How to Save Money on Card-Making Supplies
Card making can drain your budget rather quickly if you are not careful. It is easy to go to the craft store and go wild. Here are some tips to help you save and still make some beautiful cards.
- Save old greeting cards. You can cut out the shapes to use on your projects.
- Save pretty napkins or wrapping paper. You can decoupage these to your cards to make a unique background.
- Save paper scraps from your scrapbooking projects
- Dollar Tree – if you are lucky enough to have a Dollar Tree in your area, they have some really cute stickers, papers and other embellishments. Everything is just a dollar!
- Swap with other card makers. If you have a lot of embellishments that you are not going to use, get together with fellow crafters and swap with them. They probably have an overabundance of certain items too.
- EBay – though EBay is not the bargain it used to be, there are still some deals to be had.
Just be familiar with the retail price of an item. It is a good idea just to watch items for a while and see how auctions go. Sometimes, bidding just turns into a competition and there are no real savings to be had. EBay is also a good place to sell your unused rubber stamps and other supplies you won’t use again. Read the rules and be careful of who you deal with. I never buy from someone with a low rating and lots of complaints. If you sell, be sure to deal fairly, keep your promises and never try to hide defects or flaws.
- Coupons! Our local Michael's sends out a flyer and coupon about every two weeks. It is usually for 40% off of one item that is not on sale. I usually save this to use for supplies that are costly.
- Clearance – take advantage of clearance items. Sometimes they are located in another section of the store so be sure to ask a clerk if there are any items on clearance located away from the card-making supplies. I know in my Walmart, the clearance items are not located with the craft items.
- Don’t take your kids with you when you shop for supplies. If they are like you, they want to buy things to create too and that might be more than you are willing to spend. It is hard to say no to those cute kids!
- Rather than buy crafting books, go to the library. If there is a book you really want, Amazon.com sells used books at greatly reduced prices.