New cards and ideas

I have been doing some new card making lately and decided to make different sized cards. Normally I take the Stampin' Up 8x10 cardstock and cut it right in half to make two cards of equal size. Recently I found a box of envelopes of varying sizes at my local Big Lots and it was a steal at only 1.50 so I snatched it up. I have been making cards to fit the new envelopes and it is really fun to see what you can come up with with a much larger or much smaller card. I found myself using stamps I hadn't used in quite a while and playing around a lot more.

I also had a thought last week that I would really like to write and encourage people to look beyond the craft store for the most obvious embellishments for their crafts. It is really amazing the things I have run across in places like The Dollar Tree, Big Lots and Home depot! When you start looking at things from a crafters point of view, everyday items take on a whole new meaning.

I had once bought a huge roll of foil tape at Home Depot for about 7 dollars, it is sticky with a backing on one side and shiny foil on the other. This makes a great vehicle for alcohol inks! You can cut the piece as large or small as you want and use on cards, ATCs, journals and the like.

The Dollar Tree is my favorite place to go when I am on the hunt for new items that will be used in a craft project and I don't have a lot to spend. Buttons, ribbon, artificial flowers, and even vellum and mullberry paper have been found there and of course it is always a dollar! Even things you wouldn't think of like sponges for painting, charms from keychains and bamboo placemats are all very useful and can be altered or cut to be used for several projects. I recently wandered the pen/paper isle in my local Dollar Tree and found amongst the school supplies these great big paper clips with heavy weight charms attached to them. I snatched up as many as I could being 4 paper clips for a dollar in hopes that they could be disassembled. I took them home and was pleased to find the charms held on only by a tiny dab of solder. I used my jewerly pliers and pulled off the charm from the paper clip. They can then be used on any project I wish with just a large glue dot or maybe some hot glue! I have found charms very expensive in the craft stores and I ended up making my own for a quarter a piece!! I took some pictures so I could show some examples of what I bought.

The biggest thing is not to discount any item that seems "worthless" as it has a potential all its own and sometimes it takes a while to find that perfect project to use it on, but you will be glad you saved it from a less than glamorous life as something like a paperclip!