How can I make beautiful layouts without spending too much?

There are many ways to made scrapbooking economical. Make use of the things that are around your house, and use souvenirs from trips - including the colourful booklets made up about parks etc. If your child has a birthday party - save a clean napkin and use pieces of their birthday cards. If there is something that you can't make yourself - try the dollar store. They carry a lot of things that are acid free and cute on your pages. Sometimes you can copy the look of a metal embellishment by covering cardboard with aluminum foil. Etc. Good luck - finding a cheap way to produce an expensive look can be half the fun of scrapbooking.

I keep my layouts very simple. One thing is to not buy things because they look good on the shelf. And dont' buy things just because they're on sale. I know i've done it and i'm sure many others have but really has these items been used? Probably not. I like to choose my photos and then write a list of things I would need. I usually can get about 4 layouts out of one piece of pattern paper. Use cardstock for your background and only use a bit of the pattern paper. My main supplies are cardstock, pp and glue. That's it! I make my own letters with pattern paper or cardstock from online free fonts that I print off. They are so much cheaper that way and also they will most likely coordinate with your page much better. Good luck! I see a lot of ladies here have given some great advise!

I do some paper folding and make beautiful layouts without any other embellishment. You can get ideas and instructions right on line. Another idea is to use 1/4" strips and do some quilling. Ebay has some tools for quilling and you can make some darling embellishments with those. I hope this helps, have fun with your scrapbooking, it is not supposed to give you a headache!

I fyou live near a JoAnns I would suggest signing up for their mailing list. You get a 40% off coupon every couple of weeks, I use my coupon to buy those paperstacks and cardstack packs you can get 100 sheets of cardstock for $10 or less and the same thing with the paper. Also like everyone has said the dollar store is a great idea, Wal-Mart also has some fairly cheap supplies. Another idea is if you have friends and family that like to scrapbook consider finding a scrapbooking consultant in your area, by hosting a party you can earn free products on top of a large discount on your own supplies.

look around your house for things to use instead of buying things in stores. You must have loose buttons, coins, old jewellery that you never wear anymore, even beautiful pictures from magasines.

there's nothing like traditional scrapping however, like you i find it an expensive investment. that's why i switched to digital, i'm not resourceful enough when it comes to traditional scrapping. now digiscrap, im on a high whenever i find great freebies :)

All these suggestions are wonderful and great ideas. If you don't have the "perfect" piece of patterned paper to match the photo, either use fabric directly on your layout (instead of paper) or scan material to print out on cardstock. Are you able to do swaps with friends or buddy up with another scrapper to order and cut down on the cost? If you bulk buy, you might save money. Can you sign up for party plan style home based businesses where you are? If you can, then you could get scrapping supplies cheaper. Look around your home and utilise what you have. Utilise templates to make your own titles e.g. Heidi Swapp Masks.

I also keep my layouts really simple. I don't like a lot of texture on the page, because if its bumpy it can ruin the photos in the album over time. I often will cut paper to look like things ... you can cut paper and use a pen to make it look like a button ... that kind of thing. I am a paper, glue, and stickers gal.

I'm new to this hobby 'cause I had to find someone willing to put my creative ideas together(I don't have the use of my hands). Until recently I was only able to research online. I found a very good site where you can print backgrounds, frames etc. for free! And free is my favorite word -LOL-. The web addy is scrapbookscrapbook.com Another place to find some good ideas is diynetwork.com Hope this helps you & happy scrappin to ya!

I use stamps on my plain colored cardstock to kind of kick them up a notch. Like for a wedding one, I will stamp an engagement ring all over the page and for a baby I will use a baby stamp and so. Stamps can help to dress up your ordinary cardstock and it is easy and cheap if you realize that they can be used over and over again.