Candles, Cookbooks and a Cookin' card

Sorry for the lapse. Life got in the way. Anyway, I was going to relate some frugal stories. The other day, I was killing time while ds#2 was in a sports clinic, so I did a little grocery shopping. You know by now that I'm a frugal shopper in all arenas so I checked out the clearance section and found some jarred candles on sale for $2.99 each. The cashier even remarked on how good a deal they were. I didn't find out until I got in my car that they had been marked down to 75 cents each! I use them for my fireplace so I usually recycle the tops but I found a use for them if you have room on your desk. Frugal tip #8: Candle jar tops can hold all types of little items. Use your imagination!

Frugal tip # 9: Check out the books on sale at your local library. I paid $1 each for these two cookbooks and I plan on using the book pages on cards like this sample. I used my With a Cherry on Top kit for the paper and frills and Stampin Up! sets Tote-ally Tess and ABC Images for the images. I don't know about you, but I'm seriously craving a cupcake right now. Lol

It's good to be a scrap collector...

Frugal tip #7: Use scraps!

I had to make a quick card for my dad's birthday and I had to try to stay masculine so I dug through my scraps. I used a sketch from one of Splitcoast's sketch challenges and had a simple card in no time. I used a new clear stamp greeting set from Stampin' Up!(Vintage Labels) and just punched it out and popped it up with a pop dot. Minimal frills, maximum delight. I've got some great frugal stories for you tomorrow. Check back. Oh and I'm so psyched that my previous card was chosen as the Friends With Flair sample last Friday at Unity. Yay!

Fly Free

Frugal tip #6: Use a kit.  I know, I know, kits seem expensive but consider the altenative. If you tried to buy all the neat items in a kit, you be out a lot of cash. The kit gives you yummy, fun products for a fraction of the cost. So investigate. I've bought a couple of kits from a website called The Caffinated Cropper. I used one called "With a Cherry on Top" for most of the products on this card. The card was inspired by a site called "365 Cards". Today's challenge is "Stripes and Bright Colors". Hope you like it. I wish you could see the glitter on the little butterflies. So cute!
P.S. I even used a rubber stamp kit for this card. It's by Unity and it is their June Kit of the Month called, what else, "Fly Free" (19 stamps for under $35, now that's frugal! lol)

Bling is my thing

I have to say that I was inspired by a balloon I saw on Splitcoast. I just had to make my own interpretation. I love bling so, in order to feed that need I dig through the dollar bin at Michael's for these lovelies. 48 rhinestones for $1, ahhhh. Frugal tip #5: Dive into the dollar bin! The stamps are from Unity's Delightful Moments (Dec '09 Kit of the Month). Up, up and away!

Smitten

This card was another "Friends with Flair" inspiration. Frugal tip #4: Use knitting yarn as an embellishment. I believe that the yarn I used for the grass on this card is called "eyelash". It just seemed perfectly shaggy as grass. The stamps come from "Savor the Journey" (Unity's January Kit of the Month). What a cute giggly expression this bird has, huh?

Tea anyone?

I love tea, all year round. So I had fun with this tea bag stamp from Unity (Delightful Moments - Dec Kit of the Month 09). I used glitter to simulate tea flakes, pink staples and string on the tea bag. Frugal Tip #3: Use a household item where you can. I used package string straight from our household stash.

Unity has a weekly event on Thursdays. It's called "Friends With Flair". They give you a sample card to be inspired by then ask that you come up with something to share. I submitted this card and was ecstatic when they chose to publish it on their blog on January 1st this year. That was a happy start to the year!

Enjoy your day.

Cindy

Hey 19!

That Steely Dan song comes to mind today as it is son #1's 19th birthday. He's a fan of the University of Texas so I had to make him a card that used a cute Amuse stamp that I picked up just for times like these. It's, in my opinion, a baby longhorn and UT's mascot is Bevo the Longhorn. Frugal tip #1: shop your stash. I used patterned paper that came from a DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) Photo Stack that I bought a few years ago. Frugal tip #2: Get on the mailing list of craft companies you like. In the case of Amuse Stamps, the monthly newsletter usually offers a couple of stamps at a low price of $2.
Have a great day creating something!

Cindy

The Inaugural Post

I'm moving into the public domain. Although I've had a private family blog for a year or so, I've wanted to jump into the public blog pool for so long, it took a momentous event to push me in. I've been published! Actually, not the first time, but this time has made me want to share my projects with you. I'm a scrapper (scrapbooking for those unused to the lingo) and a stamper and a serious collector of all things relating to those two hobbies. The name of my blog comes from my shopaholic tendencies toward those orphaned products in the clearance or "dollar" sections of craft and office supply stores, et al. "Frugal" because I hate paying retail (this is not to say I won't occasionally--I am human, after all.) But I love those 40% off and other coupons and just great deals in general. So "frugalista" is borrowed from the word "barista" which is such a cool way to refer to someone who makes coffee. Lol. Anyway, what I hope to do with this blog is share with you the projects, cards, pages, etc. that I often create using these lower priced products. In that way, I'm alerting you to my finds (which could enable you to find them also) or just taking you out of the box with me.

Back to the impetus for creating this blog. I'm including the pictures of the two cards that were just printed by Stampington & Co. in the latest issue of Take Ten magazine (pages 89 & 109). I'm still floating. It must be close to the feeling an actor has when he/she hears applause. So cool. I hope to have more news of published cards in the future. We'll just have to see. 'Til then, check out the blog from time to time. I'll try to make it fun!

Cindy