Embellish It! For Free or at a Discount

If you like to add embellishments to your artwork, I have some suggestions on how to aquire them cheaply, or in some cases, for free.

When buying embellishments for ATC's, remember, most people like to put them in clear trading card sleeves or in the trading card books. Before buying something, ask yourself if the ATC would fit in the plastic sleeve with that embellishment on it. Thin embellishments work best.Buying things from craft and scrapbook stores can be expensive and I avoid them as much as possible. I buy embellishments from several craft supply websites listed in my links section. I've also bought many embellishments from sellers on eBay so I would get the shipping discount. eBay is probably one of the best places to find embellishments. The trick is to find a seller who has many different items you're interested in, and who offers a good shipping discount when you purchase multiple items. When you find a seller, check their eBay store and see what other arts and crafts items they offer.

Dollar Store: You can find a lot of bargains at a dollar store. Buy the fake Barbie doll clothes and accessories at the dollar store and use them like you would Jolee’s. Some stores have a small scrapbook section where you can buy supplies and even rubber stamps. I have bought small playing cards, play money, puzzles, play coins from the toy section, fibers, stickers, paper bingo cards, paper doilies, raffle type tickets, rhinestones, small seashells, sea glass, printed/patterned napkins, beads, books (to use the text pages or to alter), and tissue paper. You may also want to look for silk or dried flowers, lace, raffia, rick-rack, small envelopes, clothes pins, buttons, seed packets, beads, corrigated paper, paper clips, yarn, embroidery floss, and bows. Use your imagination when scanning the isles and ask yourself "Is this something I could use to embellish my artwork?"

Thrift stores are a great place to find items like books, which I use to alter, or use the text pages as backgrounds for artwork and ATC's. Foreign book pages make great backgrounds for ATC's and a nice addition to altered art, mixed media, collage and assemblage pieces. I especially like French and Chinese text. Also check out second hand book stores for foreign text books, math books, dictionaries, sheet music, etc. Those kinds of things make great background papers. Thrift stores are a great place to find bingo, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and Monopoly games - using the cards and money to embellish and the game pieces as charms.

Garage or Rummage sales: These are great places to shop for small craft items and things that can be used as embellishments, too. Look for fabric, ribbon, books, puzzles, games, yarns, beads, old pictures, film negatives, fibers, jewelry, old toys, etc. Assemblage and altered artist's can find many cheap, great pieces to use in artwork, at garage sales.

Hardware stores, or the hardware section of a large store, is great for finding small metal hinges, twine (to use as you would ribbon), skeleton keys, leafing pens (in gold silver and copper), wire, metal washer (which can be painted and glued to artwork), etc.

Office supply stores like Office Depot or Staples have things like unusually shaped paper clips, staples in different colors, shipping tags, price tags, stickers, watercolor pencils, paints, and other things that can be used in creating artwork. Office supply stores carry craft tools too, paper trimmers, gel pens, hole punches, and other things that are used to create artwork, and all at a cost sometimes less than buying it from a craft or specialty store.

Around the kitchen: Save labels from your cans of fruit and vegetables you've served at dinner. Those mesh bags that fruit and potatoes come in can be cut into small pieces and used to embellish your artwork - or you can cut a piece of mesh, lay it on an the background of your artwork and paint over it. You'll see the design on your background paper once you lift the mesh - and you can use that piece of mesh over again by either rinsing off the wet paint and letting it dry before using it again. Old or mismatched pieces of silverware can be used to make assemblage pieces.

Junk mail: Go through it all before trashing it. I've saved pieces and have cut out the words to use in my artwork. You can also cut individual words from the newspaper and from books, brochures, menu's, any kind of advertising. A friend of mine saves all junk mail paper and makes handmade paper from it. It's pretty easy to do - tear the paper into small pieces soak it to soften it, squeeze it into a ball to remove excess water, then lay it out and flatten it on a piece waxed paper, brush on a layer of watered down glue and let it dry. Glue it to a cardboard back and you have a nice background paper to paint and/or embellish. And don't forget to save used postage stamps and clip off those postmark cancellations too.

Another way I have added to my stash is to list some of my artwork or ATC's for trade in exchange for craft supplies, for example, instead of trading an ATC card for a card. If you join some of the Yahoo Craft or ATC groups and then post a message "Will Trade Artwork or ATC's for Craft Goodies" you will probably get some good offers. You can usually find at least one craft supply trade on Swap-bot at any given time. This is a good way to trade your extra embellishments, book pages, sheet music, charms, and craft supplies for fresh goodies.

If you're especially drawn to a certain theme think of ways you can find supplies cheaply or for free, to use in your artwork. To make an oriental collection of supplies and embellishments I went to a Chinese restaurant then saved the fortunes from cookies, took the paper placemats on the table, grabbed a few "to go" menus, and asked for chopsticks (which are usually free for the asking). Use your imagination when trying to gather embellishments for a theme.

Odds & Ends Findings: Brochures are also great too to use as background paper. When we travel by car, I stop at rest area's and pick up brochures for area activities, amusement parks, etc. Clean out your junk drawers and see what you find there that might be useful. The next time you want a snack, buy a box of Cracker Jacks, with the toy surprise. And don't forget those small toys in gumball machines that can be used as charms and embellishments. Save stubs from events you've attended and also parking, bus, airline, and train ticket stubs. Keep programs, receipts, old keys, coins, casino chips, matchbooks, 8mm or 16mm film, buttons, postcards, photo negatives, and bottle caps.

Find places that will send you free maps. My hubby and I belong to the AAA insurance group and we can get maps of the states for free just by walking in and asking for them. You can also request maps and brochures from the Chamber of Commerce simply by writing and asking for them. Because maps are available online to print for free, don't send your request by email. If you do, they will probably just send links to the same info online so you can print it yourself.

I hope these tips help and give you ideas and inspiration for finding free or bargain craft supplies. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or unique ways that you've found cheap or free craft supplies, please email me, or add a comment.

Frugal Crafter - Cheap & Easy Storage

I like to think of myself as frugal when it comes to crafting. I've visited enough scrapbook supply stores to know that the mark-up is over the roof. Craft stores chains, like Michael's, JoAnn Fabric's, and Hobby Lobby, are a bit cheaper than a specialty store. Even most larger chain department stores now have a scrapbook supply isle and carry supplies at a bigger savings over the specialty or chain craft store, but selection is often limited. Fortunately, I live near a Crafts 2000 superstore (there are only 3 stores nationwide) and their prices are unbelievably low - on the average, about 60-75% less than what you would pay at Michael's, but I've found even more ways to save money and will share my tips each week.

Before I begin handing over my budget crafting secrets, we need to talk about storage. Storage and organization is a must. Once you discover how many things you can reuse and recycle, you'll want to save everything, and you're going to need to be able to find what you've saved. If you can't find something, and have to rebuy that item, you've wasted money.

The dollar store is a great place to buy smaller sized plastic bins and containers. For larger storage pieces, watch the store ads for sales. Over-the-door, clear vinyl shoe organizers work great for larger items - and the clear vinyl allows you to easily see what is in the pouch. There are also over-the-door spice racks and pantry type shelves that can be used to store larger items.

If you have a lot of small craft items, like beads or charms, I would suggest a trip to the hardware store to pick up one of those compartment storage boxes with the clear, see-thru drawers, the kind used to store nuts, bolts, screws and washers. I bought the one pictured, 10x10 inch, for $6 and am able to easily organize and find my smaller crafting items. Looking back, I wish I would have bought a much larger storage box. Maybe I can pass this one off to my husband if I find a larger one on sale. If you want to save the $6 use styrofoam egg cartons to store small embellishments.

Over the course of a few months, I purchased three plastic storage carts on wheels when I found them on sale. When I bought my first cart I thought one would be enough. HA!! I was surprised that I had filled it within minutes, and in truth, I could probably use three more. I prefer the carts with wheels because I can pull them close to my work space and don't have to keep getting up from my chair to find something. Since the drawers are deep, and I had a lot of smaller items to put inside, I used clear plastic containers, bins, baskets, and cutlery drawer dividers to help organize my things. I also have a three drawer bin on wheels that measures 30 inches tall by 18 inches wide that I use to store larger and heavier items.

I have a lot of ribbon. Whenever I needed it, I would have to dig through plastic storage bins to find what I wanted, and of course, the ribbon I wanted was always on the bottom. I came up with a solution for my most used ribbons. I purchased a cafe rod and two large, heavy duty hooks. Now you may be asking yourself "Why the huge hooks?" You need clearance from the wall for your ribbon and the hooks that come with the cafe rod are not long enough. Screw the hooks into the wall and make sure they are level, otherwise your ribbon will be leaning downhill. Most ribbon spools have a hole in the center, for the spools that didn't, I made a hole. I took the cafe rod apart and slid the ribbon spools on it. Once full, I put it back together and laid it across the hooks. Now my ribbon is in a handy spot. It rolls off the spool and I cut the length I need. No need to dig through boxes anymore.

Just as I would dig through bins to find ribbon, I did the same to find a rubber stamp. I looked through catalogs for a storage solution. I didn't find anything particularly for rubber stamps, and what I did find, that I might be able to convert and use, was expensive. Instead, I went to the lumber store and bought 8 pieces of 2 inch wide, 24 inch long, 2.5 inch deep, pre-cut boards. I measured out where I wanted to place my shelf boards and then used screws to hold the whole thing together. This project cost less than $15 and took less than 30 minutes to make. Now, instead of digging through boxes I can easily find the rubber stamp I need.

Next post I'll discuss trash to treasure embellishments and crafting items.