Cards for the Elderly-Part 2: Supplies & Designs

            Welcome back! If you missed Part 1, you can catch up here. (Don't worry. It's not too long. :) ) Today we're going to talk about how you can get your own card-making party started...For cheap!

            First of all, if you don't know, I love crafting AND saving random things, such as Christmas paper, so we already had quite a few things to work with to begin with. But, I also bought quite a few things too. However, they were not nearly as expensive as I was afraid they were going to be. Like I said in the first post, I wanted to make lots of cards, but I didn't want it to cost an arm and a leg either! So here are my tips on where to get supplies:

*Use what you have. Who DOESN'T have some old wrapping paper laying around? Old Christmas cards shoved away somewhere? Recycle them! Even paper bags are fair game.

*The Dollar Tree and Dollar Stores are your best friends! Who doesn't love The Dollar Tree?! I can't remember what all I got from here, but I know stickers and boxes of 20 or so Christmas cards were some of the main items. I also found some really awesome rolls of tape with holiday designs on them at the Dollar General store. This year, my mother in-law found some really cute snowflakes for $1 at Walmart that we were able to make, like, 10 cards with! Awesome!

*Look for deals. I noticed the other day, while looking for something else, Michael's had a deal on their cardstock: 3 for $10, which isn't bad considering they are normally $4 each for 100 sheets, if I remember correctly. Maybe it's just me, but that way you can stick to exactly what you want too instead of settling for a multi-pack. I like to stick with green, red, and blue, though I have made quite a few white ones so far this year. :)

*Ask people for their old stuff. Several of my family members were more than willing to share some old Christmas stuff that they never used or was just “junk”, such as leftover wrapping paper, old Christmas cards, stickers, etc.

            Still not quite sure what to use for decorating your cards? Here are some ideas!

-wrapping paper

-paper bags

-aluminum foil

-stickers

-stamps

-decorative tape

-pictures cut out from old Christmas cards

-ribbon

-old Christmas fabric

-and the list goes on! Seriously, get imaginative here, people!

            Need some design ideas? Here are some of the cards I have made and what materials I used. (My #1 tip? Keep it simple!)

*Decorative tape snowflakes (You could also try ribbon.)

*Decorative tape trees

*Trees made from old fabric

*Ornaments made from old fabric and aluminum foil

*Gift boxes made from paper bags and decorative tape and/or ribbon

*Trees made from paper bags and decorated with markers

*Trees made from old wrapping paper

*Ornaments made from old wrapping paper and aluminum foil

*Decorative items glued on the front

            I wish I had taken pictures of more of the cards I made last year, even if they weren't my faves. I feel like I'm forgetting some ideas!

            As far as the inside goes, I chose to use a stamp (which my then 4 year old loved helping with) and a few stickers (she liked that too) to decorate it with, along with signing the card. Since we just dropped ours off at the closest rehabilitative center closest to us last year and didn't know any of the residents there, we just signed our cards “from the Owen family”, but you can do yours however you want, obviously.

            Well? What are you waiting for? Time to get out there and get some card-making supplies! :)