Digital Paper and New Thank You Notecards

For an earlier post, I wrote about a Crafternoon I hosted where we used some pretty patterned card stock I'd purchased from Joann's to make blank notecards.

I really love those cards -- they're so simple and elegant and really highlight the gorgeous papers.

The one downside? The cheapskate in me really hates spending money on the pretty paper. A matstack costs only about $10, but I am so frugal it hurts me every time have to open my wallet.

Last week, I discovered digital scrapbooking paper.

With these files, I can print as much patterned paper as I want. Yes, even considering the high price of inkjet printing, I'm only shelling out about $.11 for each sheet of color, patterned cardstock -- this includes the ink as well as the cardstock.

Whoo hoo!

I can even print different patterns on the two sides of the cardstock, creating my own duplex paper, which ordinarily costs a fortune at the paper store.

Granted, you don't get the texture from, say, a linen-finish, but you know what? They're so pretty! If this paper fanatic likes them, I would be willing to bet that a lot of others would as well.

Here's the site that turned me onto digital paper patterns: http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/ Their prices seem quite reasonable ($6 to $8 for most packages, which includes a lot of additional little digital embellishments, which I normally don't use, but still enjoy poring over).

Then, my friend Val turned me onto: http://www.digifree.blogspot.com/ which is a compilation of free digital scrapbooking kits. The sites can be a bit confusing to navigate, but, heck! They're FREE (you can also find quite a lot simply by googling free digital scrapbooking).

(one note: if you're making cards commercially, as I am, be sure to read the licensing agreements. Many of the packages (especially the free ones) limit commercial use or ask that you pay extra for that privilege)

The photo, above, shows some of the pretty card stock I've been printing up as well as some of my new Summer Breezes Thank You Note Card package that I just posted for sale on etsy.