No card today, folks. I spent yesterday working my real job and sleeping in my chair. My husband has been sick with a head cold and, in a gesture of pure spousal selflessness, shared it with me! As a result, I can’t breathe and my nose is dripping. Except when it’s completely plogged up. Which it is. Except when it isn’t. It a wondrous cycle of drip-plog-drip-plog….on and on. It’s a plumber’s nightmare. Or dream, depending on your perspective. Making a card requires breathing – and dripping on a card requires more Pearls and Rhinestones.
So I decided to just skip it.
Instead, I decided to share some of the items that I consider my “must-have-go-to” tools. If my craft table was a kitchen, these would be the utensils that I reach for every day. In the drawer closest to the stove! We’re talking the perfect wooden spoons. No the ravioli roller thingy that’s buried in a drawer somewhere. The rice paddle (yes, I keep that where I can find it – we do rice a lot!). Not the foley-steamer basket that I use approximately once every 5 years!
These are the things I keep where I can always find them. 🙂 These are in no particular order – just as I think of them:
- Ruler. I have a crafting ruler made by Tim Holtz. Well, it has his name on it, at least! It’s an awesome ruler – with markings, down to the 1/16″! I use it for every single project and it works like a charm!
Craft Tweezers. This is a great tool for all those little persnickety jobs that we card-makers do every day. I love them for picking up and placing my Pearl and Rhinestone Basic Jewels. I use them to pick up little punched flowers. Or hold items while I put Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue on them. Couldn’t do without it!
SU! Paper Snips. This Stampin’ Up! item simply rocks. I have a larger set of paper crafting scissors from Tim Holtz – and they’re great. But these little dudes are even better. For fussy cutting, they just can’t be beat! I confess that my Tim Holtz scissors don’t get a lot of use since I got these from Stampin’ Up! Not sure why they’re so much better except they’re smaller. They actually look a little like children’s safety scissors, but they’re sharp sharp sharp! Small size and good sharp blades – is an excellent combination!- SU! Paper Trimmer. I first bought a Fiskars trimmer way back when I first started card making. And it worked…..pretty good! It took me the longest time to take the plunge and buy the Stampin’ Up version. And – Oh. My. Goodness! Who knew?? The cutting platform is a couple of inches wider than the Fiskars – which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it means that you don’t have to open the extension arm for every card (unlike the Fiskars – which I was always opening!). It has a scoring tool integrated right in it – on the Fiskars, I was trying to score lines with my bone folder…..not so bueno! This was definitely one of my best purchases and it holds a permanent spot on my crowded crafting table! And – you can even add a rotary attachment to it – which I’ve bought, but have yet to put on. One of these days!
- Sanding Block. This is another Tim Holtz branded item. Can you tell where/how I got my card-making start? Yes. You-Tube and Amazon. Then I found Stampin’ Up! and Amy Koenders. Anywho – this sander is super handy. It will smooth out rough cuts if your paper trimmer blade is a little past its prime – and who doesn’t push THAT as far as they can make it go? In Distress-land, it can help you add vintage touches to your card. I don’t do that very much, but I always have it nearby to tidy up the edges of my card bases and card front!
- SU! Grid Paper. When I started this crafting adventure, I bought a Ranger Silicone mat. Used it forever. Thought – “Oh, I don’t need paper under my craft area. I have my silicone mat!”. Well, I was a little misguided on that one! Now that I have the paper with the grid – I can stamp off any time – no looking for a piece of scrap paper. I can write down measurements as I take them, anytime. When I get ink on it (not that I ever do, since I’m so very neat and tidy when I stamp!), the ink dries right now – unlike the silicone mat which let it stay nice and juicy and…well, you know! So, I love this tool! I feel confident when I say that I’ll never NOT have a SU! Grid Page under my work area! 🙂
- SU! Embossing Buddy. This thing is a life-saver. Or a card-saver, at the very least! I love to heat emboss – and this little bag o’ powder will make all the difference in the world between having a clean emboss or having stray powder in places you don’t want it! Don’t emboss without it!
- Sponge Daubers. I like to sponge my cards. And edge the card stock. And I like to do it with the little sponge daubers. They’re easy to control and put pretty much where I want them. I have lots of them! And I recently bought a great little box to keep them in! It’s made by Darice and I got it from Amazon. Gotta love that Prime! 🙂
That’s a good start. Now – this is my list of UTENSILS! Not my APPLIANCES. Not my PANTRY. That’s a whole ‘nuther couple of lists of stuff. Includes things like my Big Shot (the work-horse of the whole shootin’ match!). The Heat Tool. My Many Marvelous Markers (oh, I can’t imagine my crafting life without them!) My Ott Lights. My go-to ink pad colors. My Pearls and Rhinestones!!! You know – things like that. Are you beginning to get a picture of the relative size of my crafting area? Or – the size my crafting area SHOULD be?! 🙂
Sorry to not have a card – but hopefully this list has been….informative, at least.
TTFN and I’ll see you tomorrow with a new project to share – I promise!
Mary
P.S. I counted 36 exclamation points in my 1608 word post. This is only in this section and doesn’t include the “!” at the end of Stampin’ Up! Which I have to put cause it’s a logo requirement. Can you say surfeit of enthusiasm? Sheesh. 🙁
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BACKORDER LIST AS OF 10 Sep 15
10 September
138288: Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (5,325 backordered; 9,504 expected)
138378: Tin of Cards Project Kit (more details)
139622: Spider Web Paper Doilies (more details)
12 September
132622: Gold Foil Sheets
14 September
138395: Expressions Natural Elements (429 backordered; 5,992 expected)
15 September
139607: Red Foil Sheets (1,103 backordered; 6,000 expected)
139463: Reindeer Paper Clips
16 October
139673: Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (633 backordered; 2,160 expected)
Inky Bee Stampers
KarensCardCorner
Stamp with Amy K
Stamp With Nel
Stampin With Shirley G
Tarabeth Stamps
TL's Bright Spot
Lots of fantastic “must have” items on your list Mary! So glad that you called me one random weekend to ask about card bases too! 🙂
Yes, indeedy, Amy!! 😊
Hope you feel better soon, Mary! And yes, I read your list and found it helpful. Take good care.
Thanks, Patricia. Hoping to feel better soon! 😉
I so agree with you on your list, think I have all of it:). And the grid paper is wonderful, especially when designing a card you can make notes on the grid paper for later.
Yep. I can’t believe how much I love it – or how long it took me to decide to get it! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Mary-hope you are improving. This weather is probably not helping! You have convinced me to purchase an embossing buddy, and more daubers. I do like them and I love your storage case.
Thanks, Jari! We opened the windows last night for the first time this season. Wondrous! You can’t go wrong with adding those little tools to your stash, no doubt! 🙂