Sarah Hand - A Happy Book of Little Gifts to Make: Spread hope and joy with more than 15 maker activities designed to keep your hands busy and your heart full

• Card stock: I use card stock in a lot of the projects in this book. It is just so handy to have a stack of it around for cards, books, boxes, tags, and much more. It comes in many colors, and you can find it at craft stores, office stores, and online. Sometimes youll find packs of mixed colors, which are nice to have. I am a huge fan of the colors and textures from French Paper Company.
• Printer paper: Regular old printer paper is cheap and bountiful. If stark white isnt your thing, you can get it in soft ivory, gray, or any color you like. I recommend having a ream of it aroundyoull always find a use for it!
• Brown-paper grocery bags make a great sturdy paper for books, cards, and especially wrapping paper. Just save them after a trip to the store!
• Newsprint/packing paper: You can buy this in big packs at the hardware store (in the moving box section), or you can save the packing paper that comes in packages you might get in the mail. Its a soft, pulpy paper that is great for covering your work surfaces, printing wrapping paper, and crumpling for armatures (finger puppets and spun cotton).
• Butcher paper: You can find this all-purpose paper in rolls in brown or white. It is crisp and thin, and having a roll on hand is a great idea. I use it for painted paper, crayon rubbings, wrapping paper, table coverings, and more.
• Corrugated cardboard boxes: If you order things online, youre way too familiar with cardboard boxes. While I dont recommend hoarding all the boxes that come into your house, I do think hanging on to a few for crafts is a good idea. (See to learn how to prepare your cardboard.)
• Premade postcards: These are optional, as card stock will work as well. But if you like a preprinted stamp/ address area, these are fun to use for the two-color foam-printing postcards (). You can find these online.
• Thin cardboard from cereal, seltzer, or other clean food packaging. Keep a couple on hand for projects like finger puppets, pipe cleaner heads, and so on.

• Acrylic paint is my preferred paint, as it is permanent and can be layered without reactivating the other layers. Any kind of acrylic works for these projects: craft acrylic, fine-art acrylic, or acrylic gouache. I use them all! Experiment with different paints to see what you like.
• Acrylic paint markers: These are so fun to use for adding details, as well as drawing on top of acrylic paint. I highly recommend getting a handful of these marvelous pens. They come in oodles of colors, nib widths, and brands. You can buy sets or get them individually. Be carefulthey are hard to resist!
• Colored pencils: When I dont want to get into my paints, I turn to colored pencils. Theyre fun to color, write, and draw with. Its worth it to get a good-quality brand. I recommend Prismacolor; theyre affordable, wonderfully pigmented, and buttery.
• Crayons: We only use them in one project, but crayons always come in handy. I recommend Crayola or another decent brand. Stay away from toddler-friendly, super-soft, soy-wax crayons and blocks, as they simply squish too much to make a crisp rubbing.

Painting Tools

• Water jar
• Paintbrushes in a range of sizes
• Brayer: optional, for applying paint to foam stamps
• Paper towels: helpful for blotting your paintbrush!

• Electric drill and bits (see for helpful information)
• Wood slices, blocks, chunks, chair legs: These are available at craft stores and hardware stores, or you can cut your own if you have a saw. I also recommend checking out thrift stores for wooden blocks.