Scrap booking newbie

[skinbyrd85]

I've just started doing scrap booking and was wondering if anyone else here does it? I can't afford the square pieces of proper scrap booking paper so I'm just using coloured A4 size pages, but I did find some cheap mats. Also instead of using the expensive scrapbooking stickers, I've been using cheap stickers that you get at the little Asian emporiums.

At the moment I'm working on a book for my SO. It's going to have lots of pics from my trip over there (I got home a week ago) and also lots of stuff about my life here.

[MissShortie]

I use to scrapbook with my mom a lot but for some reason I stopped.... I think it's something I will have to start again because my SO's mom gave me a cute scrapbook to work with.
I got back on Tuesday from my SO's house and only have 5 pictures.... yeah I'm upset with myself for that one

[faith5x5nomore]

I use to scrapbook alot but Never have the time anymore. In fact I was just going threw my supplies and posting them on ebay... Where are you from? If your close enough maybe and what ever doesn't sell I can send you some... it can be a very expensive hobby and I have spent thousands of dollors over the years.. Try and buy your supplies out of season right now most craft places will have there halloween items on clearance.

[kasia516]

its SOOOO expensive to scrapbook! Here are some tips from my experiences,
i live in canada and the dollar stores are amazing, you can get really nice stickers, paper, cut outs, all for a dollar!
otherwise I go to michaels when i have a 40/50% off coupon (which is like every week from their flyer). they also have good sales.
you can also get scrapbook paper at stores like TJ Max or Winners for cheap, especially when it goes on sale
(those are for the states/canada, if youre from there)
i also use a lot of stuff from magazines/ newspapers and i use maps as background paper
and i print out my own pictures too
my scrapbooks are always really cheap but always really nice! good luck!

[BlackCherryJam]

I'm just starting a new scrapbook... Because it's so expensive I like to draw and do part of the decoration myself. Just wish I had more time and money!

[skinbyrd85]

cool, thanks for the hints everyone

faith, I'm in New Zealand so pretty far away from you I would think. :P

[Heather]

I love scrapbooking! Absolutely LOVE it. Check out Wal-Mart, they have a great scrapbooking section and the dollar store SOMETIMES has plastic covers, pages, stickers, etc.. but I like Wal-Marts section better, not too expensive, and it's good quality stuff.

[skinbyrd85]

We don't have Walmart in New Zealand but we have kind of the NZ equivalent called The Warehouse, and their scrapbooking stuff is fairly well priced.

[BlackCherryJam]

For those who can't afford buying all the scrapbooking stuff I found an interesting site!
https://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/ tells it's got printable scrapbook supplies, and most important: it's supposed to be free! I haven't tried it yet but some of the stuff looked quite good. I guess you have to have a good printer for that and I still don't know how everything will look printed but I think it's worth to try

[garnet]

I used to be a paper scrapper, but it just got too expensive. I switched to digital a few years ago, and can't fathom going back. It's nice because when you buy a kit, or papers (prices are less when you buy digital supplies), you have them forever. You can use them over and over, they never run out. You don't need adhesive, if something is the wrong size or color, you just change it into what you want. I'm on a mac, and primarily use the program iScrapbook, but there are similar programs for the PC. I get the pages printed out in 8x8 size, and put them in an album. They look better than my paper pages ever did, and the needing no space, and making no mess is nice too.

[britt0851]

I've always wanted to try scrapbooking but I've always found some excuse not to start. Whether it was money issues, busy with other things or just plain lazy :P After reading all the other posts, I've been inspired to finally start! If it turns out right, then it will be a great anniversary present

[skinbyrd85]

For those who can't afford buying all the scrapbooking stuff I found an interesting site!
https://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/ tells it's got printable scrapbook supplies, and most important: it's supposed to be free! I haven't tried it yet but some of the stuff looked quite good. I guess you have to have a good printer for that and I still don't know how everything will look printed but I think it's worth to try

That's awesome, thanks for the link!!

[Paris]

I LOVE scrapbooks!!

I am queen at the cheap supplies! If you live in the USA and have stores like ROSS or TJ Maxx they have the cheapest scrapbooking kits. I have bought a pack for less than 5 bucks with paper, stencils, stickers and other things. I love to go there. I also hit the Dollar Tree, they have cheap stencils and stickers and supplies like crayons and markers. I also buy the books at walmart, ross or tj max, the are cheap! Ross usually has the best prices for the books.I have never paid more than 6bucks for a book! I have quite a few nice ones and I am making one for my bf and I of the first year of us together. After I see him in December I will make him one of our trip like you are and send it to him.

Lets see...Look online as well, there are great places to find cheap supplies online. I have quite a few things and I only spend the money on certain decorative stickers. Everything else I make! I bought a pack of the foam shapes that have a sticky back at Walmart and I cut shapes and stuff out of those. It might take a lot longer but it's more personable and cheaper! I like the glitter stickers but they are expensive so I use a glue stick and use my own glitter or glitter pens. Get the metallic sharpies! They are awesome! I have sharpies in all colors and I usually but the small ones that are like key chains. They are cheap for a pack, about 3 bucks....If you have Target, they have sheets of dollar stickers in their craft section and some are nice bubbly and glittery ones.

Ok here is what i did with the pics.. I used flickr.com to load and edit the pics. I then downloaded each pic in wallet size, made a disk and printed them at walmart for about 10 bucks. Wallets are great because you get two pics a sheet! I like to do it that way so I can change some of the pics to all black and white

If you have any other questions I would be more than happy to help you!

Scrapbooking is an addiction for me!

[Paris]

Here is a link to my flickr account. I paid for the pro version so I can have unlimited photos and editing but if you want me to make you some icons for your scrapbook I wouldnt mind I could put them on a sheet and email them to you and you can print them and use them. I have done that as well, even made my own paper using paint and word and then printed it! I have been scrapbooking for years and have figured out the tricks. It really doesnt take time at all to make icons. If you dont have an account with them it's free and you have a certain amount of free uploads, not sure how many. I usually download the icon and delete it on flickr since I already have i on my computer.

Ok sorry...Im rambling lol. well enjoy your scrapbooking!

[justbreathe]

I would loveee to get into scrapbooking but I know I'd get tired of it quick! I'm too fickle lol. I have gotten into digital scrapbooking! It probably does cost more but I like it. All of the designs are already there, the layouts, etc. I use shutterfly.com. I made a scrapbook on there for my SO for our one year anniversary and he LOVED it! It's a pretty cool site.