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

Scrapbooking Tip: Removing StazOn Ink

StazOn ink is an amazing product.  It can be used to stamp on tile, wood, plastic, fabric, almost anything!

While this is very helpful, it can also make it very hard to remove.  If you are doing anything messy with either the stamp pads or reinkers, please ensure that you protect any surfaces, clothes, carpets, or items that you don’t want to get stained, as it will not come out.

That being said, it can be cleaned off stamps with the special StazOn cleaner that is designed to remove the ink.  I find that it works well, but, being the frugal person I am, I prefer more affordable supplies.  So, what works well?

Baby wipes.

That’s right – baby wipes!  I use the Huggies Supreme Care non-scented aloe vera kind, which does not cause allergy attacks in those around me, is soft on my skin, and still works to clean the unsightly ink blemishes from the rubber…and all at a very affordable price!  Besides, they are great to have around to clean up other spills from paint, adhesive on tables, etc.

- T

Covering Chipboard? Try paint!

Covering chipboard with paper looks great, although sometimes the shape or size of the chipboard makes it difficult to get nice coverage.  Instead, try paint!

Probably the best paint to choose is acrylic, as it will wash out of clothing, off hands, and off surfaces with very litte effort.  Baby wipes work great for tables and foam brushes, should you not be near a water source. 

There are multiple options for you when choosing the “right” colour of paint:
    
     1. Purchase bottles of the colour of choice.
     2. Purchase the colours you want, and use: 
                    Black to make darker
                    White to lighten.
                    Adding brown will “muddy” the colours.  
                                        Brown+orange = terracotta
     3. Mix colours to get the shade you want.  Remember the colour wheel?
                    Red and Blue = Purple
                    Blue and Yellow = Green
                    Yellow and Red = Orange
     4. Buy plain white paint, and use your StampinUP! reinker to colour it!  
                    This works great and allows you to have everything still coordinate!
                    For some funky new colours, combine drops of various reinkers.

Speaking of baby wipes, there are some great things you can do with them…more on that later!

- T