Paper and Cardstock:
There's a zillion options for paper out there. Here are some of my favorites:
Inexpensive white cardstock: Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover 80lb is smooth, very bright white, and about $.05 per sheet. Just great for dye ink stamping. Not recommended for getting the best results from watercolor or alcohol markers.
Better white cardstock: Gina K Pure Luxury Card Stock in Heavy Weight (120lb) and Layering Weight (80lb) is fantastic for stamping with dye ink, pigment ink, and Distress Oxide inks. Great for ink blending too. It's as smooth as you can get. It works pretty well for alcohol markers but not as good as Neenah Classic Crest. I haven't tried it with colored pencils yet.
Black cardstock: Just like white cardstock, they are not created equal. I haven’t tried many and I am still looking for a good one. I have used Stampin' Up's! black cardstock for years, however, I recently ran into issues when I tried to heat emboss with white embossing powder. I did a controlled experiment and found it was definitely the cardstock that made my embossing look blotchy. It might have been a bad batch, but other SU cardstocks have caused me similar issues with white embossing. I know Kristina Werner has a YouTube video where she reviews black cardstock.
Ink:
Like paper, this is a never-ending topic. If you're reading this, you probably already know the differences between dye ink and pigment ink. Dye ink absorbs into the paper very quickly and dries almost immediately. Pigment ink sits on top of the paper and requires a good bit of time OR heating it in order for it to dry. Embossing ink is a clear sticky ink where it stays sticky for awhile so you can douse it with embossing powder and heat the powder until it melts.
My favorite dye inks: I've used Stampin' Up! ink for almost 20 years and, except for their brand of black, have liked the results every time. Distress Inks are also amazing in every way. Like everything Tim Holtz puts his name on, they are top quality and rich in color. I love that I can buy them in minis. There are plenty of other top notch dye inks out there like My Favorite Things, Catherine Pooler, Simon Hurley and many others. Just buy what you like from a reputable company and you will be good to go.
Black ink: If you are going to use alcohol markers, I highly recommend Memento Tuxedo black ink. It will not smear and blend with your colors. It dries almost immediately. If you are going to watercolor or you simply need the sharpest image possible and you are NOT planning to use alcohol markers, I highly recommend Versafine. It is excellent at capturing the tiniest details, but may require heat setting before you color. As long as you give it time to dry, it is the best choice for stamping inside-the-card sentiments.
Distress Oxides -The game changing ink. As far as I know, there is nothing else on the market like Tim Holtz's Distress Oxide inks. They are a hybrid between dye inks and pigment inks. They are so much fun to play with and layer on top of one another. I collect these and use them frequently. And yes, you can just plain stamp with them too. They dry faster than pigment inks but look opaque. Fantastic for stamping on darker cardstock.
Paper trimmers:
I've owned many over the years. My current paper trimmer of choice is the Creative Memories 12-inch trimmer. It's very easy to use and changing blades to scoring or scallop or many others they sell is safe and easy.
For cutting photos I get printed or needing a razor-sharp edge for tiny cuts, I like to use a Fiskars' 8.5" Card Making Bypass Paper Trimmer (Guillotine style). Creative Memories also makes an excellent small guillotine paper trimmer.
Dies: There are a lot of fantastic companies that make high quality steel dies. I like buying from US companies such as Poppystamps (full disclosure: I am on their design team), My Favorite Things, Sizzix, Pink Fresh Studio, and many others.
Adhesives:
I can't begin to list all the fantastic adhesives there are on the market. And the list of what NOT to use is pretty short (for paper crafting, stay away from rubber cement). A few I particularly love are these:
Scotch Removable Tape I use for holding dies in place on paper or anything temporary. I use Post It Tape (1 and 2") for masking and also for temporary hold or labeling something. Bearly Art glue and Art Glitter Glue are almost the same but Art Glitter is a tiny bit thicker and very strong. I use Glue Dots brand tape runner (72 ft. in a tiny container!) to adhere paper and photos when I am scrapbooking. Another I like is Kokuyo Dotliner adhesive. You can buy it from Amazon but all the packaging is in Japanese. I like Stampin’ Up! Dimensionals foam adhesive the best because it has the most "smushability" - the foam gives and when it gets temporarily smushed in the mail it will not make an indentation into your card.
Other Great Tools:
Elizabeth Craft Designs Precision Tweezers. I bought these at a scrapbook convention in 2018 and I use them almost every day. They are easy to handle and to store. I know there are a lot of great tweezers on the market, but these have served me very well.
The Absorber or a similar chamois-like PVA towel. Cut this into smaller squares and it is ideal for cleaning clear stamps and leaving absolutely nothing behind to mess up your next stamped image. It's damp when you buy it and you should keep it damp in either a ziplock or sealed food box. No, it won't mold due to what it is made of. You can wash it, just don't dry it.
Social Icons