Top 10 Crafting Supplies: Everything You Need to Start Making DIY Cards
For decades, paper crafting has brought joy to people across the world. It’s an experience like no other–where you can transform basic elements like paper, stamps, and ink into miniature works of art.
There’s no limit to your creativity when you’ve got the right tools and supplies for success. We know it may be intimidating to find the right supplies when you’re starting out! This list of our top 10 DIY card-making supplies will give you the perfect base to craft any card project, be it basic or intricate.
Understanding DIY Card-Making Supplies
Getting a new tool is always fun, but if you’re overwhelmed with where to start, these basic tools for making handmade cards are everything you need to start your first project today. In fact, you might be pleasantly surprised with how basic your crafting supplies can be. After all, you’ve been using many of them since you were a child!
Beginners are often hesitant to invest in quality tools. However, a common mistake beginner crafters make is buying low-quality (dare we say cheap) paper crafting tools online. Even the most experienced crafters were probably guilty of making this mistake when they first started.
When it comes to preserving memories that last and creating professional-looking art, the quality of your tools matters. You want clean-cut lines, glue that preserves and lasts, and acid-free, lignin-free paper that won’t yellow or damage easily. Remember, you’re creating a handmade card for someone they can treasure, and you want everything on your card to last a very long time.
With that understanding of the basic-but-quality items you’ll need to get started, let’s dive into the top ten crafting supplies needed for creating your own handmade cards!
- Cutting tool
- Adhesives
- Dimensionals
- Ink
- Acrylic stamping block
- Stamps
- Craft punch
- Card bases
- Cleaning shammy
But don’t stop here! Keep reading as we dive into why each of these supplies will help you create cards you’re proud of that friends and family can treasure, and even which ones would be great to start with!
The Essential DIY Card Supplies List
While our catalog alone is filled with various crafting tools, we’ve narrowed that list to a carefully curated list of the top 10 essential DIY card-making supplies. These basic tools are everything you need to get started on your first project today.
1. Precision Cutting Tools
DIY Cards begin with an idea that transforms into a creative work of art. Your most essential crafting basics, like an easy-to-use paper trimmer, will make your crafting experience more enjoyable. Select scissors that cut cleanly and effortlessly. A good paper trimmer should make it easy to measure, align, and precisely trim your favorite crafting papers, and a great one will also help you score for easy folding of handmade cards! The Stampin’ Up! paper trimmer even has an extra-wide cutting base and an extendable arm for bigger papercrafting projects. Plus, it’s durable and portable for easy on-the-go crafting or craft club get-together.
2. DIY Card Adhesives That Last
Good glue will bring your project together and keep it together. But don’t just settle for any old glue. Our Multipurpose Liquid Glue is a crafter’s must-have supply essential. With dual-tipped functionality, you can easily glue up narrow and broad pieces of your project in one continuous swipe. Multipurpose Liquid Glue has a strong bond, dries clear, and is acid-free, so your projects won’t break down over time or turn yellow.
3. Creating Dimension
Creating dimension is a fundamental element of beautifully crafted art. Adding dimension to a handcrafted card means adding elements that lift off the page to create depth. At Stampin’ Up!, we understand how important dimension elements are to your finished project. We especially love our Stampin’ Dimensionals™–specially designed foam hexagons for adhering those special embellishments that make your art truly one-of-a-kind.
These double-sided adhesive foam hexagons bond instantly and are great for heavier embellishments. Just peel and stick! Want that balloon to magically seem to be floating off of your one-year-old’s first birthday party invitations? Dimensionals will do the trick.
4. Color Your Creations
You might think that using rubber stamps may limit your creativity. After all, how creative can you get when using an image already designed for you? Stamps can infuse your project with tons of creativity! But what is a stamp without ink? Build your basic color kit by using our Classic Stampin’ Spots® Assortment. Filled with great colors like Basic Gray, Real Red, and Shaded Spruce, these colors will form a great foundation for building your crafting toolbox.
To add even more dimension, after stamping, you can easily color different parts of the stamped image with colored pencils.
5. Stamping Made Simple
If you’ve worked hard on a project, you don’t want to ruin it at the last minute with a crooked stamped image. That’s why we love our Clear Block for Stamps. It may seem like a bold claim, but we don’t mince words when we say that clear blocks have revolutionized the accuracy and ease of stamping. Our high-quality, reusable acrylic blocks are grooved for easy gripping and clear so you can see right where you’re stamping. Total game-changer! Forget about crossing your fingers and hoping to get it right–with our clear stamp blocks, your stamps will be perfectly placed every time.
6. Sentiments for Every Occasion
Looking for that just right phrase to express exactly how you feel? Our sentiment stamps give you the words for all those happy heart feelings.
Sentiment stamps are an assortment of phrases that can be used as a background on cards, used individually, or clustered in groups–the choice is yours! Our sentiment stamps are known for creating images with excellent detail. Plus, the different sizes of sentiments give you lots of options for fitting them onto your cards and tags.
Use our Saying Hey Stamp Set for that perfect introduction for that special person in your life. Or try our Simple Said Stamp Set to send love, support, and thanks to those you cherish. Whether you want to say Thinking of You, Hello, or Thanks, this set is perfect for you.
7. Shape Your Memories
Craft punches are very popular with paper crafters, and for good reason. Craft punches are great because you can use them as many times as you want, they last for a long time, come in many designs, and the punched shape can echo the embellishments and shapes of your design. Plus, you can customize the punched shape even more by adding details.
Start with the Modern Oval Punch, or add it to your existing collection. You can’t go wrong with this classic shape. You can also take advantage of the negative space (the piece left over after you punch out your oval) to frame a sentiment or image of your choice when card making or scrapbooking.
Craft punches are really fun, and you may find yourself in the enviable position of having to organize your growing supply. We recommend stacking them on a shelf, storing them in shallow drawers, or trying an over-the-door shoe organizer for easy access.
8. Starting with a Blank Canvas
We always recommend starting any project with our Basic White Note Cards & Envelopes. Made from thick, acid and lignin-free cardstock, our basic white note cards and envelopes are great for any DIY card project. They’re simply the best. Along with our other paper crafting essentials like solid adhesive, precision cut scissors, and embellishments like stamps and craft punches, the basic white note cards and envelopes provide a solid base that will stand the test of time.
9. Clean and Simple
No crafting essential supply list would be complete without the Simply Shammy. This stamp cleaning, chemical-free cleaning cloth makes stamp cleaning effortless. All you need is water (and a little elbow grease–but just a little!) because this thick shammy easily cleans ink from narrow grooves. This shammy is truly magical–no lint, no mess! This shammy easily cleans your stamps in record time using just water and cloth. Plus, the ink on the shammy won’t transfer to your fingers or other stamps. It’s a win-win.
10. Your Crafting Companion
We firmly believe that crafting should be a shared experience. So don’t be afraid to ask for advice and resources from an expert product demonstrator. These crafting experts can show you how to use or sample a product. Stampin’ Up! demonstrators are avid crafters and can share tips and tricks to make your crafting experience more enjoyable and successful. Consider them a mentor who can help you gain the skills and knowledge you need in a personalized setting. Want more help and crafting advice? Find a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator today!
2026 Update with 3 Bonus Supplies!
11. Color Coach
This dynamic color wheel, complete with easy-to-read window openings, can twist to reveal beautiful color combinations for your papercrafting projects, and beyond! It’s great for beginners who’ve yet to master color theory (you’re not alone!) and anyone who wants a quick peek into which monochromatic, complementary, analogous, or triadic color palettes are going to work best for their next scrapbook layout, handmade card, or other paper craft. Plus, it conveniently uses all the color names of Stampin’ Up! cardstock, making it easy to shop your favorite color combinations!
12. Craft Color Storage
Having an organized crafting space can take your creative experience from frustrating and exhausting to fun and enriching. It also makes it easier to share your space with others and allows them to utilize your crafting supplies without getting discouraged or confused! One of our favorite ways to organize is by color, and that’s made incredibly simple with the color storage system from Stampin’ Up! Perfect for keeping track of markers, ink pads, refills, and more, this clean-cut system will help you know exactly where to find what you need and enjoy a clutter-free, color-coordinated, and inspiring craft space.
13. Two-Tone Cardstock
Cardstock is one of the most versatile crafting supplies out there, but when you double the colors in one sheet and ensure they’re perfectly coordinated in monochromatic tones, just think of the possibilities! This works great for creating contrasting layers, harmonious photo mats, complementary borders, and matching dimensional die cuts without really needing any extra supplies. And when you get the two-tone cardstock papers from Stampin’ Up!, you can easily coordinate with our color families, suites, and crafting kits to add extra layers of thoughtful design, knowing they’ll match perfectly with the supplies you’ve already purchased.
How to Organize and Store Your Craft Supplies
Keeping your crafting supplies organized can make all the difference in your creative experience. It will not only help you save time and money—no misplaced and repurchased supplies here!—but it will allow for creative freedom and productivity like never before! Here are some of our favorite ways to ensure your craft supplies are easy to find and well-cared for, no matter how big or small your space.
- Use clear or white trays and bins. Clear or white bins and trays for organizing make things considerably easier to find (re: no dark corners allowed). Bonus if they are also stackable and created specifically for your favorite supplies, like the ones from Stampin’ Up!.
- Label everything. Even if it’s a clear case, use a label! You’d be surprised at how much time and energy is saved by labeling things in your own space, let alone for someone else who may come in wanting to find something.
- Store things in the correct orientation. This means that things like markers or ink pads that need to stay moist in order to work their best should be stored appropriately—markers on their sides and ink pads lying flat. You should also store larger supplies like paper trimmers and die-cut machines flat and right-side-up to ensure no undue pressure is applied during storage.
- Store by category. Pens with pens and stamps with stamps, sure. But this goes beyond the basics a bit. Having stations can be incredibly useful and help with organization and storage. Have one area where you actively work, one area where supplies are stowed away, and one area where your larger equipment can be used without impediment.
- Utilize vertical space. Don’t ignore your craft space walls—they’re perfect for a pegboard or set of small buckets on a hanging rod for holding scissors, etc. And don’t be afraid to stack things like ephemera packs in vertical drawers or trays right on your worktop.
Crafting Supplies FAQs
What are the basic supplies I need to start making DIY cards?
At a minimum, you need some cardstock, a good paper trimmer, and a marker to start making DIY cards. But most creatives want to go beyond the bare essentials and therefore invest in a few more basics like a simple stamp set and some ink, some quality adhesive, and a couple of embellishments to really personalize their handmade cards.
What kind of glue works best for handmade cards?
Any kind of adhesive you use when making handmade cards needs to be acid-free to help maintain the quality of your creations over time. Using acid-free craft glue, tape runners, and dimensionals will reduce the paper’s tendency to yellow, get brittle, and deteriorate over time. As for which adhesive to use on your handmade cards, use a small amount of glue for intricate details or small embellishments, a tape runner for most paper-on-paper applications, and dimensionals for anything large enough that you also want to add layered interest to!
What type of paper is best for card making?
Acid- and lignin-free paper is your best bet for making cards and scrapbook layouts that last. These qualities help preserve your paper over time, keeping the colors vibrant and the fibers flexible yet strong. As for choosing the best papers for card making in terms of visual appeal, we love a combination of cardstock and patterned papers in coordinated colors and designs that reflect the sentiment of the card you want to create.
Can I use regular markers, or do I need specialty coloring tools?
Just as with your adhesives and paper for card making, you’re going to want to use quality, acid-free markers and other inks for your paper crafts. These work better for a clean, bleed-free image and won’t discolor over time.
Where can I find project ideas using these supplies?
There are so many great resources to tap into if you want handmade card ideas, scrapbook layout designs, and other paper crafting projects you’ll love. Check out the Stampin’ Up! Instagram and Pinterest pages for tons of inspiration and ideas, or reach out to a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator to get more personalized help!
Ready to Start DIY Card Making?
Hopefully, this list of our “top 10” crafting supplies will help make it easier for you to start gathering your DIY card making tools so that you can begin to enjoy the paper crafting activity that has been delighting the Stampin’ Up! community for decades.
We love a handcrafted card—both the creative process of making one and the joy of receiving one. If you’d like to get more help choosing your craft supplies or would like to join our crafting community, reach out to a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator today!
