Scrapbooking on a Dime – Buy a Paper Pack (Deeply Discounted, of Course) and Fussy Cut the Heck Out of It.

Note:  There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to be ashamed about when you use a 20-25% off all regular price and sale items coupon, and stack it with an item on sale.  Remember that.

 No one should pay full price for their craft supplies.
**The more you save, the more you can buy!

This is a picture collage of a paper pack and its contents I bought at Michael’s this summer.  The pack was full of beautiful colors and designs that were gold embossed.  On this particular day, Michael’s had their paper packs that were usually $19.99 marked down to $5.00.

I fell in love with this paper – however, I would never pay $19.99 for this paper.  When I saw the gold flowers in the bottom right corner of the collage,  I immediately thought… I can fussy cut up and use every, single, inch of that piece of paper and make my own embellishments.

So what is fussy cutting?  It’s taking designer paper, a pair of sharp scissors, and cutting around every shape or design on the paper to use as embellishments on a scrapbook layout, or for a card, or for any other craft your lovely heart desires.

I am not a great fussy cutter.  But, this is what I came up with:

The amazing thing about this hobby is you don’t have to be great at anything because there are NO MISTAKES in scrapbooking.

The details:

I chose a paper background that looked like ledger paper and decided to spray some shimmer mist on the background.

I cut four, 4″ x 4″ squares from the papers you see in the collage above and cut out the letters L O V E.  I didn’t use any template.  I just went for it!

I decided to add a little zig zag stitching for posterity (because it’s all about the zig zag.)

THEN I chose a photo.  Funny huh?  I did all of this without a photo in mind and ended up choosing an extra wedding photo I had because the roses matched.  A 25-year-old photo was resurrected from a photo box.   Funny how that works out, huh?

So this is the final project, sans journaling.

Supplies Used:

Paper Pack – $5.00 (And I only used six sheets of it.)

Recollections Shimmer Mist – The Boho pack of five I bought this summer.  Regular price $19.99, marked down 60%, and I combined a 25% off regular and sale items coupon to pay around three bucks.  BAM!

Elmer’s Glue Stick – $.25 bought during Back to School Sale

Sewing Machine – I already had it.  BUT You could hand sew too if you want to incorporate that look and don’t have a sewing machine.

Don’t let being on a budget hold you up!  Get out there!  Look for the deals!  Get to scrapping!