I'm copying this from Scrappin' Mommas at EZboard...there is no link to the original site, I've tried searching for it, but can't find it so I can't give the original author credit....
50 ways to use scrapbooking supplies for gifts
1. make a set of monogrammed notecards using cardstock and alphabet stamps or stickers.
2. use your scrap paper , fiber/ribbon, and other supplies to make a quick gift tag to jazz up any present you give.
3. make a set of gift tags to give *as* a gift, especially appropriate for dinner party hostess gifts or around the holidays.
4. stamp the sides of a post-it note cube and tie with ribbon for an office gift
5. stamp on a strip of paper , roll it up and put it in a Pentel pen (between the ink tube and the clear plastic outside) to have a coordinating personalized
pen to go with the notepad.
6. calendars make great Christmas or teacher gifts - lots of companies make blank calendars for you to attach your own pictures to, in lots of different sizes.
Usually, you can tear out the pages at the end of the year and put them in a scrapbook for a secondary gift!
7. make a mini album that is calendar-themed as a baby shower gift for expectant mom's, so that they can record the milestones of their baby's first
year.
8. ask all the guests of a surprise party or shower to decorate a 6x6 piece of cardstock for the guest of honor - they can write a note, share a story, attach
a picture, whatever they want. You can mail them the cardstock with the invitations, and ask them to bring it with them to the party, then stick them all in a
postbound album and present it to the birthday boy/mom to be/bride/etc! Have extra precut sheets on hand at the party for people to write a quick note in case
they forgot.
9. You can also have all the guests sign a single scrapbook page to put in the front of the album
10. stamp on plain white or kraft wrapping paper or butcher block paper to make your own customized wrapping paper . Tie a bow with organdy ribbon, and add a
matching gift tag.
11. Make a recipe album for a bridal shower, ask each guest to make a page or to send you a recipe ahead of time and you create the pages.
12. Alternatively, if your guests aren't scrappers, alter an index card file box and have each guest bring a recipe on a 3x5 card.
13. alter, alter, alter!!! There are so many things you can cover with patterned paper , paint, glue ribbon to, jazz up with metal alphabets or charms or 3D
embellishments - the possibilities are endless. Here are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
14. alter a large flat box (e.g. cigar box) as a bridal shower or wedding gift, that the couple can place on the gift table at the reception as a location for
guests to place cards that aren't attached to a wrapped gift.
15. alter a small round box to hold barrettes, jewelry, or office odds & ends.
16. decorate the cover of a composition book or spiral-bound journal and give to someone going on a trip to record their memories in, to a busy person who
needs to keep track of to-do lists, to a young girl for a diary, etc.
17. alter a photo box (watch for the 2/$3 sales at Michaels and ACMoore) by covering it in patterned paper and adding a few 3D embellishments . Box can be
given as a photo holder or as a card file (see #25) or just as a box - let the recipient figure out what to do with it!
18. cover and decorate a paint can. You could include the person's name, or a title or quote (e.g. "Friends are Forever" or "Julie's
Stuff"). Don't forget to add some ribbon on the handle to dress it up even more.
19. small cans make great pencil holders or other desk organizers
20. large cans make excellent care package/goody baskets - decorate the can, then fill it with candy, school supplies, spa/bath goodies, or of course,
scrapbooking supplies!
21. There are lots of "ready to alter" items available that go beyond the box idea, like plain door hangers or clocks or coffee cups with room to
insert a sheet of paper . Stickerplanet carries a neat assortment.
22. One thing to remember about items sold "to be decorated" - you can use photos or not, it's totally up to you! Some of the classics out there
are marketed as being to showcase a photo, but you can just as easily stick to patterned paper or make a diorama/collage with embellishments , etc.
Alternately, you can also stick a photo on just about anything! That may make the perfect decoration for a box lid, for example. Just cover in lots of Mod
Podge to seal it in well.
23. For someone who loves writing letters and sending cards, there are tons of gift possibilities. You could print a few sheets of address labels with their
address in text and stamp a design on them, for a quick and easy but cute and useful gift.
24. Make an assortment of handmade cards so that they have a bunch on hand to send to people. You can focus on one theme (birthday, thank you, holiday, etc) or
make a big assortment covering all their possible cardsending needs.
25. Combine #24 with #17 and give a gift they'll really appreciate: decorate a photo box or shoe box, make a bunch of handmade cards, then file them in the
decorated box. Make little dividers with tabs for each theme and each month.
26. Take #25 a step further: get a copy of your recipient's yearly calendar (where they keep track of all the birthdays, anniversaries, and other
occasions). Then make a card for each event - if you know the names of the people they're sending too, you can even customize the birthday cards. Then
write the recipient's name on the front of an envelope in pencil and also write the date the card is "due". File them all by month, in order, in
the decorated box and present them with a year's worth of cards, all set to go! See #40 for a related project.
27. Whenever you give the gift of cards, make sure you include envelopes! These can be decorated as well - a simple stamped image in the center of the back or
lower left corner of the front jazzes up what are almost always an overlooked part of the card-sending process.
28. One more classy touch for giving handmade cards - add a pack of postage stamps as well. It is just one more thing that makes it that much easier for the
recipient to make use of your beautiful gift.
29. You can also make stationery sets, or smaller assortments of cards. You can pick a theme/design/stamp set and make 6 or 8 coordinated cards that may have
different sayings ("happy birthday", "thank you", "thinking of you") or you can pick a saying and make an assortment - everyone
needs thank you notes, especially birthday girls and brides! You don't need to make each card different - for a more classy/formal-looking set, try making
6 or 8 of the same card.
30. There are a few options for presenting a smaller pack of cards: Stampin' Up! makes card holder boxes you assemble from a sheet of cardstock , they make
very nice, professional-looking holders. A ribbon works great too! Tie a wide ribbon around the envelopes and cards, tie it in a bow on the top, and add a
little gift tag, voila!
31. For the recipient who may not be quite as into sending handmade cards, you can still give stationery - a set of monogrammed notecards, or coordinating
notecard and letter set (buy plain, good quality ones, and stamp a subtle border on them). Keep your eyes peeled in the card aisle of the grocery store or drug
store for some plain cards, buy 'em cheap and dress 'em up!
32. Another natural extension of scrapbooking into gift giving is framed art. At the simplest level, make a 12x12 scrapbook page for the recipient, there are
lots of frames available these days.
33. You can also buy the frame first, any size, and then decorate a "page" to go inside it - just because it's meant for a 5x7 or 8x10 photo
doesn't mean you can only put a picture in there! Make a mini scrapbook page (albeit a flat one, for most frames) instead. One or two smaller pictures, a
stamped title, some coordinated patterned paper - pretty simple but already a step above the classic framed picture gift!
34. For 3D pages, try a shadowbox frame. Again, you can make a standard scrapbook page to fit a shadow box frame, but the same rule from #22 applies - you
don't have to include photos!
35. Jolee's boutique makes great little shadow boxes and the themed Jolee's 3D stickers can be the perfect accent - and they're already arranged in
an attractive layout just on their own backing sheet! You could do one to commemorate a trip using the destination Jolee's, or make one of your sports
fan's favorite team, or a child's favorite sport, etc.
36. You can also decorate a plain fabric or canvas photo frame using paint, magic mesh , patterned paper , or other scrapbooking supplies.
37. Any item that is designed for adding photos to is a quick and easy scrapbooking gift - the mugs with inserts in the outside, blank wall clocks, etc.
38. A great gift for kids is anything using stickers!! This is a great way to use up your stash; you can either give the kids a whole assortment of stickers,
maybe in a cute tin lunch pail or something
39. You can also use stickers from their favorite animal or cartoon character to decorate a lunch box, a door hanger, a clock, a plastic cup - pretty much
anything they'll stick to! (and if they won't stick, use a little diamond glaze)
40. For the moms and gift givers on your list, a perpetual calendar is a fabulous gift. This is a calendar that just lists the days of each month, doesn't
have which day of the week they match up with, so you can use it from year to year. A lot of people use these kinds of calendars to keep track of birthdays or
anniversaries. Stampin' Up! sells a blank perpetual calendar that you can decorate with stickers, stamps , or any other scrapbooking supplies.
41. A great variation on the perpetual calendar idea is to make your own instead of decorating a blank one. Tag books work *perfectly* for this; just make one
tag per month, design a cute cover, and bind them all together with cute ribbons, rollabind discs, or locking binder rings.
42. When designing a perpetual calendar, you can either leave a big blank space for the recipient to write the important dates in for each month, or if you
have space you can make a numbered list 1-30 or 31 and print a line next to each for them to fill in. A final option is if you can get your hands on the
recipient's current datebook/perpetual calendar, to go ahead and enter those dates in for them! Do remember to leave a little space for future additions to
the family, etc.
43. When it comes to altering items, just remember decoupage decoupage decoupage! You can do amazing things with just patterned paper (and I *know* you all
have plenty of that) and some glue (I recommend mod podge, this is what it was made for, after all!). You can cover pretty much anything with paper - we
already saw the example of a kitchen floor, and also got extra suggestions from Lucinda:
• decoupaging a plain plate (or set of plates) for display
• laminating a set of placemats (or putting pp under clear glass placemats - changeable!)
• using pp as a "mat" in a frame against which to display an antique plate
• framing different pp's and using them as artwork
• using pp's to cover a simple wood birdhouse & embellishing as gingerbread house
• using pp as the "face" of an inexpensive wall clock (like you get at WalMart)
• putting pp under the glass of a vanity or dresser top
• using holiday pp as a base for ornament or figurine display on tabletop
• make a Moravian Star out of pp for the holidays
• using pp to make a paper chain for the tree
44. Speaking of winter holidays, how about some Christmas-specific gifts? You can make some pretty creative ornaments using your scrapbooking supplies - try
picking out three items and some holiday paper and challenging yourself to turn them into an ornament!
45. Another great Christmas idea is to make an advent calendar. Coin collecting albums are great for this. You can put chocolate coins behind the flaps for
each day, or you can decorate the area with little scrapbooking supplies, like an antique key or a jolee's Christmas ornament.
46. You can make mini ornaments out of lots of scrapbook supplies, you could have each day of the advent calendar reveal an ornament and then hang them up on a
mini tree as you get closer to Christmas - this could make a great gift for a fellow scrapbooker! For the mini ornaments, just get a roll of gold or silver
cord and tie it/glue it in loops to anything you think would be cute to hang on a tree. Ideas include jolee's by you items like antique metal keys and
travel-themed items, any metal accent like MM charmed plaques, the new puffy pillow chips from MOD designs or jelly embellishments from junkitz and doodlebug,
any charms, etc.
47. For giftwrap, you can go even farther beyond stamping plain wrapping paper , you can also use scrapping supplies to make and decorate cute boxes or tins -
think Basic Grey takeout boxes! Don't forget to add a matching gift tag and some ribbon.
48. Don't overlook the simple holiday card! For a lot of people on your list this Christmas, you may not have time or money to get them a big gift, but
everyone treasures handmade cards. You can include a little packet of cocoa or tea or candies if you want to push it over the "card" line into the
"gift" category. There are lots of great poems out there for "snowman soup" and other similar holiday goodie bag ideas.
49. If you're giving a gift card, make it a little more personal by making a cute gift-card holder card out of your scrapbooking supplies. Maybe a door
hanger for a teenager ("julie's room - keep out!" or "john's room - no girls allowed!") that you tuck the giftcard into, for
example.
50. Give the gift of scrapbooking supplies! If you know someone who's just starting out in this addictive hobby, or have a friend you think would enjoy it,
assemble a starter kit for them from your older supplies.
