We are sharing with you the material we started with and where we got it from, including at home, the hardware store, the dollar store and the local hobby store. We also give you a sneak peak at how we initially organized and store it.

When we got started with crafting, we pretty much had nothing in our toolkit. We didn’t know anything about specialized tools either or what we would even need for our project.

XPS Foam

After watching a few tutorials, we figured out we would need XPS foam, and a lot of it. We were planning a large game and based on our initial sketches in our notebook, we ordered a bunch of sheets for the hardware store. 

At the same time, we got ourselves good utility knives and some gorilla glue. We used that glue once for the project. Afterwards, we realized that hot glue would do the job. Finally, we also got a large drywall t-square to cut the foam straight.

Going around the House

Before shopping for more supplies, we went around the house to see what we had on hand. We gathered all the scrap material we could like cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls, tissue paper boxes, empty containers, and so on. 

We also got some paint brushes and caulking guns from our construction material stash. Finally, I went through my scrapbooking kit to see what trinket would be helpful.

Dollar Store Raid

The big initial investment was the XPS foam. Our budget was now low. So, we went to the dollar store and bought pretty much all their crafting supplies. The cashier asked us what we were working on as she handed us the longest receipt ever. Our dollar store has a lot of good supplies that we ended up using throughout the entire project.

The biggest highlights of this raid were the acrylic paint, plastic palettes, the erasable foam core white board, disposable containers, and all the wood crafting sticks you can dream of. 

Arts & Craft Store

There were some key supplies we could not get at the dollar store, so with the rest of the budget, we finished our shopping spree at our local arts & crafts store. There, we got our vinyl cutting mats, better quality hot glue guns, some plaster of Paris, measuring tools, and higher quality paint brushes.

Organization

We don’t have a workshop yet and we didn’t have much space to organize everything. This was just supposed to be a one time project to make that game for our nieces and nephews at Christmas. We didn’t realize it would turn into a real passion!

We used all the empty baskets, boxes and containers we had to organize the supplies by category. We set up a table in the corner of the living room where we stacked all the containers and we placed below all the big items like foam core and cardboard boxes.

Storing the Foam

Obviously, the XPS foam was too big to keep in our living room, but they were also too big for the size of the locker. We had to shorten the sheets so we could put them in the locker. So we used our drywall t-square and the utility knife to split the sheets.

Onwards

With all that, we were ready to start crafting our game! But of course, along the way, we progressively got more supplies. We were getting them as we had more budget, knew what we needed, and learned about the different materials available.

Our members have free access to our material guides where we rated the result of the material and supplies, what we used them for, and where we got them. You can browse the entire collection here.

What were the first crafting tools you ever got?