Paper crafting is a fun hobby and a joy to do, but it can become quite expensive. Come along to learn how you can easily make cards without a lot of money, storage space and supplies. There are so many amazing products on the market to make it fun and easy. I want to start by sharing my paper crafting journey so you can see how far I’ve come. Maybe you can relate.

In the Beginning of my Journey

When my children were young, my friends and I would get together and scrapbook. Sometimes we would gather all our things and go to one of our homes late at night, after the kids were in bed. Other times we would let our kids play while we made our pages. There may have been a time when our girls were a little too quiet and some peanut butter got involved. Let’s just say, the peanut butter won. It was in the blinds, carpet, bed, clothes, hair…you get the picture. Thankfully, we moms were together when it happened, so we laughed instead of cried and threw the girls in the tub.

There were so many wonderful memories made while we friends made scrapbook pages together. We look back now and think these were truly some of our best years.

We enjoyed these times so much that we joined a rubber stamping group. Once a month we would get together, make darling cards and scrapbook pages and place an order for at least $20. We would take turns being the hostess and getting all the benefits from that. It was very fun and filled my need to create something beautiful.

Several years later, I started selling for a rubber stamp company and was grateful for the knowledge I gained on how to run fun classes. The only problem was my collection of stamps, ink, paper, embellishments, embossing tools & powders, etc. was taking over my house and my life! I had thousands of rubber stamps…not to mention all the other goodies. I justified that it was for my business. It was beginning to be a problem.

Paper Crafting in the Digital Era

A few years went by and I found digital scrapbooking. I got so excited about digital scrapbooking because I didn’t have to have everything spread out all over the kitchen table. If I wanted to go scrapbooking with my friends, all I needed was my laptop! There was no clean up. It was easy!

It made me crazy to see all the crafting supplies I had purchased. Quite honestly, there was a lot of guilt behind it too. All the money I spent that could have been saved instead.

After many years of neglecting my “stash,” I decided to sell a bunch at a yard sale. The best part was, a lady came to my yard sale and her house had just burnt to the ground. She had $10,000 worth of stamping and crafting supplies go up in smoke. I was able to bless her life with most of my items. I was blessed as well because I was able to clean up my craft room.

Longing to Rubber Stamp

Recently I went with one of my scrapbooking/card making friends to a paper crafting class and we made some darling cards with rubber stamps. It was so nice to feel that feeling of creating something beautiful all while enjoying the company of great women. Rubber stamping supplies have been a temptation again, but I think I have found a solution.

Paper Crafting Turned Digital …Say What!?!

Santa brought me a Cricut Maker a few Christmas’s ago. I have found a way to get my card making fix with my Cricut! There are tons of digital downloads that resemble watercolor items, rubber stamp outlines, sayings, ribbons, papers, embellishments…all. the. things!

Cricut Design Space is a great place to design cards in. Print and Cut will become your friend when trying to replicate rubber stamping. Everything looks like it was hand made and the color scheme stays consistent. Let your Cricut do most of the cutting too. Then take all the pieces, glue them to a card base to make the layers that make it look hand made. Pop dots are great and if you want to add a little bling, you can.

Where To Get Digital Items

Creative Fabrica is the place to go for digital items. I have the all access pass and can download to my hearts content. It only costs me $52/year! Friends, that is like buying one stamp set and the embellishments to make one type of card. Plus, no storing everything in your craft room! You don’t even need to store items on your computer because you can download item and unlimited amount of times. Download, use the items, then delete them if you want. I do store a lot of them on an external hard drive, but there are options.

You may be wondering how I organize and keep track of everything. Because, truly, I have over 60,000 digital items and that is a lot to keep track of. I will write another blog post as to how I organize everything and will link it here. So, don’t get overwhelmed. I have a system that you can copy.

Paper Crafting Card Class

Fast forward to today. I just finished a paper crafting card class with some wonderful neighbors. I worked really hard to come up with some fun ideas. We made a couple birthday cards, an uplifting cards, and a thinking of you card. It was a fun night for all who came.

As I was designing on my last card, I thought I could make a flat copy and add it to my Zazzle store. Click the picture below to go to my store. On the inside it has the words, “Hope your birthday is a whole llama fun!” This card will be perfect for your pink loving friends, llama loving daughters, or even perfect for a 4-year-old. You can either buy a card(s) and they will print and ship it to you, or you can buy the digital file. The third option is to get both the physical card and the digital file. Use the digital file by printing it locally or you can send a birthday wish digitally.

To see other Llama Birthday Ideas with a FREEBIE too, click the next button.

Leave a comment below on what you would do with this card. I would also love to hear what you would like me to focus on in the future.