Scrapbooking on a Budget

Using Found Objects

Updated on 2/14/2019

If you are scrapbooking on a budget, paper crafting does not have to break the bank when you work smarter and get a little creative. Believe it or not, we all have things lying around the house, or more specifically in our own craft space, that can be used to save us time and money without sacrificing quality and design while creating our masterpieces.  Here are 3 common examples to help us scrapbook on a budget.

Envelopes

Envelopes can be incorporated into your projects as pages or pockets. Junk mail envelopes, recycled envelopes from greeting cards, and standard envelopes are all great options. They can be inked, distressed and otherwise altered to suit your style. As pockets they can be used to hold special memorabilia, hide journaling, or hold additional photos.

They also make quick and cute pages–the fact that they are not acid free is okay as long as you mat your photos on archival safe paper rather than attaching photos directly to the envelope. Otherwise, you can spray any found objects that come in direct contact with your photos with an archival spray.

Buttons

Most articles of clothing come with extra buttons and thread or fiber.  I seldom need to replace a button, so these extra buttons go directly into my button stash. They can be used directly on layouts as embellishments and as closures for mini albums or pockets. You can also salvage buttons from old clothing that you can no longer use.  Don’t remove buttons from clothing you are donating though. You always want to donate items in good and usable condition and you can’t really do that if you remove all of the buttons. Just saying…

Scrap fabric

Scrap fabric can include ribbon saved from gifts received, lace trim, salvaged material from clothing.  Ribbon and lace make great accents for layouts, tags, cards, and mini albums. They also make unique closures for mini albums and pretty accents for rings on bound albums.

Here are some examples of how I have used scrap pieces of ribbon to enhance mini albums that I have made in the past: