Scrapbooking Made Simple

Here's my latest paper scrapped project. I made the word love and used a heart as the "O". I first inked these chipboard letters with my ink pads. The letters then had dimensional magic added and the heart was covered in glitter before being covered in dimensional magic. (I always paint or ink a chipboard piece before glittering as this cuts down on the amount of glitter I need to use.) The circles were cut from beautiful patterned papers I got off my sister-in-law who aquired them from cost-co. They worked out to be 33c a sheet and I have used less than a quater of each sheet. The rub-on was off a sheet from "Me and My Big ideas" which I got at K-Mart for under $5.00. The saying: The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed the mother, never. a mother is something abolutely new. -Rajneesh- I love that saying! I used my computer to write this saying on a clear label we used at my last workplace. So it did...

O.K. so here is an example of a layout I did previously using bark. This layout has been posted before but I thought for anyone who hasn't been with me since the beginning you wouldn't of seen this idea and therefore my last post might of seemed a little odd.... LOL So here you can see I've used Bark, gumnuts and paperclay to embellish my layout very cheaply. I do practice what I preach! For those of you who have watched my videos on the "no bake clay" here is an example of me using this on one of my layouts. I pushed the clay into a mould my best scrapbuddy owns and let it dry overnight before adhering it to little squares of paper.

Speaking of Free Supplies I found this beautiful piece of bark at my local shopping centre car park. The paper bark trees often shed thin sheets of bark like this. The aboriginees used these pieces of bark for many uses such as cooking and clothing and bags and buriel shrouds etc. I've also seen them used for artwork and as paper for messages. I've now just got to take the kids bush for some photos' to match.... lol

I picked up these Mat Stacks at my local Big W. You can see from the front that they are filled with gorgeous glittery papers. I think these are a great resource for your backgrounds especially with the current styles of layouts these will work perfectly. If current styles dictated a completely covered in one large 12 x 12 patterned paper then this wouldn't work. They do sell these in 12 x 12 stacks for $20.93 each but I felt that this was a better option as each of these only cost $8.95 and you get four sheets of each pattern so you could almost cover a 12 x 12 page. The bit I like is I bought three stacks for only $4 more than I would of paid for one 12 x 12 pack. I can't wait tohave sometime to scrapbook with these.... yummm!

I love this photo! This was taken by our new adopted grandfather. I have done a layout of this photo using paper scrapbooking techniques. Here I couldn't resist using the photo again when I saw this perfect page kit from 2 Peas. Sometimes it is a good idea to use colours in your photo to create your background. And sometimes you'r better off not using those colours as your photo fades into the background and doesn't pop off the page. Here I used the same colours and I think I get away with it. ...lol I'm so tired I can't really think very well tonight. I had to get my kids out of bed 2 hours before their usual wake up time this morning so I could drive my dad to the hospital where he went for a bi-pass operation. He's doing better than us I think. We're all tired and cranky and he's already giving the nurses a hard time. Anyway what this means for you is that I may be a little busy going to visit him etc to do any posts for a day or two. I will check my...

Here's a layout I did of my kids at the park. I wanted t use this gorgeous red background paper so I dressed my DD in this red skirt and white floral shirt and kept snapping away till I got some photos of their personality at this time. I like to try and capture that as it does change a little as they grow and funny little things they do now will be totally uncool when they're older! I think it is a good idea to take photos to match supplies you have rather than the other way around. I think this works out cheaper as you can buy in bulk!

I love the photos of DS and DH. What a great shot of "ol blue eyes" (DS). I've used a very monochramatic colour scheme here with another free kit. Even though there is alot of blue in the photos along with green and pink I think the photo's "pop" off the page the most on this background. That's probably one of the best things about digital scrapping. When you do a layout it's really easy to try different backgrounds etc without wasting supplies. I tried two different layouts before choosing this one and didn't waste any paper, glue or embellishments changing my mind.

I love this layout..... Not for the papers and embellishments and general layout but for the memory it keeps. My cousin David and his wife are very important in my children's lives and my DS started the tradition of calling Uncle David..... Aunty David... I thinks it's so cute (David not so much! lol) and will be sad when they've outgrown this phase. but this page will always be here to remind them. It also records how differently DS and DD are which is showcased by their different attitudes to swinging. DS doesn't want to be pushed at all. Whereas DD can't go high enough!

Another tip from my sister-in-law is to go through your junk mail very carefully! As we get to the end of the year we will start to get lots of free fridge magnet calendar's in the mail. These could be used to afix items outside the page protector. You will also find you receive magnets from different businesses. These could also be used. So keep a look out for all the free supplies available to you. If you have an idea you'd like to share feel free to email me at: cheapscrapbookingideas@yahoo.com along with the name to credit the tip to.

This is another page pre-done. It's a free kit from 2 Peas by Rhonna Farrer. I love the ease of these sort of pages. As they help me to catch up with alot of the back log. I always like to add something else as it makes it my own, so I added the journal block which was another free element from 2 Peas.

Here's another digital layout done with a free kit from 2 Peas. This whole page was done for me by the designer I just added my photos and the "Cherich all your Happy Moments" rub on. This page took 2 minutes to complete! How cool is that!

My sister-in-law is always on the lookout for me for topics or info for my blog. After looking through some old magazines she saw a tip where a reader uses aluminium cans for their scrapbooking. They cut them open, clean them and then emboss them. This is a great idea for a free supply. I like using the seal on the inside of the milo tin or baby formula tins as it is thiner (less chance of getting cut). This is a great way to get a free scrapbooking supply..... Leaves you more budget to spend on other exciting things! lol

Here is a layout I did of my DS's school dance. I love this type of title to do with the surrounds of chipboard letters as it is a relatively cheap title and really easy to co-ordinate with your layout with the use of paints. (This one is digital though) This is another free kit I used by Michelle Underwood called MUnderwood Family Fun Page Kit. (Michelle Underwood/diddlyscraps.com). I love to use a kit when I digi scrap because it's easier to put a page together with all the elements matching. This particular kit is a really amazing kit because you get lots of papers and loads of embellishments and an alphabet. When I do paper scrapbooking I very rarely get the opportunity to use a kit like this because in paper form it's too expensive so I really enjoy this sort of opportunity. I think this is a very simple layout that could be copied easily. If you're looking for a way to use some ribbons this is a great example of how to use four different ribbons on the one layou...

Here is the layout I created of our first day at the lagoon this season(Redcliffe City Free Swimming facility). I went with a digital layout in this case as I loved these papers and embellishments for these photos. (I'm still searching for the info on where I got these from, will let you know). We were joined by DD and DS's cousins. I thought this was a lovely bright fresh way to showcase these photos. So far this layout hasn't cost a cent. The kit was free, the photos were digital so the only cost will come in when I print the page. I have found a place that will print all my layouts as a bound book of 20 pages for $50.00Au. Which works out to a cost of $2.50 per page which is actually very good when you consider that I would of spent $1.00 in printing the photos alone. Then consider the cost of your albums and page protectors. Or I can print the layout myself on my home printer. The cost of that is a little difficult to work out though as it will depend on how many page...

It's a lovely sunny day here. We've had a bit of rain lately which has given the gardens a nice boost, not enought to top up the dams so that we're out of water restrictions but enough to make the grass grow. Added to all this lovely weather my DH has gotten a job. He starts on Monday. I can barely contain myself! You see before he would put in his invoice and get paid whenever they could pay him. This meant if no one could pay us that week then we'd have to wait. We currently have invoices from January that are still due. You can imagine what that does to your weekly grocery shopping. Now I'll actually have a regular amount of money to budget with. This also brings our dream of our own house alot closer. Before DH was paid around a quater of what he's worth, but that was with part ownership of the business. This for us though meant that we wouldn't be getting a house for around 8 - 10 years as the partners who had put in money had to be paid back first befo...

O.K. so I've spoken before about how when I'm deciding on a layout I'll pull out lots of papers and then go with my favourite. Above are all the papers and vellums I considered for this layout: "Water Babies". In the end I discarded all of the patterned papers and just used two vellums for my title as the beads I knew I wanted to use would get lost in a patterned paper. I chose the vellums for the wishy washy effect and they match the photos so well. I used one page from my album as my background (plain white). I then stamped a blue green autumn leaves stamps onto this between each of the photos. I then added beads all around the edge by stitching them onto the layout. These were from my jewellery making collection and the string cost me $.80c. My title was created using my fiskars stencils and were cut from vellum. The bikini's were actually made using a sizzix at my LSS at the evening I went to recently using off cuts of paper. The only costly item for this ...

I finished this layout yesterday. I thought I'd share it with you as I haven't scrimped on my embellishments or papers at all with this layout but it wasn't that expensive either. I scraplifted the design from Mary Ann Walters. Her layout "Jackson" was published in the July edition of ScrapBook Inspirations. I was really impressed with the simple colour scheme she used. And knowing I would also be using a two colour layout I thought this was the perfect idea for me. Also for this layout this single photo needed to take centre stage. I have been experimenting alot with single photo layouts lately as they allow you to be more expressive artistically. Also sometimes a single photo is all you need to tell a story. In this case this photo perfectly showcases the "Monster Bubble Baths" my kids have. Here's the layout: Bathing Beauty For this layout I based the entire colour scheme around the little resin rubber ducky embellishment. I got it at the craft fa...

This layout is VERY BRIGHT! I took these photos of my kids at the museum and tried various backgrounds but the photos just seemed to fade into them. Then I got out this napkin and the photos weren't fading into the background anymore. These flowers were created in a variety of ways. Firstly I used some stickers that I had had in my stash for a long time. I also punched some out of scraps of paper and then using water colour pencils tried to duplicate those on the background. I also cut the grass from a lovely handmade paper and die-cut the title from the same paper. I used up lots of my stickers that I would otherwise of given to the kids as they've gone out of fashion. This is a cheap layout though as the napkin was 30cents. The green handmade paper was 33cents and the stickers were $2.00 for the packets. So a total of $2.66 The journaling for this photo is actually hidden behind one of the photos. I'm doing this more and more with my journaling now as it allows me...

P.S to the last post: #22 Get your friends and family to buy you scrapbooking supplies for presents. Or gift certificates. I love doing this. I leave my DH a list of things I want and he picks something from that list. That way I get something I want and it's still a surprise. #23 If you shop at a Scrapbook Shop make sure they have a rewards card and use it! #24 Shop around! I can't stress this one enough! Know the prices of things and don't just buy from the first retailer who stocks it. Shop around for the best price. #25 If buying online make sure you know the retail cost of an item. This is especially true for Ebay shopping. Knowing how much the price is retail will let you know if you're getting a good deal or not. For instance if I know an item costs $8.95 at my local scrapbook store then I'm going to want to win the bid for no more than $8.95. Also take into careful consideration the cost of postage. It's not much of a bargain if you end up paying $20 inc...

Hey guys, sorry for my unscheduled abscence. I have been unable to move with a chronic back problem. It flares up every now and then but has been really good for the past few months. But lately I've been too busy to take my juice regularly. So "BAM" I've been confined to the couch. The thing I hate most about this confinement is that I can't scrapbook. Probably a good thing. As when I was feeling really high on pain killers I think I'd of done a really weird layout...lol I did have time to think about my scrapbooking though...lol... I also thought that it's been a while since I talked about my top miserly tips and if you're new to my blog and haven't gone back through the archives you might need some ideas. So here are my top 21 tips #1 Buy paper and cardstock in bulk #2 Buy embellishments in bulk #3 Shop with a friend to share the bulk items and the cost #4 Set a weekly spend and stick to it... Budget is not a dirty word! Put it in an envelope to ...

Sorry guys I just realised I didn't give you the lowdown on the papercrafts festival I attended on Saturday. So it was a smaller festival than last year. Not many stalls, but those that were there were larger than in the past. So that was nice. It made it easier to move around. There weren't that many demonstrations on at the stalls this year either. The shopping was great! There were alot of bargains. The standout products for me were the 12 x 12 Bella Chipboard sheets (flowers and swirls) for $2.00 AND the K and Co paper packs, specifically the 'punch out flower' pads. These weren't that cheap expecially at $26.95 but they are beautiful! (My best scrap buddy bought one of these. I'm so jealous). The only other product that caught my attention was the new stitching punches. Anyway we had a ball!