Stamping on a Budget - Week 4: Shopping

Good morning!
Welcome to another edition of Stamping on a Budget. Today I'm going to share some ideas with you on shopping. Though you may already know some of these tips, it can be a good reminder from time to time. Enjoy!

Craft Store Coupons
Be wise when using these. Unless you live next door to the store, is it really worth saving a few bucks? Most companies offer coupons just to get you into their stores. Don’t get sucked in! Unless you really need something like adhesive, don’t go! You could end up spending an hour in there, spending hundreds of dollars, and only saving $5 on your one item. The same goes for gift cards. You probably have enough supplies at home to create your project. Review your inventory before you leave the house.

Dollar Stores
Though some items may not be the quality you’re looking for, they may have some nice punches, papers, stickers, and adhesive available for your projects.

Thrift Stores
Old books can be used for backgrounds on cards. Pictures in books, or just plain text pages can create an interesting look.

Get it FREE
Save some money before you buy those colourful stamping magazines. Check out Splitcoaststampers online for ideas instead of spending your hard-earned money on a magazine with limited ideas. Splitcoast is filled with ideas for projects, layouts, and techniques and it's all free!

Instead of purchasing a die cut, check out what's online first. You can print out some templates, cut them out and trace them onto an old cereal box back to ensure it can be used again and again. Some die cut templates I've found online are;

http://www.imag-e-nation.com/free_printables.htm
http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/templates.htm

Print your own sentiments on the computer using a word processor, or keep an alphabet stamp set on hand to create your own sentiments. You'll get just the sentiment you were looking for without spending extra money on a stamp. Chances are, you would have only used that sentiment a few times anyway.

Google "card sentiment ideas". There are tons of phrases and printable sentiments online. Tons!



















Organize a swap
Do you ever tire of the images you have on hand but don’t have money to purchase new stamps? Organize a swap with your stamping friends. It doesn't need to be large, just a couple of stamping friends will do. Check out this link for more details on how to go about organizing one. It can be a lot of fun!
http://stamping.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/09/stamp_swap.php












Prepare
If you’re like me and you’re somewhat impulsive and spontaneous, you probably won’t even think ahead about exactly what you need, what you’ll be using your coupon for, or what your budget is. Think of it like a grocery list and stick to it.

Heads Up!
Shops are designed so that there’s always something around to catch your eye. If you plan on only going in to purchase adhesive, save a few bucks and look up. Of course, watch where you’re walking but try to focused more on what’s above the shelves and walls. Typically you’ll see only boring steel beams and those beams will save you lots of moolah.

When shopping online walk away from the computer and come back later to see if you're still interested in purchasing the items you've placed in your cart. I've saved hundreds from doing this.

Excitement















We can get pretty excited about the idea of finding new treasures when shopping, but it can cost us big bucks. Try and think ahead to how you might feel after shopping. Will you feel shopper’s guilt? Will your purchase be used within a few days, or just sit in the corner in its bag?

Think
Keep asking yourself, “Do I really need it?”

What to buy
Try to stick to only basic coloured inks; brown, red, black, yellow, and blue. These can go a long way and be used on just about all of your projects. Instead of buying different coloured embossing powders, use the different inks you have on hand to stamp an image, and use a clear embossing powder to achieve the same effect. Lastly, choose stamps that can be used on cards for several different occasions.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of Stamping on a Budget. Please leave comments below if you have any cost saving tips to share.

Rebecca