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I can't live without VersaMark Ink, Brown and Black Ink, pop dots, glossy accents, scrappers floss, Nestabilities Dies. A good coloring medium! Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits are great to start out with. Copics are a DREAM COME TRUE! I also LOVE my heat tool and transcendence embossing powder! You can emboss it with regular dye ink pads and any other! A good swirl stamp! Your list will grow and grow and grow! Good Luck and enjoy the process!
__________________ Mischelle Smith www.mischellesmith.comFounder/CEO of The Angel Company and NOW a consultant with CTMH !
For me, when I started out, I purchased one each of different kinds of sentiments. I.e., Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Hello, etc. A good tape runner to adhere your cardstock is a must. I use Tombow, but there are many others who like different ones. I bought a few basic punches (circle, square, oval, rectangle). I also really like dimensionals to "pop up" an image or sentiment on a card.
Maybe it would be helpful for you to look through the SCS gallery and find some cards you like. Jot down what "supplies" were used for each particular card and you should start to see some duplicate "supplies". That could help you head in a direction you want to go.
Good luck and happy stamping!
A good cutter - don't go cheap because you will use it a ga-zillion times. Replacement blades because you want nice, clean cuts. Versamark. StazOn (black) and refills for each. Adhesive - some folks like tape runners, some like liquid glue. Pop up dots. High quality cardstock, don't buy the cheap stuff with a coupon at a discount hobby store or your cards won't really hold up well. A couple of ink pads - try a few different kinds to see what you prefer - but don't buy tons of one brand until you know you love them and want to make that investment. Punches are fun, but stick with a few basics just to get started - circles, ovals, and scalloped punches might be a good place to begin. Some extra buttons you have laying around the house - and pieces of ribbon are nice to add dimension to your cards. But beware, if they make the envelope bumpy (not flat), you may have to add additional postage to mail them (same with square cards in square envelopes). A few versatile stamp sets with sentiments like happy birthday, thinking about you, thank you, etc. Try rubber on wood, rubber clings (with a clear acrylic block), and clear poly (also with a clear acrylic block). After a while you can stick with the type of stamps that you prefer and can build up an inventory over time.
What you really need:
- Scissors. Good ones that have a fine tip on them. I like CutterBee, but there are also nice ones from Fiskars, SU and others that are very nice as well.
- Paper Trimmer. Again, everyone has their own favorites. I like my age old Fiskars, but there are lots of other nice ones out there. Part of this will depend on what you’re doing for storage as well as some take up a lot of room. Make sure it can cut 12” paper, though, in case you decide to get some.
- Adhesive. Tape runners (Tombo, SU) are good for most projects and won't break the bank. Glue sticks are nice, but don't hold as well IME. I just got an ATG gun and have to say I love it though.
- Cardstock. Go for quality. Especially for your card bases. There are tons of threads on what's best in the tools category here. Personally, I like SU.
- Ink. Basic at first - black, maybe a brown. You can add colors if you wish and it fits your style.
- Versamark Ink. LOVE IT! You can make subtle watercolor images on anything, use it to emboss and more.
- Bone folder. Not something I’d have thought of as necessary before I got one, but love it now. It makes my card folds much more crisp and straight.
- Basic stamp sets. When I started otu stamping, I slowly built my collection by looking for sets that had multiple uses. For example - a set with a birthday cake was pretty specific wasn't an early purchase, but one with a flower that could be used multiple times was. I also got a couple of smaller sentiment sets for things i knew I'd use such as birthdays, babies, etc. Part of that depends on where you’re at in your life right now. Now I need retirement and get well. LOL.
There are lots of other things you’ll “need” down the road, but this would get you started.
__________________ Diana
*******
Save your drama for your llama.
You've gotten some good tips here....paper trimmer, adhesive, Stazon ink, Versamark Ink, some ink pads and/or pastels (something to give you a selection of colors). The advice when I started was to get the brighter colors rather than subtles because you could lighten those up to make them look a little like subtles. Also, I would say get a good versatile stamp set but don't go crazy buying stamps....use some money for things to embellish with, like ribbon, glitter. brads, buttons for example. And of course good quality white card stock and other colored card stock to match your inks. Don't buy the cheap stuff, you won't like it. Try to keep things coordinated, especially to start out. Good luck and have fun!
I think a lot of it will depend on what kind of things you like to do. Do you like to color? Do you like the look of watercolors? Clean and simple? Background techniques you can stamp over? The other thing to consider is the style of stamp you like - cute, quirky, religious, collage? It can be totally overwhelming.
Spend some time looking in the gallery and at different blogs to see what suits your style. That way you won't end up posting on the "I wish I hadn't bought that" threads!
Every beginner needs the same basic tools. Something to cut paper with - trimmer, knife, scissors or whatever floats your boat. Something to measure with - either a clear ruler or a metal one (clear with a metal edge rocks!) Good card stock - especially in white. Black ink (I would stick with a dye ink at first, unless you're going to stamp on non-paper surfaces or use a lot of water over your image) and a way to clean whatever stamps you start with. A bottle of stamp cleaner and a 99 cent nail brush are awesome!
Really, it's about your personal preferences - that's why this is such an awesome hobby!
__________________ All inked up... and somewhere to go. My gallery, small but mighty... or maybe just mighty small! Come see my almost new blog... M'ija Stamps!
I'll echo some of the other ladies...get a GOOD paper trimmer. You'll replace your cheap one(s) until you get a good one anyway LOL! If you know anyone who stamps, ask if you can play with some of their things. Inks and stamps are such a personal thing.
As to paper, I've got gobs of paper, solid and patterned, and kick myself often because I can't find matching cardstock for my pattern paper. You might consider looking at some of the companies that have lines of papers and inks that match each other. It saves some frustration. I still love looking through all my papers though LOL!
For a start u need cutterpede, scoring bone, versamark, some pigment inks and clear/rainbow embossing powder depending on whether you like glitter, some simple sentiment stamps, image stamps or digi stamps and either markers or watercolour pencils.
As you progress you will buy more and more and more............. the list will go on.
Jacqsav1:
As I looked back over this thread, I wondered if you are feeling totally overwhelmed. Each one of us has our "go to" items, favorites, etc. Here's just a thought....I don't know if there's a stamping/scrapbooking store near you but if there is, you might just go in there when they have a class, crop or an area where you can try different things. If you have a friend who stamps use a few of her things to see what you like and what you don't. It's been amazing to me the things I thought I "needed" and don't use. On the reverse side, there's things I never thought I would need and use all the time.
I have a friend who started stamping by seeing a card she liked in a magazine, took that picture to a local scrapbook/hobby store and purchased the things she needed for that 1card. It helped her to just buy those few things and then build from there.
I am a huge fan of "try before you buy" or watching/reading a tutorial on SCS and then just purchasing those items needed for that card.
You're develop your own style, taste, etc. as time goes on.
Good luck!
Find a demonstator ....example Stampin Up.....she is a valuable resource and also can show you some awesome techniques and how to do projects.
I would begin with what kind of cards you'd like to do first......
example: birthday cards......for children or adults? and go with one
stamp set and one technique first.....
if you like to color in ....then get basic black ink... and then can color in
images.
Your SU demonstrator can help you with all areas..
ink, paper, and stamp sets......start out small and then you can find out what style you like to do.
Agreeing with one of the posters above, the replies here must be overwhelming to you! Also agreeing that if you have a local stamping or scrapbooking store, or a demo for one of the stamping companies, that can be an awesome resource for you - a chance to try things out to see if you like 'em. If they offer classes, or you can find a demo that has stamp camp events, that's even better. It gives you a chance to try more specialized tools & materials to see if you like them without buying them.
Most stamp stores and demonstrators will ask you to bring a basic kit to classes. My stores basic kit lists the following: Adhesive, scissors, mounting tape/pop dots, black fine tip felt marker, paper trimmer.
Adhesive: I ended up getting an ATG, but I didn't like tape runners when I started out. I actually preferred Mono Multi liquid glue; it holds better than most runners, is easy to use and doesn't warp the paper.
Trimmer - repeating what others have said, but here's one item you don't want to start with an inexpensive one because you will never be happy with it. I ended up with a big Tonic guillotine because I was tired of crooked cuts, frayed edges, and spending too much money on replacement blades. Since that's not very portable, I also got a smaller one to take with me for crafting-away-from-home events.
Scissors: Already been discussed, my preference is also Cutterbees. Something with small really pointy sharp blades. And a blade cover
Black fine-tip marker - Sakura Pigma fine point all the way. You can buy them in sets with multiple point sizes or in singles. These are awesome for filling in lines where your stamp missed, or for hand-doodling borders.
Stamp pads - you need a couple of good black pads. Versafine in black onyx gives a great image with both rubber and clear stamps and is waterproof - won't run with watercolor or waterbased markers. If you plan on coloring with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits, or alcohol markers (Copics or sharpies), you'll also need a pad that won't smear with those - Memento Tuxedo Black is a good one. A clear Versamark pad is also a really good multi-use item - you can use it to stamp with for a watermark effect, and the ink stays wet so that you can emboss it. If you think you want colored pads, I'd start with the Dewdrop or Stampin' Spot sets - that gives you several colors for not a lot of money and you can see if you actually like the ink before going with bigger pads.
Watercolor markers - these are nice to have for coloring on stamps to stamp a multicolored image or for coloring images. I'll admit, I don't like coloring images with them, but if you scribble them on an old cd or something similar where they won't dry, you can use them as watercolors with a wet paintbrush (or waterbrush). There are special markers in the stamping section that have double ends - Memento, Tombo, LePlume, Stampin' Up! - or if you just kind of want to play, Michael's has a set of 100 colors for around $20 that you could use a coupon on. They just have bullet tips and are kind of clumsy for coloring images, but they work great for stamping or watercoloring.
Cardstock & paper - for card bases, you need something with good weight & stiffness to stand up to the weight of whatever you put on it. I highly recommend Gina K Designs Pure Luxury heavy base weight. I got some just to try and hokey smokes, it is awesome! For your layers, you're fine to go with the cheaper discount stuff if you want, but some of those colors are kind of weird. My lss carries a brand called Color Mates. I don't feel that it's heavy enough for bases, but it's awesome for coordinating colors. Each color they sell is available in a light, medium, deep and dark shade. As far as patterned paper, don't fall into the trap of the cheap assortments. When I first started, I loved the idea of the Provo Craft slabs - but I was paying for a huge stack of paper where I really loved less than half of the papers in it. I've been using them for envelopes, bows and wrapping paper. The Die Cuts With A View stacks aren't as bad - you can look thru the stack and see exactly what's in it, and most of them now are the heavier cardstock and have glitter or embossing on them. Also, if you are making strictly cards and decide to buy stacks like this, you might want to opt with the smaller pads. You don't need full 12x12 sheets for most cards and the smaller 8x8 or 4ish x 6ish are easier to store.
Other tools: Making Memories makes a really nice tool set. The price runs about $30, but again, you can use a coupon. It includes a paper piercer, craft knife, small metal ruler and reverse-action tweezer. All very useful. It also has a hammer for setting eyelets. Probably less useful, but still fun to have for those frustrating moments
Not previously mentioned, but having one I'd never be without it - a scoring tool. I prefer the Scor-Pal; if you're only using it for cards, a Scor-Buddy is smaller and less expensive. Or, the Martha Stewart board is a full 12x12 board and very reasonably priced (especially with a coupon). Really, it makes the fold on your cards so much crisper and neat-looking, and you can use it to create decorative lines on the card as well.
I'd also pick up a set of chalks - you can either get a set of the little squares in pans in the stamping aisle, or go to the art supplies aisle and pick up a set of soft artist pastels (these will be sticks). For applicators, you can use eyeshadow applicators or q-tips. These are kind of a nice multi-use item; you can use them for coloring in images, for shading and shadowing and for highlighting edges. You can also use them with a blender pen to get more vivid colors.
Sorry, this turned into a really epic reply. I'm a total tool junkie.
I didn't notice anyone saying a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. If you want to to two-step stamping, this will be a lifesaver. It is also great for making sure that your sentiments are straight--it isn't fun to make a beautiful card and mess up on the sentiment. If you don't know how to use a SAMJ, there should be something in the resource section.
Really in the end, that's what you NEED. The rest of the stuff (and believe me, I love it all, too) is all stuff you can acquire as you go.
I agree that a versatile stamp set is the way to go. I rarely purchase stamps that can only be used for one purpose. When I was an SU! Demonstrator I used that "All Natural" stamp set to DEATH. But every card was different!
Newbie!
