Scrapbooking on a Budget - "secrets" 4 & 5

Good morning! Can't believe today is May 1st already! But May is my favorite month of the year! Before going outside and doing some yard work, I wanted to stop by to post my second post in the series of

I wanted to show you two new cards I made. One was made last week and the other one I just did this morning. They both have something in common - printables. Which brings us right into our next "secret".

Secret #4: Find printables and use them.

We've all seen them. They are everywhere. If you have a Pinterest, I'm sure you've pinned them, but the idea is to actually use them. Last week I printed a few pages with printables and decided to put them to use.

Both, the tag and butterflies on this card, were printed at home on white cardstock. You can't even tell it's not the real deal, unless you sprinkle water on it. But you don't want to give anyone a wet card, so we keep these things from water anyway.

For my second card I used a printable card, a calendar and blue butterflies. For both of these cards, printables were the starting points of my projects. But I've also cut out a few other items and added them to my regular embellishments so that they would be there for me when I need them. I extended my embellishment choice by adding some free stuff - printed, cut out and ready to use.

For this card I have used only one pattern paper (yellow). The rest of the items were - cardstock (one plain and one textured) and printables. Oops, that tiny piece of blue polka dot banner was also a scrap from pattern paper.

 

If you've been scrapbooking or cardmaking for a while, you probably know what things you are constantly looking for. I'm always drawn to journaling cards, tags, calendars, labels, flowers and butterflies. These are the things I know I will use. 

Secret #5: Don't print everything you find. 

Remember we are talking budget here. You don't want to waste white cardstock and printer ink for things you are not going to use. Look for things that make you happy and things that you can't wait to use on your next project - those are the ones you want to print :)

Among the things I found, were these cute images. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm sure they won't be sitting on the table collecting dust, because I like them! I turned them to black and white, so that I didn't have to match my products to them. 

Cards are not the only things I use printables on. I like to use them on my pages and other items too. Here are just a few examples:

Before I go, I guess I'll share a printable I used on my first card, if you are interested (very sorry, can't find the source at the moment. I will adjust it when I do).

and a sheet of printable embellishments from Les papiers de Pandore, which I used both on my pages and cards:

 On that note, I will have to end the post for today. Have a wonderful day! Enjoy the weather and find some time to do something creative everyday!

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you soon!