Paper Craft Supplies and Tools
On this page, we'll be learning about what paper craft supplies we need (and maybe a few that we want. haha) Of course, for starters, let's stick to the basics first. :)
Ready to begin? Grrrrreat! I can't wait to start crafting with you, and I promise you'll love every minute of it!
Okay. So here we go. First, you need to know the paper craft supplies and tools you're going to use. I've been making cards for years and experience has taught me that there are hundreds - no, thousands - of tools out there for paper crafting. And, yes, I admit many of them would cost you an arm and a leg. So in order to keep you able to make cards (you won't be able to if you lost an arm), we'll start with the most basic of tools. We'll call these, the must-haves.
THE MUST-HAVES
Paper and Cardstock
Patterned Papers
If you're new to making cards (and my guess is you are), you'd be delighted to know that patterned papers now come in every color you can think of and in a wide variety of styles and sizes too! You can easily find lots in your local craft store. Did you know that they now come in themes? Yes! You can find paper packs in themes like birthday, Christmas, floral, love, vintage and anything else you can imagine. Trust me, the problem will not be finding them but choosing!
Cardstock
You'll need cardstock to form your card's base. Cut to your desired size and folded into two, the front portion will hold your embellishments while the insides will contain your personal message. Cardstock also comes in different colors and textures. For starters, I'd suggest you go with white for the obvious reason that it will go well with any of your paper craft supplies.
Adhesives
Adhesives are also sold in varieties. Once you become familiar with them, it will be easier to pick the best type of adhesive for paper, vellum and embellishments.
Double-Sided Tape
Double-sided tape is best to use when sticking paper products together. Unlike liquid glue, which I would not recommend, double-sided tape does the job quite well without wrinkling or shrinking paper and in just a matter of seconds too. Liquid glue takes forever to dry and is a bit messy to apply.
Foam Tape
If you want to create a bit of dimension for your cards, simply add your embellishments using foam tape. Foam tape comes in small squares too if you don't want to buy it in a roll. Personally, I prefer to buy in rolls. Rolls are a bit easier to work with since you can cut the tape to your desired size and shape yourself.
Glue Stick
Aside from double-sided tape, glue sticks also work great on paper. No shrinking, no wrinkling. I personally love this Bostik GluStik (photo above) and have been using it for the past few months. It starts out blue so you can see where you're working on and dries up clear. It also works best with vellum when applied evenly. I tried double-sided tape and it showed through the vellum. Trust me that's not the see-through effect you want.
Hot Glue
While double-sided tape and glue stick work best on paper products, hot glue rules when it comes to embellishments made of fabric, plastic and metal. Why? You need superior fixing strength for these types of materials and tapes and glue simply won't do the job. Be very careful though. I've been burnt enough times to say that hot glue is my least favorite.
Scissors
What can we do without one, eh? Of all our paper craft supplies, I would say this is the most important next to paper products. Any type will do but if you can find one that's fine tipped, I'd say go for it. The fine tips will come in handy when cutting intricate images or patters.
Ruler
You'll be needing this all throughout the whole crafting process. Choose one that's clear and has a centering feature. The most common use for it would be to measure and cut your cards to your desired sizes, making sure that they fit your envelopes. Which brings me to a very important tip!
TIP: Unless you plan to make handmade envelopes for each of your cards, choose and buy your envelopes first! That way, all you need to do is cut your cards to the size of your envelopes. It's absolutely harder to do it the other way around.
Pens and Pencils
I highly recommend getting a good quick-drying black pen for adding doodles, sentiments and messages for your cards. Black works well with any color theme and is the most distinct and noticeable when working with dark-colored papers. If you want, you can buy pens in other colors too to go with whatever color theme your card uses but I think those belong in the nice-to-haves section rather than here in our list of must-have paper craft supplies.
In adding doodles, sentiments and messages, always start with a pencil to avoid irreparable damage. Unless you also work as a calligrapher, then by all means, write away! *wink*
Coloring Materials
The tutorials you'll find on this site are loaded with printable images that you can print and color to your heart's content. For starters, I would recommend coloring pencils. They're easier to use and blend. Later on when you're ready to take the next step, we're going to tackle markers and copics. For now, let's stick to the basics. Baby steps, people, baby steps.
And there you have it! If you have the paper craft supplies mentioned above, you've got no excuse to delay making cards!
I'll have a list of nice-to-haves soon so stick with me. I'll make this worth your while.
Got your paper craft supplies?
What are we waiting for then? Let's start crafting! Choose any of the following for card ideas and tutorials.
Making birthday cards is a whole lot of fun! And it can be really easy too. Browse our collection of handmade birthday cards for some easy birthday card ideas.
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Check out our page on Christmas Card Ideas! We take pride in the fact that all our cards are beginner-friendly and very doable so you should have no problem. ;)
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