A Boy and His Dog

I finished this 8 x 8 layout of my son at approx 2years old with our dog.
I wanted to do a layout to remind my son when he's older of the special bond he had with our dog. She treated him like he was her puppy! It was very cute!

This layout is pretty economical. I used the 6 x 4 mat stacks from Die Cuts with a View for my patterned paper, utilising left overs from a previous project. The plain orange background is from a bulk pack of paper. I was able to use paper for the background rather than cardstock as the patterned pieces are actually cardstock so they give the strength to the page. The stickers (letters) are a variety of stickers I've collected from $2 shops and the K&Co stickers used for Dog and Boy were in a discount bin at a scrapbok store for $2.95. The rub-on (Best Friends) was also from a discount store and cost me $3.95 a similar product from a scapbook store would retail at approx $8.95 and I have heaps left! I use my papers in a miserly fashion by placing all the elements down on the page and then drawing around them with a pencil and then I use a craft knife to cut out sections that won't be seen so I can use those pieces on another part of the layout or on another layout or card.

My sister-in-law came across this idea for saving money on your titles by cutting letters out of magazines and using them like a ransom note. Of course this wouldn't be acid free and would be prone to fading and yellowing. So if you wanted to use this idea but wanted to get a longer lasting effect: scan the finished product and then print it on photo paper or cardstock. This would up your cost but would ensure the product lasted for your grandkids to see.

Sometimes something can seem more expensive but when you compare all the variables actually works out better for you. For instance my sister in law purchases clear stickers from Avery Labels and prints her own titles and journalling even pictures. This actually works out really economical as it saves her buying hundreds of different stickers to cover every title font, size and colour she could ever want. And because the sticker is clear she simply prints whatever the item may be (see her Wedding Layout the "edding" and "ay") and then sticks it to her layout and the clear background blends right in. The beauty of this is she can use all the digital scrapbooking fonts (many available for free) to her advantage in her traditional scrapbooking.