Time to Clean Up!

Do you find that you have WAY TOO MUCH when it comes to scrap supplies? I know that i have enough supplies to last me a lifetime and then some, but i still *need* the latest and greatest! Have you ever thought of getting rid of some of your gear? There's lots of ways to do this, but here's just a few i've thought of:

Ebay

 Selling stuff on ebay couldn't be easier - take a photo, write a description and sit back and wait. On ebay these days you can list up to 30 items at 99c starting price for free - so if they don't sell, you haven't lost out! You just pay a very small percentage of your sale amount once the sale is finalised!!! It's a good idea to package stuff into bundles. You could do so in:

• Colours
• Manufacturers
• Themes
• Product type etc.

Another idea is to do random pizza boxes full of items

Facebook

There are heaps of pages on Facebook at the moment, dedicated to selling and/or swapping goods. The beauty of this is that you can ask a price and negotiate without committing to anything final. This could be a negative though, too. You can list things in a similar way to ebay, and even sell your own hand-made goods! You can even set up your own sale page on Facebook if you have heaps to sell and don't want to go through a page like Aussie Scrappers Garage Sale. 

To get started cleaning up, just start taking out things that you know you don't want to use any more. Then after that, things will get a little harder as you will have lots of things that you really love but you're not sure if you will use it. Just sort through it as well as you can and you'll get there. You don't have to list it all at once, but you might sell more if you do - since buyers will like to combine postage, and will be more likely to buy more than one item that way. 

The best thing about selling your stuff that you're not using, is that you will make money back on it. It won't be what you paid for it, but it's better to get rid of it so that your gear isn't so cluttered and have a little bit of spending money. You'll be able to refresh your stash with a few key things - or even buy an album or something that you've been really wanting for a while!

Storage

Storage is a big issue for us scrapbookers - we have so much stuff that it can get  bit beyond us. There's plenty of expensive storage solutions out there - and they are sooooo nice, aren't they!!! Craftainers is one of my favourite drool sites, and i must admit that i have spent a pretty penny there over the years making my scrap room look awesome and become more functional (especially before children!!!). But, now i'm limited to just a cupboard and a very tiny budget, so what do i do now?

Well, there's lots of things you can do to save money in the storage department - but one of the best tips i can give you is to have everything at hand!!! If you can access everything really easily, you're less likely to get into the 'i can't be bothered digging it out' mind-set, and you won't use most of the awesome stuff you've got!!!

Truth time - here's what my scrap cupboard actually looks like right now, shelf by shelf:

And my newest secret weapon against my toddler:

So, as you can see it's nothing flash! I have some cheap A4 mesh boxes that i keep all of my alphas in. I got these 3 for $10 i think!! My blue tote was $19 from K-mart and i keep all of my kits in there, plus my journal pens, edge punches and dymo - this, plus my tool tote (not pictured, because it was on my table) is what i grab when I'm going to a crop and i'm in a hurry. If I'm not in a hurry, a grab a woolies bag and chuck a few extras in.

I like to have my photos sorted in date order, divided into months, so i bought some cheap clear photo boxes (not currently up to date - must do that!!!) I've got ribbons and flowers and bling in shoe-boxes and mesh baskets. Those pretty pink boxes are from Kikki-K - a major splurge which i LOVE - these have been purchased over the years, and were mostly birthday presses!!! I have one for old photos, one has all my mists in it, one has all my journal spots in it and the big one that's easies to get to is my 'go to' embellishment box - i HIGHLY recommend finding a nice box to put all the embellies you use lots of - since they are easy to get to and all in one spot, you'll find you use them heaps!!

See that really messy spot in the middle of my cupboard? This is my 'to file' pile - stuff that just doesn't have a home yet! Every now and again i get motivated to sort this out, but not very often LOL.

So, some major tips for storage:

• Sort everything out and identify what containers/boxes you need - e.g. i found that i needed somewhere for my alphas because i'm really obsessed with them LOL, i then found a $10 solution for them!!
• Get a nice, reasonably sized box for your favourite embellies and keep them all together
• Divide things by colours, e.g. I have all of my ribbons divided into zip-lock bags by colours, and then they are just all in a shoe box - that way, when i need one i grab the box then find the right bag and just sort through this!
• Always have a tote/bag ready to go to a crop - that way when you are time poor your bank balance doesn't suffer when you get there!
• Woolies bags are your FRIENDS!!! They are the perfect width for 12x12 scrapbooking stuff and just perfect for taking to crops
• Store like things together and make sure everything is accessible
• Try and do a bit of a purge every 6-12 months - donate/sell/swap stuff you're not going to use - you'll find it really refreshing, and you may even make some money in the process!!

Getting the most out of kits

I'm starting to find kits a really great way to scrap - but only if you work hard to really get the most out of them! Here's a few ways to do that:

• Keep the kit in a resealable bag or box and don't throw out ANY scraps. Put all your scraps straight back into your bag when you finish a layout so they are there for next time.
• Have a flick through your photos when you get the kit and put matching photos with your kit. That way you will have photos and papers all matching when you go to scrap!!
• Add a couple of extra alphas to the kit, including some journalling alphas so you have a bit of choice when it comes to your title - different colours and sizes are helpful.
• Add any other embellishments that come to mind when you get the kit.
• When you are getting down to the 'bare bones' of the kit, start doing pages based on card stock and using the scraps as strips etc. Glimmer mist is your friend for making interesting backgrounds!!!

All of these ideas are about basically about making your kit go further - about using what you already have, mixed in with new product so you don't get bored of what you've already got, but you're not spending a fortune on new, unnecessary product.

Of course, you can make up your own kits from what you've already got in your cupboard! Here's some ideas of what to add into a home-made kit:

• Matching PP's - don't have to be from the same range, but matching colours and/or themes go great together in a home-made kit
• A few different types of alphas to match the PP's - different sizes are a great idea!
• Cardstock - White, black and kraft are a great start - and anything else you think you have to match
• Embellishments - ribbon, bling, buttons, flowers etc - all to match the theme/colours
• Chipboard - shapes and words/phrases to match the theme of your kit

Home-made kits are a great way to save money when you are going to a shop to scrap. You've got everything you need already put together in your bag - some stuff that you've probably even forgotten you have!! This will stop the temptation of buying just a little bit more for each layout you are doing!! I find i'm really terrible at buying a new set of alphas when i'm out - but when i have made a kit up i never need to do this!!

Here's an example of just how far you can make one kit go. I have used the '5 & Dime' OA kit from Scrapbooking From Scratch, and i got all of these layouts from it, plus 2 more which i haven't photographed yet :D

Not bad for a ~$30 kit, huh? And i LITERALLY used it ALL!!!! There were only a few very small scraps and stickers left when i was done - which my son then used in his scrapbook :D

I've also purchased a $20 kit from Wicked Princesses recently, and i've already done 3 LO's, and have HEAPS left - i'd like to get at least another 3 out of it :D Here's the 3 i have done so far:







Pretty cute huh? Notice the first LO was a boy layout? But the kit is a girl kit!! I've used the white base card stock plus some fairly neutral PP from the kit - plus some word stickers from the kit. Word stickers are an AWESOME way to add interest to your journalling!!

I hope i have inspired you to get those kits out and put them to work!!! Or maybe, to make some kits of your own from what you've already got!!! Don't forget to share this post if you think you have friends who may be interested in saving money on their scrapbooking - which i'm sure we all can!!

Ribbons & Buttons

Here's a quick tip my mum gave me - you know when you buy clothing and they have ribbons attached to the shoulders etc. for hanging purposes? You always cut them off and throw them out right? Why don't you keep them and use them in your scrapbooking? Sure, they are boring but they are always nice and thin - and that can be hard to come by!!! You could even use it for stitching instead of thread!!! And they are usually unusual colours too, so that's an extra bonus!

While i'm on the topic of clothing - you can also use the extra buttons that they give you with clothing in your scrapping! Again, they are boring and plain, but they are usually great quality and can add that certain extra touch that you need sometimes!

Kids clothing can be a great source of unusual buttons and embroidered elements so never throw a worn item out - reuse it in your scrapping!! I did this recently on a page about my son:

Calvin had worn through the toes on this inter onesie, and i was going to throw it out, but then i noticed that cute helicopter and decided that i just HAD to use it in my scrapping!!!! I then also used the zipper too, which is a pretty cool element if you ask me!!!

Many MANY apologies!!!

I owe my followers a HUGE apology - i'm so so sorry that i never got back onto this blog in 2011!! Christmas Eve we found out that we were expecting our second bundle of joy and she is finally with us now!! The other thing that happened early 2011 was that i got a job, so not only was i sick, but i was busier than ever!!!

Anyway, now i'm back to feeling myself and i'm committed to this blog again. I'd like to offer my apologies by sending a RAK to all of my followers!! Please email your mailing address to me at kylie.smith@me.com and i'll pop it in the post for you!!

In the mean time, i'll resume my money saving scrapping tips by telling you about a 'new' product on the market called "Glubbers". They have been brought out by Cosmo Cricket and they are basically a really really sticky circle which allows you to make awesome flowers like this one below:

Pretty neat, huh? The cost of a pack of Glubbers is around the same price as a pack of Prima flowers. What a great way to save money - use ribbon/scrap fabric which will match your LO perfectly instead of buying a pack of flowers, of which you'll probably only use 1 or 2!!

For ideas on how to use Glubbers, search You Tube!! There are some great videos on how to use them on there!! You can get them from all good scrap stores. I purchased mine from Scrap Boutique.

Don't forget to send me your postal address - you might even find a Glubber in there for you to try out ;P

Scrapbook Magazines

Just 3 more days to join in to win an AWESOME prize pack guys - refer to first post.

Today i'm going to talk to you about Scrapbook Magazines. I don't know about you, but for me this puts a HUGE hole in my scrap budget, and it really doesn't need to. So, i'm going to give you some tips today that i'm setting up as 'rules' for myself!

Which magazine is your FAVOURITE scrap magazine? Thought of it? Good. Go on their website right now and do a few things:

1. Subscribe!! I know what you're thinking - i'm trying to save money, so how does spending $50 or so save me money? Because you are getting your favourite magazine delivered to your home for a HUGE saving each month. Some magazines which are $10 in store come down to about $6 when you subscribe.

2. Join the forum. Most magazines have really great websites with fantastic forums where you can get superb tips and view pages done by lots of other scrappers for free!!

3. Join the mailing list. Joining the mailing list will help you keep in touch with what's coming up in the magazine. If you aren't a subscriber, you will know what is in upcoming issues before they hit the newsagents, so you'll know to avoid the newsagent when you don't need to buy one - i seem to go into a newsagent 'just to have a look' at what the latest magazines are. If you already know, you won't be tempted to go in, and therefore buy magazines on a whim!!

Scrapbook magazines are expensive. There is no denying it. But this is one area that i really do encourage you to spend. If we don't support the scrapbook magazine industry, it will die - which means no more getting your work published, or seeing your friends work published; no more printed inspiration that you can hang onto and take with you to a crop etc. We've seen a few Australian scrap magazines change completely or disappear in the last few years. This is because people don't want to buy them because they are expensive!!! If you believe in a magazine being published, then please subscribe or purchase regularly.

There are new magazines coming out all the time too. Get in on this because they are often a great source of fresh inspiration, and once again it's great to support them. They usually have new subscription rates which are really competitive too!!

When you do subscribe, don't fall into the trap of getting a subscription with a 'free' gift. THere is usually an alternate subscription which is just the magazine itself and is miles cheaper. The free gift that you are getting is often something that you wouldn't have bought anyway, and there is NOTHING free about it.

Scrapbook magazines are also available at your local library!!! If you really can't afford to subscribe or buy magazines, check out your local library. Most magazines are available for viewing there. The current magazine will only be available for viewing within the library, but back issues are usually available for borrowing. Give yoruself an hour or two to go in and look through the current magazines - take a notebook and write down ideas, sketch anything you want to 'scraplift' etc.

But i want to enter competitions!! Most competitions are submitted online these days anyway. You generally don't have to cut soemthign out of the magazine to enter, so you don't have to have the magazine. Websites have the competition lists so you can keep up to date too.

Submit, submit, submit!!! I know it's frustrating getting those 'you have not been selected' replies, but the only way that you will get published is by sending your stuff in again and again and again. You can follow the current submission lists, or just send in whatever you have been working on that you love. Make sure you check out what they advise you to do to submit your work because some of them can be pretty picky.

Here's a list of current submission contacts:

Scrapbooking Memories

Send to sthomson@expresspublications.com.au

www.scrapbookingmemories.com.au / www.craftlovers.com

Currently seeking the following pages (due 15th December):

- Fabulous Friends

- Babies

- Domestic Bliss

- Caught on Camera (Candid Shots)

Scrapbook Creations

Send to scsubmissions@universalmagazines.com.au

www.completecraft.com.au

Scrapbook Trends Magazine

submit@northridgetpublishing.com

Note: They prefer you to send a separate email for each submission

Currently seeking the following pages (due 27th December):

- Cards for dad

- Digital/Hybrid

- Father's Day

- Girls

- Mini Albums

- Punches

- Weddings

- Real Life: The Other Hobby

- How to: Jewels

- Challenge: Who inspires you?

- Showcase: Layouts that don't fit into other categories

Creating Keepsakes

cksubmissions@expresspublications.com.au

I'm actually going to put all of this in a sidebar on this blog so you can always access it. I'll try and remember to update it when new stuff is available :)

Current Subscription Deals

Scrapbooking Memories - www.magstore.com.au

7 issues $49 (25% discount)

13 issues $89 (35% discount)

26 issues $142 (45% discount)

Scrapbooking Memories - www.isubscribe.com.au

7 issues $49 (30% discount)

13 issues $68.25 (47% discount)

26 issues $142 (45% discount)

Creating Keepsakes - www.magstore.com.au or www.isubscribe.com.au

4 issues $30 (25% discount)

8 issues $52 (35% discount)

16 issues $88 (45% discount)

Creating Keepsakes - www.isubscribe.com.au

Scrapbook Creations - www.universalshop.com.au

10 issues $55 (45% discount)

Scrapbook Creations - www.isubscribe.com.au

12 issues $75 (37% discount)

24 issues $144 (39% discount)

Getting the most out of a paper range

Ok, so a beautiful new range comes out and you have to have it all, right? Wrong. I'm going to give you a few tips today to show you how you can really get the most out of a new range without breaking the bank.

Firstly, here's what to not buy:

• Buttons. This seems like a no brainer, but how many times have you done it! They look so yummy and appealing in those nice colour sorted packs with gorgeous designs on them!! Check your supply at home - i'm sure you'll have lots of buttons already in those colours, and if not, pop along to spotlight. They have these HUGE packs for sale for around the same cost as the scrapbooking button packs and you get litterally hundreds!! They are usually in colour groups and have several different sizes and designs in them. Try a thrift shop too!! To get the lovely designs, try stamping on them in stayz on or rub ons!
• Chipboard pieces. Don't buy these - buy the stickers instead. It seems old-school to use stickers in scrapbooking, but they are really very versitile. You can mount them on foam dots, spare cardboard or old chipboard pieces. That way you can use the stickers as they come, or alter them as chipboard etc. Plus, the stickers are HEAPS cheaper than the matching chipboard!!
• Ribbons. Unless they are particularly spectaculr, they will be fairly similar to waht you already have in your stash. Got little words or pickies on them? Could you rub on the words or even the images? Pleated ribbons or altered in anyway like that? Could you do this yourself on your machine with some of your stash ribbons?
• Stamps. As yourself if these stamps are a good 'investment' or will you only use them with this range? If it's the latter and you still really love them, could you go halves with a friend, or use them quickly and re-sell them on ebay while the range is still fresh? That way it doesn't end up costing you much. If you decide to buy the stamps, you probably won't need much else from the range, especially the rub-ons - use stayz-on ink if you want to go over photos etc.
• Alphas. Do you already have some this colour/type in your stash? Could you paint/ink/stamp some in your stash to match? Could you use a cuttlebug die-cut alpha set and cut some out of the papers? Could you glitter or distress or gloss some of your existing alpha sets?
• Brads. If they are just plain brads, you probably have some in your stash - and if you don't, consider buying them cheaper in bulk. If they are the pretty epoxy brads, consider investing in an epoxy brad making kit because you will RARELY use all of the brads from a kit.
• Flowers and matching floral embelishmetns. Can you make these out of your existing flowers? If you are like me, you have HEAPS of flowers at home and you'll probably find soemthing in the colours/style of the range. Try altering your flowers by adding paint, ink, glitter, stamping, embossing etc.
• Dimensional stickers. The ordinary stickers can be popped up and glitzed up to make them look just like these!!

So what should i buy?

• Papers are a must have!!! But, don't fall into the 'i must have every single paper in the range' trap. Instead of grabbing all of the papers and heading straight to the counter, try going through the pile and removing any that you aren't particularly fussed on. Get in the habit of just picking the papers that really grab you and leaving the rest behind. Think about how you can use the papers - how can i make my own embellishments? Is this similar to cardstock? Could i alter cardstock to look like this?
• Stamps/Rub-ons. As mentioned above, if you are going to buy the stamps, you won't need the rub-ons. Rub-ons can be really versitile as you get the patterns from the range and then you can put them on anything and cut them out, or straight onto your page or something like that!!
• If you're not sure if you'd use it, don't buy it. This is a really great rule of thumb. Then, if you come to a page and you suddenly think that would go there really good, start thinking if you could make it yourself, and if not, leave the page, purchase the item and then come back to it. 9/10 times, this won't happen!!

Now i'm home with my new range

• Get in the habit of having a quick flick through your stash when you get home - this will help you identify older papers that have the same patterns/colours/themes. Grab them out and put them with your new range so that they are right there when you go to scrap with your yummy new stuff. This is a great way to use up your stash and make your new stuff go further!!
• Whenever you finish creating a page with the range, put the whole range back together to use next time. Once you think you are truely 'done' with the range, make cards with the left-overs!! Cards cost about $5 each, and if you can make your own out of your scraps, that's heaps more money to go back into your scrapbooking!!
• After card making, pass the left-overs on to your kids so they can enjoy your scrap supplies too. If you don't have kids, consider donating to a local day-care center, church or school.

At the end of the day, it's about making the most out of your scrap supplies that you already have - THAT'S what's going to save you money in scrapping.

Don't forget about the giveaway that's on! You have until 15th December to subscribe and make a comment, as per the first post, to go in the draw to win a lovely little pack.