My Favorite Crafting Tools {Paper Punches}

We've got family coming in later today, so I may have to be a bit scarce this weekend.

Today I wanted to continue my Favorite Crafting Tools Series with my favorite paper punches. Here's a not-so-secret secret about me. My name is not Grace. By which I mean, I'm a little clumsy. And that translates into me being unable to cut paper and fabric precisely without seriously stressing myself out. Which is why I love my rotary cutters so much. And my Sizzix Big Kick. And my Silhouette SD.

But for certain projects, nothing beats the perfect paper punch. They are quick and easy, and generally affordable. These are my favorites:

Earring Card Punch

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You can buy this punch at the Etsy shop sourced, although I got mine at my local Michael's using a coupon. I love how this punch allows me to create my own earring cards that look professional, yet also allows me to choose from any available card stock color or print, or even something fun like playing cards or greeting cards. My friend Danielle started a handmade jewelry business last year (you can see her stuff here!), and her colors were purple and black and white in a zebra print. So for her birthday I put together some earring cards in various sizes and sent them off to her with a couple of the zipper pouches like I showed you a couple of days ago and a corner rounder punch. She loved them, and she ended up buying an earring card punch of her own. :)

Corner Rounder Punches

These come in a couple of sizes, small and large.

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To make the earring cards shown above, I used an assortment of bookmarks, blank inside cards, and printed card stock. I used a paper slicer to get them all cut into straight pieces. Then I rounded the corners using my punches. There's something so satisfying about getting that neat rounded corner! It's important to note that you do need a perfect right angle to start with to get a perfect cut. Another thing I use them on is wallet size photos. My photo lab offers die cut wallets, which are awesome, but they are a little more expensive than just getting an uncut sheet. So if I'm just ordering them for myself, I get a sheet, cut them apart, and round the corners myself!

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Crop-A-Dile Eurohook Power Punch. This punch makes the little cutouts at the top of some of the earring cards I made, which allows them to be hung on a display rack. It's definitely a specialty punch, but one that you will use a lot, especially if you take your products to craft/jewelry shows or have a permanent booth in a local shop.

Long Reach Ribbon Stitch Punch

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This of course is great for making a place to thread ribbon through if you want to add a little bow to a card. But what I use it for is to cut slots for the prong of a hair clip to go through on my display cards. I usually use the double pronged clips, just because I like them better, and the slots this punch cuts are just a smidge too short for the clips I use. But I just make the first punch, move the tool straight down just a tiny bit and punch again to get taller slots. However, you could just use single prong clips and they should work as is.

Standard Hole Punch (1/4 inch)

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I really only use this for one thing, but it's a good one: Shrinky Dinks! This punch is perfect for punching a hole in your Shrinky Dinks before baking so that you can add a jump ring or a key chain.

1/8" Circle Hand Punch

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This one is also great for Shrinky Dinks. It's best for items you want to use for jewelry and will be attaching to small jump rings.

1/16" Circle Hand Punch

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This is great for punching tiny holes for cards for multiple pairs of earrings and also for punching a couple of holes to feed the bar of a pin back brooch through.

One Inch Circle Punch

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This is hands down my most reached for punch. It cuts the perfect size circle for both bottlecap images and glass stone magnets. And if you cut out one inch circles from Shrinky Dink material, they shrinks down to perfect tiny 1/3 inch circles that makes darling earrings or charm bracelet charms. 

What are some of your favorite crafting tools?

My favorite crafting tools {Hand Tool Edition}

The other day I posted about some of my favorite crafty tools, like my sewing machine and my Silhouette machine. Today I thought I'd tell you about some of my favorite and most used hand tools. None of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I'm not being compensated in any way to promote these items.

Point Turner and Seam Creaser:

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I mentioned this handy little thing yesterday. For the longest time I turned corners with the little tapered sticks that come in bags of Polyfil,and they worked okay. But this tool is so much better for getting sharp corners on things like pillow covers and zipper pouches.

Babyville Boutique Snap Pliers

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These things are awesome! My mom bought them for me a few years ago, and I've used them a bunch! They allow you to add plastic snaps to all kinds of projects quickly and easily, and the snaps come in all kinds of colors. Plus you can get even more colors at http://www.kamsnaps.com. I will tell you that I've never actually used the Kam Snaps products, so I can't vouch for their quality, but the pricing is reasonable, and I'd like to try them someday. Babyville Boutique is awesome to work with though. The first set of pliers I had kept splitting the snaps, which turned out to be caused by a faulty presser. I contacted them on Facebook, and they not only sent me a brand new set of pliers, but they sent me a whole new bag of snaps (60 sets) to replace the 8 or so sets that were damaged. I've used these to close bracelets, add closures to bags and pouches, and make stacks of doll diapers.

Rotary Cutter

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I have 3 different sizes of these, but this is the one I use the most. A must have for squaring up fabric.


One Step Looper

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I got this with a birthday gift card, and it had been so handy for jewelry making. It will even cut and loop memory wire.

Jewelry Pliers

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I don't have this exact set, but I have all of the pliers in it, which include bent nose, flat nose, round nose, long nose, and side cutters. I think I actually got my set at Lowes (easier to talk Nick into shelling out money for jewelry supplies if they can be found next to power tools ha ha). But this set is less than $10 on Amazon.

Nylon Jaw Pliers

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These are great when making wire jewelry to prevent tool marks on your wire. They are a little pricier than some of the other pliers, but with a sale or a coupon they are still well under $10.

Bead Reamer

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This is for enlarging the center of beads that may be a bit too narrow for the wire or cording you are trying to string them on. But I also use mine for sharpening the individual dies or the next tool...

Leather Punch

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These can be really expensive. I opted to get the one linked for around $6 with free shipping. When it came, only the smallest two punches would work well on even thin patent leather. I contacted the merchant and they very quickly shipped me a replacement at no charge. The second one worked a little better. But I had the idea to sharpen the edges of the dies with my bead reamer, and the performance vastly improved. I use these for punching holes prior to installing rivets, eyelets or grommets in leather. 

Eyelet Tool

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This simple tool is what I use to set eyelets. They are available for every size eyelet you can buy, and can generally be bought with the eyelets as a set or by themselves.

Snap Fastener Kit

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This little kit sets metal snaps in fabric (or leather or vinyl, etc.). The snaps can also be bought separately. 

Self Healing Mats

I have several sizes of these, and I use them all.

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6 x 24 Quilting Ruler

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I use this thing ALL. The. Dang. Time. For tons of stuff. I live in fear that my kids will break it.

Fabric Marking Pen

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I'm on my 3rd one of these. Love them!

Elastic Threaders

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Yes, you can absolutely use a safety pin to thread elastic through a casing. But these are very inexpensive, and they keep the elastic from twisting, something I always struggled with using safety pins. I'll never go back.

Ring Sizer 

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Sometimes you will see these called a mandrel. And they can be pricey. But I got mine at Joann's for less than $2 with a coupon. If you make rings at all, this is a necessity.  

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the tools I use the most. Happy crafting!

My Favorite Crafting Tools

I have a few tools that I absolutely use all the time. They make crafting and creating so much easier! None of the links in the post are affiliate links, and I have not been compensated for this post in any way. I just really love these products. (Although, Sizzix and Silhouette, hit me up - seriously!)

Sizzix Big Kick:

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This is exactly the same thing as the Big Shot machine. The only difference is the color. I LOVE this machine. I got mine at Joann's using a coupon, so I paid about $60 for it. Joann's also has a pretty reasonable selection of dies to use in it, and the dies (as well as the machines) go on sale for 40% off about every other week. Hobby Lobby and Michael's also carry the dies and machines and also offer frequent sales. The Sizzix plastic backed dies will cut through tons of material, including fabric, felt, leather, paper, cardstock, chipboard, and even aluminum. And the Big Kick is super compatible with almost any brand of die out there. In fact, I've yet to find one that won't work, although the thin, metal only dies do not cut through fabric or eco-felt very well. 

I've made tons of hair clips using the shapes cut with this machine, as well as even some jewelry. The leather rose pin I sent to my Package Pal is one example. I would love, love, LOVE to have the Big Shot Pro one of these days, but at over $300, it's not in my budget.

My glue gun:

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This is the glue gun I use on a regular basis. I've got several of the little low temp $3 models, but this is my workhorse. I got it at Walmart for about $11, Even though it will work cordlessly for 5 minutes, I generally keep the 6 foot cord plugged in, and I almost always use it on the high temp setting. I have found that working with the high temp setting will allow you to get a very strong bond on most materials, although of course, as with all glue guns, you should be very careful not to burn yourself or anyone else. Keep out of reach of your kids if it's hot!

Sewing Machine:

My first sewing machine was a Brother LS-30.

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My mom got it for me for Christmas one year, and it sat in the box for almost 2 years before I had the nerve to try it. It is a very basic machine, but it worked great and never gave me any problems. I don't know where she bought it, but you can get them all day long for well under $100.

A couple of years ago, right before Sawyer was born, I upgraded to an embroidery machine, the Brother SE400. 

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This is an excellent sewing machine. It might even be an excellent embroidery machine, but I don't know. To try to make a long, infuriating story bite size, when I bought this, Sawyer was about to be born, then was in the NICU, then was a very tiny baby brought home with us. The SE400 sat in its box in the closet for many months. When I finally had time to open it, I had an unpleasant surprise. Someone had previously purchased this machine, used it for a while, then boxed it back up with only part of the pieces, and taken it back to Walmart. I mean major things, like the foot pedal, and the front of the accessory box that goes on the front when the embroidery arm isn't there. Plus it was working funny. 

I took it to our local Sew N Vac, and they fooled around with it a bit, got it to working, and sold me a couple of parts, like a foot pedal and a bobbin case. Walmart refused to help at all (even though they had sold me a machine with missing pieces) because it was over 90 days since my purchase date, and Brother (who was not actually at fault here) could only offer to waive the shipping on the parts that were missing.

Sew N Vac got the embroidery portion up and running, but after a few days I was having no luck with it. So for me, it's just a sewing machine. I rarely have any problems out of it in that function (and if I do, it's user error). Someday I may try to get the embroidery part of it serviced again, but for now it's not worth the cost to me. If I were to buy another machine, it would probably be the XR9500PRW Project Runway™ Limited Edition Computerized Sewing Machine. It has all the things I love about my SE400, like the drop in bobbin, and the start and stop button, and plus many more built in stitches.

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Silhouette SD:

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You cannot buy the SD anymore, but you can buy a Silhouette Cameo or a Silhouette Portrait. I want a Cameo with my whole heart, but I just can't afford it right now.

But I use my SD all the time. I use it to cut the stencils for my pillow covers, to make cards, and to cut vinyl. It's definitely a must have for me.

Woodburning Tool:

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I've not used this for woodburning (although it's on my list), but it's the perfect tool for working with ribbon. I use it to cut and seal my ribbon at the same time when making hair bows, and it works great for things like cutting a curve (just use a large coin or other round metal object as your edge). I've also used it with Hotstamps to brand leather. This is definitely an after the-kids-are-in-bed sort of tool though. It gets crazy hot, and you don't want to risk burns on curious hands!

Those are some of my must have crafting tools. I may do a second round of this featuring my favorite hand tools for crafting. Happy Saturday!