Cardmaking 101 – Tools for Cardmaking

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Welcome to the second in my series of Card making 101 – this week I thought we would look at some of the tools I most regularly use in my card making.

Stampin' Up! UK Stampin' Trimmer Cardmaking 101

 

Tools are so important, they say you judge a craftsman by his tools – and card making is a craft! I have used a heap of trimmers over the years, but the Stampin’ Trimmer is by far the best! I just love the wide foot-bed, this means that to cut a card base (which is what I use my trimmer for by far the most!) I don’t need to swing out the extension arm. Saying that I love that this trimmer extends to 14″ – way more that I will ever need. The blades are so easy to replace, and you get to choose between the standard trimmer blades or the rotary attachment!

A good pair of scissors is so important, and I would suggest two pair – a good pair of long scissors for cutting along the score lines of boxes and bags, and a pair of paper snips for fussy cutting, and detailed bits. A separate pair of scissors for cutting ribbon is also a good idea as paper will dull the blades and make ribbon cutting difficult. The Stampin’ Paper Snips are excellent, blades sharp right to the tip and comfortable hold.

Stampin' Up! UK paper snips

I also use my scissors for picking up jewels and pearls, candy dots and other little sticky things. But I mostly grab for my paper piercing tool for these sorts of jobs, I’m sure if you have seen some of my YouTube tutorials you will have seen me do this. A paper piercing tool is also great for adding pierced details to your cards and projects, as well as getting all those fiddly bits out of your dies when die cutting.

I think one of the most important card making tools is a good bone folder. For years I had a cheap plastic bone folder, and it wasn’t until I started with Stampin’ Up! that I changed to a ‘proper’ one, what a difference! A clean, crisp edge to all folded projects, cards and boxes. My plastic bone folder has now be relegated to re-inking ink pads!

Stampin' Up! UK paper piercing

The most random tool in my kit though must be my emery board! I use this so much, and it has several uses! Mostly it gets used when my trimmer blade needs changing, when card stock starts to cut a little fluffy, an emery board is great for sanding away the rough edges. Or for when you want that distressed look. Or when you catch a finger nail with your paper snips!


I hope you are finding these posts helpful, and if you have any questions about card making, stamping or Stampin’ Up! either drop me a message via my contact me page, or leave me a comment below

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator