Good finds in QUIAPO

I am a practical scrapper (maybe others will not agree with me though). But honestly, I am. My layouts will tell! I have a limited budget whenever I shop and I always see to it that I don’t go beyond! Could you believe that?

Practical as I am, I always find alternatives to expensive embellishments. I hop from toy stores, to fabric and embroidery stores, to specialty shops (not scrapbooking related, huh!), and even the hardware store to find stuff I could use for scrapping.

A couple of weeks ago, hubby and I went to Quiapo to buy camera lenses and accessories. While hubby shops for his stuff, I on the other hand did my own shopping too! I tried to find fabric stores in search of ribbons and buttons. As I hopped from one store to another, I chanced upon a store that really caught my attention – Welmanson. It was bigger than the other stores I’ve been through. I took a peek and found a number of girls shopping. I went inside and found myself surrounded by beads, charms, strings… all stuffs needed for making necklaces and bracelets! I told myself there’s no time to waste. I begun searching for items I can use for scrapping!

Here are my finds:

Scissor charms (I’ve been thinking if I would buy the one from Jolee’s, good thing I didn’t because it looks quite the same!)

Cute baby shoe charms - perfect embellishments for those pictures of Ethan’s baby shoes

Letter necklace pendant and small letter charms (I thought of painting them with acrylic paint or just put them away from the pictures for safety).

But the best thing that I found looks like buttons (I don’t even know what they are). One thing that caught my attention was that these buttons only have one hole and are even textured!

Oftentimes, we complain that we have a limited choice of scrapbook stuff here. But think again, aren’t we even lucky that we could find cheap alternatives to expensive embellishments? Think about the rick racks, ribbons and fibers we can buy by the yard at Divisoria, Carolina’s and Quiapo? Think about the buttons and charms we can buy by the dozen or by the piece? So why not try those non related scrapbook items you find, they might as well be the right embellishments you are looking for!

Here are the layouts I made using these finds...

You Got Mommy's Smile

Supplies: Patterned Papers: BasicGrey Lucky (Sweet Lavender, Wish, Chance, Sunkissed & Cornsilk) and Fusion (Chartreuse); Stamping ink: Colorbox; Pen: Zig Writer; Charmed words and acrylic paint: Making Memories; Embroidery floss: DMC; Others: chipboard, sun charm, fibers, buttons & sanding paper

SOMEDAY

Supplies: Textured cardstocks: Bazzill; Patterned papers: BasicGrey Fusion (Spoiled, Mesmerize & Solar Ray), Lucky (Cornsilk), Lollipop Shoppe (Pink Lemonade); vellum; chipboards ; letter dies: Sizzix; pen: Zig Writer; stamping ink; embroidery floss: DMC; ribbons; charms; necklace pendant: source unknown

-pia-