Papercraft Tools

These pages are by no means a complete list but they does tell you about the tools I know and love. These items can often help to make your projects look much more complete, accurate, professional and satisfying.

I will add to this list as I try out new tools and find links that help to show you examples of scrapbooking, cardmaking and papercraft tools and/or how they work.

Oh and for more free Paper Craft Ideas visit The Artful Crafter.

Tools:

• Bone Folders are great for sharply creasing and scoring your paper projects. I count a bone folder as one of my essential papercraft tools.
  
  
  
  
  
• Crafter's Toolkits usually contain any combination of such things as hole punches, eyelet setters, needles, paper piercing tools, bottle-nosed pliers, wire cutters, tweezers and a hammer. Your choice of toolkit depends on what you would like to make the most, but this combination of tools usually winds up being part of a serious papercrafter's tool kit over time. Why not purchase them as a set right from the start?
  
  

• The Crop-a-dile provides great ways to punch holes in paper, tin, chipboard and other heavy-weight materials such as leather with absolute ease. Surprised? See more here!
  
  
  
  
  
• Cutting Systems can be purchased to provide you with templates for cutting common shapes such as circles and ovals. It is so useful to have uniform and nested shapes. Good cutting systems allow you to make several sizes of the same shape by the addition of several grooves that allow the blade to cut smaller or larger shapes. They are wonderful papercraft tools that will help you with ideas for many types of projects.
  
  
• Heat Guns are used for a number of surprising purposes but never for drying your pet dog! Find out more here.
  
  
  
  
• Paper Crimpers are tools that easily create handmade embellishments for your papercraft projects. Add dimension and interest with the twist of your wrist!
  
  
  
  
• Paper Piercing Mats and Tools are terrific for making even patterns on cards and scrapbook pages. You can make rows of little holes to add dimension to a project. You can use pens to draw between the holes to make faux stitching. You can use this papercraft tool to add texture and depth to particular parts of an image. There are many more ways to use these tools.
  
  
  
  
• Personal Trimmers or Guillotines are very useful for cutting photographs and other paper to size. I find some of the smaller trimmers are best used for photos only as other types of paper tends to dull the blade. Choose a larger and heavier guillotine for cutting scrapbook pages and cardstock, especially if you need to handle a large amount of paper cutting for workshops, home classes or other events. You can see how some paper cutters are used at Scrapbooking for Beginners: Cutting Tools for Scrapbooking
  
  
  
  

• Punches are tools that allow you to punch out special shapes over and over again. They are useful scrapbook tools that you can use to make shapes for borders or frames for your projects, for making cards and a whole lot more.
  
  
  
  
  
• Sandpaper is useful for many little jobs, such as roughing up a paper surface to add interest to the project, fixing the edges of 3d paper projects where corners meet or edges need to be smoother.
  
  

• Scissors need to be sharp and sturdy for paper projects to look great. You will need both larger and smaller sized scissors. The larger scissors are good for times when you want to cut across large areas or when your project needs you to have tools with a little more strength. Smaller scissors with sharp, fine tips are essential for cutting intricate and delicate designs precisely.
  
  Some people have a special pair of scissors for cutting ribbons, a set for cutting rubber, and another set entirely for cutting paper. This helps to keep your particular pair sharp and useful for their job.
  
  

  IMPORTANT NOTE: Do protect these essential papercraft tools from anyone in the house who isn't a papercrafter! I have had wonderful scissors ruined by family members who thought it wouldn't matter if they cut a piece of wire 'just once'. Lol!

  
  
  
• A Self-Healing Cutting Mat is the basis for every papercraft project I attempt. Such a mat will protect your furniture, your tools and even you from injury at times. It provides a safe place to use sharp tools, score papers and it provides lots of assistance with measuring and spacing if it has a grid marked out on it.
  
  
  
  
• A Stamp-a-ma-jig or Stamp Positioner is of great help when you want to position a wooden block stamp exactly on the page. Find out how to use one and you will wonder how you got along without one before!
  
  
  
  
• Straight and Wavy Trimmers are wonderful tools for cutting longer pieces of paper or cardstock. These tools usually have very sharp blades that can be replaced as needed. Good quality trimmers can complete large numbers of cuts before a replacement blade is necessary, so do choose a trimmer to suit your frequency of use.
  
  
  
  
• Writing Guides help you to space your title lettering accurately or to curve your text uniformly when you want to. There are various systems available for helping you to both form letters and align text. I have chosen a system that allows me to place letters on wavy or circular lines as well as to make straight lines of text.
  
  
  
  

Hints and tips for maintaining your tools:

• To learn about mounting, using and cleaning your stamps, click on Rubber Stamps for Cardmaking
  

• To learn more about sharpening your cutters and scissors, click on Keeping Your Tools Sharp
  

• To find out more about the right adhesives to use in your projects, click on Scrapbooking and Papercraft Adhesives