Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Favorite Cardstock

Iriseyes asked about my favorite cardstock, so I thought I'd post about it.

The first rule of paper craft supplies is to buy quality product. If you use cheap cardstock, your cards will look cheap. Cheap stamps don't work as well as high-quality stamps. Cheap inks don't stamp as well. Cheap rhinestones won't stick. And so on.

Most of my cards have white or cream bases, so I need a sturdy cardstock. My favorite white/cream/kraft cardstock comes from Papertrey Ink. It's very heavy and has a bit of tooth (not totally smooth like SU's whisper white) that helps inks dry quickly and takes ink beautifully. SU's Read Red classic ink NEVER dries on whisper white, but it's good to go in seconds on PTI's paper.

BTW, Real Red is my all-time favorite red. I've tried about 10 different red inks, and none comes close to the richness of SU's Real Red.

PTI's cardstock, because of its thickness, requires scoring to get good, smooth folds. My Scor-Pal comes in handy for this, but I used to use a ruler and butter knife with good results, too. The thickness also makes it perfect for one-panel notecards that look every bit as nice as Crane's stationery.

For colored cardstock, I use SU and PTI, both of which are equally high quality, IMHO. PTI's might be slightly heavier. I love the coordinated product lines of SU and PTI because they make life so much easier and both are high quality.

I'm certain there are other brands of cardstock every bit as good as PTI's and SU, so please don't take my word as the last word on cardstock. I try to limit my own purchasing to a few companies to keep life simple, but this means I'm slow to pick up on new trends and product that other companies might offer.

Also, the second rule of paper craft supplies is to use the right product for the right purpose. For instance, I've read rave reviews of Gina K's heavy cardstock for use with Copics, but as I don't HAVE Copics (except for the three Susie Berker sent me as blog candy), I haven't tried it. Different types of cardstock yield different results with different techniques. Experiment to find what works best for your needs.

I hope this answers your question, iriseyes, and I invite you all to share your favorite cardstocks in the comments.

6 comments:

  1. I'm a huge fan of GinaK's Pure Luxury white. As you said, it has the same heavy weight at PTI, but the smooth finish of SU's Whisper. I prefer it smooth, I feel like my images are more crisp on smooth c.s. Since I use Copics, that's another reason for me to go with Pure Luxury.

    I like SU's textured cardstock, I haven't been able to find another brand that has such a fine texture. Bazzill and others make textured, but it's more...coarse, I guess? It's not so good for stamping.

    The kids are crawling on me, so I hope this made sense! :S

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Susan, as always, for sharing your info. It saves us novices from mistakes! One thing I did want to share, is that if you don't have a Scor-Pal, a good alternative is a ruler and a pen that has run out of ink. It's smooth and makes a good fold.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have not tried Gina K's cs yet, but I'll have to try some as I did purchase some Copics recently. I sent for some white & cream cs from PTI as I'm a great follower of your postings and it is very wonderful quality. I have a lot of SU cs and I also love the colors from CTMH. Each morning, I anxiously look forward to my e-mail from Simplicity and want to thank you for all your lovely work and wonderful comments. Nice way to start the day. Happy Thanksgiving to all you simple minded stampers (and that's meant to be a nice comment)!! Ü

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the lowdown on cardstock! Love to get tips like this because you've done all the experimenting for me! I'm not sure if you've done one on inks in an older post, if not I'd love to know the lowdown on inks, such as PTI and SU.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wholeheartedly agree with you on your choice of cardstocks. I too use PTI and SU cardstocks for all my needs. They both work, and have color coordinating products, so why buy elsewhere? I've never tried SU's whisper white because I love PTI's white cardstock, and as they say... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" No copics here either, so I have no need to try GinaK's pure luxury.......yet!! :) TFS your expertise!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm in total agreement on the cardstocks and coordinating line of products. I use Flourishes' Classic White, which is similar to PTI. Haven't tried GinaK's, but after Krystie Lee's comment I'm wondering just how smooth it is. I like smooth, also.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking time to comment!