Monday, January 19, 2015

Tips For Cardmaking On A Budget... Part 1

I mentioned before the break how I had fallen into love with Lawn Fawn's cute graphics. Although I'm hardly a papercrafter, I decided to try my hand at making a few cards (which is what their products are designed for). And kind of like my embroidery obsession over the last holiday season, it became a fun little craft to do over the holidays when I had a few minutes here and there.

Since I like to make things assembly line style, I made quite a few of these little cards that I'll be showing through out the week. Although I'm definitely not an expert... I'll be sharing a few tips I picked up along the way.

Tip #1: 'The base most of these cards was a 'value pack' of blank cards from Michael's. (I think it was 5 dollars for 40 cards!) Instead of trying to find coordinating paper, I just 'cannibalized' the card set, and used the front and back of other cards to stamp on or create a matte (like the card above). It's so nice to know that all of the paper goes together; and I don't have to purchase any extra materials.
Tip #2: Use (real)scrap paper if you can! The green grass in the picture above came from a green envelope. It's not nearly as heavyweight as designer paper, but for a small space in a pinch, it does the trick!
  Tip #3: Look for the small stamps. I love the tiny stamp sets that Lawn Fawn puts out. They are normally only 2-4 images with a sentiment, but  they are more than enough to make a card all by themselves. Plus, they are super fun to mix and match with other sets. Each set is around 4 dollars, which is easier to swallow than having to pay 12-15 dollars for a larger stamp set.
I'll be back with more tips (and cards) later this week! I admit to having an ulterior motive for these posts... I'd really love to drag some of my sewing friends over to dabbling in some papercrafting with me :).