if you've ever packed a lunch for school or work then you probably have a few extra brown lunch bags lying around. Believe it or not, you can use them to make an adorable scrapbook! I saw ideas for this on several scrapping sites so I can't take credit for the concept, but I've used it successfully several times and I love it.

-Take 3-4 paper lunch bags and fold them in half so they make a 6x6 (approx.) surface. Crease the fold.
-To keep the album together while you're working, stitch (by hand or on the sewing machine) down the center fold. Use a brown thread so it doesn't stand out, but your binding will cover the stitching later.
-Embellish! You can use the open edges of the bag to hide journaling and tags.
-Wait until your finished with the album to do a finishing binding with ribbon, brads, etc.
-Impress your friends with a beautiful book made ENTIRELY from scratch!

Please note that the paper bags are not acid-free so use photo-safe materials to cover the brown bag surface to ensure that your album lasts forever.