Crafting on a budget

When it comes to scrapbooking or card making, it can get very expensive.  If you need some ideas on how to save cost, remember this one tip; save all your scraps.  Even a small piece of paper will have a purpose one day!  Put it in a folder or a shoe box.  It might end up being corners for some of your photos, or trimming for a card.

If you are a beginner, you might want to minamize cost on your project, especially if this is going to be your first.  All you really need to start crafting is a pair of scissors, some cardstock, double sided tape, some embellishments, and maybe some ribbons...and you are set to go!  Of course, some creativity will help, too. 

 

Here are some other creative ways to save money:

• Go through the gift bags you have received from friends and family.  If there is anything cute or nice on the box, you can use it to decorate you projects.
• If you are looking for fun and colorful cardstock to fill your pages, save money by buying bristol board from a dollar store.  Most stores sells it for 50 cents per board.
• Bristol boards can also be used to make your own cards.  All you have to do is measure, cut and score!
• If you have empty tissue boxes with flowers or burtterflies on it, you can use it to decorate by cutting it out.

If after a few projects, you are certain that crafting is what you love to do, maybe invest in some tools to make the process easier.  My very first tool was a paper cutter.  It costed me about $60.00 at Staples, and it was the BEST investment I have ever made!  My edges were always very nice and neatly cut and measured out.  If you are on a budget, a paper trimmer will do the job.

Other creative ideas:

I turned a Hudson's Bay Company box into a smaller gift box for a friend.

 

Here are some simple cards I made without using any tools other than a pair of scissors and a glue gun.

Happy Crafting!



Ballerina Bunny's Birthday Bash

Last week, my little precious daughter turned one!  To celebrate her big milestone, my husband wanted to do a bunny theme for the year she was born in.  So, I've decided to take that idea and dress it up a little bit.  Her theme colors were pink (primary), purple, brown and white (secondary).  These custom handmade cards took me longer than I had anticipated, but I had fun making them.

For each bunny, I used pink ribbon to make the tutu, and a flower as an accessory.  I used a glue gun for the tutus and white glue for the flowers.

 

 

For the inside of the invitation, I made a pocket for the RSVP card, and a flower magnet to remind all the parents of the special date.

 

I really wanted to personalize the "loot bags" and change it up a bit, so I made loot boxes instead.  I bought white bristol boards and used a scoring board to make the boxes.  I gift wrapped the boxes and decorated it using the bunnies I had cut out from my Cricut machine.  I then personalized each box by gluing the child's names onto it..  

 

The contents were a scarf and a bath book for each child.  I did not want to buy random plastic toys to fill the boxes...I wanted to give something useful.  

 

I had cut out bow ties for the boys...and to my surprise, some people noticed :)

 

THE BIG REVEAL

12 month banner

We moved some furniture around to fit the ball pit my husband and I built for my daughter.  I will talk about this DIY project in another post later on.

I hung this "Fun to be one" banner near the ball pit.  I decided to make this banner simply because my daughter will only turn one once.  "Fun to be two" just doesn't have a nice ryhme to it.

 

 

This big bunny was hand drawn and cotton balls were glued onto it.  I then dressed it up with my daughter's tutu and hair piece.  Instead of buying a balloon weight for $1, I spent $2 to make this bunny.  It was a lot cuter than a boring old balloon weight!  Wouldn't you agree?

I made tissue poms poms for the dining room and pinned it to the ceiling.  My daughter absolutely loved it!  

 

This DIY tutorials can be found by searching "tissue pom pom tutorials".  There are tons of results online, including youtube videos.  So, have fun going through them all!  Some might suggest using only 8 sheets of tissue per pom pom, but I used 15-20 just to make it a little bit fuller. 

 

One thing to keep in mind; it is perfectly okay if  the pom poms are not perfectly round. And if a couple of layers rip, it is also okay! You will not see the torn pieces at all.  Trust me, you really don't need to be miss perfect on this one!

I made the extra effort to personalized each cup.

I really like how the cake table turned out!  I used another one of daughter's tutu to add to the theme!  How sweet!

I love her birthday cake!  I sat down with the baker to design this gorgeous cake!  The top tier is chocolate banana amaretto flavoured (alcohol free, of course!), and it is also dairy free (One of my daughter's friend is lactose intolerant).  The bottom tier is a carrot cake with cream cheese filling.  The cake was very moist and soooo yummy!

 

Notice the table legs?  I love this idea of mine!  I think the ballet slippers were a nice touch.

 

The birthday banner didn't show too well in the above picture.  It actually has a lot of glitter on it and a ballerina bunny on each side.  It read "Hoppy 1st B-day Valerie".  I preferred the word "birthday" spelled out, but it made the banner look off centered with her name being on the bottom.  It bugged me, so I shortened.

 

Buffet style - My mom helped me with all the cooking...I really couldn't have done it without her.  We had mango salad, spring rolls, mini turkey pies, cheese sticks, fried rice, stir fried seafood noodles, grilled shrimp on sugarcane sticks, marinated chicken wings, pizza, and so much more!

 

I used another one of my daughter's tutu to put together this centrepiece for the dining table. 

    

This is a nice detail that I will spend time on again.  Cutlery sets are a must for me!

Here's the birthday girl!  I absolutely loved her outfit!  It went really well with the theme too!  On her shirt, there was a bunny holding a balloon.  How appropriate!

 

To plan this birthday party, it took me about 3 weeks to handcraft everything.  I spent about 4-5 hours a night working on it while my daughter slept.  I know it's a lot of work, but crafting is so much fun!  I will do this again for sure :)