ACCESSORIES
These products are items that I use (and love!)

NEW: Here is a link to my consolidated item Amazon store page. Click on the categories on my page and, for each item, click on the quotation icon in the lower right corner of the item thumbnails to see my thoughts on those items. https://www.amazon.com/shop/stampscapeswithkevinnakagawa

Click on the links to take you to Amazon or other sites to view these items. This page isn't a suggestion to purchase the items off these links but are for convenience and can provide those looking for these items a base for shopping and price comparison. Some items below might be sold out and prices change all the time too.

My criteria for the media that I use on my cards? They have to work well (or the best) and value. I do buy new supplies and love working with them but, with many items, I feel like I've found what works the best for me in a given type of media. For example, Marvy inks in my opinion are the best dye based inks but I use other inks (and love them) such as Distress and Memento because they have colors that Marvy doesn't offer. Below, I don't list every item that I use because some items are very popular and one can find them anywhere, and rubber stampers know where to get them, but I list a lot of the items that might be more obscure that have come to be the items that I've used a lot over time or where I can see that they will become a regular part of my repertoire.

MEDIA (PAINTS, PENS, INKS, ETC.)
Brilliance Graphite Black Full Sized Pigment Ink Pad (Will air dry or can be heat set on almost any surface. The only ink that I know of that can work on some surfaces such as metallics/foils. Buy a re-inker for this pad as you'll need it.)

Brilliance Graphite Black Pigment Ink Re-Inker

Brilliance Moonlight White Full Sized Pigment Ink Pad (Will air dry or can be heat set on almost any surface. The only ink that I know of that can work on some surfaces such as metallics/foils.)

Brilliance Moonlight White Pigment Ink Re-Inker

Dr Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White. Opaque White Watercolor Paint (Great for things like splatter painted snow, stars, etc..). One jar lasts a long time.
Miaosun .7mm Extra Fine Point White Acrylic Paint Pens (one of the better white pens that I've used. I've never had one of these clog on me and they're very inexpensive.)
Artistro .7mm Acrylic Paint Pen 42 Color Set (Great pens for detailing, highlighting, and coloring.)
Emooqi 3mm Acrylic Paint Pen 24 Color Set (Great pens for larger applications of painted color. Try it for your leaves in any season.)
These are the alcohol markers that I use a lot on my scenes. I usually use them for detailing more than outright coloring (on most papers) so I use them for specific areas on objects to enhance shading and volumes such as different browns on wooden structures or I'll use various shades of grey for the shadows on my rocks. I do use alcohol pens for almost all coloring on photo paper though as dye based inks dry too fast on that paper as does alcohol but, with alcohol, we can blend using a blending pen. Now, I know these aren't the main brand that's become very popular in paper crafts but these are less than half the price and work fine for me.

Brush Tip Markers that I use:
Uchida Of America 3000SET24A 24-Piece Le Plume Permanent Alcohol Based Ink Pen Set, Primary

Uchida Of America 3000SET24B 24-Piece Le Plume Permanent Alcohol Based Ink Pen Set, Pastel (This is the main set that I'm using as I use a lot of light value colors)

I also have a very cheap set of pens that I don't use quite as much but I have on my desk in the event there's a color that I don't have in the Uchida sets. These pens can be as cheap as .20/pen! They're double sided but not brush tip. They have a chisel tip on one end that I hardly use and have an extra fine bullet-type tip on the other. There are dozens of versions of these pens in different sets and they seem to be getting cheaper all the time. I bought a set of 88 Shuttle Art pens, and they work fine, for about .45/pen but this 100 set below is .30/pen. Are they the equal of $5/pen brands? No, but these types are .30 each. Crazy cheap.

Alcohol Markers 100 Colors Art Markers Professional Art Pen Dual Tips Plus 1 Blender Permanent Marker for Adults & Kids,Alcohol Based Sketch Markers for Painting, Coloring and Drawing with Base(white).

DYE INKS: Marvy Matchable Inks and blank pads (probably the best quality dye inks in the industry). The black is my go-to black dye based ink. Denser, blacker, and not as thick as most dye inks so they can apply to more surfaces because they won't take so long to penetrate and stain which is how dyes work. Marvy inks do not come in dedicated pad cases any longer so if you want a case, purchase the blank case. Use about 1/3 of the bottle for that initial inking of the pad. It will look like you haven't inked up the pad enough as the ink might not fully penetrate the pad but just leave it that way and re-ink as needed. Do not over-ink the foam pad. Links to the uchida.com: Marvy re-inkers   Marvy blank pads

PAPERS and SURFACES (STAMPING SURFACES)

Kromekote Glossy Cardstock 12 point CS1 200 Sheet Ream. This is my recommended glossy these days. There are many manufacturers selling glossy card stock under their own brand but most of them are probably repackaged Kromekote. No craft manufacturer or supplier makes their own card stock as it's way too expensive a process for the crafting industry.

Mohawk Everyday Digital Silk Cover White Silk 100 lb. cover 8.5 x 11. This is my "matte" card stock that I'm using. It's silk and not matte which means that it's slightly coated instead of completely uncoated so you get the benefit of a coated paper in terms of more ink vibrancy retention and you can use some media on it that doesn't work on glossy papers because they're too slick. By appearance, though, it looks like matte paper. I bought mine at Kelly Paper but I didn't see it on their website. You can probably call any one of their stores and order it and I thought it was cheaper than this site but someone pointed this site out to me recently and you can see the specs on the paper on paperandenvelopes.com: Mohawk Everyday Digital White Coated Silk 100lb Cover

Stardream 81# Lapis Lazuli 50 Pack. A beautiful surface to stamp on. Stardream papers are iridescent. Brilliance inks dry on this paper very nicely.

Antique Gold Stardream Metallic Cardstock Paper - 8.5 X 11 Inch - 105 Lb. / 284 GSM Cover - 25 Sheets
Metallic Gold Card Stock Mirror Paper Sheets Foil 8.5" x 11" -60 Sheets! Very dynamic surface to stamp on or to use for your matting. If stamping on this, use something like the Brilliance inks.
Metallic Silver Card Stock Mirror Paper Sheets Foil 8.5" x 11" -60 Sheets! Very dynamic surface to stamp on or to use for your matting. If stamping on this, use something like the Brilliance inks.

These are a couple very dynamic papers/foils to stamp on by Recollections sold on the Michael's website. Use them with Brilliance inks (which will dry on them or you can heat set them). These packs go on sale all the time at about $3.33-$4/pack:

Rainbow Holographic   Jewel Toned Foils

I just tried an older technique of stamping on vellum and I love it. You can achieve so much depth by stamping and coloring different areas of a scene on different sides of the vellum and it seems to accept just about any media without smearing. I've had comments from some that their vellum doesn't allow their inks to dry but I've had no problem with the Canson 55lb version.

EMBELLISHMENT AND OTHER

For unmounted rubber stamp usage with acrylic blocks: Tsukineko Tack 'N Peel Reusable Cling Sheet-4inX6.5in (use with acrylic blocks). I use two packs of this material.
If you use a stamping platform to stamp with, red rubber stamps can be used with a platform using this 4" x 6" clear mounting stamp.

Purple Onion 4" x 6" clear mounting stamp

Someone told me that these are the same thing as the Speedball Gel Printing Plates that come in different sizes. As far as platform compatibility, I don't know but would think these plates can be matte knife trimmed but, again, I don't know.

TecUnite 2000 Pieces Flat Back Gems Round Crystal Rhinestones 6 Sizes (1.5-6 mm). I use these for stars or something like sparkles in my water. They make great embellishments.
Uchida Of America 91GR Double Ended Jewel Picker. Makes the handling of the really small crystals so much easier.
Krylon Gallery Series Artist and Clear Coatings Aerosol, 11-Ounce, UV-Resistant Clear Gloss. Bump up the intensity, saturation, and vibrancy of any of your inks while also adding another layer of protection to them.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS GREAT FOR STAMPING

Paper Towels: Great for applying dye inks and using torn pieces for your cloud templates.

100% Cotton Balls: If you need a soft application of a certain medium, what's softer than a cotton ball to apply it? I use it for pigment ink applications. Always use 100% cotton as the synthetic balls are useless for this purpose.

100% Cotton Swabs: For a smaller application of media that you want to look softly applied. For example, a glowing star, light on a lighthouse, fireflies, etc. If using for something like this, use a dry brush application. Most people use WAY too much ink on their tips.

Kitchen Sponges: Paper towels and kitchen sponges are often better for your ink applications than many of the specialty applicators out there in the industry that are usually repurposed applicators designed for other purposes or completely different types of media. Paper towels and sponges are designed to absorb and, therefore, are great to transfer. If you have some kind of applicator that isn't designed to absorb it's not going to have a lot of media to transfer which, in turn, will make your process much more of a struggle. Some "applicators" look like they're good for something but what they need to be is designed for the purpose for which they're being used.

Pumice Sponges: What I use to clean my fingers/hands to remove the ink. No pumice stones but pumice sponges. I guess you can use a stone but that would be really rough on the skin.