Save Money While Scrapbooking: Embellishment Containers

I love containers.  Every shape, every size, every colour, every style.  My desk at work has multiple little containers for pens, paperclips, business cards, post-it notes.  My desk drawer has containers to hold things.  My scrapbooking space is filled with boxes and tins that often contain further little containers.

I am obsessed.

I am also cheap.

Finding containers that work for you, your supplies, and your space, shouldn’t mean a drain on funds.  There are many ways you can have the storage you want, at the prices you deserve.

Shoe Boxes: Remember when you were little and all of the teachers had you decorate your own shoe box to store craft supplies?  Why not do the same now?  Plus, you have so many more skills…and embellishments…now!  Patterned paper looks amazing to cover a box, and if you are worried about damage, cover the entire box with either Modge Podge glue or self-laminating sheets.

Food and Spice Jars: Glass containers of any shape and size are handy for all types of embellishments, ribbons, etc.  By removing the labels, decorating the lids, and adding a label, you’d hardly know they were once used for something else.  Plus, you can use rub-ons or stamps and StazOn ink to decorate the glass.

Scrapbooking Embellishment Containers: There are a lot of embellishments, particularly flowers, that come in either neat glass containers or plastic tubs.  They can be reused to hold other supplies when the original contents are gone.  As well, brads/eyelets/beads sometimes come in little tins or plastic vials which are great for further storage or for using for projects.

Photo Boxes: I bought a bunch from Michael’s when they were having a Boxing Week sale, and although they are supposed to be for photos, I keep most of my embellishments in them.  They have a label at one end that also assists in remaining organized.

Fishing Tackle Boxes and Containers: I refuse to spend double the amount of money for a container in a scrapbooking store that is pink or purple, when I can buy the exact same thing at Wal-Mart in the fishing aisle for half the price, but in green or blue.  I’m not a girly girl, so actually prefer the non-princess colours.  Plus, the price is right!  As well, if you are looking for sturdy scrapbooking tool bags, check out the ones intended for carpenters, plumbers, and electricians.  They will last longer, are a fraction of the price, and often contain a plethora of pockets that are great for all those tools!  Wal-Mart and Home Depot often carry the best selection at the best price.

IKEA: What blog post would be complete without a reference to IKEA?  Oh, IKEA, how I love you so…too bad we don’t reside in the same city… ANYWAY – IKEA often has a bunch of great storage containers that are amazing for scrapbooking.  They are large enough to hold papers, stamps, and larger items.  The colour selection also helps keep your scrapbooking space coordinated, funky, and fresh.

Whatever containers you choose to use, make sure they work for you, your supplies, and your space.  Check with others for their ideas, as that is when you’ll get the truest reviews.

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: Flowers

Despite the fact that I am anything but a girly-girl (much to the chagrin of my girly Mother), I love using flowers on my layouts, as they don’t necessarily have to be feminine or have to be used on layouts regarding women or gardens.

For those of you who also love flowers, I imagine that you are also lamenting the cost of some of those nice silk or paper flowers you see in the scrapbooking stores.  Personally, spending almost $1 per bloom is ridiculous, and always gets me riled up. 

Here’s a quick tip: go to a craft or department store and buy a pre-bunched group of flowers.  They are silk and come with leaves as well.  Now, pull the blooms off, as well as the leaves.  Voila!  You just spent around $1-$2 and now have over a dozen flowers…as well as the leaves! 

The great thing about doing this is now you can do layered flower looks, without cringing in pain because you just spent $10 on flowers for one layout.  Plus, those leaves are great for layouts on their own, or for usage during the layering.  Rather than those plastic centers, use brads!  Crystal brads are especially gorgeous, and you can get a bag of 30 coloured brads at Dollarama (as opposed to $7 for 20 at Michael’s).  The savings continue!

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: Coloured Ribbon

Ribbon is a great addition to any card or layout that we can make, as it is gender-neutral, adds some pizzazz, and is relatively inexpensive, if you pay attention.

When purchasing ribbon, get more bang for you buck by looking at the following:

• The amount on the spool.  Sometimes the packaging can be very deceiving.  What can look like almost 12 feet, is sometimes only 24 inches. 
• Check out the bins at Michaels or the wrapping paper aisles in Dollar Stores.  They often have really nice ribbon, but at a significantly cheaper price.  Often those ribbon-specific aisles mean significantly higher prices.
• Having a hard time matching to your ink colour?  You can take white ribbon, hold one end with a finger, and then pull the ribbon along the ink pad to colour the ribbon strip the same colour as your ink pad!  Plus, this gives the ribbon a bit of a distressed look, as the ink doesn’t transfer evenly onto the ribbon, especially if it is a grosgrain ribbon.
• What makes this ribbon special?  Is it a design on it?  Sometimes you can mimic the design on plain coloured ribbon with rub-ons or stamps.  When stamping, using a Staz-On ink often works the best.  You can also emboss on ribbon, if you are patient when using the heat gun. 
• Wide ribbons often look really good on pages, but can be pricey.  As a cheaper alternative, try placing several rows of the less expensive thinner ribbon side-by-side.  You get the thickness, as well as the ongoing design or colour.
• Keep in mind: ribbon is ribbon, but there are some differences in quality.  I often get a lot of my “fun” ribbon at Dollarama or from the cheaper places or bins, as I won’t be needing a lot of it, and I am not worried about quality.  Other time, though, I want the quality, as the ribbon will be holding together a mini-album, or I want it to be more versatile.  That is when I purchase the ribbons from StampinUP!, as they are premium quality, and are actually very affordable.  Plus, all of the ribbons coordinate beautifully with the ink and cardstock.

- Tanya

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Save Money While Scrapbooking: Pop-Dots

Hi, my name is Tanya, and I’m a pop-dot-aholic.

I probably use pop-dots on almost every layout, in some form or another.  Which, given the prices and the small sizes of the packages, could get very expensive.  That is, unless you know some tips and tricks for saving money!

Tip #1: Buy in bulk.  When looking at pop-dot packaging, look for the ugliest package, as it usually has more of the product, and less of the fancy pictures and packaging.  You’ll often save up to $2 per package!

Tip #2: Buy in discount stores.  If you’ve read any of my blog so far, you’ll know that I love dollar stores.  Well, once again, they can be great resources for finding pop-dots.  One thing to note, though, is the thickness of these pop-dots, as they can often be very slim, hence the savings in money.

Tip #3: Use rubber stamp cast-off.  If you purchase stamps from StampinUP!, you know that you don’t mount all of the rubber that comes with the set.  After mounting your actual stamps, save the excess rubber and foam.  You can peel the rubber off the foam part to create a pop-dot, since the other side of the foam is adhesive already!  In peeling the rubber, the adhesive often stays on the foam, so no additional work is needed.  Sometimes, though, you will need to add some adhesive to it.  In either case, you have free pop-dots!

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: Chipboard Mini-Albums

Anyone who scrapbooks with me knows how much I adore mini albums!  They are great for gifts and for capturing those events that are a little more than a page, but not an entire album on their own.  As well, mini albums are great for those pictures that don’t necessarily fit elsewhere, but are great for conveying how you feel about someone.

The problem is this: chipboard albums in scrapbooking stores can be almost as much as a 12×12 post bound album!  Maybe it is just me, but I refuse to pay $12 for a 5×3 album with only 8 pages in it!!!

“So, cheapo, how do you save money?”, you ask? 
“There are multiple ways!”, I respond.

TIP #1: Check for online stores that are more interested in getting products into the waiting hands of happy scrapbookers, rather than gouging their pocketbooks.  In the Saskatoon area, there is Scraps and Treasures (email me at tanyascrapbooks @ hotmail.com for an invite to her Yahoo Group), which can order in those hard-to-find chipboard albums at a fraction of local-store pricing!

Another online store is Oriental Trading Company.  They offer a variety of albums at almost-ridiculous prices!  If in the Saskatoon area, Scraps and Treasures also makes orders from them, so that we can all save on shipping costs.

TIP #2: Create your own albums.  You can often purchase 12×12 sheets of chipboard from stores for under $1.50 per sheet.  Using heavy duty scissors or your cutter (with a blade that you are prepared to devote to chipboard), cut the chipboard into the desired sizes and shapes.  This is what I did for this Mother’s Day Album:

Mother

Using chipboard letters, I traced them onto the chipboard sheets, then cut the chipboard out, so that it resembled the popular word books that can be purchased for $6-10.  Cost of doing it my way: $1.50.  Covering it with paper, photos, and embellishments, you’d never know the difference, except for the size difference (it was only 3 inches high, rather than 5.5).

TIP #3: Probably one of the easiest (and most fun!) is really quite different: purchase a child’s book that has a chipboard base and convert it into a mini album!  I LOVE doing this, and it can be very economical!  I usually go to Dollarama (my second shopping home-away-from-home, after Wal-Mart), where you can find various shaped albums – squares, rectangles, some with squiggly edges – for $1 each!  All you need to do is peel off the printed, shiny paper, and the base underneath is chipboard!  Sweet!  I use a sharp craft knife and work the edges up enough, so that I can grip and edge and peel it back.  Some people have mentioned using a power sander, which is fine if you have one.  With patience, though, the manual way works well (and I usually do it when watching TV, so that I don’t feel guilty wasting hours watching CSI…).

Now, some of them have the brownish chipboard, but there are some that have the white base.  The brown is easier to peel, and is much more like the chipboard you are used to, so I would recommend it, although I have found a few books with the white base that worked okay.  You have to kind of check and see how the printed material is attached.  Sometimes it is on peelable sheets; other times, it is printed right onto the base and won’t peel.

Once peeled, you can then cover with patterned paper, cardstock, or paint it.  I often paint mine, then use a background stamp or roller wheel to give the pages some texture, as well as hide some of the blemishes I created when stabbing the book with my craft knife (accidentally…or subconsciously acting out what is happening on CSI…whichever!).

Sample of what used to be a Spiderman book:

Recipe Album

“Don’t you feel bad, wrecking what could be a child’s educational resource?”, you ask.
“Not when it comes to Spiderman!”, I reply. “If it was Batman, then that’s just a travesty, and should be punishable by law.”

(Seriously, though.  Spiderman?  He’s got webs.  Whoopty-doo.  Batman, on the other hand, has a cool car, bike, and mad skillz that aid in his fight against evil.  Plus, he looks smashing in black and has a sexy voice.  Case closed.)

But I digress…

The beauty of the peeled chipboard books is that the basic shapes can be used for any theme or event, and others will never know…unless you show it to others who read this blog!

Quote today comes from Franklin Roosevelt: “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”

Go achieve joy and thrill in your creative effort…while saving money!

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: Chipboard Shapes

Much of the money-saving tips that apply to Chipboard letters also applies to shapes.  For instance, if you like the overall shape but not the colour, you can peel off the top layer of paper and then ink, paint, or stamp on the shape. 

Another option of creating the shapes you want without having to pay a fortune for them is to create them yourself!  Using stencils, tracing a chipboard shape you already have, or tracing an object’s shape onto a sheet of chipboard, and then cutting it out with a strong pair of scissors also works.  Ink, paint, stamp, and embellish as needed.

Sometimes local scrapbooking stores will let you cut chipboard sheets using their diecut machines; however, I would recommend checking with the store first, before doing so.  Thicker chipboard can dull the blades of the dies, and some stores follow a “stict policy and procedure manual” that may create trouble for you.  (Don’t even get me started on one of the local stores!!)

If using a stencil or die cut machine is not feasible, you can also take a paper copy of the shape, adhere to the chipboard sheet, then cut it out.  Using a sanding block, sand all edges.  This serves two purposes: it smoothes out the edges, as well as “bonds” the paper and chipboard together so that they do not come apart easily!

One option that I have been doing more and more of is to freehand draw onto a sheet of chipboard, then cut it out.  This works well for fluid shapes, such as flourishes.  Do the drawing in pencil, and have a good eraser nearby, so that you can easily make adjustments.

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it sure buys me more scrapbooking supplies, and they make me happy!!!

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: Chipboard Letters

Chipboard letters look amazing on layouts, and I tend to like to include them on a regular basis.  The one thing that holds me back is the price.  Another is the lack of double letters in many of the packages.

There is nothing more frustrating than finding a great font, only to discover that you only get one of each letter…and how many titles only use one of each letter?  Few, unless you are doing one-word titles.  Suddenly that awesome chipboard alphabet is not so awesome, especially since the price tag is often $6 or more!

Good news 1: if you like StampinUP! products, the new chipboard alphabet sets have, in many cases, double alphabets, and often each alphabet even has doubles of those popular letters!  Hooray!  (the new catalogue came out yesterday, in the event you didn’t hear.  It was like Christmas in August!)  Since you get three 12×12 sheets of letters, there are a lot there for the $15 price tag.  The one set has the equivalent of almost 6 alphabet sets (with extras of those popular letters), plus other shapes!  I am in love!

Good news 2: if you have read any other of my posts, you will already know of my love…or, more like obsession…with Dollarama.  You can get some nice alphabet sets from there, and even though some of them only contain one each of the letters, at $1 for the set, picking up several won’t break the bank.

What about getting a good colour, you ask?

The StampinUP! chipboard is plain, so you can ink, paint, etc. to get the right shade for your layout.  As for the Dollarama sets, depending on the one you get, there are some options:

1. They currently have larger sets with some sparkle on them.  For certain layouts, the sparkle works.  I am not a girly girl, so sparkle is really not my thing.  The great thing about these letters is that the base is chipboard, and the sparkle is actually paper that has been adhered to the base letter.  What works great is using a craft knife and gently lifting that sparkle paper, so that you can peel the colour off completely.  From there, you are left with a plain chipboard letter that can be inked, painted, etc.  The coloured paper comes off like an orange peel, making it stress-free!

2. For the smaller sets that are already coloured (they currently have western, heirloom, pinks, purple, etc), peeling them doesn’t work as well.  The chipboard layers are strongly adhered, and I found myself getting frustrated and almost wrecking the letter.  Paint does not adhere well to the shiny surface of the letter, so if wanting to paint, you’ll have to sand them to roughen them up, then put on many layers of dark paint.  Using ink worked much better, although, once again, it had to be a dark colour.  StazOn worked wonders, as it dries quickly and sticks to any surface.  Another option was to emboss them.  This worked like a charm!  Plus, it gives you more colour options.  I don’t really use craft/pigment inks, but I imagine they would work as well, although, again, you’d likely have to use a lot of ink, or else do several coats of the ink and the clear embossing powder.

One last idea: if you can’t find an alphabet or font you like, but still want the thickness of the chipboard, try just stamping the letters onto chipboard shapes.  Sometimes it can not only give you the letters, but also provide an embellishment at the same time!

Actually, one more idea: if you have a current chipboard set, but need more letters, try tracing the letters onto a chipboard sheet and cutting the letters out.  That way, you have the flexibility to make as many letters as you want!

Our motto for the day: “I’m not cheap – I’m fabulous!”

- Tanya

Save Money While Scrapbooking: White Paint

Many companies market “scrapbooking” paint for use by scrapbookers, which is often priced at up to $6 a bottle.  It is archival safe, and acid-free.

Cheaper alternative: acrylic paint that you can find anywhere.

As far as I have found and researched, the acrylic paint marketed to scrapbookers, and the acrylic paint that you can find at any craft or dollar store, is completely the same.  I get mine from Dollarama, and pay $1 for a bottle that is almost 3 times larger than those at other stores!

Plus, I use my StampinUP! reinkers and colour the paint to match the cardstock and inks that I use.  This way, everything can still coordinate – bonus!  Extra bonus – I can affor to buy more of the matching ribbon and embellishments, because I saved so much on NOT paying $3-$6 for a tube of paint!!!

If it’s true that “money doesn’t care who owns it”, then it might as well be us!

- Tanya