Poor :( Help me! Christmas stuff....

[lunavix]

I'm just starting with cardmaking/scrapbooking, I'm starting to get some bits together but I need to know what I need to get...

I want to make christmas cards, so what do I really need? We don't really have much money I've been watching Ideal World (NOT buying though, just for inspiration!!) and I love the stamps and stencils and embossing but don't have the money...

where do I start?

bump

Look in woollies, wilkinsons, poundstretcer & hobbycraft have a sale on. Haberdasheries shops are also good & things tend to be cheaper at craft fairs.

Get your self some coloured paper & card. Fancy cut sissors, PVA glue or glue dots, 3d double sided sticky foam pads. Buy good quality cards tho, if they are too flimsy they wont stand up wee & the folds will be off.

But some nice bits & pieces, like stickers, buttons, flowers etc & get making. If you are near a hobbycraft they have workshops that you can go to for ideas.

Stalk the net, alot of the craft supply sites have demo pages with how-to's & finished products.

I used to buy a bumber pack of cheap cards from my sationers & cut the out with fancy sissors & work around that when I first got started.

Buy a card magazine for inspiration too, you get free gifts with some of them so that can help you get started

To get a good selection of coloured card for small punches free just go into Focus/B&Q and take a load of paint colour charts - hundreds of colours!! - you can also take little bits of wallpaper and borders that are nice too.

Bubblerock, what a great idea! I would never have thought of that!

I get wrapping paper at 25p per sheet & cut that up, thats always handy too,

Leaves and bits from the garden can look nice sprayed silver or gold and stuck onto cards. Collect some bits from the garden now so they will be nice and dry by December. You could tie up bundles of small leaves with some raffia and stick onto cards, or small bundles of cinnamon. Or get some muslin, tie up a tiny bag of cinnamon sticks/cloves to make a 'mulled wine' sachet and tie onto a card with instructions for making mulled wine.

Or get your kids to go crazy with the glitter - always popular! Plenty of time to get a load done once a week ready for December.

ELC has nice bits and bobs for card-making as well, usually 2 for £1.50.

I use regional wrapping paper as well - thistles and sketches of castles and whatnot - and trim them w/my deckled edge scissors to use as borders.

I mostly use double sided stick tape as it lies flat.

Also, if you have a digital camera, you can print photos out for a few pence and use them in your cards - gives people living far away a sense of your surroundings as well.

your local poundshop is great for value bits.

Thanks everyone

champs - got a poundland opening soon, will look!

expat - will look in elc

What about stencils and stamps? Is there a cheap way?

Lunavix, I made handmade christmas cards last year. I bought a load of plain cards, painted them pale blue (because I got white by mistake!!), then used a large snowflake stamp and a small one and acrylic paint to decorate them. The large stamp was free with a magazine, the small one was about £2. I just did all the cards the same, so I wasn't paying out for loads of bits and pieces. I think the cards worked out at about 30p each (including stamps).

I also made my own wrapping paper by buying a huge roll of brown paper from a stationers, and printing the large snowflake stamp on it. Looked fab when everything was wrapped up.

If you get carried away by wanting to do lots of different designs, that's when it starts costing lots of money. Stick to one design only and bulk buy what you need, and don't over-accessorise each card - you'll save money that way but can still make an impact.