Must-Have Crafting Tools Countdown: #10

It was hard, but after sifting through all my crafting and design tools, I finally managed to whittle my must-have list down to my 10 most essential items. So I'm going to start today by talking about #10! Just as a disclaimer, I'm not being sponsored by anybody or being told to endorse these products. These are simply products and tools that I've used and loved and want to share with you.

#10 - Scanner
I have a CanoScan LiDE 110 that I got for Christmas a few years ago that I absolutely love. I feel like most scanners basically do the same job getting documents and images scanned. What sets this one apart for me is the portability and the fact that it only has one cord. All I have to do is use one simple cord to connect my scanner to my laptop and that's it. No power cord to deal with! The scanner is powered by your computer, thus making it more energy efficient too. Score. I literally store this scanner in my bookshelf. It takes up less space than my Martha Stewart Encyclopedia.


I use my Scanner a lot when I'm creating custom artwork for illustrations or when I want to use specific elements of existing artwork. For example, for Cathy and Dan's invitations, I hand-sketched the peapod, scanned it into an Illustrator file, and applied stroke effects and color digitally. It's oftentimes a lot easier to work out your ideas on paper and draw it by hand than to try working on computer solely.

Stay tuned for #9 next week!