Frugal Friday: Scrapbook Embellishments

Since one of my goals for this year (hopefully, the next 2 to 3 months) is to start a scrapbooking blog/Etsy store, I'm working to shift my focus on Frugal Fridays toward that purpose. And since scrapbooking is such a pricey industry this is one way I hope to inspire people to scrapbook and keep scrapbooking that benefits them financially as well as aesthetically (<-- Can I just say this was one of my favorite words to use in college papers. It's beautiful.).

Frugal Scrapbooking Tip of the Week

Make your own chipboard embellishments. When I first thought about doing this I thought it was too hard. Guess what? It's not. It's actually pretty simple. The hardest part comes with cutting the chipboard. (Not quite sure what chipboard is? Find out here.)


How to Make Chipboard Embellishments:

Supplies You'll Need:

• chipboard
• paper
  
• pencil
• scissors
• a distressing tool (sandpaper or an emery board)
• stencil or shape (to trace)
  
• adhesive

Step-by-Step

1. Trace your shape onto your chipboard. You can also do this freehand.
2. Once you've traced your shapes cut it out.
   
3. Using your adhesive, adhere your chipboard to your paper and then cut it again.
4. If you prefer to keep the edges crisp looking skip the distressing step. (I do it because it makes the little mistakes in cutting go away.) Take your distressing tool and gently sand the edges. This is where making sure your object is soundly adhered is important, otherwise your paper may move during the distressing.

Voila! You're done!

The best thing about this method is that even if you aren't a big scrapbooker with lots of supplies on hand you can still make these. One thing I want to try: homemade chipboard alphabets. Now that will take some time and patience!

Have fun scrapping!