I'm the kind of person who when I make something I prefer to start with supplies that I already own. Mainly because I have a fair sized stock piles but I also can't help but think it a waste to go buy everything brand new. Handmade is only cheaper if you use what you have. If I need supplies for a project, then I go get them.
I'm quiet bothered by the recent surge of paint chip sample card crafts. I have seen tutorials for everything from napkin rings to holiday decorative banners. While there are never instructions on where or how to get these paint sample cards, we all know where to get them. You go to Home Depot or Lowes or your local paint store and you take them. Yes, you can buy sets of pain samples online, but I highly doubt anyone shells out the $30 for one. Especially because you don't get 25 of the same color.
Those cards are made and offered for free for the customers that are buying paint. They are free with the intention that you are taking a few to decide which color to paint your room and then you're coming back to buy some paint. They aren't there for you to take handfuls of all the red, white and blue ones so you can make a cutsie banner for your Fourth of July party. When you do that, it's called stealing. And I'm not going to sugar coat it.
As these type of crafts keep growing in popularity, paint stores are going to start having to charge people for them. And that makes me mad. Because when I want to go pick out paint colors for my kid's rooms I'm going to have to float the cost of all the sticky fingered craft thieves.
Stop stealing paint chip samples!
What's even more repugnant is that I'm willing to bet that the napkin rings and party banners go right into the trash at the end of the party. I bet they aren't even recycled, never mind saved for next year.
It's just not the kind of crafting I'm interested in.
