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Do you feel tempted into buying lots of new supplies? It all looks so enticing. And of course, expensive!
Recently I’ve been looking how I can stretch my supplies and rediscovering some of my older purchases.
I decided to ask myself how much I'd used a particular item. And let’s be honest here - If I’ve only used a stamp set for one card that was a very expensive card!
So, I’m challenging myself to look at different supplies and come up with innovative ways to use them.
Join in and let me know how you stretch your supplies ideas below.....
So, let's start with the one thing I’m sure you have a lot of – Scraps!
What do you do with your scraps? Do they start as a pile on your desk only to end up up in the recycling?
Or are you like me saving every bit because one day they will come in useful!
First things first I decided to merge my piles of scraps into one place - by putting everything on the kitchen table.
I sorted the scraps into piles of the same colour families.
Then used file pockets to separate the different colours.
Left over/unused paper pads/matching paper were placed in plastic bags to keep the designs together.
Now I was organised I had to decided what to do with them.....
Make simple cards with left over patterned paper. Use either a punch or trimmer to cut your patterned paper into strips or shapes and mount onto your card base or card layer.
Let's look at a few examples....
This card was made used a 1 1/2" square punch and a 2" circle punch and 2 1/4" starburst circle punch for the sentiment.
A quick and easy card that's can be replicated from any scraps.
Alternatively, mount your patterned squares on slightly larger plain card squares to use up some of your plain card supplies.
My second card uses large pieces of patterned paper. It was cut and layered onto plain card before mounting onto a contrasting card layer.
For the sentiment I used the same punches as the previous card.
If you use patterned paper you end up with a multitude of strips especially from the 6 x 6" paper pads.
Here the patterned paper scraps has been used diagonally across the card.
To make the card I first drew a diagonal line across a white card layer and stamped the sentiment just above the line.
With the sentiment in place I glued strips of varying widths before mounting onto a black layer and the card base.
Silver strips and embellishments were added to complete the card.
Use your card scraps to make into your own embellishments and save yourself a ton of cash.
Here are some ideas....
Check out these pages....