What Every Beginning Stamper Needs

 

Alright, "needs" might not be the best choice of words - we "need" food, clothing, shelter, love....but y'all know what I mean!  I was going to send this info in an email to a new stamper (When asked during our first virtual meeting how long she'd been stamping she said seven minutes! She's definitely in the beginner category.)

 

The following are things, in my opinion, you just can't do without:

• Sharp scissors (I have multiple pairs for different things but I always go to my snips for basic cutting.)
• A paper trimmer
• Double-sided adhesive
• Quality white paper
• Quality black ink (Memento - Dye ink and Versa fine Pigment ink are my favorites)
• Acrylic Blocks (various sizes) or a Stamparatus -then you don't need any blocks as the Stamparatus takes the place of ALL blocks.
• Ruler - I like to measure so I always have one handy.
• Something to color with - colored pencils, watercolor pencils, alcohol markers, water-based markers, pastels.  Choose something that you LOVE to work with and can achieve good results with minimal effort. 
• Stamp cleaner - lots of choices, a stamp cleaning pad, old facecloth, shammy, baby wipes, paper towels.  Just a little bit of water on any of the above works fine.  If you need to deep clean your stamps you could always use Stampin' Mist.

 

When you want to ramp-up your game:

• A die cut/embossing machine
• Dies
• Embossing folders
• Punches
• Various ink pads (check out my blog post from July 25, 2020 on Stampin' Blends. I would choose the same colors in ink pads as well.)
• Lots and lots of paper