Top Tips

my top tip- never take your purse into a craft shop !!!!
(Thanks crafty piglet)

Don't buy any Penny Black stamps as you'll soon be addicted and run out of money!!
Thanks Vanessa.


1) invest in a decent card folder and bone creaser and make your own card blanks-much cheaper than buying ready made ones.

2) when shopping for a particular craft item- always shop around first as very often you can it much cheaper elsewhere!

3) have a regular craft session just using up all odds and ends and left over scraps, you'll be amazed how creative you can be.

4) turn your junk mail into craft items...pretend credit cards can be heat embossed, envelope liners to use as iris folding papers, shop leaflets used as backing papers, cd/dvd freebies as embellishments!

5) don't buy rubber stamps or dies unless you can think of at least 3 different occasions on which you could use them!

6) When using ribbons, cutting the end of the ribbon at an angle will prevent the ribbon from fraying.

7)When not using your ink pads storing them upside down will retain the moisture in the ink and stop them drying out.

8) When heat embossing wipe over the card with a little baby talc to prevent static.

9) A piece of A4 paper, rubbed over with baby oil and left to dry, looks just like plain vellum!

10) Divide your papers and cards into colour's, so you can pick what you want easily.

11) when heat embossing or stamping use baby wipes to clean edge of the stamp so you don't get excess ink of paper/card.

12) If you run out of letters for scrapbook you can cut up old ceral boxes and use the letters.

13) Don't waste money buying coloured glaze pens. you will only need the clear
one. You can colour the images yourself and then glaze with clear pen.

14) Pergamano, rub over both sides of your parchment with Bounce dryer sheet, this makes it easier to emboss and prick.

15) Don't always buy the cheapest inks as the better quality ones give a better stamp impression every time.

16)Invest in a good quality paper trimmer/guillotine with a built in ruler as it saves you loads of time measuring to size.

17)Take photos of your made cards and store them on the computer or a usb flash drive to refer to at a later date if you need to make that card or similar again. Add notes about the particular technique used if it was a difficult one.

18) To keep punches sharp, punch a few times through a sheet of tinfoil (gives your bacon under the grill a certain style too! lol)