Top Ten (ok, 11!) MVPs of My Craft Stash

A reader emailed me not too long ago, with a very interesting post idea. She asked me if I would write one about my favorite craft staples. What are my “go tos;” what can’t I live without? If you were a newbie and wanted to start collecting products to have around, what should be in your stash? I thought it was an excellent idea! I went back to try and find her name but came up short, so if you’re reading this and it was your idea, THANK YOU! 🙂 I hope you find this helpful ~ these are my MVPs – Most Valuable Products – and the things I couldn’t live without as of late. Without further adieu…

(In no particular order…)

1. Mod Podge

I mean, what can’t you do with this stuff? I like to have Glossy and Matte on hand, and use this product SO. MUCH. From coasters to canvas art, it’s just awesome. I’d definitely recommend having some of this in your craft bin/desk/cabinet/whatever you have.

2. Hot glue gun and refills

Another important one. I use this maybe even more than Mod Podge. And I like to always have a bag of refills on hand  – nothing worse than starting a project and running out of glue! From Berry Letters to sisal wrapped vases, it’s a must for any craft bin!

3. Spray paint

I love to have spray paint around, especially Satin White. Not sure why, but seems like I use that a heckuva lot?! I always like to have a can of chalkboard spray paint in there too – you can transform ANYTHING into a chalkboard in just a couple minutes if you have that on hand! I like gold, metallic silver, aqua – it’s so quick to turn some ugly old object you have laying around into something you love when you’ve got spray paint in your stash.

4. Stencils

Man, oh man, do I use stencils to DEATH! Ruler charts, signs, heck, numbering my steps – you can do so much with them, it’s crazy! Especially Hobby Lobby’s Rustic 4in Alphabet Letters – those are my go-to stencils.

5. Acrylic Paint

These little guys are a whopping 59 cents at craft stores, and I must have 25 colors on hand. They’re great for making signs, the Handprint Tree – white is especially important – you can mix it with anything and lighten it up.

6. White Paint

I go through little quarts of white satin paint like you wouldn’t believe! I’m always painting a piece of furniture or making a sign – and you can add any of those acrylic paints (#5) to it to make your desired color. BUT, in addition to this, you might want to have this next one in your stash as well….

7. Plaster of Paris

Yes, good ol’ P of P. It’s what I add to my paint to make the homemade chalk paint recipe. It’s a must these days. With homemade chalk paint, you don’t have to sand or prime, and paint will go on virtually any surface you try. I’m always mixing away in the laundry room, adding it to my paint to slap on an old table or chair!

8. Brushes

Foam brushes are great for applying Mod Podge, tiny brushes are great for filling in stencils, and a good angled 2 inch brush is great for painting the random end table or fireplace, as I like to do;)

9. Tacky Glue

This is just your all-purpose crafting glue – it works great, and dries clear. It’s great on pretty much anything.

10. Scrapbook paper

Oh the trouble I can get into in the scrapbook paper aisle at Michaels! 😉 Usually I pick up whatever I might need for a particular project, but if I’m really taken with a pattern or colors, I’ll grab them. Good thing I do, because I honestly do use them up and am always glad I have a variety. Like my mug holder thing, and Mapped Out End Table – these were possible thanks to my crazy stash of paper! 😉

11. {Ok, weird to go to 11, I know, but I couldn’t leave this one out:} Burlap/Sisal/Jute

I’ve been grabbing these MVPs a lot lately – from covering lamp shades to wrapping mason jars. They ROCK. A little hot glue and you can change just about anything with these guys. Wrap presents, hang ornaments, I could go on and on….

So those are my Top 11 MVPs. Since I have them laying around, I was able to create things like this:

with just buying a canvas.

And this

without going to the store to buy a thing!

I also made a sign by just having to pick up a piece of wood…

…and made a decorative plate with things I already had at home!

I was in need of just the right thing to jazz up a chalk painted end table (thank you, white paint and plaster of paris!), and lo and behold, the perfect scrapbook paper was staring me in the face – a little mod podge and I got this!

And thanks to my obsession with burlap and jute (and mason jars!) I created a sweet centerpiece with just the addition of dollar store leaves…

So yes, I have some ideas for you when it comes to WHAT to have in your craft collection.

As far as HOW to store it, in an organized, easy to access fashion?

Lordy. Can’t help you there.
😉

Comments

  1. Another Jen says:

    I really wanted to see this page, but all of the pictures are showing up as broken links, and when I try clicking on the pictures, or links (like to chalkboard paint recipe), I get “Oops! Google Chrome could not find web.archive.org Did you mean: archive.­org.” Is it me?

    I came here looking for your ruler growth chart project, but I can’t find that either. I even went to my pinterest page where I had pinned it, and it points to your blogspot, which is no longer there. Help!

    • I’m sorry Jen! My blogspot page got hacked over the winter and I had to create a new page, and a LOT of my old posts disappeared. I was only able to retrieve about half. So sorry! 🙁

      • Another Jen says:

        Bummer! I’m so sorry that happened to you. Do you happen to remember (briefly) how you did the ruler thing?

        My recollection was that you stained the wood and then used a paint pen (and on later versions, a black Sharpie) to mark the lines and numbers. Do you remember what size and font the stencils for the numbers were?

        Thanks for all of the inspiration!

        • The ruler was a 6 foot piece of wood, and I stained it, then used a measuring tape to mark in pencil where the lines should be, then went over them in black sharpie. i used stencils from Michaels – not sure the font, but you could use anything you like! I think they were 2.5 inches but i could be wrong. I also started the markings at 6 inches, so I could hang it and it would be accurate. When I hung it, I made sure to hang it 6 inches from the floor. Good luck!

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