As with most hobbies you are going to want to try card making for a while before you know if it will be a hobby you like or not. That being the case you aren’t going to want to spend a lot of money on Card Making Materials and Equipment at the beginning. So here’s a list of card making materials and equipment we recommend as a minimum for starting out, some of it at least you should already have hanging around the house.
Equipment.
- A sharp craft knife (scalpel) and spare blades. One of the best things I’ve ever bought for my crafting was a decent craft knife. By decent I’m not talking about huge amounts of money, £3 or £4 should buy you a good knife in which the blades can be changed. Being able to cut “clean” lines makes all the difference between a good and average finish.
- A decent pair of scissors. Again it doesn’t have to be anything over expensive or special. Just a pair of scissors which are good at cutting paper and card.
- A Blunt kitchen knife (normal place setting knife). Nothing special. You just need a thin but blunt edge. I use a common table knife (the back of it), you may want to use something different.
- A metal ruler preferably with a raised edge. You get away with a plastic one for a while but you will cut into it. I now use a metal ruler as I destroyed too many of the plastic ones by cutting into the edge with the scalpel.
- Pencil and sharpener. Again very basic bits of kit which you will hopefully have around the house. I do tend to keep them with my craft stuff otherwise they just disappear into the kids room or some other unknown part of the house.
- A computer and printer. Access to a computer, internet and printer whilst not absolutely necessary certainly makes life a lot easier. Everyone will be able to download both free and bought papers and those with a little more computer knowledge will be able to make alterations to them before printing them off.
- A cutting mat. This is optional at this stage, I like using one as it makes the cutting much easier and allows me to work in virtually any space. The last thing you want to do is cut into the kitchen or dining room table. They can be fairly expensive but some bargains are to be had if you shop around. I recommend getting at least an A3 one.
Materials.
- White Card. Card comes in different thicknesses, What thickness you use it really down to personal choice although to start with I recommend something around 250/270Gsm. The card needs to be thick enough to stand and take a bit of weight (if you are doing decoupage etc) but should be so thick that it is difficult to work with e.g. you will need to be able to fold and cut it. Later on you will probably want to investigate some of the card with textures, colours etc but to start with a good stock of plain white card should do.
- White Paper. Again white paper come in different thicknesses. At this stage a basic nice white photocopies paper should do fine. We are going to use it to make insert sheets and at time to print on then stick onto the card.
- White thick glossy photo printing paper. I like using this for Decoupage,toppers and other embellishments, It gives a nice finish, it’s strong enough to hold its shape but thin enough to cut easily.
- Double sided sticky tape. Useful in lots of situations, a lot easier to use and less messy than glue.
- Double Sided Sticky Pads. (Foam Pads). I use these as spacers between decoupage and toppers etc. Some people prefer to use a blob of silicone glue which has the benefit of allowing you time to reposition your piece but I prefer the double sided sticky pads as it creates less mess.
- Paper Glue. A good general paper glue is always useful. Obviously you want one which dries clear. The best ones leave no marks at all.
Although this looks like a long list but it really doesn’t work out to be too much. Some of it you should have hanging around the house whilst other items you should be able to pick up quite cheaply on Ebay or other similar sites. It should be easy to start your collection of Card Making Materials and Equipment.
Card Making Materials and Equipment.
Authored By: Bob Prentice.
