From beginner to expert

My top 10 Paper crafting items of all time. These items I choose so that a beginner can see my favorite items but understand it’s not just for beginners. These 10 items with a bonus honorable mention section added in because it’s some things that have helped me on my journey. Without some of these I would have never gotten it to paper crafting as much as I have. Honestly I’d probably still be trying to sew with 3 little kids and make that work. That idea scares me to think about my littlest who loves to put everything in her mouth. So without further ado…

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Distress Ink:

This Ink can be used for stamping, water coloring, distressing edges, and i’m sure some other stuff I haven’t thought of. These come in a great variety of colors and the small sizes of the minis make it easy to take places. There is also the Distress Oxides which unfortunately do not come in mini sized yet but a girl can dream that one day they might.

American Crafts 12″ paper:

The American crafts 12 by 12 paper this is just really good high quality paper. It is definitely a must buy. Alternatively I’d be lying if i didn’t say that I buy a lot of my paper from Michael’s as well because it’s inexpensive and they often have sales you’ll 3 of a for $10. The American crafts is an amazing paper.

Glass media mat WE r memory keepers:

I really enjoy my glass map for could papers doing layouts checking the size of things it’s just really should be me to have it really has held up well I’ve had it for a few years I have thought the Tim Holtz with the little side panel on it and I do love that 1 as well. In the end i’m suggesting this one is because it’s been around for a lot longer, it’s a smaller size so if you don’t have a big work space it won’t be too big.

3M tissue tape:

My next item would be the 3M tissue tape I was introduced to this by the paper pumpkin boxes by Stampin up. I fell in love so I started buying it and it is my favorite double sided tape there are other great options out there there’s tape runners. Sometimes tape runners can be to rough and really have to push on your project and more than once I’ve ended up with odd lines due to this.

Memento Black ink:

In my mind this is the gold standard of black ink for paper. It’s easy to find, and most of the big box stores carry it. I love it and have 3 of them one for my desk, one for my to go bag and one in my stash if I ever misplace one.

Neenah Classic Crest Solar white 110lb:

Another gold standard item. This is the paper almost every Youtube card maker recommends. I love it. It’s thick and pure white. It can be a little pricey but worth every penny.

Paper Trimmer Fiskers:

There are many Options for paper trimmers. Most of them are great, but this is a great one as it’s about the size of a piece of paper so it fits in any bag and holds up great. Side note, Fiskers has an amazing warranty and will replace the swing part if it or the wire ever has issues. I had to do this for one of my cutters and it was simple no warranty process.

Nuvo Glue:

I love this stuff it comes with a nice little tiny tips you can apply this the small amounts where you need to are they super thin line it’s not very expensive never had any puckering is issues that you do with a cheaper  glue from some brands water based fluids. (if you are eagle eyed you’ll see in the picture above that I had the masking fluid in the photo, I didn’t notice until after I was done taking pictures)

Daubers:

These are fun for blending the Distress Inks and oxides. These are a cost effective for blending and you get a bunch versus having to buy the refill foams for the other blenders and I’ve never been able to sort them in a way so i know which color is which (unlike these daubers that i used Avery labels to write the color and stick right on the side.)

Jewel picker:

This is something that maybe initially you won’t have a big use for but if you want to if you get a double ended 1 that I’ve suggested then you can actually even use this for placement of smaller pieces of paper that you’ve glued to you can kind of hover them using this tool as long as they’re smaller to place them on your items on your card exactly where you want. So sentiments and things like that where you need a smaller or detailed piece in it’s exact place.

Tape Runner:

This is a big gun tape runner, the only one that is bigger that I know of is the 3M one and I do own both but if one needs to be refilled this one is about a million times easier than the other one. These are also the small tape runners but if you are serious about paper crafting skip right over the small ones with the exception of the temporary adhesive ones.

Pen Scissors:

These are one of my more off the wall items but they are study and I can put them in my pen case so they are always at hand.

Honorable mentions:

Chameleon Markers:

I was introduced to these online a while back and coveted them for a while. Then I went to PlannerCon and they were demoing them and I couldn’t pass them up anymore. I started with this set which will get you a lot of options from light to dark of the shades. Add in some color tops and you have tons of options. I might need to do a post about these alone.

Silhouette Cameo Machine:

If there was/is any one particular item that have grown my love of paper crafting it is the Silhouette Cameo. I received one almost 7 years ago and my first is still going strong. I have added a second machine for when I am doing some planner stickers and decor items so i can keep them going and finish things much faster. There is a bit of a learning curve mostly for the program but i love the fact that i get to work offline when i’m on the train on my way to work.

So let me know below what your favorite paper crafting item is.