Frugal Scrappin'

What do you think of when you hear the term "frugal scrapping"?

Do you think .... percent off sales, clearance shopping, discount store shopping, making things yourself, or other?

Frugal scrapping can be all of that as well as even a little more. Go beyond the Scrapbook Stores both online and off. Think outside of the box. It's like a scavenger hunt of sorts.

Usually when someone thinks of Frugal Scrapping, they think sales. Percent off sales are a draw for me but Clearance Sales will get me every time. LOL Speaking of which, have you all checked out the Clearance Section here at ScrapbookDreamer? You should! There are many great deals to be had! Be sure to check the clearance items at your Local Scrapbook Stores too. You just never know what you might find.

Thrift Stores and Yard Sales for instance can provide you with clothing in which you can salvage buttons, material to make frazzles, zippers, zipper pulls, snaps, buckles, faux jump rings, ribbon, twill, and even what scrappers call nailheads can be found on some blouses as well as a few other items. You may even find scrapbook supplies at a few.

What about Office Supply Stores? Items such as paper clips and staples are the first thing that comes to mind. Staples carries regular paper clips, striped paper clips, square shaped paper clips, brass toned paper clips, as well as things called T-Pins that are pin typed paper clip. There are even tags in various sizes, small coin envelopes, and replacement blades and cutting pads for the Carl cutters. You honestly just have to open your eyes throughout the store to see what you can find.

Discount stores such as Wal-Mart carries scrapbook supplies, sometimes they even clearance those a few items. Go beyond the scrapbook aisle and venture over into the other craft aisles. You will find storage boxes, jewelry findings, acrylic paints, leafing pens, ribbon, yarns galore (aka fibers!), and much more. Granted the skeens of fibers are a little much for one person, but go in with a group of scrappers and buy a few to share the "wealth".

While you're at Wal-Mart, be sure to check out the office supply section too. There you will find round, metal edged tags, small white tags, colored staples, dymo labeler, labels in various colors to fit that labeler, round paper clips in a little metal tin, and probably a few more things I'm sure a scrapper thinking outside of the box could find a use for.

Don't forget to browse the silk flower assortment too. Some very pretty silk flowers are available at a very reasonable price.

Wonder over to the hardware section, and you will find stencils, big letter & stickers ready for your mailbox but work great for altered items, rolls of jute (twine), and more. If you are remodeling your residence by painting, wonder over to the paint center and you will find paint strips. When you are finished using them for your home improvement project, use the paint strips in your scrapping. You can remove the printing from those by simply using an eraser called "The Magic Rub Eraser" by Sanford. It is an art gum eraser and can be found at Staples in a 2 pack for less than $3.

Discount stores are not limited to places like Wal-Mart though. Places like Big Lots, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General here in the Southern U.S. carry a few scrapbook related items.

Big Lots is a scavenger hunt in itself as you really never know what you may find within one's walls. They carry a few scrap supplies that often varies from store to store.

Dollar Tree is best know for it's "Everything's a $1" slogan. If you have one near you, be sure to check it out as you will find various items throughout the store that you could use for scrapping. They do carry a small selection of scrapbook paper, packages of card making supplies both vellum and paper, and stickers under the line of "Miss Elizabeth's". Again, like Walm-Mart, go beyond the aisle with scrapbook items. You will discover a toy aisle that has mini playing cards, bracelet making sets with alphabet beads, crochet purse sets with fibers, beads, and more in the package, little quilling sets complete with quilling strips and quilling tool. The hardware aisle will entice you with round clear protector pads that reminds me of page pebbles, packages of round cork pads, packages of the round clothespins that some scrappers use to wind their ribbon around, little tools like pliers and wire cutters, and more. Don't stop there! Venture over to the housewares aisle and you may find wine glass charms. Or venture over to the gift wrapping aisle and you could find rolls of ribbons, small silk flowers, and more. What about the office supply aisle? Well of course we need to look there too. There's journals to be altered, page protectors to be found, baseball card protectors we could use to organize our smaller finds, index cards, reinforcement labels, round multi-colored labels, and more!

Packages of paper, 3-D stickers, regular stickers, pens, photo corners, page protectors, albums, photo storage boxes, and few other items line the shelves in a Dollar General, many of which are $3 or less, except for the albums. Recently I found a package of 50 sheets of patterned paper for $6. Some of the Dollar General Stores are marking down a few of the scrapbook items to make room for new, so be sure to check for clearance items.

Grocery Stores are starting to carry scrapbook supplies too, so be on the watch for those and know your prices as some may or may not be such good deals.

Home Improvement and hardware stores are other places to think outside of the box at. You can find paint strips and laminate counter top samples for your home improvement needs and when you're done use them for scrapping. Rolls of jute, various types of washers, even post extensions for your post bound albums - they are called Chicago posts, window screen, dry wall mesh - paint it any color you desire for a handmade mesh to use. What about screws? Well think screw heads. If you have a dremel, you can sheer the heads of and use those on altered items.

One thing I like to do, is try to duplicate something by making it myself. Items such as tags. I have used templates to make mine as well as used store bought tags as a template. A few other templates I have used are: library pockets, mini file folders, and of course the older die cuts and letter templates. If you see something you like, try making it yourself and use acid free/lignin free cardstock and paper.

What about those oh so popular letter tiles that look like scrabble pieces? Have you looked at your local thrift store for used Scrabble games or other games for pieces like that. Puzzles are usually a find in thrift store too for puzzle pieces to alter.

I could go on and list more things, but hopefully this will get you jumpstarted on thinking outside of the box on where to find items to scrap with.

Just remember archival safety. If you are concerned about items such as these being used on your scrapbook layouts, consider using Archival Mist which is a spray that "locks" an item's acid in. It's best known for being used on paper that isn't archival quality like brochures and newspaper clippings. You may wish to keep items such as these away from your photos on a page too if you are concerned. Use them on altered projects where a photo isn't involved is a good idea too.

Have fun and think outside of the box the next time you go shopping for scrapbook items.

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