Scrapbooking on a budget - "secrets" 6 - 9!

Hello! I've been trying to find time to share next few tips for scrapbooking on a budget. Today's "secrets" are probably some of my favorite money saving tips! 

There are so many different things we like to use on our projects that you can actually make yourself. Tags are one of them. And they are the easiest to make.

Secret #6: Make your own tags.

All you need for that is white cardstock and some reinforcement stickers. Snip off one corner. use that piece as a template to cut second corner. Punch a hole. Add a sticker.

I like to make a few ahead of time in different sizes, so that they are available when I need them. This leads us to a similar tip but with a different purpose.

 Secret #7: Use "hard to use" pattern paper to make your own decorative tags.

I'm sure every one has some papers that are not exactly your style. I've ordered a 6x6 paper pack by Prima, that they looked a little different online then they were in person. I had trouble using those on a page, but after turning them into decorative tags, I can sure use them now.

I added a skinny frame to these tags and stitched all around for a more finished look. There - saved some pattern paper and got myself some cute tags! I'm sure, if you look through your stash, you can find some papers that you haven't used in a long time, that can be a good candidate for a handmade tag.

Secret #8: Make your own envelopes.

Envelopes are one of the hot products on scrapbooking market right now.

Of course, the easiest way to make them, is to use Silhouette. Cut, fold, done. But I was making these before I even owned a Silhouette using trimmer and scoring blade. I premade these in different sizes and colors and added them to my embellishments.

You can purchase this set of 6 envelopes by Fancy Pants at Two Peas in a Bucket for $3.99:

Or you can make a set of your own, for as little as $0.50 cents per six envelopes. I find that thinner paper works best for making them and it's less expensive too. For my set, I used pattern paper by Recollections, from Michael's. For every 12x12 piece of paper I got four envelopes.

 Another hot product is instaframes. Aaand yes, you can make those too! That is our next tip.

Secret #9: Make your own instaframes.

I designed these in the Silhouette studio. One of the easiest things to design. Basically, all you need is line up two rounded corner squares - one on top of the other. You can also make them using two different sizes of square punches. Punch a smaller one first and then punch a bigger one, aligning it so all the sides are even.

To give them a little chipboard look, I cut three pieces of each size and glued them together. You can glue as many as you want to achieve desired thickness (white frame has only two layers to show difference).

And now two new projects using some of the homemade embellishments. I  used envelopes on a page and a card. Didn't use my frames yet, since they were just made this morning. (Finally finished one of the pages I have in my drawer). This one has an older photo (before my girls cared too my about their hair)  I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy I shared it here... Shh...

... and a few close ups:

I planned to use enveloped to hold my journaling or memorabilia, but ended up just using it as a decorative element on a page.

And I also made a card, using one of the smaller envelopes.

That's all for today. I hope you can find something useful for yourself and maybe give some of your older product a second chance :) Thank you for stopping by today!

Have a great day and I'll see you soon!