I've developed an expensive habit...

...good thing I have some cheap tricks to feed it!

Okay, that sounds awful (heeheehee.) What I mean is I am in love with watercolour paper. (I was really cheap before and wouldn't buy it, but I caved so I could use it with Maria's seriously awesome trick with of watercolouring with SU markers and now I love it.

So what are the cheap tricks? Some old, Some new-ish:

1. Using beads as ephemera
2. Dying your own embroidery thread
3. Homemade primas (again, LOL)
   
4. Using crystal effects to highlight d.p. details
5. Gesso paper to make embossed sentiments
6. Cuttlebugged faux metal paper
   

Using beads: You know me, I loves me some cheap tricks and beads look cute, but are SO affordable. I got the ones along the scallop here at the dollar store. It's a piece of cake to add them to stitching--just slide them on to your stitch before you go back into the cardstock--(of course the only trick is to make sure you have beads that'll fit over your needle, heehee) I love using embroidery thread but it's fat. I lucked out that I had fat beads to go with it. :0)

Homemade Primas: Recognize these ones? ;0) I use beads all the time for flower centers. These blue flower centers are beaded with clear seed beads that have a silver center. (Stuck on with some Crystal Effects) The flowers are made by embossing the wee flower (from Delight in Life) in Not Quite Navy Craft ink (with clear embossing powder) onto naturals White cardstock. They're watercoloured with Not Quite Navy & Soft Sky reinkers. I make a bunch ahead of time for faster cards. You can even leave them uncoloured until you need them (Dee's clever brain child.)

The white dotted petal outlines under the centers are made with Provocraft's Flowers die cut out of Basic Grey paper (Dasher Flurry DSH-633.)

Dying your own embroidery thread: Isn't it exciting & a little like alchemy to be able to turn one colour of embroidery thread into as many shades as you want? You can make hundreds of colours with reinkers. Adding less or more water to the mix gives you various monochromatic strengths of hue too! :0) Here's how to:

1. Mix a little water with re-inker
2. Drop your thread in & stir around
   
3. Take out & blot on some paper towel
4. Dry it (use a hairdryer or just let 'er dry)
   

Using Crystal Effects on designer papers: You might have to click the pic to see what on earth I'm taking about, but I really like these little dots with the numbers on this Notebook designer series paper, so I added Crystal Effects to 'em. You can add Crystal Effects to details on your homemade patterned papers too. It looks like enameled embossing. Almost free & fun. :0)

Gesso paper to make fast free embossed sentiments: You may never need to buy another sentiment stamp again (shut my mouth! I know. I'm just jokin') ;0) but you can make easy embossed handwritten sentiments. Just write on a piece of cardstock that's got gesso on it with a Stamp'n'write marker & then emboss it.

It can be kind of neat to have handwriting too; I was hoping this looked like something someone wrote on their "To Do" list (hence the sentiment on the card front.) :0) You could write the whole little message inside your card embossed this way if you wanted to.



Cuttlebugged crayon resist ( 6 cent [or $200.00] faux-metal paper): Cost is obviously not the first consideration in stamping, but isn't it so thrilling to make something pretty on the cheap? This piece of paper cost 6 cents (assuming you have a Cuttlebug & embossing folder, some crayons, & ink--ROFL If not, I guess that makes it a $200.00 piece of paper--Ew!) Wanna make some $200 paper of your own? Just emboss it, rub with crayon & ink (There's a detailed tutorial here.)
Other card details: Cardstock: Watercolour paper, Kraft, Cool Caribbean. Hodge Podge hardware. Scallops made with corner rounder & hole punch.

Thank you so much for visiting! Hope you day is crafty-bliss, :0)