Discount Scrapbook Supplies

I've been meaning to get into scrapbooking for the longest time now. Ever since my kids were born nearly 10 years ago, I thought this would be the perfect way to commemorate all of life's important events. I wanted to create an album for each birthday, as well as other milestones as my children grew up. But of course I've procrastinated beyond belief, so here I am a decade down the road with nothing except a bunch of digital pictures stored on a hard drive. But that's going to change soon because I've already purchased some scrapbook supplies and will get started this weekend.

Scrapbooking is a very popular hobby right now, so finding appropriate paper, albums, kits, and embellishments was pretty easy. Since this was the first time I ever bought scrapbook supplies, I wanted to check out the materials in person. Therefore, I went to several craft shops in the area so I could examine everything with my own hands rather than simply view it on my computer screen. I looked at a bunch of stickers and rubber stamps, and was able to talk to store personnel to get some creative ideas for my first attempt. All in all, I think I did pretty well on that buying trip.

Unfortunately, I ended up spending far more than I wanted to, so from now on I'm going to purchase my scrapbook supplies online. Now that I've got the lingo down and know what kind of products I want, I can go ahead and take advantage of online discounts. For example, I've already found a couple of hobby websites that look promising. Just out of curiosity, I totaled up the items that I bought at the local stores and saw that I could have saved more than 30% by buying the scrapbook supplies online. Plus, the online retailer had a much bigger selection and offered cheap, flat rate shipping on all orders. While I'm bummed that I overspent on my products, at least I know where to go next time!

I also managed to find a bunch of scrapbooking forums that should prove to be an invaluable resource as I delve further and further into this hobby. On the forums, people share ideas about page layouts, cute sayings and quotes to put in the books, and offer suggested themes for wedding, anniversary, birthday, and childhood scrapbooks. Plus, members are quick to share information about various freebies, sales, and other promotions on scrapbook supplies, which could lead to even more savings for me.

I can't wait to finally get started on these scrapbooks for my children! I've been organizing photos and trying to visualize the layouts in my head so that when I sit down with the project and my scrapbook supplies, I'll be able to work quickly. I'm anxious to finish these and give them to my kids as childhood keepsakes!