varadasharma
- May 27, 2020
- 3 min read

#UseYourCraftStash – Patterned Papers

Hello friends, hope you all are doing fine and enjoying our #UseYourCraftStash challenge. Today we are going to talk about the most important things we crafters want to care about – the money we spend on crafting – and some tips on how to make it count. Because whether you are just starting out or an established crafter business person, you will always care of making sure your money is put to good use, won’t you?

Let’s get to today’s tip(s) first and after that check out some cards using one thing that we have a stash of – Patterned Paper.

Here are some things I have practiced that helped me stay on budget with my crafty spending:

Invest in few but good quality materials and tools:
This might seem counter intuitive at first. But investing in good quality tools will help you get good use out of them for years, instead of having to reinvest over and over again. In the long run it will save you $$.
Investing in quality material will also help elevate the quality of your finished product. Often times it is the material we use that makes a product look less than perfect and we end up blaming ourselves thinking we “didn’t do it right”.
Before buying the next “new and shiny” thing on the market, answer these 5 questions. These always guide me in my buying decision.
Do I have 3-5 different project ideas for the thing?
Am I excited about these 5 different project ideas?
Can I create the same 5 projects using something I already have in my stash ?
Is having this new thing in my stash going to save me time? My time is limited and my crafting time even more so. If it is a time saving thing, it is a big bonus for me.
Will I be going over my budget if I buy this thing? And am I okay with it if I do?
Don’t rush into buying
I do sit on my ideas for at least a few days (usually a week) before giving in to the buying impulse. This is what I have observed – when a company you love comes out with new products and they do a bug release / blog hop etc, there are ideas flying all around and I get so excited that I want to have 1 of each. But I know my time is limited. So even if I do get one of each, I won’t be able to do justice to those goodies. That’s why I like to sit on it for a few days before deciding what exactly will make a good addition to my crafty stash.
Whenever you can, take advantage of a challenge to win prizes (hint hint, at the current challenge and prizes we are having!) or a sale or a loyalty program.
If you are not at a point where you sell your art yet, you can still earn or save a few extra $$ by participating in challenges or giveaways to win prizes or take advantage of sales or loyalty programs. I do have giveaways / challenges on my blog here from time to time and also on Instagram.
Also, I am a club member for Spellbinders and their member perks are one of the industry best in my opinion. They have so many amazing perks for club members including +5 creative points added for every $1 spent. I remember one time when I won a coupon in one of their giveaways when I combined that with my reward points and ended up paying $2 for a $102 order! I giggled for days with the goodies I was able to purchase!! Simply amazing!!!
Always start simple:
I made my first ever cards in 2014 for my colleagues for Thanksgiving. I used patterned papers, stickers, cardstock for card bases, glue sticks and foam squares (always loved dimension!). So, don’t feel pressured to start out with fancy material or elaborate techniques. Start simple and build from there.