Going Green & Saving your Green - tutorial

Good Morning, Girls!

Got a little sumthin' extra for ya' with my card today. I'm calling it a tutorial because it is a "how-to" of sorts. And this tutorial is about going green - you know, that whole reuse/recycle/repurpose thing - and making your dollar go farther.

What I'm talking about is using the packaging that your product came in. Now I just love throwing stuff away. We have a tiny house, and with 2 little kids we have a bunch of crap that needs to be gotten rid of. So when I throw something out I get an odd sense of pleasure in that I am getting more of the stuff out of the house. But then I got to thinking....

Look at this pack of crocheted flowers that I picked up at Jacksonbelle Embellishments. These flowers are sort of a dark rust/red color and could be hard to match with other things. However - look at the cardboard that they are on - it's got little polka dots on it in the same color. So now I'll have 2 things in this color on my card and that'll make it easier to use.

These are some Making Memories canvas alphabet stickers that I picked up at Archiver's. The colors are pretty, different, what I would call muted. Again, finding the perfect complementing pieces from other brands could be a challenge.

But LOOK at the back of the packaging on this baby!! It's got some of that great wood pattern that is so hot right now - AND, it's going to match the letters spot-on.

These Prima Say It In Crystals were another Jacksonbelle find. This example is a bonus one because you've got the clear acetate sheet that the pretties are on which would be a super cheap way to try that whole clear thing that people have been doing on cards (and which scares me so).....

....and you've got the backside of the cardboard packaging with black polka dots to use!!Here's another example from Prima - these super sweet old-fashioned Nursery Tales rubons.The back of the packaging has this vintage, Peter Cottontail pattern on it that is just so awesome and I would totally buy a sheet of it if I saw it out there.

And this is my card for today:
This week the Jacksonbelle Embellishments girls are making cards with no stamping. That was our challenge. I had to laugh when I heard that because hello, I'm the girl who doesn't color images, so not using stamps would not be hard for me *giggles* So here I've got some of that great Prima packaging that I got from the ribbon package (same line as the one above so the same packaging). I've also used some pewter letters from the We R Memory Keepers hardware alphabet, a Martha Stewart edge punch, Prima rubon, and Prima ribbon.

Be sure and head over to the Jacksonbelle Embellishments blog to see what the rest of the girls are up to! And when you're done there, head on over to the Jacksonbelle Dollar Days Sale and pick up some good deals while they last!

Have a super day!