Making Cards on the cheap

Valentine card for my daughter I got the idea from a group on Flickr, changed and adapted it for my purposes. We turned it into a plaque for her wall. Making cards can save money. But assembling the supplies and really getting into this hobby can be expensive. I have found ways to save dollars and still have plenty of goodies to work with. The first thing to do is open your eyes to the ways to use things you might otherwise pass up. If you look in the aisles of Hobby Lobby you see items for scrap booking and card making such as fibers and unusual papers or metal objects. If you look at the picture below you can see many of the items that I have used in making my cards. I find most of my items at the thrift store, dollar stores and even in my garbage can.

Supplies I've collected

I have bought old board games such as Scrabble for 50 cents to a dollar and use the tiles for unique wording on pieces. Sometimes I just lay the words out on my scanner and copy them, cut out and paste onto my cards. I buy old patterns at thrift stores and flea markets, copy the cover and cut out for unique artwork. I cut up old maps for backgrounds(travel brochures are great sources of free clip art) use the inside papers from junk mail envelopes, use old sheet music, use pages of print from local papers or magazines, ribbon and trims bought on clearance. I copy old family black and white pictures, use pages from books bought at yard sales for pennies. My favorite resource right now is the Dollar Tree. They have rubber stamps and other scrapbook supplies such as paper and punches for $1 each.

Card making is a fun and rewarding hobby and can be an inexpensive one if you use your imagination.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas.