Hello! And welcome to the premiere issue of "The Thrifty Scrapper:For Those Who REBEL Against Outrageous Prices!" I want to say a special thanks to everyone who has signed up and I hope we can help each other in this wonderful endeavor we share of scrapbooking!
I receive the magazine Creating Keepsakes and have since the very first issue (I've heard the first few issues are collectors items now!). Anyway, it's a great magazine but it is FULL of ways to spend your hard earned $$$$. A great way to save money on anything relating to scrapbooking, is join a friend or group and split costs. You can do this with the magazine. It comes every two months. In the latest issue, they reported that their sponsors are offering freebies for renewing. When I renewed, I got a coupon good for a catalog from Stickerplanet. The catalog from Stickerplanet was cool. It came in it's own reusable plastic folder with tons of ideas in it plus a chance to look at a bunch of stickers that I'll probably never buy (my prices were cheaper!). But I did get some ideas! The whole point of this long paragraph is an article in the July/August 1998 issue. It was about light boxes and how useful they are.
When I read the article, I thought, "WOW! This is Cool! I've got to have one of those!" and I put it on my list of "wants". Of course I waited because the price range was from $39.95 to $300!!!! But it does seem to be a useful (if not expensive!) tool. The article showed how you can copy cool and interesting pictures and lettering from lettering books right onto the pages you're using (especially helpful if you use Creative Memories pages). Well, thanks to Thrifty Scrapper! reader Wendy and her brilliant idea, we can ALL have this tool. She uses a lamp under a glass table! How simple is that? Plus, what did we all do as kids when we wanted to copy something? We held it up to a lit window, using tape if needed! For Wendy's wonderful idea, she earns the honorary title of "Thrifty Queen!" for this newsletter! (Visit her at her website, she's done a wonderful job! See link below ). She also recommends using children's coloring books. "They're great for themed pages and for finding simple line drawings to reproduce on a page. I scan mine, color them in using Paint Shop Pro and print them out onto acid-free cardstock, but you could just as easily trace them" using your "new" light box.
Here's a site recommended by another reader, Dawn - a GREAT do-it-yourself site! (See link below)l
dMarie has a really cool internet tool called the Time Capsule (tm) it's "a historical database of facts from the past that you can use to spice up heritage pages for friends or family. Simply type in the date . . . an instant page {appears} all about that year." (see link below)
Another cool site I found was one called "Borders". It has a ton of cool borders you can download and print. (See link below) You can even download the entire site to make it even easier. Read the instructions though, I got a little confused!
The most mentioned idea for saving on scrapping is using less paper when you put borders around your pictures. Either use a circle cutter or cut out the excess that is behind your picture and then use that scrap on something else. Your picture will never miss it and no one will be the wiser!
PLEASE keep sending in your ideas! I love to hear from you and the ideas are wonderful! Until next time - Happy Scrappin! Yours, Leslie
Links to the Above
Wendy's Website
Do-It-Yourself Site
Dmarie Time Capsule
Computer Borders
