Eco-Friendly Scrapbook Ideas
Scrapbooking is a fun way to capture a memory or two, but it can add unneeded waste to the environment. Buying new items made of plastic or with plastic wrapping can be swapped out for recyclable materials, or pre loved plastic items so you can extend the life before it ends up on landfill.
Here are 10 quick tips for helping you create a more environmentally friendly scrapbook!
You probably already have a lot of things you’ve bought in the past that you can use in scrap booking. It’s okay, you can admit to hoarding craft materials here – I do the same. Have a good sort through all of your crafting bits and see if you can be creative with what you already have.
If you do need to buy things, always look for used items. Go to charity shops, car boot sales and even online buy/sell groups for deals. You never know what you’ll find if you’re creative and let your imagination go.
If you have an old book that no one will read any more, you can use it as the base for your scrapbook by re-covering it with old wallpaper, and then placing your images and doodads on each page. Granted, a lot of people could never destroy a book they own; in this case why not use an old magazine? You could even put some old cardboard on either side to make stronger covers.
Everything you buy has packaging material, and even if you don’t buy new things, your friends and family do. Tell them you want some of the packing materials. You can use the cardboard as your base.
If your friends and family send you cards during any time of the year, you can use them as part of your scrap booking by cutting out the images and words you like and gluing them to your scrapbook. Some cards even have extra trinkets, such as bows and stick on gemstones that can make really nice embellishments.
These can make wonderful materials for your scrap booking. You can cut them into shapes, or utilise the cover artwork.
Old photo frames can be found in your home storage or even in charity shop bric-a-brac. These can make great frames for the images on your scrapbook. Just take them apart and glue to the paper.
A lot of people tend to have some costume jewellery that they don’t wear. But you can use it as accents for your scrapbooks to make them beautiful.
Fabric is good for scrapbooks too. You can use it to cover old books to use as the base of your scrapbook and more. Visit your local craft store as they tend to have scrap fabric bins and bundles. I often keep scraps of fabric from my other crafting projects so I can repurpose them elsewhere.
Keep It Organised – The more organised you are with your materials, the more likely you are to use it all appropriately. It’ll be easy to get to so that you don’t waste it.
Being an environmentally friendly scrapbooker can make it more challenging, but it’s so simple to do now that there are online buy/sell groups, thrift shops, and ways to get inexpensive used items to make your scrapbooks more interesting.
Thank you for reading these quick tips when it comes to creating a scrapbook. Feel free to share your own eco-friendly ideas in the comments section! Looking for more eco-friendly ideas? Have a look at one of my previous posts: Going Green at Halloween: Celebrate and Love the Environment