Frugal Scrapbooks

My artistic abilities fall somewhere below my cooking abilities, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. And, recently did my first ever bit of scrapbooking (is that hard to believe, or what?) at our November Keepers and Contenders Club meeting. Our wonderful leader for the lesson made it so painless and both moms and kids all had a fantastic time. Rather than put together an actual scrapbook page, we created a couple projects that are perfect for kids or beginners just getting their fingers wet.

The first project is a little more involved, but so worth it! If I can do it, anyone can . . .

We made accordion scrapbooks.

Here is a little tutorial with pictures of some of our projects in process.

First, you need:
- 3 -- squares of card stock 8"x8" (some of the kids had different colors on each side, some were the same on both sides. Either type of paper made a beautiful finished product),

- 2 -- 6" squares of coordinating paper

- 2 -- 4" squares of coordinating paper (these won't show much in finished product)
- 2 -- 4" squares of posterboard or light box (cereal box, cracker box, etc.)

Start with the 3 8x8 squares and fold them all in the following way:

- first fold in half

- reopen and fold in half the other way

- reopen and fold on a diagonal

- reopen and bring the creased corners together (I found it helped to push the center of the paper in with my thumb) and collapsing all the folds now to make a 4x4 square shape.

- repeat this with the other two 8x8 squares


Set those aside and take the 4x4 light cardboard squares



and cover them with the 6x6 squares wrapping tightly around all sides.




Fasten one ribbon to each exposed cardboard and cover with the remaining 4x4 paper.

(sorry, you can't see the ribbon in this picture, it should be between the 4x4 card and 4x4 paper)

Connect the accordion folds together by attaching the top and bottom squares of each together.

(another shot of all three connected)

The 4x4 squares get fastened on the top and bottom for the covers


. . . and tie shut to hold it closed.

My 9 year old did hers all by herself and the 7 year old just needed a little help with the folding and fastening. They have now made second ones on their own as well. So fun and beautiful!

I also could not help thinking these would make a unique layout for lapbooks, Christmas cards, gifts, photo albums, preschooler's stories, etc., etc.



Okay, one more. This one is a bit easier if you want something simpler.

For this you need three paper lunch bags to make these paper bag scrapbooks.

Alternate the openings, fold them in half:
Punch holes in the folded side and fasten with ribbon, raffia, brads, whatever you have around. Decorate the cover with graphics or lettering:


Open up and you are ready to fill with your favorite photos:

VERY simple and the kids had a lot of fun dressing these up a bit. She talked about matting pictures, picking colors, using stickers and lettering, etc. This was something the kids could all do with very little assistance and the end products were adorable.


Have fun making your own! And for more Frugal Friday tips head over to Crystal's blog.