Welcome Get Rich Slowly readers! Thanks for visiting my blog! Feel free to look around and leave a comment or two, or if you’re only interested in my frugal tips you can subscribe to just my Frugal Friday posts by clicking here.
Happy Crafting!
When it comes to buying supplies, you always have choices. Walk into any craft supply store and you will find walls of adhesives, some identical only made by different companies. Same thing with eyelets, ink pads, and embellishments of every kind. You have options, including how much you want to spend. So my frugal tip for you today is to think about what kinds of supplies you are willing to purchase in a cheaper form.
For example, I use Aleene’s Tacky Glue for pretty much everything because it’s super cheap and works for me. I purchased my last bottle for a whopping $0.92, and it’s lasted me for about a year now. Now, some people might not like to use it because the tip always gets clogged and it doesn’t dry as quickly as some of the “designed especially for paper crafting” liquid glues. However, I simply keep a little plastic 
tray with my bottle and every time I use the glue I completely unscrew the top of the bottle and pour a little into the tray, and then use a toothpick to spread it wherever I want to use it. I don’t mind throwing away the glue I’ve poured out that day but didn’t use because it’s so stickin’ cheap! Plus, I’m also a pretty patient person so I don’t mind waiting for the glue to dry. I usually have something else to work on anyway!
So, yes, it can be a little bit more of a hassle sometimes to use the cheap stuff instead of the specialized products that might come in easier to use forms, but you just need to figure out what things you’re willing to skimp on and what things you aren’t. However, I will offer this caveat emptor: sometimes the cheap stuff really doesn’t work. Sometimes the reason it’s cheap is because it is just not a high quality product, and has nothing to do with the packaging or other negotiable qualities. But, if you try the cheap stuff first and find it doesn’t work, at least you won’t have wasted that much money!
Well, it seems that Friday has come and gone and I completely forgot to post a Frugal Friday tip!! Oops. Sorry everyone! With preparing for my class, and then having it canceled because of a lack of participants (major bummer!), the days just kind of slipped past me. I promise the Frugal Friday posts will be back starting this week!
Happy Crafting!
P.S. If any of you have a frugal tip you’d like to share I’d love to hear it! Pass it along and I may post it for everyone to read!
Yay! I’m so excited that the firsts classes I’ll be teaching are finally here! After much, MUCH delay my Introduction to Invitations class is being held this weekend!! Wow. I’m excited, but also nervous. To be honest, I’ve thought about backing out a couple of times, but this really is something I want to do and I’ve got to start sometime, right? I think we’ll have fun, and hopefully learn some stuff too!
There’s still time to sign up! Call or email the store to register:
Stamp On It
616-988-8375
soi@iserv.net
For more information about my classes click here:
Current Classes
(you can also find the link in my side bar to the right)
Happy Crafting!
Sentiment says: “Life is a great bundle of little things.”
I have a few of the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and was playing around with them this weekend. This one is called Flower Circle and it is so incredibly easy to make into a card! I cut out the center of the circle so the message from the inside can be seen, but it’d be really easy to just stamp or decorate the center of the flower too.
The stamp I used on the inside actually has a circle around it, but I didn’t like the way it looked so I only inked up the words of the stamp. I always thought the phrase would be perfect for a baby card by adding “Congratulations on your new little bundle!” to the inside of the card. So I thought it might be kind of cute to make the embossed flower look more like a baby rattle! I added a peel-and-stick rhinestone to each petal and a gingham ribbon bow to the bottom. Cute, and oh so easy!
This week’s frugal tip: Force yourself to use something you already own in a new way.
There are times when I look at all my crafting tools and supplies and think “ugh – I want something new!” When this happens I have two choices: give in and go shopping, or resist and get creative!
For instance, some time ago I really wanted to buy a swirly line style stamp. I didn’t have a particular one in mind, just something swirly to use as backgrounds. Well, instead of going out to buy one I forced myself to dig through all my stamps and supplies to see if I could get the same look using something else. Know what I discovered? I had this sun stamp from Stampendous that had these really fun swirly rays, and I thought “hey – this would make a great background!”
All I did was stamp the entire image, and then cover up the face of the sun with another stamped piece and, voila – a swirly background! It was so simple I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner! All I needed to do was look through my stash with a different mindset.
So that’s my challenge to you this week: discover new ways to use your old supplies! Instead of going shopping, challenge yourself to think of one new way to use something you already own. This can also be a great way to get inspiration if you’re stuck doing the same designs and techniques over and over again: pull out something you have lying around and force yourself to come up with a different way to use it to before you go buy anything new. The most creative pieces I make usually come out of a time when I am low on supplies but have no money to spend on any new tools or products!
Happy Crafting!