I have lots of fun ideas for Polka Dot Made (in fact today I’m working on a project I’ll be able to share with you very soon!) but I’m thinking of all the things I love to know – essential items in DIY is one of them! So I’ll be asking some amazing crafters what their essential items are over the coming months.

Mine? After desperately seeking a solution to a rather drab craft store close to where I live, I stumbled across a freshly built Spotlight store and inside? Well it was like all my dreams had come true!

This store has buttons, beads, fabrics and papers and everything my little crafting heart desired! It also had a glorious range of Martha Stewart products. This of course made me incredibly happy seeing as I’d only spied the gorgeous range on US blogs (such as one of my favourites Such Pretty Things).

As life goes, the coincidence was I’d also been watching Martha’s short snippets and catching up on the daily show that had just started airing on television and she’d often pull out her trusty product to get her project just so! So there it was in the store and I grabbed it, not really knowing why but just knowing I’d love it.

The bone folder.

Why does one need a bone folder? Well you see apart from the nifty little case it comes in, this bone folder? It’s become my essential item! I send out a lot of mail, I write a lot of cards, I do a lot of craft projects and this bone folder has made everything so much easier. Clean crisp folds, every. single. time.

Why not use a ruler? Well I was! But you see, in a hurry, that ruler likes to do it’s own thing, it’s not always happy to create a clean, neat fold, it has to slip slide away and create a crinkly one….which just don’t do! The bone folder? it’s shaped for the hand, it’s shaped to get the best fold and it’s a little treat to use. Aside from that you can score, smooth or burnish paper too!

So this is my essential item, the one I can’t live without. I want to know yours!