Scrapbooking Without Spending Too Much

Gone are the days when we put our pictures in those albums lined up in a boring fashion. Because we have discovered the hobby of scrapbooking, we are able to prepare albums with creative styles, colorful designs and everything that lets us feast our eyes on.

Scrapbooking is a very enjoyable hobby. Although you would need ample time in doing it, it is really worth all the hard work and effort. It involves meaningful captured moments and priceless shots of your family and friends. So adding all those lovely designs, colorful papers, stickers, ribbons and glitters would really add wonderful effects to your keepsake.

Sometimes, however, after we have bought all the materials we need for our scrapbooking, we get surprised with how much we have spent even for just one album. So here are a few tips that could help scrapbook lovers and doers come up with beautiful work at a lesser cost:

1. Print your own captions. This would actually make things more personalized. There are ready stickers from stores, but you may not really use all of them. Try different fonts and print the letters using different colors. I have even tried changing the font style for each letter for just one word that I needed to print. That would make it really fun-looking. Put your captions in text boxes or circles. After you cut them, a dab of glue would help them stick to your sheets.

It would be very interesting to put some captions inside bubbles or cloud-like shapes called callouts for special effects. Stick them in such a way that people in your photos would look like they are saying those funny or nice captions that you want to add.

2. Print your own design materials. You could find pictures from the clip-art on your computer, or find very interesting ones on-line. You could personalize this by adding a caption, or a saying or whatever creative addition you want to make.

3. Cut out words from magazines. Use magazines with glossy pages. Get words that are boldly printed, or those with interesting font styles. When you chance upon words like "fun" or "great" or "adventures" or even "Smile!", cut them and have an envelope for all of these.

Aside from words, you could also find nice colorful pictures from magazines. Seasonal pictures are going to be very useful. So if you would see pictures of pumpkins, turkeys, Christmas trees, lanterns or red hearts, make sure you cut them out. Also, try getting interesting pictures of baby stuff, smileys, stars, cartoon-like figures and anything that could make your albums pretty and fancy.

4. Use old stickers, ribbons, small flowers or any trinkets. You could cut them, combine them, or add a little more color or shine if you want. These things would add a lot of flavor to your pages.

5. Search for those little things from your trips, parties or events. Like the tickets from a memorable kiddie show that your child saw, or the ticket stubs from a movie with your boyfriend. A little lace that came from a card that your best friend gave could also give a special touch to your scrapbook work. Somehow, some of these things are in our old purses or wallets, inserted inside pages of a book, or simply lying inside a drawer.

6. If you are artistic enough, you could even draw and color designs yourself. Plain colored sheets would look very beautiful with psychedelic designs, fun and colorful shapes of sorts, and other styles your artistic side could provide.

Remember, the greatest thing about a hobby is that you are enjoying it! Let your creative juices flow and don't be scared to try, innovate, recycle. What is important is that you have added your personal touch with these pictures, so that when you look at them, you would know that even if you did not spend a fortune doing it, all your efforts are all worth it. After all, your saving these priceless proofs of all those unforgettable and timeless personal memories.