If you are used to creating painted pages, collaging, adding rubber stamped lettering or your own personal  hand lettering to your Journal pages you just might want to add Scrapbooking to your repertoire.  Your pages need not be neat, tidy and "by the book" kind of pages you may have seen before.  You can add pizazz to your pages and still add photos and create your own unique style of scrapbooking.  In fact now that the recession has affected so many of us people are much more careful  about how much they spend on Scrapbooking supplies.  As a Visual Journaler you have an advantage since you are already used to utilizing alternative items to jazz up your page.  Here are some ways to enrich your pages without breaking the bank:

• hammer bottle caps flat, add a tiny photo and cover it with Diamond glaze, glue to your page
• keep used ticket stubs, receipts and clothing labels/tickets and use in your pages - you can add them to photos which pertain to the item ie. A photo of a new dress along with the decorated price tag.
• Use leftover bits of fabric as a border on your page
• Drill holes in an old fork and attach to the front of an album.  This would be especially meaningful if the album is about Eating.
• Use junk mail with colorful pictures to spice up a drab page
• candy wrappers can be glued to your creation for a fun metallic look
• wire twigs onto your page for an outdoorsy spread
• if the sole of your shoe has fallen out afix it to a "traveling" page
• crochet a chain with leftover yarn and sew to your page
• attach safety pins on an "edgy page"
• Use spray paint over a painted background for a spread on teens
• make lists on lined paper, tear the edge and glue
• use masking tape or duck tape to attach photos
• Sew a beaded border with leftover beads
• have a drawer of junk jewelry - broken and discarded, incorporate a piece in your spreadglue feathers or leaves to a painted background
• don't throw discarded crepe paper streamers away - fan them and glue to your page
• keep some of those slightly used birthday candles and wire them onto a birthday spread
• create funky backgrounds by cutting your own stamps with Styrofoam meat trays and foam plates.  I cut stamps from a discarded flipflop from a Spa once!  Brush on some folk art paint and stamp your background
• keep tissue paper from birthday presents, spread glue onto your background, glue down tissue while creating wrinkles.  This will give you a nice textural background
• for an offbeat background create a patchwork background by photocopying your art in colour and black and white, cutting them up and gluing down.  You can also add squares of randomly painted papers that have been splattered, sponged, scrapped or stenciled.

There are so many ways you can merge Scrapbooking and Visual Journaling in order to create gorgeous one of a kind Scrapbooking spreads.  The beauty is that you can do this all on a budget by utilizing supplies you have on hand!