These are ideas I have gathered from various places. I hope they are helpful.

Cut shapes from foil pans

1. Check garage sales and thrift stores for beads, buttons, ribbons, embroidery floss, etc

2. Dollar Store for many items – containers, glue sticks, etc – also check the cards; many are made with handmade paper or have a pretty embellishment on the front that you can use

3. Office supply stores (Office Depot, Staples, etc) for cardstock, metal rimmed tags, glue sticks, etc

4. Glue pen by Elmer’s – comes in 3 pack for $6

5. Yarn aisle at Wal-mart – can get different kinds cheap

6. Use make-up sponges for chalking

7. Jewelry findings make great embellishments – check Wal-mart

8. Check out the art supply section at Michael’s and others – cheap chalk, different kinds of paper, charcoal pencils, etc

9. Buy clear, full sheet label paper at office supply store to print your own stickers, titles, etc. (check acid/lignin status)

10. Garage sales are a good place for boxes of fabric and yarn

11. Be sure to check the clearance sections at Wal-mart, Michael’s, etc

12. The hardware store (Lowes, Home Depot) has spray adhesive for $3/can

13. Shred the edges of fabric to give it the look of mulberry paper

14. Use baby food jars to store eyelets, beads, buttons, etc

15. Instead of pounding a hole for eyelets, cut a small slit with exacto knife; slide in the eyelet, then pound down the edges

16. Buy the flat wooden templates/ornaments for cheap ($.10-$.30) and use for embellishments

17. Check the floral section for wire. Comes in basic colors like copper, green, gold, etc and several gauges. Really cheap too.

18. Use cookie cutters as patterns/templates

19. Save the ribbon and wrapping paper from presents

20. Wal-mart has cardstock in basic colors cheap

21. Memory Mount glue found at Hobby Lobby is good to use and good bargain at $4/bottle – lasts a long time

22. Buy a pair of barber scissors from hair supply store (Sally’s) to use instead of microtip scissors

23. Check the tags on clothing, both the ones sewn into the clothing and the hang tags that come with the clothing – can be used in scrapbooking

24. Cut the tops and bottoms off old pop cans, flatten them, then cut out shapes to use for scrapbooking

25. Wal-mart has lots of stuff – bags of charms and alphabet beads in the jewelry aisle; flat-sided glass stones in the floral aisle; all different sizes of storage boxes in the fishing tackle aisle; lots of different metal findings like clips, rings, etc also in the fishing tackle aisle; foam letters (200/bag) in craft aisle

26. Plastic canvas yarn comes in lots of colors and is cheap – can be used for tags, etc.

27. Buy the fake Barbie doll clothes and accessories at the dollar store and use them like you would Jolee’s

28. Check the jewelry in the dollar store – you can find bracelets with charms that you can remove and necklaces with cool beads that can be unstrung and used on wire of fiber for tags

29. Check thrift stores for old games that have pieces you can use in scrapbooking (i.e., Scrabble, Monopoly)

30. Hang your supplies from a pegboard

31. If you need a glass mat, get a cheap picture frame from the dollar store and use the glass from it

32. Party supply stores often have great deals – check their clearance bins

33. Look for Word Titles 80 pc set and Lower Case Letter Tiles 88 pc learning set by Learning Playground at Kmart, Wal-mart etc. Use to make titles, etc

34. Buy thumb tacks in primary colors, gold and silver. Clip off the tack end with wire cutters and you have some new embellishments

35. Fabric can be used to add visual texture to scrapbook pages. You can buy ¼ yard to use on your pages

36. Craft stores have cork on a roll that is cheaper than at your LSS

37. 35mm film canisters are great to store eyelets, buttons, brads, etc. Cut a small slit in the top, put one of the items through the slit so you know what is in each canister

38. There are lots of cool bookmarks out that would make great embellishments and tags

39. Home Depot/Lowes sells the ball chain (like used on ink pens in banks) for a few dollars for 12 feet and 6 connectors for $.99. They work great for hanging tags

40. Tiny ribbon with flowers attached can be bought by the yard at fabric stores

41. For background paper with words, use a search engine to find a translator (such as English to French), then find the words you want. Copy or type into Word, use different fonts and sizes and colors, then print.

42. You can do the same with definitions. Find a dictionary on the internet, look up the definition of the word, then copy into WORD. Again use different size fonts, styles, colors to make a great background paper.

43. Print off words and stick them to hand-made metal tags (made from foil pans) with sticky tabs

44. Buy a roll of floral wire for $.99. Use it to practice making words, etc in wire

45. Postcards can double for pictures of photos you missed

46. Use baseball card holder sheets to sort fibers, stickers and other small embellishments

47. Put all your alphabet stickers in an accordion file

48. Target has cute paperclips, shipping tags, etc

49. Pier One has cute paperclips and other items

50. Use the inside of lightbulb boxes. It is corrugated and can be easily colored with ink pads (take care for acid/lignin content)

51. Use baby wipes to clean stamps

52. Make your own wax seals

53. Check the button aisle for clock face buttons, 3/$1.50 at Joannes

54. A good medium brown ink pad and bottle of medium brown acrylic paint can do anything that walnut ink can do

55. Twill tape can be purchased at fabric stores. You can write or print on it

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