Discount scrapbooking supplies
or scrapbooking on a budget

The sign on the wall said Discount Scrapbooking Supplies, so of course I went on over for a look. I was in my local garden and leisure store and although I did not come out with anything on my garden list, I was very happy as I picked up some real bargains in the craft section.

Like anyone else addicted to scrapbooking I love it when I can save money on supplies. As a hobby, it can be quite expensive if you are not careful. But there are ways to cut the cost and I thought I would share a few of them with you here.

Phone a friend

If you have a friend who lives locally and is also keen on scrapbooking or card making then why not arrange a day out shopping together?

I am lucky enough to have both my mother and sister-in-law who enjoy the same hobby so we often buy things and split them three ways. If each person buys a product in a different colourway, it means we get three shades for the price of one. Or if we all go for the same colour then one tends to buy brads, another eyelets and the third sequins. Then again, we share them out equally so we each have a wider variety of items to use on our pages.

There is also the benefit of being able to purchase discount scrapbooking supplies in bulk quantity. The price per item is lower and if you share the pack between you then you don't end up with so much of the same thing. After all you don't want all your pages to look the same, do you?

If you end up doing scrapbook pages for sale then you may require large quantities, so do take a look at our wholesale scrapbooking supplies page.

You can do a similar thing if you attend scrapbook meetings, or crops, and swap excess supplies with other scrapbookers.

Keep in mind

If you buy your supplies from a large craft store there are certain areas that tend to have higher prices. For example anything with Wedding in the product description often seems to be double the price!

My sister-in-law, Jenny, shared a good tip here though.

Confetti comes in all shapes and colours and as the price is very reasonable a few bags can be a handy purchase when you are looking for discount scrapbooking supplies. It doesn't only come in the paper variety, but also a similar material to sequins. In my collection at present I have stars, hearts, double hearts, doves and even a bride and groom. I recently used the stars, in two sizes, on a baby layout for my niece, as shown below.

It may not be clear from the photo but the tiny stars were used in a similar manner to glitter, for the word "Little".

Watch out for sale items

Yes, even your craft shop will sometimes have a sale, or if not a full blown event, a clearance basket or section where they reduce the price of items that they have excess stock of.

It is always worth rummaging through for cheap scrapbooking supplies. Just because other people haven't wanted to purchase a rubber stamp saying "English Countryside" for example, doesn't mean it isn't perfect for a layout YOU had planned!

In fact rubber stamps are a great investment. Once you have bought them you can use them over and over again with different coloured inks or pens. Certainly cheaper than buying stickers which you can only use once.

Online stores also have sales and special offers at times. It is often worth signing up for their newsletters so you don't miss out on their discount scrapbooking supplies.

Go digital

Another way to save money is to have a go at digital scrapbooking. If you are talented with graphics programs you can design your own background papers and elements on your computer. Or at the very least you can type up titles and/or journaling for your traditional pages. There is a whole section on this site for digital scrapbookers.