Below you will find my favorite crafting essentials, craft room organization products, and my most-used Stampin’ Up! products for quick and easy card making. You can click on the categories below to jump down the page to see those recommended products.
Crafting Essentials
These card making and crafting essentials are not Stampin’ Up! products, but tried-and-true favorites of mine that keep card making easy and fun! Click on the image to shop each product, and if you’re looking for a recommendation for something else, just ask!
*Note: This section contains affiliate links, which means I can earn a commission if you purchase through those links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Adhesive Eraser: Helps remove liquid glue residue that may gush on your card.
Alcohol Pads: Cleans lint build-up off stamps and clear blocks to help them stick again.
Post-It Tape: Keeps dies secure without ruining paper and is great for masking techniques.
Ruler: For measuring! I love this one because it’s sturdy and has 1/8″ and 1/16″ on it.
Gel Pens: My favorite pens for outlining DSP and stamped images for a unique look.
Photo Printer: The perfect compact wireless printer to print photos for scrapbooking.
Craft Room Storage & Organization
These craft room recommendations are items that have helped keep my space organized so I can enjoy a clean stamping area. Click on the image to shop each product, and if you’re looking for a recommendation for something else, just ask!
*Note: This section contains affiliate links, which means I can earn a commission if you purchase through those links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Paper Storage: Holds 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper. I do one sleeve per pack. Keeps full pages and scraps together.
Paper Holder: Holds all the 12 x 12 DSP packs. I have one for speciality papers, annual, and mini catalog to keep organized.
Storage Pockets: Holds 6 x 6 Designer Series Paper. I trim the tops of the bags for size and label them by color groups.
File Envelopes: Holds 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. Helps keep full pages and scraps together, and can be stored in the paper holder.
File Folder: To store my cardstock when traveling and in Arizona where I don’t have my “nice & big” stamp room.
Label Maker: I love this portable machine! Use app on phone and can create stickers with different fonts and images.
Label Maker: Have you noticed I label everything? This trusty machine is more classic and doesn’t require your phone.
Storage Bins: Perfect size to store embossing folders, dies, and 6 x 6 DSP. (PS – I label all these things too!)
Storage Bins: Perfect size to hold your cards and templates and easy to flip through!
Photo Backdrop: Different background options for taking photos of projects.
Photography Reflector: To help with lighting when taking photos of projects.
Beginner Card Making Essentials
If you’re just beginning to make handmade cards, these are my recommended card making essential tools for quick and easy card making.
Simple Card Embellishments
Small details on your cards can go a long way! My favorite embellishments to add are a small linen bow, three rhinestones, and popped-up layers adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Mix & Match For Quick & Easy Cards
The Stampin’ Up! Mix & Match product line is awesome, and takes quick & easy card making to a whole new level! I love piecing together the different ephemera packs to create endless combinations of cards. CLICK HERE for a recent project I made using Mix & Match products.
Design With DSP: Designer Series Paper
One of my favorite ways to create quick & easy cards is to design with DSP. When you have such beautifully designed papers, let them be the focus of your cards! CLICK HERE to see project ideas to design with DSP. A benefit to creating with DSP, you can take the card layout ideas and use any of your favorite papers. Here are a few packs of Designer Series Paper available, CLICK HERE to browse the full selection. It’s available in each color group and comes with four different prints, and then there are lots of different designs that also coordinate with other stamping products.
Heat Embossing
Heat embossing is one of the easiest card making techniques to add a wow factor to your handmade cards. My favorite way to use it on my cards is to heat emboss my sentiments with white embossing powder on Basic Black cardstock. CLICK HERE for a recent project showing this.
Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine: Embossing Folders & Die Cuts
My favorite card making tool – I love my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine! It comes in two sizes, the standard and the Mini. If you want to invest in a machine, I do recommend the standard because it fits all embossing folders and die cuts. The Mini Machine is going to be limited on which ones will fit. This shows just a few of the die cuts and embossing folders available, but these are my most used. I use these two stand-alone dies to cut my sentiments and focal layers to add to my cards. CLICK HERE to browse all dies available, most have coordinating stamp sets to cut out stamped images. These are my top 3 most used embossing folders. I love embossing background layers to add a level of dimension to my cards. CLICK HERE to browse all embossing folders available.
Coloring
When it comes to coloring, Stampin’ Blends are my absolute favorite! They’re super easy to color with and make you feel like an artist without being an artist. CLICK HERE for a recent project where I share my easy Stampin’ Blends coloring tips. I didn’t link all the Blends below because they don’t sell as a pack but as individual colors, and that would be a lot to link. The Stampin’ Writes do sell in packs of color groups. They’re not my go-to markers, but they have their specific uses! CLICK HERE to browse all markers and more.
