An Organizational Notebook

I have reached the place in my cardmaking where I've accumulated enough supplies in certain areas that it is helpful to have a record of what I have so I don't purchase more of the same. Unfortunately, I didn't have this little notebook with me last night when we were at K-Mart and I bought a whole other set of Bic Mark-It markers identical to the ones I already have. Bummer! I thought I was getting some new colors. On the bright side, I have replacements ready to hand now if the ones I've been using run out.

So anyway, besides the stamp image index that I mentioned in my previous post, where I've stamped images of each stamp I have and sorted them into categories in a 3-ring binder, I decided it would be helpful to have a purse-sized notebook I could carry with me that would help me remember which inks, punches, etc I already own. I have a couple of these handy-dandy index card notebooks on hand and thought it would make a nice, sturdy notebook for my purposes. I had thought to decorate it and make it all pretty like you see on papercrafting blogs where people doll up boring journals, but I decided against that idea after considering what carrying it in my purse would do to all the things I might adhere to the cover. So it is going to stay boring.

Inside, I have sections for inks, punches, glitter glue, embossing powders, and markers, so far. Here are some samples of my pages...

First, a page showing some of my pigment inks by name and color swatch. I used cotton swabs to "stamp" the color swatches. I also put a dot of the ink color on the back of the VersaColor pads, so I can see easily what color the ink pad is. I store my ink pads upside down and even though the VersaColor pads have their color name printed on the bottom, it's nice to see what the color looks like, too.

Next up is a page from my punches section, showing samples from each punch, along with its name.

Here's a page from my glitter glue section, with the name of the glitter and a sample of it. I had to be VERY careful when I did this page.

Lastly, is a page from my new marker section, showing names and color swatches of my Bic Mark-It pens. Now, as long as I remember to carry this notebook with me, I won't be fooled into buying more Bics that I already own.

So there you have it...another organizational tool. As I think of other items to keep track of, I'll add a section for them to my little notebook. Oh yes, one other tip...the section tabs are made from labels that I rescued from the trash at my previous place of employment. I cut them in half to use them as tabs. They work really good for this! Thankfully, I have a nice stack of these labels saved. Sometime I might try stamping on them and using them on a card, especially the white ones. Just another frugal tip for how to make your own stickers or file tabs.

Til my next post, happy cardmaking! Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!

Sharing My Cardmaking Center With You

In this photo, you can see my colored pencil storage--a repurposed silverware basket from a dishwasher, just one of those odds & ends I've accumulated from family. Under it in the striped box are all of my VersaColor pigment ink pads. The blue plastic box beneath that holds the rest of my pigment ink pads, my glue pad, and my vellum pigment markers.

Behind that stack, is my "new" pen/marker storage unit I made last night. I took a cardboard box that was saved from a book shipment, 11 empty Pringles cans from my stash (ALWAYS save things like that!), and a roll of yellow duct tape. I folded the bottom flap on the box into the box, adding a fold about 3/4" up, so that it would make a slanted base on the inside of the box for the Pringles cans to rest on. Duct tape holds everything in place. Then I folded the other 3 box flaps to the outside and duct taped those down tight. In my experience, doing this helps to reinforce the edges of the box, whether you are making a file box or a storage unit. After the box was prepared, I cut each of the cans off at 4 1/2", using the top half of each can for my storage unit. The bottoms & lids went back into my stash for another project some day (yes, I have a BIG house--full basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, & full attic that is finished--so I have room to store stuff and I don't mind clutter). The top two Pringles cans had to be squashed slightly to get them to fit into the space left, but no big deal. After that it was a simple matter of sorting my markers by color and type. The spaces between the Pringles cans & the box were also utilized to hold supplies that I use frequently. I HAVE to have the things I use most close to hand! As you can see, my new storage unit isn't the prettiest thing on the block, but it works slick and it cost me nothing (I ate all those Pringles a long time ago--potato chips are a weakness that I'm trying to avoid).

In the photo, you can also see the base of my lamp and part of my work area. Notice that even the lamp serves dual purpose as a place to post notes. It also holds a multi-purpose pedicure brush which I thought to use as a distressing tool for cards.

This is a closer view of my new pen/marker storage unit.

Now this pic is of my actual work area. First of all, the table is my grandmother's old kitchen table, an antique with a great deal of sentimental value to me. It is a drop leaf table that comes with 3 leaves so it can expand to seat quite a number of people. I don't have any of the leaves in it and one leaf is down.

All of my most-used tools and supplies are close to hand. The pencil boxes hold tools and other items. I bought these boxes at K-Mart, but I noticed this year that they aren't selling this design any more, which is too bad because they stack up so nice & neat. The pencil holder is a ceramic cup/vase/holder(?), another old item that I picked up somewhere. Behind it is a Nestles Tollhouse Cookies tin; I love tins! I keep my little hammer for setting eyelets in there. My roll of double-sided carpet tape is towards the left, near the base of the lamp--gotta have that stuff!

In this view, you can see the storage drawer units that fit into my work space. The small white drawer unit on the table holds stamps and embossing powders. There is a metal box on top of that drawer unit with my gel pens and on top of that is my Fiskars 12" sliding cutter. My Fiskars 9" guillotine cutter sits on top of the white drawer unit under the extended leaf of the table to my right. That top drawer holds more of my wooden stamps, along with my dye ink pads and acrylic blocks. The blue drawer unit has 4 storage boxes stacked on top of it that hold embellishments, as do the drawers of the unit, except for the bottom drawer which is full of punches. The pink drawer unit has adhesives & other supplies in the top drawer, paper embellishments in the middle drawer, and ribbon in the bottom drawer. My cardboard box file of cardstock scraps is sitting on the floor in front of the pink drawer unit. Behind the pink drawer unit are two chairs holding 2 big boxes, like banana boxes, (1) full of miscellaneous stuff to use on cards and (2) of wallpaper samples I've removed from their books. I should mention the indispensible red circular "file" sitting to the right of my chair--can't do without that!

Another view of my area, showing that it's only part of my study. Most of my cardmaking books are on the top shelf of that bookshelf you can see behind my cardmaking area. My desk/study area is back in the corner of the room, by the window. That's been my corner ever since we moved into this house back in April 1988. This room used to be our schoolroom during all the years we homeschooled, which is why you'll notice a black chalkboard on the wall in one of the pics and a few other things still sitting around. We also own a considerable game collection, which occupies a lot of space in this room.

Another view of my room, showing the things that sit behind my work space. Those are two old student school chairs (don't have any of the school desks any more, though) which hold a file box and my old suitcase full of my giftwrap paper stash. The wide drawer unit you see farther back holds more cardmaking supplies and my larger edge punches.

Here's a closer view of my cardstock and paper storage, located right behind where I sit to make cards. Yes, that is a real slate chalkboard on the wall. When the grandchildren are over, I have to move my stuff so they can stand on the chairs to draw on the chalkboard; it's a family favorite. I was fortunate to get it from an old school that was being dismantled.

Anyway, in this picture you can see my cardboard file box on one of the chairs and my old suitcase of giftwrap papers on the other chair. The large green binder sitting on the floor holds a collection of pics of all the cards I've made since 2007. The rolling wooden cart holds my cardstock and unused papers. More of my wood-mounted stamps are stacked on the cart, too. Notice that I make file boxes out of old cardboard boxes. I like having my cardstock and papers standing up whenever possible.

Behind the chairs, in front of the chalkboard, there's another repurposed box holding 8 1/2"x11" papers. Tip: empty diaper & baby wipes boxes make really great storage boxes for magazines and other 8 1/2"x11" papers. They're sturdy AND have hand openings! There are also a couple of binders here, one with an index of all my stamped images, the other holding card sketches. Next to those in the other stack is an old black plastic tackle box that holds miscellaneous things to use on cards, then the purple box holds wood-mount stamps and the black & yellow shoebox holds most of my acrylic stamp sets in file format. I have to say, it's a LOT easier to store acrylic stamps than it is to store wood-mount stamps, but I like both. And I'm NOT going to pull all of my rubber stamps off their wood mounts, like some have done.

Well, there you have it. This is what my space looks like right now. One advantage to the kind of storage I use is that it can be reorganized and rearranged as desired, whenever needed. I did take pics of the rest of my room, but decided NOT to let you see all the rest of my cluttered corners. One corner has like 33 wallpaper sample books stacked up in it; those things take up a lot of space! Needless to say, I file things into stacks. For the most part, I know what I have and where it is. And as you may be saying to yourself, I am definitely a "saver" and a "messy" or whatever other term you care to call all my colorful clutter. I find it motivating. I can't stand empty spaces or white walls! I think there's a saying in science about nature abhors a vacuum--so do I! LOL! Hopefully, my cardmaking space hasn't shocked you too badly. :o)

Til my next post, happy cardmaking! Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!

Two For The Guys

This card was created for our son-in-law Bradley, hubby of my stepdaughter Paige. I'd seen a card using a similar layout but done on the vertical. I wanted the card to fit into a business-sized envelope, which gave me a nice sized "palette" to work with. I cut my own template for the arrows, then scrounged through my scrap papers to find black & white designs that would work well with the red background paper. I added two black buttons and two white brads. The sentiment is computer-printed and the edges ink-distressed. I saw this sentiment somewhere and thought it would work perfectly for You're Special cards, which this one is, or for 'just because' cards when there is no specific occasion to send a card.

Hint: I've just started keeping a journal, one of those $1 kinds you find at Dollar Tree or JoAnn's, to write down the neat sentiments or sayings I come across, along with scriptures that work well on cards, so I don't have all these bits & pieces of scraps laying around with things written on them and can readily locate them when I'm making up a computer page of sayings to print out.

This birthday card was for our son-in-law Jordon, married to my daughter Megan. He loves to hunt and fish so the design seemed particularly appropriate. The Wilderness Campground image with the bear on it is from a digi set I bought from DAISIE Company. I mounted that square onto a torn, crumpled piece of kraft paper (used a paper grocery bag). The wilderness map & green pine tree papers came in a masculine set I bought at a Pamida a couple years back. The pinecone cutouts are from another piece of paper in that same set. The sentiment tag is a free digi I found online, touched up with Sharpie marker, and ink-distressed.

There you have it! Til my next post, happy cardmaking! Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!

My June Cards Pt. 2

While sorting through my wallpaper samples, of which I have a great many, I found this beautiful wallpaper border. I could not resist using it on a card, but it was too big for the size of card I usually make (5"x6 5/8") so I had to go with a half-fold card. I don't usually make cards that big, but this one just called for it. The whole card uses wallpaper samples--the border, as well as the background paper. The sentiment is computer printed and inked.

A word about my wallpaper sample "collection"...I started collecting wallpaper sample books when my children were still young and being homeschooled. I would go to home improvement stores & places that I knew sold paint & stuff and ask them if they had any outdated books I could take off their hands. Most gave them away, though a couple stores doled them out a book or two per person to ensure that teachers could get their hands on them, too. We used papers out of those books for many art & craft projects. Eventually I got tired of the big stack of books so pulled them all apart and put the papers in a big box. When I started cardmaking, I pulled that box back out and started collecting more sample books. Most of the books I have now I purchased for $5 each at Menards; some I received from two area stores that carry wallpaper and give their outdated books away--but you have to get there & ask at just the right time, so mostly I buy books from Menards. Right now I have over 30 wallpaper sample books so I don't think I'll be picking any more up soon, since they do take up quite a lot of room. The papers are great, though! One word of advice: usual double-sided tape will not hold on vinyl wallpapers. You have to use Tacky glue or double-sided carpet tape. There may be other adhesives that work, but those are the two that I know personally work and which I use. I have not tried using prepasted wallpaper leftovers from papering jobs, so I don't know how that would work on cards, although I wouldn't let that stop me if it was a paper I really liked and wanted to use. You can only learn by trying.

This is another card made using wallpaper samples. Again, I was taken by this simple floral border, which being narrower I was able to use on my normal sized card. The gingham print is the coordinating wallpaper. I added half of a paper doily and a ribbon bow. The card is blank inside to use as a thinking of you notecard.

The last week of May I spent a week on a cultural immersion trip to the Lac Court Orielles Indian Reservation (Ojibwe People) in northern Wisconsin. The trip was sponsored and paid for by the Univ. of Wis.-Eau Claire where I am a fulltime student. One of the other students along on the trip was a pretty Hmong girl named Yia (pronounced like E-ya) who also likes to make cards. I told her I would send her one of my cards and this is what I made for her. The image is a digital image of vintage roses which made me think of Yia as soon as I saw it. The teal and rose pink cardstock and the background paper were chosen to coordinate with the colors in the image. I am liking that sentiment a lot and you'll see it used frequently on Thinking of You cards.

My daughter Lois celebrated her 31st birthday in June. Goodness, how quickly those children grow up! She's my second-oldest and mother of 4 of our grandchildren. Her favorite color is purple and she loves butterflies. I'd seen a card made up like this on someone's blog and loved it so thought I would try my hand at it. I cut my own butterfly template, then cut out 5 butterflies from different scraps of paper. I raided my button stash in the sewing room for the buttons, then threaded them with colored hemp, leaving the ends stick up like antennae--I love that effect! The sentiment is stamped and heat-embossed. The background paper is cardstock from a DCWV stack pack. Lois loved her card, which is what I was hoping for. I rather like it myself!


Again with the wallpaper samples to make another blank Thinking of You card. This used up the rest of the wallpaper border print and nearly all of the matching blue gingham print. I added two doily halves this time and a yellow ribbon bow.

Well, I'm about half way through the cards for June, so will bring this post to a close and keep going. Happy Cardmaking! Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!

April's Cards

This card was made for our granddaughter McKayden's 5th birthday in April. I used a couple pieces of cardstock--one a print with glitter accents (the diamonds--from DCWV), the other a piece of textured cardstock. I cut the piece with the little princesses from a piece of scrapbooking paper. The edges were inked and the stamped sentiment was heat embossed.

My youngest daughter was married in February and this card went to her husband. I had missed his You're Special day--too much schoolwork & other things and I just plain forgot!--so when she & I were talking about it, she told me how his mom had said to tell me that a small bag of $20's would make it right. I couldn't resist making this card with that "small bag of $20's" inside of it. The next pic is of the inside of this card...

The small bag is an actual small plastic bag that I got when I still had a job. I have about a 1000 of them, I think, as the company I worked for was throwing them away, brand new, never been used, because they weren't the right size. I HATE waste like that so I ended up with a bunch of them. The $20's are photocopies on green copy paper of a child's play $20 bill. My daughter said my son-in-law got a good laugh out of it. That was the whole point, after all.

This is the wedding card I made for that same daughter and her new husband. As you can tell, since I said they were married in February, I was rather late with this one, too. Orange is my daughter's color and I had purchased the 2 big buttons (came in a set of 3 buttons) specifically for her wedding card, then picked papers and other embellishments to complement the two big buttons that I used.

Again with the orange: this card was for my youngest daughter's You're Special day. I stamped the image, heat embossed it, and colored it in with Bic markers. I added faux stitching, done by hand, and flower brads on the stamped image. The papers are from a DCWV stack pack.

By the time I made this card, I was starting to get caught up on the family birthdays and You're Special days. This pretty in purple birthday card was for my daughter-in-law Amber. I used a paint chip card for the background, cutting the edge with scalloped scissors and adding a white border-punched edging. The two potted hyacinth images are cut from a facial tissue box. They were too pretty to throw away! The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed.

My daughter Megan loves yellow roses so for her You're Special day I cut a picture of yellow roses out of an old rose catalog--save those flower catalogs!--and made the card around that image. The stylized flowers are cut from a sheet of printed, glittery DCWV cardstock. The yellow dotted background is cardstock also and again, I inked the edges. That's an effect I am liking a lot! The sentiment is stamped and (I think) heat embossed. It's hard to remember after the fact and I don't make notes on my pics.

One of the neighbors had a daughter graduating from high school this year. This card is for her. The two small stamps are from those dollar stamps you can get at JoAnn's or Michaels. The sentiment is another dollar stamp. All are heat-embossed. I really liked the way this card turned out! But then, blue is my favorite color. The papers are from a DCWV stack pack.

My daughter Holly's birthday was in April and this card was for her. She also loves the color blue. As you can see, I used more of the same paper prints I used on the graduation card above. I seldom cut into a new piece of paper until after I've looked through all of my scraps to see if I can make use of them first.

Our youngest grandchild, little Alan, turned a year old in March. I don't get to see him--a situation with my son which I won't go into--but I still made him a card, albeit a month late. Some day I hope that my son will let me deliver the cards I make for him, his wife, and their son. Again, the cardstocks are a piece from a DCWV stack pack. I added hand faux stitching. The sentiment is stamped, heat embossed, and colored with those Bic markers. The sentiment is from the Two You set by Stampendous. It's one of my favorite sets; you'll see it show up lots on my cards. The little number 1 square at the top right is from a 12x12" sheet of scrapbook paper.

When my youngest daughter married in February, we not only gained a son-in-law, we gained two more grandsons. We have 13 grandchildren now--5 girls and 8 boys. This card was for our grandson Ryan who celebrated his 12th birthday. I used the same DCWV cardstock on this card as I used on the previous card. This stamped sentiment is another image from that Stampendous Two You set, heat embossed and colored with the Bic markers. The letters spelling out Ryan's name are cut from another sheet of 12x12" scrapbooking paper.

Our "new" grandson, Larry Jr, received this card for his You're Special day. His favorite color is purple. I couldn't resist using the little hermit crab, another dollar stamp purchased at JoAnn's. The crab and the sentiment are heat embossed and the crab is colored with Bic markers. The background paper is a digital print that I made from a teabag tile. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of which website I found the teabag tile on.

That's all the cards from April. I only have May and June to go and then I will be all caught up! Hurrah! I should be back tomorrow with more. Til then, happy cardmaking! Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!

Three Birthday Cards

This card was made for Tim's Aunt Rose who lives in Pennsylvania. She's a very special lady; unfortunately, we live almost a thousand miles away so don't get to see her very often. In fact, the last time we saw her was about 3 years ago when Tim's dad passed away and we went out for his funeral. Miles do not stop affection, though.

To make this card, I used a background paper from one of those Stacks by DCWV I got recently. Then I added a silk flower sporting 3 layers and a brad center, as well as 4 chipboard embellishments and touches of ribbon. It didn't turn out quite like I had pictured it in my mind, but I hope Aunt Rose liked it all the same.


This pretty pink card went to an online friend, Tajuana. I did like the way this one turned out! I started with a pink cardstock base, then added a layer of Happy Birthday (Birthday Pink) paper by DCWV. I border-punched a strip of pink cardstock, on top of which is an oval cut from PL-267 by Me & My Big Ideas, then a shaped piece of light pink cardstock, a smaller pink oval, and in the center a stamped butterfly image which I colored with gel pens and colored pencils. I added faux stitching with a gel pen, inked edges, and brads. The stamped butterfly image is mounted with foam tape to "pop" it up above the oval under it.


That brings me to this birthday card made for Tim's brother Terry. I started here with a brown cardstock base, added pieces cut from a Paper Pizazz Vintage papers pack, as is the "ribbon" strip that runs down the center of the card. I also used brown and light blue cardstocks to cut the solid-colored pieces, rounding the corners of the two layers in the center. I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment and heat-embossed it in copper. Then I added brads and inked the edges of the card and the one piece of brown shaped cardstock. (What DO you call that shape? I know there's a name for them!)

And just to let you know, I make my own stencils for these shapes. It's easy enough. I use a light piece of card, usually the reply cards that are stuck in all the magazines these days, fold it into quarters (that's why you want to use a LIGHT piece of card), then cut one-fourth of the shape you want, unfold it and see if it suits you; if not, refold and trim as desired or start over. Hey, the cards are free and just going in the trash anyway, right? Any symmetrical shape is easy to do this way, either cutting on the fold, as with a heart shape, or in quarters as with this shape. You can even do your own nesting shapes by cutting the smaller design first, then tracing one-fourth of it onto your next piece of folded card and cutting outside that line as close to the same distance away all the way around as you'd like to add. I did that to make the two nested shapes on this card. I save all the stencils I make and reuse them. And if you want them to be a little more permanent than the light card you used to make them out of, trace them onto a plastic lid, such as a whipped topping lid, and cut out with an old pair of scissors. I have oodles of stencils I made this way when my children were still small and we homeschooled. Greedy me, I still have them, too! I'm supposed to be copying them to make sets for the grandchildren--one of those rainy day projects I haven't gotten to yet, but I have plenty of plastic lids saved for when I do get around to it (ice cream pail lids, whipped topping, sour cream, yogurt, etc, but not the brittle plastic lids, only the softer, bendable plastic lids). Besides ovals and circles, hearts and shapes like I used on this card, you can trace cookie cutters, coloring book images, craft patterns, and other images to make stencils from. They won't be as intricate as your purchased brass stencils, but you can still do a lot of interesting things with them. And children love them!

Some General Info About My Card-making

I thought I would share some general information with you about my cardmaking.

First, I rarely make cards just for the pleasure of making cards or trying out a technique. Almost every card I make is made with a specific recipient and occasion in mind. The only exception to this is the monthly card swaps I participate in within the cardmaking group, Crazy Card Makers, which I belong to. This is a Yahoo group made up of a bunch of wonderful, talented ladies from all over the globe.

Also, I do NOT make cards for sale. I know that many cardmakers do and more power to them. My own preference is to make cards to give to specific people for a specific reason. I have made cards for someone else to give to someone when requested, but do not do this very often either.

Along with this idea of a handmade card for a specific recipient, I rarely make more than one copy of the same card. I have made doubles of a particular card for the aforementioned swaps, but that's usually the only time that I make duplicates. I have liked a particular layout so much that I repeated it with variations, but each card was still a little different. When I need to make multiples of a card for a holiday, such as for Passover or Hanukkah, I do computer-printed cards for those. Digital designs can be a fun challenge, but are not something I want to do all the time, though I do incorporate a lot of digital elements into my cardmaking.

Almost all the cards I make have the inside sentiment printed on the computer. My computer is an indispensible tool in my cardmaking endeavors. I like having all the different fonts at my fingertips and the formatting. I do have a few stamps with sentiments, but those are mostly the kinds of sentiments you'd put on the front of a card. I like my "inside" sentiments to look more like the cards you pick out at the store. I use Microsoft Greetings 2001 for my digital cardmaking, for making computer-printed cards and for printing the inside sentiments for my handmade cards. I also have ULead Photo Express 5 SE, which I use to make background tiles and teabag tiles into background papers for my cardmaking--works slick! When I want to edit a photo I've put on my computer, I use Microsoft Picture It! Photo 2002. I do have a couple of other print programs for making cards, posters, and the like, but seldom use them.

For printing, I am using a little HP Deskjet 3910 which I bought over 3 years ago at Christmas-time for $25 at WalMart. It's a little workhorse. Mostly I print in the Fast & Economical mode (black only) or the General Purpose mode for colors. I refill my ink cartridges as long as I can so that I don't have to buy as many name-brand cartridges. I get my refill ink from Mr Inkjet. I don't have photo paper and don't print onto that, just regular cardstock and paper. For my background papers, I've started using 24 lb paper to give it more "body." I also use that paper to make my own envelopes. I also have 22 lb paper and the usual 20 lb paper, which can be used for background papers or envelopes, but the 20 lb papers show more through the paper than I like when I am layering things. So far, I've found that the most inexpensive papers are purchased at WalMart and the quality seems fine to me. I did pick up a ream of pastel 8 1/2" x 11" 24 lb paper at Office Depot last week, though, for making envelopes from--pricey, but it'll be nice to have colored envelopes. I also prefer the 8 1/2" X 11" paper and cardstock over the 12" X 12" stuff. The letter-sized papers and cardstocks go through the printer nicely and are easier to store, in my opinion.

A note about storage: I've been having my daughter Lois, who does daycare in her home, save me the cardboard boxes that she gets baby wipes containers in, the kind that hold about 6 containers of baby wipes. These boxes are mostly just the right size to use for magazines or letter-sized paper and cardstock, standing on end. I like to have things visible. These boxes are quite sturdy, too, though I do reinforce them with duct tape around the top, after folding the top flaps down over the outside of the box. Just wrap the tape around the flaps, going all the way around the box, to keep them folded tightly to the box and to reinforce the box.

Almost all of my cards are 5" X 6 5/8" in size. I find that this size gives me a nice area for design. I made my own envelope template and make my own envelopes. I do have different size envelope templates for a couple different sized cards. Even if I were making quarter-fold cards, A-4 I think they call them, I'd still make my own envelopes. I've been doing so for years already.
Well, that's about all I can think of for now. If you have any comments or questions, I'd enjoy hearing them and will do my best to respond. Happy frugal cardmaking!

Today's Shopping Trip & Frugal Tips

My sweetheart had an eye doctor appointment this morning, a follow-up to the two cataract surgeries he had at the beginning of March & April (one eye each time). All is well with that, thankfully, but while we were already that far from home, we decided to continue on to the next larger shopping center to pick up some things we needed. Since this town is over 45 miles from our home, we don't go unless we have enough money in the budget to make it worthwhile, with things we need to pick up. When we got there, Tim asked if I wanted to stop at Dollar Tree. Of course, I said Yes! I love looking for cardmaking supplies at Dollar Tree, where everything costs just $1. I found 4 sheets of scrapbooking stickers: a sheet of pink baby girl stickers, a sheet of blue baby boy stickers, and 2 sheets of different flower stickers. They're in the photo above, though you can't see them very well. I also picked up a pair of decorative-edge scissors that I didn't already have. You could say the price was right! I didn't need any of these things immediately, but I like to add to my stash of cardmaking possibilities whenever I come across something I know I would use.

We also stopped at WalMart, where I picked up two 1/2 yd pieces of 100% cotton to make into new scarves for myself, showing in the photo above. I will also scan each piece and possibly print them out on paper to use on a card. Fabric scans print out really cool! You can even see the threads! One of these days I want to make a card with a quilt design, using printed fabric scans. I've already used printed fabric scans on some of my cards, either as a background paper or to make an embellishment, such as the prairie points which I put on this card:

Before we left the town where Tim saw the eye doctor, we stopped at the liquidator store that is there. I picked up another pair of the scissors I like to use. They are a good, sturdy metal 6" pair of scissors made by Eberle. They cost $1.99. You can see them in the first photo. I didn't really need them, either, but wanted to pick up another pair while they still have them just in case I need to replace the pair I'm using. I also picked up a skein of this beautiful fluffy multi-colored blue yarn, Red Heart Kiss, for 69 cents, also in the photo. I know it will look cool on a card! And a skein will last forever!

I know you can buy special fiber collections to use in cardmaking, but I prefer to add to my own fiber stash with deals like this. I have lots of different yarns now, as well as colored & natural hemp cord purchased on clearance at WalMart, ribbons purchased at Hancock Fabrics, JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts & at WalMart, and all the laces, trims, ric-rac, fabrics, & other stuff in my sewing stash. I have the advantage of a sewing room full of stuff that I can now use in cardmaking, as well as lots of embroidery floss from cross-stitch projects, acrylic craft paints from other craft projects, and on goes the list.

I know everyone doesn't have a stash of sewing supplies to snitch from or supplies sitting around from other crafts, but anyone can take advantage of clearance sales and all those stores like Dollar Tree or liquidator stores. I've picked up some great cardmaking supplies at Big Lots, for instance. One of these days I'm going to check out the 50/50 store that sells party supplies; I just know I'll find SOMETHING in there that will be a great addition to my stash of cardmaking stuff.

Another store where I pick up cardmaking supplies is Menards, a home improvement/supply store, similar to Home Depot and Lowes. Menards sells their discontinued wallpaper sample books for $5 each--and that's a LOT of paper for cardmaking for not much money! They also have small cut samples of their in-stock wallpaper rolls that I've taken advantage of, as well as paint chip cards.

But the thing I can't do without, which I buy at Menards, is double-sided carpet tape, shown in the first photo. They sell Duck brand carpet tape for light traffic, 1.88 in x 75 ft, for about $3.49. (Check in the carpet/floor covering area.) Do you know how far that roll of double-sided tape goes? AND it sticks everything, at least paper-wise! Since I love to use wallpaper samples on my cards, this is important. Not all tapes will hold on vinyl wallpaper. The only caution I must give is that it is NOT re-positionable, so be sure you have things lined up right the first time or be prepared to work with whatever way it lines up once you have things stuck together. This light traffic carpet tape is not thick, not much thicker than other double-sided tapes, and doesn't add a lot to the total weight of your card, unless you totally cover all surfaces with it--which I am learning I don't have to do. Besides using it almost exclusively to stick my cards together, I also like to make my own stickers with it. This is something I started doing years ago when my children were still young and we were homeschooling. You can cut designs out of giftwrap paper or use computer-printed graphics that are no wider than your tape; unroll the carpet tape a small section at a time and lay your design on the sticky side, smoothing it out & adhering it to that side. Then cut it out. It works better if you leave some excess paper around your design when you stick it down, then cut it out after it's stuck to the carpet tape. Voila! You've made your own sticker. Just peel off the other side of the double-sided tape to adhere it to whatever surface you like. Here's a card I made using butterfly stickers I made with this method:

This card also uses a paint chip card, a strip of torn cardstock and ribbon.

Well, I think I'll wrap up this post and get my 3rd Mother's Day card posted, then go work on the rest that I need to get done. This shopping trip today messed up my plans for the day, so now I have a time crunch. What is that old saying about the best-laid plans?