Being Cheap! Making "Chipboard"!

So lately I've gotten hugely convicted, like a lot of people, about not only my personal finances and spending, but how much I effect this planet I'm on. Combine the two (serious budgeting and being more conscious about not being wasteful in my paper crafting) and you get my latest thingie--making "chipboard"!

Basically, I love chipboard. I think it looks awesome in finished projects, but I'm not so super fond of the prices. I also see the chipboard shape packs and think that although a lot of it is cute, a lot of it is stuff I'll never use. So I've gone for quite a while without using chipboard at all in my designs.

I'm blessed to have a Cricut Expressions machine. It's what I used to cut the letters in the little mini album project I have pictures of here. You can use paper punches, though, to achieve the same results and create your own "chipboard" flowers, hearts, scalloped squares, or whatever.

Basically, to make your own "chipboard", just cut four layers of cardstock in whatever color you want to be your base color. (I usually use cream or off white because it seems to look more like real chipboard, but other colors can look cool, too!) Just make sure you make all four layers the same color. I like to cut one more layer either in a patterned paper or another patterned cardstock. I like for them to be white core (white on the inside... you can discover whether or not your paper is white core by either looking closely at the side of the paper or ripping a small part of it... if the tear shows white, it's white core) so that I can create cool sanding effects.

Glue the underlayers of cardstock together, making sure to align them nicely. Glue your final piece on top and let it dry for a while before trying to sand. These aren't as sturdy as real chipboard, but they still look really cool, I think.

This first one shows the letters all lifeless against my plain mini albums. (I'm teaching a new class at JoAnn on how to make your own mini albums, another part of my budget/green crafting binge.)

Here are the letters with four cardstock shapes made for each one to turn into "chipboard".

Here are my finished mini album fronts. I decided to do the dates, too. On the smaller numbers, I did only two layers of cardstock beneath the top layer.

I think I'll post later on how I organize my scraps for maximum future usage. Also, some on my new vow to not buy any new supplies at ALL unless it's a consumable and I'm replacing something I've just used up. (Adhesive refills, glue, stamp ink, specific papers I use a lot [white cardstock, etc.], black pens, etc...) I'm not sure how long this is going to go for. But I've decided to do the best I can with what I already have. After all, constantly consuming more and more isn't just wasting the money I'm currently spending--it's really wasting the money I've already spent, too. Right? Because I'm not using what I bought already, it's essentially going to waste.

Anyway, so hopefully someone likes this idea and uses it. Ooh, I need to post the teabox I covered! I used some of my little "chipboard" flowers on that, too, and it turned out totally cute.