Where to Get Supplies
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Items Around the House
Before heading out to the store or opening up your browser to start online shopping, take stock of what you already have on hand. You don’t have to send out fancy store-bought or handmade cards to make a difference! A folded up piece of paper with a wonderful message is just as special.
If you do decide to create some cards, there is still lots of things around the house you can give a second life to. Calendars, old greeting cards, extra diamond painting drills, and much more can be put to good use to make something new and totally unique!
Have an old calendar? Cut out the images and use them to create envelopes or cut them to the size of a card front and paste them on a card base to make a fun card!
Have old greeting cards you want to get rid of? Cut the card front off and send it as a postcard or paste it on to a card base to create a standard greeting card!
Add diamond painting drills, extra stickers from a craft kit, or anything you can think of to a card to add some dimension.
The sky’s the limit with greeting cards and every single one makes a difference, no matter how much you spent.
In-Person Shopping
Thrift Stores
Thrift stores are a great place to get lots of cards and supplies for cheap! Often, they will be in hanging bags, but ask the employees of your thrift store and I’m sure they would be able to point you in the right direction! As with much of what is available in thrift stores, you will have to hunt to find some good cards that match what you are looking for, but it is so much fun when you do! I have even scored Hallmark cards that were still wrapped up from the big-box store that donated them! Shop on sale days to save even more!
Dollar Tree
While prices have gone up for most of Dollar Tree’s products, their cards have remained the same price! Most cards are 2 for $1, but you can get some licensed cards (Sesame Street, Marvel, etc.) for $1 each. They also have 6-8 packs of blank cards that have also stayed at the $1 price point.
Dollar Tree is also great for flash cards and jumbo playing cards that can be used to make fun greeting cards for the kids!
Walmart
Walmart has 12-packs of gorgeous cards for under $2 each, but you must either shop in-store or use in-store pickup. These aren’t available for shipping. Many of the cards have beautiful gold foil detailing that really level them up and make them look more expensive than they are! They can usually be found on an endcap by the party supplies and greeting cards.
They also have lots of beautiful 50 sheet scrapbook paper pads for under $6 which is an absolute steal!
Hallmark
Each month, Hallmark Gold Crown members get a free “Just Because” card. These cards are stunning and incredibly high quality. There are cards for everything from encouragement to congratulations and beyond.
Hallmark also gives out fairly frequent coupons including money off with no minimum purchase, these coupons can often be used online as well, but some are in-store only.
Target Bullseye’s Playground (Dollar Spot)
Occasionally, Target will have multipacks of cards, stationery, and other crafting goodies in the Bullseye’s Playground (Dollar Spot) area in the front of the store. Prices vary, but most will be $1.
Craft Stores
Naturally, no list of places to buy crafting supplies would be complete without craft stores. While prices can be high, you can find some good deals if you know where to look and shop sales.
My favorites buys at craft stores are the Hot Buy paper pads at Michaels, Recollections cardstock packs at Michaels, Park Lane paper pads at JOANN, single scrapbook paper sheets when they go on sale for 20 cents, and (of course) their clearance aisles. One of the best buys you can get are JOANN’s cut apart scrapbook sheets when they are on sale for 20 cents. You get 12 card fronts for 20 cents total! JOANN also has super cheap adhesive rhinestones that can add dimension to any card!
Grocery Stores and The Post Office
Did you know that you don’t actually have to go to a post office to get postage stamps? While you may have to head to your local post office if you want a particular design or denomination, standard Forever Stamps can be purchased at most grocery stores!
Online Shopping
Amazon Clearance
Of course the first site that pops in to everyone’s mind for online shopping is Amazon, but did you know you can search for clearance deals and score great name-brand cards for dirt cheap?
Some of my favorite searches are greeting cards, cardstock, and paper, but you can search for just about everything this way! Search for a broad category and click filter. Set the following filters: Prime, used, and price: low to high. You will now see any listings that have used prices sorted from lowest to highest prices.
Please keep in mind that if you are on mobile, you will have to click on the product in the search results and scroll down on the product page to see the clearance price. The searches above are sorted low to high based on the clearance price. These products are returned or damaged items and may not work for you. You can always return used items if it isn’t what you expect.
Amazon
Amazon is my go-to for most of my supplies, even outside of the clearance deals I mentioned above.
Some of my favorite products are, but certainly not limited to:
Bearly Art Craft Glue - Dries super quickly and a little goes a long way! They also have a similar mission to Random Acts of Cardness with their Cards for Cubs program! I love their product and I love their company even more for offering such a wonderful program!
L Liked Labels - These labels are my go-to return address labels. They work perfectly with Avery Design & Print Online, are great quality, and are a great deal to boot!
Online Labels - For my circle stickers and postcard return address labels, Online Labels is my favorite brand. They also have their own website and offer samples if you aren’t sure if a certain product will work for you. Not every label of theirs is available on Amazon, so if you don’t see a size you are looking for, check their site out! The price is the same whether you shop on Amazon or through them directly.
Neenah 110 lb. Cardstock - This is all I use for my card bases and likely all I will ever use. I print our logo on the back and the print quality on it is fantastic. This cardstock makes my cards feel incredibly high quality and professional (even when it’s a fairly simple card) and I have received nothing but compliments about cards using this cardstock as a base. Each pack makes 500 A2 card bases!
E-Z Runner Grand Adhesive Dispenser - I looked into the Scotch Advanced Tape Glider and when I searched it and the first thing that popped up was a YouTube video on how to refill it, I knew it was too advanced for me. I have heard wonderful things about it and those who have purchased it love it, but I knew I wouldn’t want to go through the process of refilling each time. I happened upon the E-Z Runner Grand and it was exactly what I was looking for. Good value, lots of tape in each refill, and best of all, refilling just means popping out the used cartridge and popping a new one back in! I raved about it to Card Warrior Julie and she bought one, too (and loves it)!
Zazzle
Zazzle is great for stationery, cards, and address stamps/labels! You can even design a card on Canva and get it printed through Zazzle. Pay just $9.99 per year for Zazzle Black and get free shipping on every order!
Random Acts of Cardness’ Zazzle Store has mailable hugs, postcards, greeting cards, address stamps, and more available for purchase with all proceeds benefiting the group.
Random Acts of Cardness
Naturally, I have to mention our site here. While our shop may still be under construction, new products are being added almost daily. We currently have address labels and some merch, but will be adding Mailable Hug cards, greeting cards, and much more in the near future!
As with the Zazzle Store, all proceeds from the shop benefit the group and help pay for our monthly expenses and postage costs.
Etsy
I know it’s not realistic for everyone, especially with the volume of cards we send, but I am a huge advocate for shopping small! There are so many wonderfully talented card makers out there and you can support them by buying from them on Etsy (or better yet, their websites)!
WatercolorWishesCo does beautiful work and the owner couldn’t be more of a sweetheart. She has donated absolutely stunning cards to Random Acts of Cardness and I was able to see first-hand the quality of her work and you can truly see the love she puts in to everything she does!
Oriental Trading
To be honest, I don’t buy much from Oriental Trading, but I can never say no to clearance deals with free shipping! They offer free shipping about once a month, sometimes more often, to their email subscribers, and I always check out their clearance deals to see if there’s any good deals! I have found so many good stickers and even cutting dies and wax seal stamps!
USPS.com
You can buy lots of different designs on the USPS website including ones you likely can’t find at your local post office!
Digital Design Elements and Resources
I love designing my own cards and I have lots of sites I love getting resources from. I never recommend downloading images from a Google Photo search. Even if the quality is good (often it isn’t), you likely don’t have the rights to use it. I always recommend supporting creators by purchasing directly from them, even for personal use.
Creative Fabrica - Freebies - Daily Gifts
DailyArtHub - Daily Freebie
DesignBundles - Freebies
FontBundles - Freebies
PrettyGrafik - Freebies
The Hungry JPEG - Freebie of the Week - Free Font Bundle
Chantahlia Design
Freepik
Canva