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Thursday, August 9, 2012

10 Ways to Upcycle Scrapbooking

Greener lifestyles are trending in all areas, and the scrapbooking world is no different. Aside from the eco-friendly and budget-friendly benefits, upcycling materials to use in scrapbooking adds an extra amount of personalization and detail to your precious memories.

1.  Instead of shelling out good money for pricey scrapbook covers, try upcycling an old hardback book cover into a classy scrapbook cover by removing the pages and adding a 3 ring binder insert. 
Upcycled Scrapbook Cover Tutorial

2.  Make your own titles and chipboard embellishments using a die cutting machine and old cereal boxes, mailers, and thick stock junk mail pieces.

3.  Go vintage at the local thrift store.  Pick out fabrics, buttons, and jewelry pieces that coordinate and inspire.  Bring them home and see what you can come up with.  The best part about upcycling is that you can use anything that you can find a use for.

4.  Save on distressing inks by using tea bags or coffee grounds for a darker, aged look or household bleach for a faded look.

5.  Transform your old, dated, or broken jewelry into accents on your scrapbook pages.  Check out these ideas for beading scrapbook pages here.

6.  Make a shaker by sewing two transparencies together and filling them with something small like seed beads.  This adds a cute element when done over a photograph.

7.  Take a note of inspiration from stylish packaging.  This one is totally for me.  I am such a sucker when it comes to cute and trendy packaging that I am constantly trying to talk myself out of buying produce X because I don't really need it, I just like the way that it looks in all of its colorful packaging.  Whether you use any of the packaging in your actual design or not, you will still be upcycling an idea!

8.  Repurpose old greeting cards, in whole or in part, to make artwork for your pages, frames for your photos, and preserve sentimental notes from inside the cards where they will be seen and remembered.

9.  Flatten the aluminum from rinsed cola cans and punch or cut it into shapes for nifty, one-of-a-kind embellishments.  These can be easily attached with jewelry fittings.

10.  Skip on the pricey scrapbook paper and get what you are really going for: Use old sheet music instead of scrapbook paper printed to look like sheet music or strips of left over tissue paper or wrapping paper to add some color to white cardstock.

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