STAMPING ON A BUDGET
BARGAIN SHOPPING
DUPLICATE/ENLARGE HERITAGE PHOTOS
SB STUFF AT SAM'S CLUB

STAMPING ON A BUDGET

If you want to add a little variety to your scrapbooking, consider buying a "Stamp-A-Scene" stamp kit. I have one by Posh Impressions and it's only $14 for 26 pieces. This kit can be used in lots of different ways because all the pieces are so generic. The cloud stamp alone can be use in all the outdoor scenes. I did a layout where I use MG flower stickers and I stamped little tufts of grass around it for a 3-D look. You can view my first effort at creating stamp art here - yes, it was literally my FIRST effort so I just did it on the back of a big white envelope. I was so anxious to try it out that I didn't even have time to track down a white piece of paper :-) I also included stamp art by some young friends on that page.

The kits comes with a mountain range, water,tree, a picket fence, clouds, rain drops, sun, various flowers and foliages, stones, sand dunes, etc. I used my Zig color pens for the ink instead of buying stamp pads of every color. This definitely kept the cost down.

BARGAIN SHOPPING

BORDER BUDDIES - the lowest price I've seen is $5 for the 12x12 BB and $3.59 for the 8.5x11 Jr BB. The BB books are $5.75. These prices are subject to changes so please don't quote me on this :-) It's at Ticker Stickers and shipping is FREE. They also have good prices on the Zig pens (Writer, Scroll & Brush, Calligraphy), Journal Genies, Mrs. Grossmans stickers, Stickopotomus stickers, Pebbles In My Pocket templates, Paper Patch paper packs, Sandylion's Disney/Pooh stickers and a bunch of other stuff. Their webpage layout is rather tedious to go through but have patience. I've given them my .02 so hopefully it'll be better some day.

SUZY ZOO STICKERS - Designer Memories has the single character stickers for 20 cents and the multiple characters for 45 cents. I usually order them when she has the FREE shipping promotion, which is fairly often. BTW, she also carries solid color cardstock for 10 cents/sheet.

CHEAP PAPER - Besides Designing Memories, Tall Mouse (Southern California) also carries 10 cents paper. Sam's Club has acid-free construction paper costing $8.99 for 720 sheets (9"x12"). Construction papers are not as nice as cardstock but the difference is probably not noticeable once they're in the albums.

MICHAEL'S CRAFT STORE - Most of you probably know that they have the 40% coupon off a single item in their newspaper ad fairly often. What they don't advertised is the 30% off entire order sale (sometimes it's 25%). You only find out about this sale if you shop there regularly and happen to see the coupon flyers at the registers. They have this sale more often than you would imagine. At one point, I was going to Michael's so often that I didn't miss any of the sale and it seems like the sale was on at least once a month. The sale is usually for a 2 or 3 hour block on a specific day only. Here's another Michael's tip I got from a fellow scrapper. Michael's has a Kids Club every Saturday morning from 10-noon for kids 5-12. It's just $2; they make crafts and it's come 'n go. So moms can do their shopping and pick up the kids from the class when the shopping is done. I will have to try this when my oldest turns five.

DUPLICATE/ENLARGE HERITAGE PHOTOS

Here's an inexpensive way to duplicate/enlarge old family photos that you don't have negatives for. Sam's Club (owned by Wal-mart) One-hour photo service offers a side service where they can duplicate your photos and make it any size you want. The cost, with tax is about $7 per sheet. This sheet can be either one 8x10, OR two 5x7, or variations of wallets and 4x6's. For current color photo, this is expensive. But for old b/w photos that you have no other options on, this is very reasonable. This service takes about 5 minutes -- not even one hour. They have a copier / printer that prints out on photo paper. The finish is just like a regular photo. I made a copy of a wallet photo I have of my mom when she was young and had two 5x7's made out of it. Of course all the scruff marks show up even more clearly in the enlarged picture, but I think it adds charm to it. I also borrowed a bunch of photos of my parents' wedding that I'll duplicate for my own record/album.

BTW, they don't duplicate copyrighted pictures. However, the B/W photos are ok because they are old enough that the copyrights on them have expired. Also, I don't know how long these photos are supposed to last but I believe they're being printed on the same (similar?) paper as my regular everyday photos and should therefore have a similar shelf life.

If you don't have a Sam's club in your area, check with Wal-Mart, they may have a similar service. I haven't been to Costco lately but they may have also added this service, but I don't know for sure.

SB STUFF AT SAM'S CLUB

Some sample SB stuff at Sam's:

- Acid-free Easy-Stick Adhesives (pkg of 3 for $5.49)
- Acid-free construction paper (pkg of 720 for $8.99)
- Fiskar scissors (pkg of 3 for $9)
- Scrapbook album kits (e.g. Kim Anderson for $30, etc.)
- Pentel Milky & Hybrid Gel Rollers (pkg of 15 pens for $9) - the Hybrid is permanent and the Milky is fadeproof per description on pkg
- Crayola Stamp Kit ($10 - 200 stamps, 4 roller stamps, 2 ink pads)
- Various graphics software

Home | Photos | Scrapbook Ideas | Links | Create-a-Website