Back at the beginning of the year I wrote about my journey with Financial Peace, or, at least the beginning of it.  These last 8 months have been a huge learning experience in how to manage my money, and most of all make good decisions with it.  I’ll admit, I’ve slipped up a few times… usually at Target (lets be honest, that store could take all of my money if I’m not careful), but for the most part I’ve really impressed myself with how well I’ve done.

Part of the journey in learning how to manage money well is also learning how to take advantage of your resources and get creative with what you have, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time brainstorming ideas.

Which leads me to this post!

Chances are you give out a fair amount of cards every year.  Birthdays, thank yous, graduation cards, Easter cards, the list goes on and on.  When you consider the cheapest cards in the store are $1 the cost can really start to add up.  I know it has for me, so I tried to think of creative ways to make my own by brainstorming with the materials I already have.  I came up with a couple different ideas so I thought I’d share with you all!

This first DIY card is super easy.  You can literally crank one of these out in 15 minutes or less, so grab some old magazines and lets get to work!

First of all, here’s what you’ll need (Plus a pencil, I forgot to get that in the picture.  Lo siento!)

First you’ll want to trace the card.  I like using cardstock for the card itself.  It’s heavy and has a really nice smooth feel compared to traditional construction paper.  I typically by big packs of it at Joanns when it goes on sale for $2 every so often, and usually I can cut out two cards from each sheet, so it works really well.

Next it’s time to cut the card out.  I usually use a ruler and exacto knife to get a really straight edge, however I got these really great American Crafts scissors at Tuesday Mornings, and they rock!  They’re so exact and sharp!

Then, once the card has been cut out, go ahead and fold the card in half.  If the cut wasn’t perfect go ahead and trim the edges.

Now  you’re ready to collect your materials.  As I go through my magazines I typically look for pages with lots of the same color (usually adds) so that it will give me a lot of room to work with.  A lot of times I’ll try to fit a specific color scheme as well.  Below are the ones I picked out for this card.

*Tip:  If you want to use white, try to use a page that doesn’t have a lot of print on the backside because once you glue it down the print will show through.

Next cut out the pieces from each page that you want to use and from there cut the strips into little squares approx 1 in x 1 in (and no, it doesn’t matter if they’re perfect).

Now you’re ready to start making your card!  Bust out your glue stick and get to work.  I personally like to alternate colors completely, but this is your card, get creative with it.  Also, don’t worry about lining up with the edges, you’ll be able to cut off the excess in the end

*Tip: Put the glue on the back of each piece instead of spreading it on the card first.  Each piece will overlap just a little bit, so in order to make sure the entire piece is glued down the glue will need to be applied directly to each piece.

And viola!  You have a card!  Aren’t you proud?  I love these colors, they turned out so fun. Perfect for summer!

But you also don’t have to stop with just the collage.  You can start adding other elements on top if you would like as well.  Here are a few other cards I’ve made using some of the leftover card stock scraps.  They’re obviously still a work in progress for the most part, but you get the jist.  The possibilities are essentially endless.

So there you go, DIY cards using materials on hand.  Saving a little money and creating something personal for those special people in your life.  I have a few other card ideas swirling around so stay tuned for those.

And on another awesome note, this is the last post that will feature pictures taken on my poor little broken Canon Rebel.  The camera served me well for 7 years but it was time to move on.  I actually broke the screen on it while I was in Boliva so I wasn’t able to see any pictures I took until they got leaded onto my computer, which was a huge pain.  But, after more than a year of drooling over a new camera, and spending 5 months stalking Amazon.com to see if the price would budge I finally went for it and got a Canon 60D, and folks, it’s beautiful.  It’s amazing how much technology can improve in just a few years.  Oh, and the screen on it is one of those where you can flip it in and out and around (you follow?), so hopefully I won’t break it this time.

Yay for Gods blessings!   I head down to Mexico in less than two weeks so I’m excited to see what it will do!  (Ironically enough Mexico was the first big outing for my rebel too, this time I will prepare for all the dirt and dust involved).

Thanks for stopping by!

XO,
Manda