budget scrapping?

[bjwtville]

The kits here are loaded with so much stuff that can be used over and over again...with blending and coloring and masking there is endless use for papers too!

[LisaD]

Originally Posted by katie pertiet

Be on the lookout for special Thrifty Thursdays in 2010! Every Thursday will now bring a special new item at just 99¢ and throughout the year we will have category specials with alphas, templates etc on sale! Doing what we can to make the best products in digital scrapbooking affordable too!

WOW! Can I just say you RAWK!!! This is definitely the best place ever!!

[LisaD]

Originally Posted by kaleidoscope

Again, not necessarily cheaper if it's costing $2 a page to print.

Scrapbooksplease run 99cent sales of the regular paper not luster. But I'm ok with that. My crew doesn't know the difference. And I like having mine in their albums along with my paper scrapped ones.

I'll take Elena's math & really I'm only paying for printing. OK, OK, I have to ensure I use the supply item enough times to actually justify that. But I'm a heavy paper embellisher.

[maureenreynolds]

I was surprised that no one had mentioned the Challenge Freebies yet. Thanks Janet. I started off with a bunch of them as I had NO idea of what I was doing trying to teach myself the then PSE4 for Mac.

Another really good bargain, imho, is one of Katie's layered templates. They usually have a couple of embellishments included. It might sometimes look like a simple template but each one usually has a bunch of basic and versatile embellishments. I also found Ali's Bread and Butter Templates to be some foundation ones.

You may soon learn to make your own templates, play with your fonts, and discover how to make masks, recolor papers and you'll be on your way.

But do make a wishlist here, and when a sale comes, give yourself a budget and then shop your list finding the most versatile products. Enjoy!

[anxela]

You can often make your own cardstock. Huge saver. Sample the color in your patterned paper. Create a new layer and fill. Add a pattern fill and select Dark course weave (or whatever you choose) from the artist surfaces patterns. Change the blend option from normal to overlay/ soft light or whatever you like. Adjust opacity until you're satisfied. There are so many options in Photoshop... If I'm out of cardstock in a specific color, I usually don't waste time go looking for it online.

I buy plain cardstock sometimes too, but not as often as I did. But it's probably a good idea to invest in some basic colors. And if you find a blend you like of something, save your own design! But remember to credit the original designer if you've altered something.

Overlays are a great way to make your cardstock unique.

I usually buy at the quarterly sales, and use the "wishlist" option to check out the thrifty thursday items as said here, so I don't have to scroll through it all. Find elements that you think you'll reuse over and over, and buy that. Stitches have been a favorite with me lately.

[faerywings]

My dh is disabled and we went over two years w/o his salary and only my very minimal PT salary.
I would not have been able to keep up with my hobby/creative outlet/therapy otherwise LOL

ITA with what was said here-
Doing challenges is a great way to score nice freebies/prizes
Being on a CT- amazing opportunities there
Using your creativity- use your scrap program to its fullest- try out those blending modes- use several papers stacked up, change hues, saturation, blending, add brushwork...... One kit has an endless amount of possibility!
I am going to have to check out these Thrifty Thursdays too
I also use ACdsee Photo Manager- yes, it is an expense at first- but it rocks in that I can "shop my stash" because it is easy to find stuff. I also found some kits I had purchased, and never unzipped

Another thing that that iNSBR- I do "rewards programs" - click and get points- and I try to cash out for paypal $$. That is my spending money for scrapping. It takes a while to get started, and build up some money, but it is nice to be able to shop using "free money."