My favorite tools and things

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and any other festive greetings that might be appropriate! I'm going to assume that some of you have received crafting goodies from the holiday gift exchange, which is awesome! However, sometimes you need additional tools, so I'm here to share my favorite tools with you!

Some of these aren't the exact tools I use, but they're similar enough that I feel comfortable sharing them with you. Also, these are all Amazon links, and I am an Amazon affiliate. So, if you buy something through these links, I will receive a small commission. This will not affect your price, but it will help fund my crazy crafting. :D

Let's break down what these are and what I use them for!




This dental pick set is super useful for my Cricut crafts. The sharp tips on the pointy pick are fantastic at getting into tiny spaces when you're trying to weed a piece. The handles are a bit small, however, so you could add a rubber pencil grip onto them to help make it a bit more comfortable.




The Cricut scoring stylus can be helpful. However, I think there are better ways to use it. Keep an eye on this blog, because I'll be sharing my scoring techniques soon!





This hole punch is amazing! I use it for all sorts of things, from making my own sequins and punchinella/honyeycomb ribbon to book binding to leather crafting to... well, just about anything you would want to put a hole in! It comes with 6 different hole sizes and is much, much stronger than your average office supply hole punch. I can't recommend this one enough!




Ok, I'm fairly sure you guys know what this one is. But if you haven't gotten your Cricut Explore Air 2, this is a pretty good time to get it. It is freaking amazing, so versatile, and ... well, I may be a bit obsessed with it. However, if you're wanting even more versatility...

...you could go with the Cricut Maker instead! And in all honesty, as amazing as the Explore Air 2 is, the Maker is just worlds apart a better, more versatile machine. Yes, it's more expensive, but I think it's definitely worth the extra cash!

Also, you can't go wrong with more mats. I have several, and I find having multiple mats really streamlines my work flow. I can load multiple mats at once, so I don't have to weed a cut immediately before starting another cut. Plus, you need different mats for different media, so it's good to have at least one of each kind.





This palette knife set is something I wasn't sure I'd use that much, but holy cow do I love it now! I originally bought it to help me remove cuts from my mats, but I use it for so many things now! They're perfect for mixing paint. If I'm making my own glazes they work for measuring powdered pigments as well as for mixing those too. They spread adhesives beautifully... they're just such a useful tool for so many scenarios! I can't recommend this one enough.

If you don't have a craft knife, I highly recommend getting one. They are very useful, and for more than just cutting things! I've used mine for weeding teeny tiny bits out, for separating the back from a particularly difficult sticker... and for many other things I can't really remember at the moment. They're useful. You need one!




I also absolutely love my dotting tools. They too are useful in a multitude of situations! They work well for putting dots of paint on either projects or your nails, they're decent for mixing things, and I just might have turned one into a scoring tool for my Explore Air 2! Again, keep an eye on this space, because there will be a video coming of my technique for that as well.





I know, this doesn't seem like a craft tool. But trust me! It's awesome! First off, it's fantastic at helping get glitter off of your skin. Regular tape works too, but a lint roller is just so much more convenient! It works for clearing gunk off your mats too, or for getting glitter and things off of your craft table. My favorite tip, though, is that in a pinch, you can pull a fresh sheet off and use it as transfer tape for your small vinyl cuts!

There are times when we need to cut things manually, and this steel square makes that a breeze! Line one edge up with your paper, and your perpendicular cuts will be a perfect 90° every time!

Also, a bonus tip:
When you're cutting, never use a plastic ruler as a straight edge!
A steel ruler gives you a better edge without the risk of cutting into your ruler. I won't lie, I've damaged my share of plastic rulers by thinking, "It'll be fine just this one." It never is. Don't even try it! :D

On the other hand, a plastic t square ruler like this is good for drawing perfectly perpendicular lines. But remember: This is not a cutting tool!

This tweezer set also seems like something you wouldn't assume is a crafting tool. However, as I seem to be saying a lot, these things are useful in so many situations! They're great to have on hand, to assist in placing small or delicate accents especially.






Yes, Fabri Tac is intended for use on fabrics. However, it's also good for anything that's a bit difficult to glue. I specifically bought mine for mounting card stock onto glitter paper- none of the glues I had on hand would work, so I went to the internet for answers. The overwhelming answer to "what glue works on glitter papers" was Fabri Tac, so I bought some and OMG I'm glad I did!

The other glue I find I can't do without is Alene's Tacky Glue. It works so nicely on so many surfaces. I hate the idea of running out, so I always keep a spare in my craft room!





And if you're brand new to crafting and want a set of Cricut tools all in one space, Amazon has you covered. You can get a basic set of tools, or a set of tools for sewing, a set for weeding, or a set specifically for vinyl!

Wow, that was a heck of a post to write! I feel like I wrote a book...

I hope this list can help you out. Obviously you don't need everything on this list, but I listed the tools I use almost daily, the ones I keep on my craft table at all times.

Have I missed any tools you can't do without? If so, share them in the comments... I'm a bit tool-obsessed, so help feed my need! :D

Until next time...

Tutorial- How to make custom sponge tools

Whew, it's been a busy few days! But I'm finally back with the tutorial I referred to a few days back. I'm going to show you how to make your own sponge tools for fun and interesting nail art!

Before you start, you need to gather your supplies so you won't have to stop halfway through and bug your family about helping you find the glue stick, the way I might have done here.

The list is simple enough. Basically, you can use whatever you have on hand!

Supplies for sponge tools:

• Sponges
• Don't feel like you have to use what I used! Use whatever you have around the house...
• Kitchen sponges, makeup sponges, whatever sponges you
• Scissors
• Sticks of some kind. I used coffee stirrers and bamboo skewers.
• Some sort of adhesive. (Not pictured)

After that, it's really simple- cut the sponges and stick them on the end of the sticks! However, I went to a bit more trouble and showed different options you have.

To start with, I used the sponge from an old set of sponge rollers I have on hand. This particular roller had broken, so I decided to recycle the sponge into a tool for sponging.

I decided to cut it into different shapes to see what sort of effects I could create. I cut off small round sections from the end of the sponge, then cut them into half-circles and quarter-circle wedges.

I also cut the sticks into small segments that would be easier to control. I eventually cut the ends of the sticks into points, but I don't have pictures of that. I kind of forgot...  oops!

Then, I decided to cut a small opening into the sponge so that the stick would go inside of it. That would make it a bit more stable when stamping, I think.

This was so awkward to photograph, since I needed two hands to actually work the scissors and hold the sponge! So, pretend this photo is of me snipping into the bottom of the sponge segment.

You can also use your sticks to just sort of tear into the bottom, if you like. It all depends on what shape the bottoms of your sticks are. If you're using a bamboo skewer, you can just sort of shove it into the end of the sponge.

At this point, you would put glue on the end of your stick and shove it into the little hole you'd made in the base of the sponge. Unfortunately, I'd lost the glue stick I'd gotten out to do this tutorial with as soon as I started photographing, so after looking for a good 45 minutes, I decided glue wasn't important and I made do with what I had.

Instead, I painted the stick with a glob of nail polish and shoved it in. Surprisingly enough, this worked really well! I did find the glue stick after I'd finished this tutorial (of course!), and used it on later sponge tools... but the ones with nail polish held up just as well!



Who knew?

And now comes the fun part... seeing the different patterns and stamp styles you can get with the different tools! Believe it or not, they really do look different...

No matter how I tweaked this, it was hard to make it understandable. The colors basically match up the sponge shapes
to their patterns when stamped onto paper.

Stamp pattern of the center of the flat side of the half-circle section.

Stamp pattern of the edge of the quarter-circle wedge.

Stamp pattern of the flat edge of the quarter-circle wedge.

Stamp pattern of the side of the round.

Stamp pattern of the flat portion of the round, by the hole.

Stamp pattern of the flat portion of the round, by the hole.

Stamp pattern of the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.

That last photo shows what the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge looks like when you stamp with it! I actually think it's pretty... very interesting, almost like when you splatter nail polish from a straw!

So, the idea here is simple: don't feel like you always need to spend money on expensive nail art tools. Sometimes you can do cool things with stuff you already have around the house!

Til next time!

My mind never stops with the ideas...

See my disclosure statement for more information.