Thursday Craft 'n Chat - Crafty Money Saving Tips

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Thursday Craft 'n Chat. Every Thursday will feature a different crafty tip/technique from one of the Made Especially For You design team members. Click here to view last week's technique for using Martha Stewart butterfly punches. This week, I'm going to share some money saving tips for those of us frugal crafters. :)

As tempting as it is to want to throw every item I see into my shopping cart while in a craft store, I don't have the budget (nor the space in my craft room, if I somehow magically did have all that money). Walking through a craft store (such as Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) makes me feel like a kid in a candy store, wanting to try everything all at once. Because I love shopping for new craft supplies and trying different products, I've found myself using a few different techniques to save money when it comes to crafting that I would love to share with you. Some of them you may do already, but others you may find helpful.

- Coupons, coupons, coupons! I cannot express enough how important coupons are when it comes to saving on craft supplies. I subscribe to emails from Michael's, Jo Ann's, and Hobby Lobby, all the craft stores that are closest to me. Each week they send their store ad and a coupon, usually 40% off one item or something similar to that. (If you receive their ads in the newspaper, they often include a coupon in that ad as well, so you can actually get two 40% off coupons instead of one). I usually drag a sister or a friend shopping with me so they can use one coupon and I can use the other, and then I pay them back. :) 

- Buy in bulk! While it may seem as if you're spending more money, in the long run you're actually saving. Buying in bulk especially comes in handy when purchasing paper. Michael's often has 50-sheet cardstock packs on sale, usually 3 for $10, when normally you'd be paying almost $4 per pack. Always keep an eye out for sales. :)

- If you can make it, don't buy it! I try and make as many of my own embellishments as possible. Occasionally I do buy them, but I'm not going to spend $5 on two fabric flowers just to put them on a card I'm going to give someone, unless they really are of important significance. Instead, try making your own handmade flowers or other embellishments using Glossy Accents.

- Re-use your Cricut mats. There are so many tutorials out on the Internet/YouTube for how to make your Cricut mats sticky again. Eventually you will have to purchase new ones, but making them sticky a few more times until they completely wear out will save you a lot of money from not having to purchase new mats. I give mine a "bath" in the sink and rinse them with warm water to remove the excess paper fibers, and then use a Zig glue pen and use it over the entire mat and give it about half an hour to dry. Do some research to see which method works best for you. :) 

- Save your scraps. If you have a place to organize your paper scraps, definitely hang on to them. While they may not seem like they will serve a purpose one day, you never know. Tiny scraps are great for those small Cricut cuts. 

What money-saving techniques do you use? I'd love to hear them! :)

Ashley