New Feature: The WEP Award

I've decided to introduce a new (hopefully regular) feature on this blog: the WEP Award. In the interest of my recent contemplation of spending (my own) and value (in terms of what I'll sell in my potential store), I've been thinking about which crafting items I own that I would consider to be Worth Every Penny. Since this is what my desk looks like right now...



...I'll include links today rather than photos.

Today's WEP Award actually goes to two winners. Stampin' Up Grid Paper and Stampin' Up Stampin' Mist.

Does it seem a little odd that my first WEP Award goes to items that aren't technically CREATIVE? Sure. But really, I was thinking about these things today, because I just received an order that I'd placed for just these two things. I use them every single time I stamp, and the last time I ordered them? At least FOUR years ago. They may not be the most glamorous tools in my crafting arsenal, but holy cow are they the highest value per use.

The grid paper is shockingly useful - it's huge, so it really covers plenty of space on my desk and keeps me from having to wipe off ink, etc. I pretty much use one sheet until it's unusuable - either because it's got too much adhesive on it, so it starts sticking to new projects, or because I've been using it to catch glitter and put it back in the jar, and I want to change colors of glitter. By the time I throw one away, it inevitably has ink ALL over it, from stamping off before I clean a stamp, or from positioning, or whatever. The grid lines are so helpful in lining things up, and on the right-hand side, there's a handy guide to standard card sizes.

The stamp cleaner works ridiculously well (I use it with the Stampin' Up Stampin' Scrub, which has also been great, except that right now I need to replace the scrubby pads and the company isn't shipping them because of a quality problem. So I can't add the scrub pads to the WEP Award just yet.), and I've been using the same tiny spray bottle for years - just refilling it when needed with a diluted solution of the Stampin' Mist - I find that, undiluted, it's a little too soapy. But if I fill the smaller bottle half with water before I fill it up with solution, it makes the solution last forever and keeps it from being too sudsy.

One problem with this WEP Award is that I can't sell these items retail when I open my store - does anyone have any recommendations for similar items that might be from a company besides Stampin' Up?