Scrapbooking For Cheapskates

**Note: All prices mentioned are in U.S. dollar and prices may vary depending on region.

Scrapbooking is all the rage. People are coming out with amazing ways to display pictures in a safe manner that will preserve them for generations to come. But, with all this creativity, comes a price. Let's face it; it can get very expensive.

I recently had to redo all of my albums - all thirteen of them. The pictures were in those sticky albums, and, as a result, the sticky lines were beginning to show through them. So I set out to get archival quality scrapbooking materials. As soon as I saw the price of a basic album, pages, and photo mounts, I started looking for cheaper alternatives.

First, I went to my local office supply store. There I saw your average 3-ring binders. I figured that they would serve just fine for the album. They only cost $2-$4, depending on the quality that you desire. Besides, I can always make a creative book cover for it later, if I wanted to.

For the pages, I decided on construction paper. They now come in acid-free sheets. For about $12, you can get about 500 sheets, and they are thick enough that you can put pictures on both sides. To protect the pages, I bought sheet protectors. They also come acid-free. For the thick, durable variety, I paid about $12 for 100 sheets.

Mounting the photos can be cheaper, too. You can now find the double-stick photo mounts in department stores at about half the price that you would find in a craft or scrapbooking store. The office supply store will also carry acid-free glue sticks that are now available. I paid about $5 for a pack of twelve.

Gel pens can also be bought for a reasonable price at office supply stores. They come in a large variety of colors, metallics, and blends.

Waiting for sales at craft stores will pay off as well. They often put stickers, decorative papers, and other supplies on sale. I prefer to use the decorative papers as photo borders. This allows them to last longer.

Some dollar stores now carry those fancy edging scissors. Although the quality isn't as good as the more expensive scissors, they do work well. If you buy one that gives you a little trouble, just hold it backwards (thumb in the finger holes, fingers in the thumb hole), that should help.

With all these items, make sure that the package says that the product is acid-free. At the very least it should state somewhere that it can be uses for archival purposes.

I hope this has helped you some in your quest to reorganize your photos. It can be very overwhelming at times, so take it slowly, set goals that are achievable, and it will get done. It took me almost a year to do mine, but I can now finally say that I am done. Oh, wait! I think I see some more photos! Oh well…back to work.

If you do not see the table at the left, please click here.