Free Card Making Ideas

Greetings Go Green!

Recycling is not only great for the communities we live in, but it can also help relieve some burden during financial downturns. So, there’s no need to quit creating, look around your house and you’re sure to find a bevy of craft supplies for these free card making ideas. You know the adage: reduce, reuse, recycle. As many of us know, crafters are the ORIGINAL recyclers - creating popsicle stick projects and using dad’s old shirts or trash bags to create Halloween costumes - so why not get on the ‘green’ wagon with card making?

Below, find great tips, tricks and free card making ideas to inspire more than a sense of recycling responsibility, but also, a little money-saving creativity and a whole lot of fun.

Free Card Making Idea #1: Recycle Greeting Cards

Why not “up-cycle” a greeting card to give it a new life. Gather commercial greeting cards that are floating around your house. Die cut images from card fronts and use them as accents or focal images for new cards. Spellbinders’ Nestabilities Die Templates (concentric shapes in ¼" increments) in squares, rectangles, ovals and circles, are perfect for this project. Try layering the focal image with coordinated cardstock cut with Scalloped Nestabilities Die Templates and your new card will really stand out.

Supplies: Spellbinders’ Wizard and Die Templates: Nestabilities S4-138 Petite Oval Large, S4-139 Petite Oval Scalloped Large; Prism Cardstock: Prismatics Frosted Yellow ,Majestic Purple Medium; Heartline Greeting Card; Lockhart Stamps Thanks You sentiment; Creative Impressions Dot Ribbon; 3L Scrapbooking Adhesives 3-D Design Blocks; Glue Dots

Free Card Making Idea #2: Recycle in the Morning

Mornings offer up a lot of ways to recycle. Check out the breakfast table for empty cereal boxes, kids juice containers and even plastic milk jugs. All cleaned up these make great foundations for any number of projects. Utilize a plastic milk jug to create stencils or to die cut letters for translucent ghost letters. The bright colors and classic shapes on juice boxes as accents for scrapbook pages and other projects. Or, you can try using boxes to create ‘chip-board-like’ shapes and letters into a focal point for a card.

Supplies: Spellbinders’ Wizard and Die Templates:S4-162 Labels Two; WorldWin Cardstock; Creative Impressions Ribbon; Lockhart Stamps Flourish; Glue Dots; 3L Scrapbooking Adhesives 3-D Design Blocks

Free Card Making Idea #3: Recycle the Wheel; Don’t Reinvent It

Look through your favorite magazine. Use the ads, images from feature articles and other content for inspiration. Focus on color scheme, layout, fonts or images to get the creative juices flowing. You can even include magazine images in your hand-made greetings.

Free Card Making Idea #4: Recycle Time

Use a die cut machine like Spellbinders’ Wizard to save time and maximize productivity! Using a tool like the Wizard you can multiply the number of card elements created in a short amount of time; simply use multiple dies at the same time and before you know it you’ll have lots of custom cut shapes to use in almost any craft project. In fact, a great way to create lots of frames all at once is to use all your coordinated Nestabilities™ die templates on the same pass. You’ll get 4-6 frames depending on the die design…now that’s efficient! Circles are super popular right now, and this is a great technique for combining a variety of colors and patterns for super-quick cards.

Supplies: Spellbinders’ Wizard and Die Templates: S4-128 Classic Square Small, S4-129Classic Scallop Small; Prism Cardstock: Prismatics Desert Coral Card, Wizard Dark; Zsiage patterned paper; Creative Impressions mini brads; Beacon Zip Dry glue; 3L Scrapbooking Adhesives: Click ’n Stick Adhesive Squares, 3-D Design Blocks

Free Card Making Idea #5: Recycle Kids’ Creations

If your son or daughter has just created a stunning new art piece a’ la finger paint, crayons or chalk, scan the image to your computer, resize it and use it as a focal point for a card for grandma. Talk about winning some points!

Free Card Making Idea #6: Recycle the Pros

Use online resources such as the Spellbinders’ Inspiration Alley or other designer websites or blogs to find a style or project you like and incorporate those ideas into your own creations.

Free Card Making Idea #7: Recycle the Outdoors

Go to the garden and just before the pansies begin to fade, pick a few and press them (in the Wizard) onto watercolor paper. This is an almost effortless task using an embossing sandwich in the Spellbinders’ Wizard (and it produces exquisite results)! OR collect hardware items such as window screening or gutter guard and emboss it using texture plates or other embossing folders and the Wizard to create a truly unique background texture for a card or other project. Card by Heidi Blankenship

Supplies: Spellbinders’ Wizard and Die Templates: S4-072 Flower Creations, S3-150 Ribbon Tags Trio, S4-114 Nestabilities Standard Circle Large, S4-115 Nestabilities Standard Scallop Circle Large; WorldWin Cardstock: DoubleMates Groovy Grape Rich, ColorMates Medium Ocean Blue; Glue Dots; Beacon Gem-Tac, Zip Dry; Scrapbook Adhesives Gold Photo Corners; ClearSnap ColorBox Chalk Ink (Wisteria)

Free Card Making Idea #8: Recycle a Picnic

Believe it or not, a foam cup or picnic plate can also become a recycled work of art by cutting the material into fun shapes and letters with Spellbinders’Die Templates. Styrofoam®, for example, can create some pretty spectacular snowflakes!

Supplies: Spellbinders’ Wizard and Die Templates: S4-135 Snowflake Wonder; Prism Metallic Lavender Paper; Creative Impressions Mini Brads; ClearSnap Watermark Ink; Sparkle ‘n Sprinkle Opaline Embossing Powder; Heat Tool; Foam cup

The bottom line, just because a budget it trim, doesn’t mean that creating hand-made, heartfelt sentiments needs go by the wayside. Look around, think outside the creative box and repurpose household items to create personal greetings. Help the planet, save some dough, and bring joy to a special someone—a winning combination for sure!