Scrapbooking for Less: Found Item Freebies, and Trash to Treasure


© Merrideth Chenoweth
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Oct 20, 2004


Scrapbooking is a wonderful hobby, and there is definitely no shortage of craft, paper and super stores selling scrapbooking supplies. If you're like me though, you'd rather not spend a cart load of money on the same things that other people have! Your alternative to this is to scavenge your home for things that can be incorporated into scrapbooking for no added cost! After that, it's time to head to non-scrapbooking stores to buy more supplies for less!

Do your Home Work First

So, I'll bet at this point you either think I'm crazy, or you're wondering what in the world is there in your house you haven't already thought of! Well, pull on your scruffy clothes and lets get digging!

Kitchen: Look for toothpicks, bottle caps, pull tabs (from canned soda, see November 2004 Creating Keepsakes Magazine for more information,) food labels (you can distress these with ink and chalk for a nice antique-ish look,) recipe cards, and contact paper and don't forget to check the junk drawer!

Garage: With spousal permission, I raided our garage next. Out there I found pieces of leather cordage, washers, screws (I plan to remove the post of the screws and just use the screw-head on my pages,) hinges, latches, H-VAC tape, seed packets, old newspapers, bottle caps (my husband isn't always careful about where his bottle caps land!) I also found remnants of our living room wallpaper, which I was sure we had lost over a year ago, but will coordinate with one of my pages in progress!

Office: There's lots of fun stuff to use from the office. I found paper clips, O-rings, pens, post-its, staples, label gun, note cards, envelopes, old stamps, letters, cards, and magazine clippings.

Craft Room: Yeah, I know, sounds pretty self-explanatory, but think of the things you don't usually use for your scrapbooking. I knit, so in my craft room I can find any number of fibers, and since I sew and cross stitch as well, I can use those supplies in my scrapbooking! Look for safety pins, strait pins, T-pins, ribbons, fibers, patches, patterns, fabric, buttons, tailor's measuring tape, zippers, beads, paints, markers, and glitter. Just try looking at your supplies differently to find new ways to use them!

Ready, Set, Shop!

OK, now that your house is totally torn apart, lets go shopping! Instead of heading to the local scrapbook store, why not try going to an office supply store, the hardware store, or your local flea market?

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages
2.   Oct 20, 2004 5:16 PM
In response to You've presented posted by jerrib:

Very True Jerri!

There are so many possibilities for scrapbooking that th ...

-- posted by Merr
1.   Oct 20, 2004 8:51 AM
a lot of great ideas, and fun, too, looking for things to scrapbook with. My husband keeps his shop very tidy, so it would be easy to raid it and find some good things.

Don't forget about nature. ...

-- posted by jerrib



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