into A5 paper size and paint some beautiful flowers or insects on it, join all the A5 drawn design together with a threading string or folder rings to create a mini scrapbook album.
Secret #4 Recycle Scrapbooking paper excess from previous scrapbook.
Reuse the scrapbooking paper that was excess from previous scrapbook. You can create a new design by using the excess scrapbooking paper. This can be done by doing patching or overlapping pasting different paper on top of each to create an unique look!
Secret #5 Recycle your digital scrapbooking or computer scrapbooking.
You can reuse your same computer scrapbooking printed layout on another new scrapbook topics. Note that you also can recycle scrapbooking digitally besides recycling the printed layout. Besides that, there are a lot of layout, images or pictures on the web are free for download and you can reuse them for this case.
Secret #6 Print on recycle paper.
Print most of your design on recycle paper. This is to save cost at the same time save the earth. Most of the printers will print a test page when you changed new cartridge, keep this paper for recycle printing purpose. Perhaps the test printed page can be reused to create another creative memories, because the test page always printed in multiple colors and text.
Secret #7 Do it freely.
Last by not least, create your every scrapbook freely. It is important if you are using recycle stuff to scrapbook. Do not restrict your creative mind to fly. Explore along the way, will help you have more creativity ideas to create a unique design of your creative memories.
Hope you enjoy reading this article while enjoy your scrapbooking!
Jas’s Circle of Scrapbooking Craz

http://www.InstantScrapbookingGuide.com

Scrapbooking Printable Design worth $27 “Instant Scrapbooking Guide For Beginners Who Hate Too Many Scrapbooking Jargon!”

Scrapbooking is one of the most popular hobbies around these days. Scrappers are well-acquainted with the craft, working with the materials and tools like pros. Combining cutting lots of paper shapes, gluing photos, and sticking a collection of ribbons, die-cuts, and stamps on each page is their passion. It’s hard for an experienced scrapper to imagine doing it any other way.
But computers can invade anything – even scrapbooking. Modern technology introduces a whole new approach to scrapbooking that uses grahics programs to create the basic scrapbook elements and page layouts. Using a computer to create scrapbooks, known as digital scrapbooking, involves creating page layouts with the help of computer software that edits photos, creates graphics, inserts borders and text, and allows you to “paste in” digital embellishments.
Using high-quality paper, you print your scrapbook pages on a high-resolution printer and then attach your traditional scrapbook materials. More tech-savvy scrappers can even save elements and pages on the hard drive or store them to DVD or CD to share with others electronically. These days, several websites give you the ability to create an online scrapbook by uploading your photos and images to their prepared digital scrapbook albums.
There are several computer programs that are great for scrapbooking. Most popular are Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2.0 and CS, Microsoft Picture It!, Lumapix, and JASC’s Paint Shop Pro. They are all effective for manipulating designs. The features that scrappers will appreciate include cropping photos, replacing backgrounds and colors, adding text, and inserting borders and graphics.
The programs we’ve mentioned weren’t created for scrapbooking, but they offer many features scrapbookers will find useful. It’s easy to isolate and “cut out” specific images from a photo. You can apply color schemes to your designs. Cropping photos and trimming page elements is easy and quick, and the programs allow you to create your own design elements.
The major obstacle to applying these high-end programs to scrapbooking is in learning how to use the software. For people who haven’t used graphics programs, there can be a steep learning curve, and becoming adept may take some time. They’re expensive too. You can expect to pay several hundred dollars for one of these software packages.
Once you are familiar with the programs, though, using the software for other projects is interesting and fun. Their great value for scrapbooking lies in their versatility. You’re only limited by your imagination in what you can create to make a super scrapbook. You can blend your own colors, create your own borders, and add texture digitally. These programs offer a variety of virtual textures: marble, canvass, cobblestone, leather, silk, and a range of natural color-texture combinations.
Easier programs dedicated to scrapbooking are also available. They include Hallmark, CK, Scrapbook Studio, and Scrapbook Assistants. Designed specifically for digital scrapbooking, they’re easier and faster to learn and much less expensive. However, they are not as flexible as the high-end programs, and your options can be limited to a prescribed set of colors, pre-set page settings, and canned layouts. But they do make the job easy, and you won’t spend weeks to months trying to figure out how they work.
An in-between solution might be a program like Microsoft Digital Image Pro. Less expensive than Adobe PhotoShop, it’s easier to learn and has more features than the digital scrapbooking programs.
If you’re not sure whether you want to try digital scrapbooking, you can try it out by downloading free digital scrapbooking programs from the Internet. Be aware, though, that these programs may not be as effective as those you purchase. That’s because free downloads are often used as product samples, and not all menu features are turned on in the free trial offers and downloads. They will give you a sense of what the software can do, and trying out free digital scrapbooking software may help you make your decision.
Most programs come with tutorials and help features that teach you how to do major tasks. The step-by-step instructions allow you to explore features and sharpen techniques as you learn the software. You can also probably get online help through blogs and forums run by scrapbooking websites.

Americans love scrapbooking! And why wouldn’t this be a popular hobby? You get to recall and preserve your special memories by doing something really creative. It’s addictive! There’s no wonder so many people enjoy scrapbooking.
But scrapbooking can really put a dent in your pocketbook. You have to get the scrapbook itself or an album, usually from craft store. And then you have to find plenty of special papers and decorations to add some flare to your scrapbook. Tools like glue and scissors add to the cost. If you’re an avid scrapbooker, you can invest a good part of your spending money.
Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be expensive, though. In fact, you can turn into a cost-free hobby. We already know you’re resourceful because you’re a scrapbooker! Now, apply that resourcefulness to your hobby and find the things you need around your house. Here are some ideas that may help you turn scrapbooking into a cost-free pursuit.
Don’t Buy Your Paper – Recycle It
You can buy a prepared scrapbook or album for your scrapbooks, but you don’t have to.
You can create most of the books that you find in craft stores today. Just give it a try.
If you have the time and patience, recycle your own papers. Use newspapers, loose papers from around the house, or scratch paper from your kids’ school. Recycling is easy, even though there are many steps to the process. All the materials you’ll need are scrap paper, a bucket, water and bleach, a blender, an embroidery hoop, and some netting. Create your own colors and textures for a truly unique scrapbook.
It can take some time, too. First, you have to tear the paper into smaller pieces. Then you have to dry the pieces after the recycling process. Imagine your pride when you respond, “Oh, no. I did every bit of it myself, even the paper!” If you’re interested in how to recycle your own scrapbooking paper, do a little research on the Internet, and have at it!
If you don’t have the time or interest in recycling your own scrapbook paper, you can use plain bond or pages from magazines or newspapers. They don’t have to be recycled to add some real flare to your scrapbook. For example, you can use photos and ads to add color and graphics to your pages. You can find photos and articles related to your scrapbook theme and add some interesting touches to your scrapbook pages.
Don’t Buy Embellishments – Go Through Your Cabinets, Drawers, and Closets
Most of us are pack rats. We keep everything just in case we’ll need it for a scrapbook. Well, now’s the time to hunt all those treasures down. You don’t have to buy fancy new decorations for your scrapbook. You can make your pages look great using items in your home. The benefit of doing this is that it adds unique personal touches to your scrapbook that you can’t buy from a craft store.
Examples include old buttons you’ve saved to put back on that old blouse or shirt, lace from old lingerie, or ribbons you’ve been saving to wrap gifts. You can get faux gemstones from old or broken costume jewelry. You can use scraps from old clothing to add texture to your scrapbook pages. You can use broken chains from old belts, jewelry, and clothing to add interesting borders.
Personalize Your Scrapbook with Paper Memories
You can literally fill a scrapbook without having to buy anything. Use old tickets for movies, busses, and concerts to mirror your theme. You can use reminders like old parking tickets or receipts from the time of your page focus items. Old programs from school plays, greeting cards, party invitations, old shopping lists, and personal notes add to the memories and make great decorations and graphics.
Scrapbookers are creative people from the start. Apply that resourcefulness to finding your own scrapbook materials, and you save a bundle while you create a family heirloom!