I thought I would share a few of my crafting essentials! These things come in handy when crafting. While not always necessary, they do make thing easier sometimes!

Grid paper is something I use every time I am stamping and take to each of my Stamp Classes! This might be a surprise but it’s a very versatile tool! Here are several practical and creative uses for grid paper that you can use in your card-making and stamping setup:

Practical Uses for Grid Paper in Card Making & Stamping

1. Stamping Alignment & Positioning

• Use the grid lines to align stamps perfectly—especially helpful with sentiments or geometric patterns.
• Easily center die cuts or embellishments by working on a gridded background!!

2. Protect Your Work Surface

• Prevent ink, glue, or marker bleed-through from damaging your table or crafting area.
• Grid paper catches all the mess during inky techniques like blending or spritzing.
• Once it gets too messy, just toss it and grab another sheet!

3. Measuring & Layout Planning

• Use the printed measurements to pre-plan card layouts or matting layers.
• Quickly check dimensions without grabbing a ruler!

4. Practice Stamping

• Test new stamps or ink colors on it before using them on your project.
• Use for stamping off to achieve different color variations or for 2-step stamping!
• Practice pressure and placement, especially with photopolymer stamps.

5. Masking & Blending

• Use sheets to mask off areas or to create temporary backgrounds for blending and sponging.
• Fold or cut the paper to create custom templates or straight-edge guides.

6. Project Notes & Sketching

• Take notes, draw layout sketches, or jot down supply lists directly on the sheet during a class or creative session. My customers do this all the time – write down something we use in class that they want to order or sometimes a doodle of something we are all chatting about! 🙂
• Great for remembering card measurements or layering dimensions or colors used in a project.

I hope this gives you some ideas for using Grid Paper if you have it already! If not, maybe Grid Paper will help solve some problems you have while crafting! Get your Grid Paper today!!!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

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Stampin’ Up! launched their Two-Toned Cardstock in all the colors so now we can enjoy this amazing product with all of our projects!

What is Two-Toned Cardstock?
This 12″ x 12″ cardstock has a lighter shade on one side and a darker shade on the other side. The core of this cardstock is white. It comes in 53 Stampin’ Up! Colors and there are 12 sheets in each paper pack!

What does white core mean?
This cardstock has a white core with the lighter shade on one side and the darker shade on the other side. This makes it fun to create a lot of texture in your greeting card, scrapbook pages, or other project when you tear it and get that detailed look. You could also brush some ink over those white edges for even more color variation and texture!

Have you tried out the Two-Toned Cardstock yet? Click here to shop all of the colors or click the images below for my favorite colors!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Petunia Pop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Two Tone Cardstock

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Pool Party 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Two Tone Cardstock

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Daffodil Delight 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Two Tone Cardstock

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Stampin’ Up! Water Painters come in a 3 pack and they are amazing for watercoloring, creating backgrounds AND sealing envelopes rather than licking them!

Stampin’ Up! Water Painters come as a 3 pack. There is a fine tip brush, a thicker (marker like tip) brush, and a wide, flat brush (as shown in blue above). These brushes are just $13.00 (plus tax and shipping) and you can do so many amazing things with them!

Simply fill the barrel with water and use to watercolor a stamped image. Once you are finished with a color, wipe off the tip on a paper towel and move to the next color. You can also create backgrounds with them. Stripes, polka dots, plaid, a border…..the possibilities are endless. One of my favorite things to use my Water Painter for is sealing envelopes. Especially during this time of year when I’m sealing lots of envelopes, it’s quick and simple and no watery mess. Best of all no nasty taste in my mouth or a paper cut on my tongue. So handy for so many reasons!

Get yours today for the holiday season and all year long!!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Water Painters

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Stampin’ Up! released NEW Baby Blending Brushes AND a Blending Brush Storage piece. Eeeee Bring all on the cuteness and organization! I am so game!

The front 3 brushes are the NEW Baby Blending Brushes. I would say they are almost half the size of the bigger ones or so. The smaller ones offer a little more control of color and a smaller surface for doing smaller/tighter spaces.

You will also notice this amazing NEW Blending Brushes Storage. It holds 9 brushes (big and small). It nice and small and light weight so it can sit on a shelf or on your desk. It’s very clean and sleek looking so it is sure to match! I’m pretty excited about it because before this I had them in a cup but I couldn’t see each brush at a glance.

Here is a little sneak peak at a background that I created with Blending Brushes. Any guesses as to what the final card might look like?!?! Let me know in the comments below and stay tuned for the finished card!

Have you ever used Blending Brushes?!? Try them out by clicking the link below to get some today and don’t forget every order of $50 will earn you a FREE Sale-A-Bration item too!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Blending Brushes

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Small Blending Brushes

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Blending Brushes Storage

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The Take Your Pick Tool is one of those super handy tools to have on your crafting space all the time. I even have more than 1 because I lose mine in the mess….and for when I have classes! 🙂 Do you have one?

Reason I love it / Tips:
~It’s small and easy to have in a cup next to your craft space.
~There are lots of different ends for lots of different uses!
~My favorite is now the putty end to put jewels on your project. It’s just so easy to press the putty on the side of a jewel to pick up and then set on your project! Just put your finger on the jewel and pull the putty away! So quick and easy and better than a fingernail! You can get putty refills as well!
~The stylus end can be used to make a fabulous edge around your die cut image for a little extra texture and dimension. Simply leave the cardstock in the die and run the stylus around the metal edge! Click here to see that video!

~I used the pointy tip for various things like popping out a die cut, pocking out cardstock that doesn’t come out with the die, holding cardstock while I heat emboss and more!
~Also, did you know there is a Brush Attachment that you can use to pop die cut bits out of your image???
~The pancake flipper end is used to get under a project to pop it up, slide adhesive under in a spot I missed, and sometimes for jewels.
~The only con I have is that it gets buried in the mess on my desk and I can’t find it. LOL Good thing I have more than one!

Do you have a Take Your Pick Tool? Do you love it? How do you use your tips? Do share! I would love to hear more.

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Take Your Pick

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Take Your Pick Putty Refill

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Take Your Pick Die Brush Tip

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