I have a confession to make. I don't buy a lot of card stock. The occasional scrapbooking paper pack, bought with a 40% off coupon or picked up at Tuesday Morning, does find it's way into my home, but for the most part, I find my card stock at thrift stores and Creative Reuse stores.
When all I need is a substrate, and I'm not worried about archival qualities, I try to find my material in the recycle bin.
From artist trading card bases, to junk journal covers, to Christmas ornaments, to gift tags, you can find a lot of what you need in the recycling.
When it comes to making tags in quantity, I use a steel rule die for fancier shapes, and I use a guillotine trimmer for simple tags. For lighter weight materials, I like to use my Fiskars trimmer. I create "jigs" for cutting the angled portions by stacking several layers of masking tape on the surface of the trimmer. This makes tag cutting go very efficiently.
While I do have some wafer thin dies for making tags, I don't find them very useful for "production" work, since you can only cut one tag at a time, and cranking that sandwich through over and over again kills my shoulder. The steel rule dies, on the other hand, allow you to cut multiple layers at one time.
When it comes to making tags in quantity, I use a steel rule die for fancier shapes, and I use a guillotine trimmer for simple tags. For lighter weight materials, I like to use my Fiskars trimmer. I create "jigs" for cutting the angled portions by stacking several layers of masking tape on the surface of the trimmer. This makes tag cutting go very efficiently.
While I do have some wafer thin dies for making tags, I don't find them very useful for "production" work, since you can only cut one tag at a time, and cranking that sandwich through over and over again kills my shoulder. The steel rule dies, on the other hand, allow you to cut multiple layers at one time.
Truly, you could simply trace a tag template onto cardboard, and cut them out while watching TV. There's nothing wrong with going old school. After cutting out my tags, I cover them in paper. I use smaller scraps for this. I also use like to use old book paper for the second side -- just check the text for swear words or questionable content, so things don't get awkward....
This is a great way to build your stash of tags for gifts or card making or journalling.
You might also like this post on making artist trading cards with recycled materials.
Or might like this post on how to use up and upcycle old notecards.
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Thanks so much for stopping by!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
~Amanda