Police Scrapbook

Since I'm now at home alone with the kids a lot more than I was before my husband became an officer, I have picked up a new "at home" hobby - scrapbooking.  Yeah, I know...a very stereotypical and domestic behavior.  And it really isn't all that "like" me.  But, since I'm not really very creative (other than writing, I don't sew, quilt, cook, build...you catch my drift), I needed an easy outlet.

And it seemed to make good sense, since we're right here at the beginning, to make a career scrapbook for my husband...the reserve academy, the reserve years, swearing in, basic law enforcement academy, and onward.

Now, I'm new at this whole hobby, but I figured it couldn't be that hard to find materials.  Holy hell was I wrong!  It took me two days (hours and hours) to track down what I needed, and I was still left a bit miffed at K&Company for discontinuing their Police Scrapbook Kit (can I just vent for a sec?  They still have all the military themes and the firefighting theme...but somehow decided the police theme wasn't worth it?  grrrr....):

I even attempted to find it via etsy, ebay, and craigslist.  Mmmm hmmmm....I need to find something better to do with my time, I know.  But, like a rabid dog....once I put my mind to something, I absolutely cannot stop until I get it done.

So, the search continued....

Lots of scrapbooking sites had one or two items...but it hardly made it worth it once the shipping was calculated.  This encouraged me to find sites that had more for less and lower shipping.

After hours of hunting and pricing (shipping is hideous these days) and digging for coupon codes, this is what I came up with and where I found it -

Scrapbook.com - They have a screwy search engine (so I can't link to it), and I had quite a bit of trouble with their site, but I managed to find six great sticker embellishment packages and a pad of police-themed 12x12 background paper.  Of the sites I order from, they had the lowest shipping rates (around $6) and I could use paypal (which always makes me feel a little safer about ordering from a new company).

OhMyCrafts.com also had the paper...and they offered a pretty cool album (looks like a shirt - dark blue)..but they had higher shipping and I didn't need the album, so I opted for Scrapbook.com.  But, if you need the album, this is the way to go - best price on the two ($20 and $11).

Scrapbookdiscounters.net - A nice little site...they offered a kit and a cute set of 3D embellishments (uniform, cuffs, radio, etc.).  That was pretty much it, but the kit was well-priced and I couldn't find it anywhere else.

LoveIsInTheDetails.ca - I found 2 cardstock backgrounds and two sets of stickers (all in a silver/blue police theme) - good prices - but a $10 flat shipping rate, so it would be good if you were looking for other items, too, to make the shipping worth it.

I did find a few other empty albums...4 to be exact.  Two were leather bound and simply said POLICE across the front.  The other two were personalized (you could add a picture of the officer, name, dept., etc.)  They were easy to search for - simply google "police scrapbook album".

ServiceMemories.com - a great site devoted to scrapbooking for military and police.  This site had several items, but the highest shipping rates.  I ended up opting for the other sites due to this.

So, all in all - I should have plenty to keep me busy at my desk after his graduation!