If you are into making crafts like paper tags, cards or stickers than you definitly will need a stash of various papers in your craft room. It can be overwhelming and confusing to figure out what paper works for what project. Well follow along and I will walk you through which papers to choose for which project and where to buy them.
Here is a video tutorial I did a while back showing some of my favorite paper projects that I keep in my craft room for making paper tags and business cards.
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Business cards
Business cards are a quintessential part of any craft sellers shop. It’s important to have them to hand out at craft shows or to keep on you to hand out to potential clients. It’s easy to make your own business cards all you need is a printer, ruler, cutting knife and some card stock. You can print on most cardstock that you find in the office supply section of stores. But I recommend around a 14pt weight which is around 110lbs or 310 gsm. This will give the cards a good feel in your hand and is easy to feed through a printer. If you want cards that are heavier weight than I recommend outsourcing them to a print shop that specializes in different weights and paper types.
If you like to use your cricut for everything than check out this tutorial where I show you how to make business cards with your cricut machine.
If you don’t have a cricut and want some easy to print business cards than check out these easy print business cards.
Brown paper tags
Brown paper tags are best if they are made from a sturdy paper. Its nice if you choose a slightly heavier weight than the usual 110lb cardstock. But this means it might not feed through your printer. So I recommend that you buy a small amount first to test the paper with your printer. If you want to learn more about what printers I recommend for printing tags check out this post.
My favorite place to buy paper is from thepapermillstore.com but the only drawback is that you have to place a large order so that it validates spending so much on shipping. But you can also find excellent brown kraft paper on amazon and as an added bonus you can buy them in smaller packs of paper. If you are looking for easy to print tag than check out these precut printable paper tags.
Packaging boxes
Packaging boxes need to be easy to print and easy to fold. So 110lb cardstock will work well or a bit heavier. It’s also nice to choose a coated paper so it has a bit of a shine. The 100lb 12″ x 18″ coverstock is a great choice.
Depending on what you are making packaging for you may need larger sizes.
Jewelry display cards
Jewelry display cards are super easy to make with your cricut machine or by hand. I recommend using a very sturdy coverstock. Using a coverstock with a bit of gloss can give the cards a very professional look. But be sure to test to make sure its compatible with the ink in your printer so that it doesn’t smear.
If you like making your own jewelry display cards than check out this tutorial where I walk you through the process.
If you are looking for some easy printable jewelry cards than give these business cards a try. Afterwards you just need to snip and hole punch the corners.
Lip balm sticker label
When your making lipbalm stickers its helpful to choose waterproof sticker paper, I recommend a printable vinyl. In my experience vinyl is repositionable so that means if you don’t put it on perfectly straight its forgivable and you can reposition it. And if you choose to laminate the vinyl sticker make sure you use cold laminate, because hot laminate will stretch and warp the vinyl.
Waterproof labels
If you make bath products than its important to use waterproof labels. The oils in your scrubs can soak onto the label and smear the ink and putting the product in the shower can ruin the label as well. If you are really ambitious than I recomend laminating the vinyl after to help protect the print. If you are using vinyl than its important you laminate with a cold laminate, because the hot laminate will warp the vinyl.
I also recommend that you use PIGMENT ink to print your labels. Regular ink that comes with printers is called DYE ink. Dye ink is water soluble so it will run if it gets wet, but pigment ink dries watersafe and won’t run. The tricky thing about this is that you will need to have a designated printer with only pigment ink because you can’t switch the ink back and forth. But if you are making a lot of products for sale than I am sure that won’t be a problem since you will be using the printer several times a week.
If you make labels for your handmade scrubs and lotions than check out this tutorial where I show you how to make waterproof labels for your handmade products.
Branding stickers paper
If you like making stickers to brand your products such as circle stickers to help keep tissue paper closed than a simple paper sticker will work. You don’t need anything too fancy since you will be making a lot of these and you need them to be fast and easy to make. These 8.5″ x 11″ paper sticker sheets are great for printing and cutting out with your cricut. If you like the idea of just printing your stickers onto precut sticker shapes than these 1.5″ circle shapes are great as long as you are comfortable using a template on your computer.
Hang tags
Hang tags can be made from a variety of papers, you can make them thick or thin, black and white or full color printing. I think having a blend of ivory, white and brown kraft paper on hand will give you a lot of options. The ivory looks beautiful as a base for colorful prints, the white is classic and can give you a lot of options, and the kraft paper will give you fun paper tags that look great with black printing. If you are looking for easy to print tag than check out these precut printable paper tags.
If you want to learn how to make hangtags for your handmade clothing or accessories than check out this tutorial I made on how to make rectangular hangtags.
I recommend when starting a new project to always buy a small amount to test with. You should test the paper first in your printer and also with your cutting machine and pattern to make sure it is compatible. After you can buy the money saving bulk paper amounts like what you can find at places like thepapermillstore.
You don’t want to get stuck with too much of the wrong paper because paper has a shelf life. I recommend you just buy what you are going to go through no longer than 6 months. Paper is delicate and needs to be stored away from moisture and light or else it can warp. Also if you are hording too much in your craft room it is easy to damage it if you don’t have enough room to properly store it. This will just end up being a waste of money since you will have to throw it away and rebuy new paper later.
Well I hope that you found this post helpful when trying to choose what paper type is best for your project and also where to find your paper.
