Tips for Beginners (No Advertising)

Dear users and authors,
what tips do you have for beginners in crafts?

Since I specialize in crafting with cardstock and using templates, my tips focus specifically on this area:

1. Use high-quality templates. If templates aren’t drawn precisely or have lost their clear outlines due to being enlarged multiple times, it’s easy to end up putting a lot of effort and time into a project only to find that nothing fits together in the end—that’s annoying and so frustrating that it might even make you lose interest in crafting. That would be a real shame.
 
2. Good tools are, of course, also very important. You don’t need many to start with, but your scissors and craft knife should be sharp, your ruler straight, your cutting mat flat and smooth, your pencil well-sharpened, your eraser clean and effective, your glue suitable for the type of paper, and your embossing tool with a fine tip (even better—a used-up ballpoint pen).
 
3. If the instructions seem too complicated, there’s a trick you can use: First, make a mock-up from the printed and cut-out templates; check to see if everything is clear and fits, and only then print the templates again and transfer them to the cardstock.
 
4. When folding, it’s very important to crease all fold lines precisely before folding—this ensures the edges are straight and the paper doesn’t crack.

5. All sheets of cardstock are much easier to bend in one direction (lengthwise or crosswise) than in the other. The sheets can also be folded more precisely and accurately in the same direction. So first do the bend test, then determine where the final basic shape will be folded or bent, and place the templates on the sheets accordingly.

I hope these tips are helpful to some of you. If you have any questions, please let me know :-).

Those are great tips, Inna! I’ve made quite a few things out of paper before, but I didn’t know that cardstock sheets bend more easily in one direction (point 5). You never stop learning!
Ruth