How to Save Money on Scrapbook Supplies

Is is possible to purchase quality scrapbook supplies and save money at the same time? Absolutely! You can scrapbook, stay within your budget, and beautifully capture your most precious memories.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acid free album
• Acid free paper
• Adhesive
• Paper cutter
• Journaling pen
• Photographs

1. 
   Organize your photographs.

   Organize your photographs. Use any box you have around, or purchase a photo organizing box when they're on sale ($1.50 or so). Separate your photographs into chronological order or by event.

2. 
   Scrapbook albums

   Purchase scrapbook albums with acid free pages and page protectors. Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, and Michaels Arts and Crafts often have excellent sale prices on scrapbook albums and scrapbook supplies. Many times these stores will run sales of 40% or 50% off albums or other scrapbook supplies. Use store coupons to purchase your albums at a discounted price during the times the albums are not on sale.

3. 
   Scrapbook stickers

   Stock up when scrapbook supplies go on sale and save money. Scrapbook supplies such as stickers, acid-free albums, ribbon, brads, pages, page protectors, adhesives, and other embellishments will go on sale periodically. Be patient and buy on sale whenever possible.

4. 
   Paper cutter

   Purchase a paper cutter. Undoubtedly, this is one tool that is a bit more costly. Choose a paper cutter that can cut paper up to 12 or 15 inches in length. You'll be able to trim both your photographs and paper. A paper cutter usually runs in the range of $14 to $30. Save money by using a coupon or wait for a sale.

5. 
   Use only acid free paper.

   Use acid free paper for page backgrounds. Sometimes JoAnn's will feature a sale for 6 sheets of 12x12 paper for 96 cents. At different times of the year, Michael's Arts and Crafts will feature great paper sales as well and they have an excellent selection. The Dollar Store and Dollar Tree stores offer packs of paper for $1.00. However, adding color with paper is optional. Save money in this area by not purchasing any at all. However, if you want to add some color to your pages, make sure to use acid free paper, not construction paper.

6. 
   Photo mounting squares

   Adhere your photographs with acid free adhesives. Experiment and see which adhesive works the best for you. You'll save money if you use only as much adhesive as you need on each photograph. Wait for a 1/2 off sale and get two adhesive products for the price of one.

7. 
   Journaling pens

   Capture your memories on your scrapbook pages using acid free, archival safe journaling pens. Journaling is essential to any scrapbook and is what makes your pictures and memories come alive. Journaling pens tend to be pricey at about $2.50 each. The most versatile journaling pen to have is one with black ink. If you like to add color, get a set or purchase the pens as you go, especially when they are on sale. Always make sure to include: "who, where, what, and when" when you journal your pages. There are several colors of pens available, but to save money on your scrapbook supplies, choose a few basic colors such as black, brown, navy blue, or dark green as you're getting started.

8. Talk to other ladies who scrapbook and see if they have any items they would like to either share, swap, or sell to you for a reduced price.

Tips & Warnings

• They won't advertise it, but the JoAnn Fabric stores and the Michaels Crafts stores in my area will accept each other's coupons. Be sure to ask your local stores if they will honor any other craft store coupons.
• Scrapbooking on a budget means finding every way possible to capture your memories without breaking the bank. Your scrapbook supplies can be simple and still capture your memories effectively.
• A 3-ring binder easily serves as a photo album. Use quality, archival safe pages and page protectors in the 3-ring album to ensure that your photos will last for years. These can be purchased separately in the same area as the scrapbook albums.
• Scrapbook pages (8 1/2" x 11") for post-hinge albums work well in a binder since the holes are already punched into the page.
• Add fun scrapbook supplies to your list such as stickers, die cuts, ribbons and other embellishments as you go along (get them on sale!).
• Most importantly, just get started! Our memories fade quickly with time. Just because you are scrapbooking on a budget doesn't mean those memories have to be lost.
• Some people like to create photo albums around a specific theme or event such as vacation albums, baby albums, high school, or a wedding album.
• Holidays are a popular time for stores to place their albums on sale. JoAnn's will usually put their 12x12 albums on sale for less than $5 each some time during the holiday season.
• Adhesives are available in several different forms to appeal to each person's style of scrapbooking. I have found that the photo squares or running tape hold my photos and paper securely. I have tried the glue sticks and have found them to be messy. Maybe I just haven't found the correct brand yet.
• Don't sacrifice archival quality supplies to save money. If you place your photographs into an album with pages that aren't acid-free, your time, money and energy are wasted. Photographs that aren't protected will yellow and fade over time, which ruins the keepsake and the memories.

Resources

• Discount Scrapbooking Supplies and Free Ideas
• How To Create an ABC Scrapbook Photo Album for Children
• JoAnn Fabrics
• Michaels - The Arts & Crafts Store
• Hobby Lobby
• How To Scrapbook Digital Photographs Right Away
• More Articles by Susan

[coffeefirst]

on 5/10/2009 Nice pics! Scrapbooking is a lot of fun.

[jpwriter]

on 4/4/2009 What an excellent and thorough article on scrapbook supplies. They can get very expensive, but you're right on the deals. My sister has hundreds of dollars of stuff, but she is a bargain shopper. JoAnne's and Michael's coupons are interchangeable, too, which is great cause we have JoAnne's close, but not the other. I don't know if you mentioned that and I missed it. Great article.

[BHolmes]

on 1/13/2009 Thanks for the tips! :-)

[anixon84]

on 1/4/2009 I love scrapbooking, it's such a pretty way to organize my children's pictures! I also found that our local Dollar Tree has stickers and stamps, and stuff like that for a dollar!! Imagine the heaven I was in! Great article on a great subject!

[bar10dr98]

on 1/4/2009 Great advice, thanks!