Whenever I'm shopping I like to think of alternative items to use on my scapbook pages. It's surprising the things you can find in hardware stores, grocery stores, office supply stores, and of course other aisles of a craft store.
This layout, which I used a sketch from Sketchy Thursday for, uses buttons, plastic covered brads from an office supply store, and stick pins from the sewing notions aisle. Many times, you get a pretty good deal on them too!