Friday, August 29, 2008

lifesavers











So today I thought we could talk about Lifesavers...no, not the candy kind! I'm talking about the little tools and items you keep close and handy to get your projects done. Those inexpensive, hopefully not taken for granted time saving items that never leave your desk.

Here are my favorite cannot live without tools:














A. Drafting brush - dusts away eraser grit, lint, fibers without leaving fingerprints or smudges.

B. White prismacolor pencil - perfect for marking temporary lines on dark papers

C. Fiskars Soft Grip Scissors - the spring does all the work for me (love these so much)

D. Soft White Click Eraser - the perfect eraser, gets into tight spots, never marks up my paper

E. QuickStick by Quickutz - a poker pickerupper and gem applier (you need this. serious.)

F. Basic Grey Rubon Tool - makes rubons go on like butta

G. American Craft 05 Precision Pen - my favorite journaling pen

H. 18" Metal Ruler - stretches across my entire layout, lines up w/ grid so I get straight lines

I. 22" Black Mat - i will not scrap without it and it's mighty grid power

J. Adhesive Pickup - rubs away adhesive, great for Xyron X to remove excess around shapes

K. Dotto - put some on the back of every layout to hold paper straight to the grid

L. Adjustable Triangle - lets me make sure that items are all at the same angle or perpendicular



What are your go to guys? Got any favorites? Share them and link them if you can.

6 comments:

Jana Eubank said...

I LOVE good tools! This is so fun to see what you use, Laina! I see lots of favorites of mine on there, and also things I have yet to try! Now I NEED to! ;) Two of my everyday, must-have tools are a mechanical pencil and a paper piercer (peels up the edges of things, pokes holes for brads and stitching, etc. LOVE it!) Can't wait to find some new favorites from every one's suggestions yet to come. :D

Anonymous said...

Trish:

Love your list there are a couple of things I will have to try. Here are my favorites must-have tools:

1. Basic Grey Rubon Tool
2. Self healing large black mat to scrap on (I have 2).
3. EK Success Cutter Bee® Scissors
4. EK SuccessTweezer Bee®
5. Scrap Adhesive E-Z Runner

Paula Clare said...

Hi! You all have such technical looking, impressive tools! Mine read like the laundry list from a junk room:

Paper piercer (hole poke-y thing is its technical term)

An orange Fiskars cut mat (when I remember to drag it out...when I don't I use cheap plastic placemats. Works great and scrubbable!)

Cutter Bee scissors

Craft Lite Cutter (yes, I succumbed to the infomercial...but I SWEAR it is the most fabulous paper cutter EVER.The light really DOES help. And all the groovy blades that come with it...zigzag, wavy, scallops. It's really just TOO fab!)

Beacon's 3-in-1 glue. I use it on everything. It's an altered artist's best friend. :-)

Wireless HP all in one printer. The wireless feature is amazing. I can print from anywhere on the property! it's like maaaaaaaaaaagic!

There you have it. My rather odd and long list of must haves.

Trish said...

I love seeing all your cool tools, Laina! You're inspiring me to get a few I don't have too...

I love my lg. scallop scissors, corner rounder and a few inks in addition to my stash. I too love the Quickutz tool--awesome find--thanks to YOU!

Anonymous said...

I'll have to really think about this - can't say mine is a ashort list! But you have some great tools there that I have yet to try... so more shopping in my future! Thanks!

AnilĂș Magloire said...

Those are definite must haves for me too.
I'd add a quilters grid ruler to that. Great for alignment on my pages.