Hey Storytellers,
I hope you all are well and busy creating, I know that I have been. I want to talk to you today about the supplies we all use everytime we create, items like adhesive, cardstock, foam squares, etc…All the things that don’t look pretty but we have to have them in order to create. These items are a necessity and the cost can add up! For these items I rely on Amazon, they are cheaper give you more bang for you buck, especially the first on my list which is adhesive!
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- Adhesive – I use the Scotch ATG gun as my go-to adhesive. I’ve tried so many tape runners and still go back to the ATG every time. As many of you who use the ATG gun know, the adhesive rolls are expensive, on average $9.99 for 2 rolls without a coupon. I’ve been scrapbooking quite a bit since the pandemic hit so I can go through 2 rolls very quickly so I needed an alternative.
This adhesive is acid free and has the sticking power of the Scotch brand but is easier to unstick if you need to. I also love that you can buy it in bulk so you alsways have it on hand. There’s nothing worse for a scrapbooker than running out of adhesive in the middle of a project.
2. Foam Squares – I love to use foam adhesive to pop up items on my page but don’t like how high the traditional foam squares or circles are. I also don’t like how hard they are to pull off the backing paper, especially the circles. I found these beauties about 6 months ago and have gone through 3 sets of them all ready! I love the zip lock bag they come in and there’s 2 sizes. The small ones are perfect for smaller ephemera pieces.
3. Cardstock – Years ago when I first started scrapbooking I never bought black and white CS in 12×12 but now it’s a valuable tool for stretching paper kits and many other uses. You can’t beat the price either and if you have Prime, it’s free shipping which is a big deal especially with paper because we all know buying scrapbook supplies online the shipping costs add up quickly!
The last thing on my list is a dedicated photo printer. I never thought that I needed one. I generally send my photos away to be printed but because of shipping delays it was taking forever. I also wanted to be able to size my pictures to any size I want. I was watching Vicki Boutin on Youtube and she raved about this printer so after weeks of it not being in stock I made the plunge and bought it. BEST INVESTMENT EVER! It prints high quality 4×6 and 5×7 prints, the ink is archival and is rated to last 200 years, and best of all it has one ink cartridge that is reasonably priced and will print 100 prints (4×6 size so if you print 2 3×4 it’s 200 prints). The printer I’m talking about is the Epson Picturemate 400. I love the Epson brand of printers, especially for photos. I had an Epson Artisian 835 which was a beast but if printed great photos and worked seemlessly with Photoshop as does the PM400. It is also wireless and supports AirPrint on IOS and Android. I highly recommend you give it a try.
Helpful Hints
Before you buy anything from a secondary site like Amazon or EBay, know the retail price beforehand, especially if it’s a hard to find item or dicontinued, you may end up having to pay over MSRP if it’s something you really want and can’t find. Thanks to Covid this is a real problem with lots of things we buy on a daily basis. When demand outweighs the supply it drives prices higher. I generally don’t mind paying a little more for an item if shipping is free because all too often going somewhere else would cost me more in the long run.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope I saved you some money and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me!
Until next time, God Bless!