Card Making – Frugal Embellishments

A while ago I wrote a post about frugal card-making and now reflecting on that a whole lot more has come to mind.

Central to my cards most of the time are embellishments. I love, love, love embellishments and most often use them as the centre-piece of the card from which I pick out the papers and colours to match. I like that they add the three-dimensional feel and a focal point of interest.

I find that they can be very expensive to buy, so I am always on the lookout for frugal alternatives.

One of oldest ideas I have used are broken hair bobbles and jewellery. The hair bobbles are from my daughter’s broken hair accessories and give a cutesy feel, the jewellery bits are from all over and really make the card feel special.

The flowers below are just simple shapes cut from felt and layered on top of each other with a diamond for a centre.



I have also acquired a few paper punches, so I can cut flowers out in different sizes and layer them to co-ordinate with the card as I have done in the two cards below



The scroll below is simply a small scrap of mulberry paper rolled up and tied with ribbon. It took seconds to make and my mum really liked it which is the biggest compliment I could ask for.

Also very popular at the moment (for example in this talented lady’s cards) are fake flowers, layered up to match the colours of the card. I find these quite expensive, so when I came across four bags of fake flowers for 40p (about 80c USA I think), I snapped them up. I took them home and took the layers apart, discarding the plastic stems and stamen and put them inside the pages of a heavy book to try and flatten them. They haven’t flattened entirely, but this means that when I use them on a card, it gives the card more texture.




The pretty, glittery shapes below are actually belly tattoo stickers which were another boot-sale find at 50p. I have yet to use these, but they look like they would really up the bling factor on a card don’t they?

Other things you can use are buttons, real dried flowers, mini kids toys (or bits of them), Indian bhindi’s, shells, scrap fabric, broken watch parts, ribbon scraps and basically anything else you cn think of

Of course the baby emptied the box out as soon as they had finished sorting the buttons.

Frugal Card Making

Frugal Crafts – Turning To Your Imagination Instead Of Your Purse