Step Up Your Scrapbooking seems to be based on the feature of the same name in the magazine Simple Scrapbooks. I found it a refreshing change from some idea books and magazines that are lovely showcases for products, but not really practical for real life scrapbooking.
This one actually seemed to want to inspire you to actually use what you have! (Caveney's story of her early scrapping life as a pennypinching student lent the claim some credence.) Nice examples of simple design using only cardstock and a pen, then one embellishment (yes, patterned paper counts!), two, three, and so on. Includes pages by some of my favorite designers, like Shelly Laming, Allison Kimball, and others. It includes some design tips sections on color, taking great photos, and other topics, which I found useful, as well as "assignments" in each section to spur you to actually create something.
It's not exactly a book on scrapping on a budget (for example, some of the cardstock-only and one-embellishment pages leaned toward using extremely large photos - not really the most cost-effective choice), but overall very encouraging for those who like simple and effective design, who are on a budget, or who may want to avoid crowding their pages with too many goodies.