Helpful craft card making hints

Cutting

Metal rulers are often better than timber or plastic ones, as you cannot accidentally slice pieces of the ruler off as you're cutting your paper. I also find having a couple of different length rulers very handy. It is also important to have a good thick mat to cut your paper on. I prefer mats that are marked with different sized lines, as I use them to align the paper and cut straight lines, instead of measuring the paper and marking it.

Glue

It's important to choose a good quality glue that will not damage paper or crinkle it, but that will actually do the job. I am very happy with Lindcraft's Craft Glue, however I would not use it on vellum as it shows through. A better product for gluing vellum is an adhesive such as Diamond Glaze, which can also be used to obtain a raised glass-like finish on your stamps.
As silly as it sounds, I always keep a few pegs in my craft draw. They are very good at holding down awkward corners when gluing.

Embossing

As well as having a variety of colored ink pads, it can be useful to have an embossing pen. It can used to write or draw your own art and then emboss with coloured powder. It can also be used to ink sections of a stamp before using embossing powder.
Paper embossing can easily enhance any card. Having a couple of stencils and an embossing tool is all you need! Also keep some old soap with your embossing tools, and lightly rub the soap on the paper before embossing. This will make your tool slide a lot easier.
Don't forget the ever important Static Pad! This will eliminate the static cling from you paper before you stamp and emboss. This means your embossing powders should only stick to the wet image and not the paper!

Colouring

Its helpful to have coloring tools to enhance your stamps. I use water soluble wax crayons with a wet paintbrush. This is helpful to blend colors on the paper, as well as to mix different colors. They are not cheap to purchase, but they do last for many many years!

Stamps

Don't you hate it when you spot that great stamp at the shop, but you are not sure whether it will work with the other stamps you own? Keep a record of all your stamps and ink pads in a folder, and take this folder with you whenever you go shopping! I also use it to keep the photos of cards that friends have sent me or of magazine cuttings, and I refer to it for ideas.

Embellishments

Keep every ribbon you ever receive attached to a present or gift. You just never know when they will come in handy and complement a card!
Save yourself some money and pick up embellishments from cheap shops (such as Warehouse, Go-Lo, Chickenfeed), or think about buying from bigger stores (such as Lincraft, Big W, Kmart) as they can be considerably cheaper that smaller craft shops, especially during their sale times. Or you can simply collect bits and pieces from other cards or gifts you receive!