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ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT IT MEANS WHEN SOMEONE REFERS TO A PAPERS WEIGHT?

DO YOU NEED A LITTLE CLARIFICATION ON PAPER WEIGHT AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR?

Are you finding paper weight terms confusing? Have you heard someone suggest using a certain paper weight. Only to find that your paper either doesn’t list the weight in lbs. or grams suggested?

There are so many different terms used when talking about paper that it get’s a little confusing. I will try to explain it to you best I can and give you basic information on what to look for.

Not only do you have to look for the papers weight in lbs. and gsm, you have to look at paper type. Paper comes in many different types. The two basic ones we tend to use are, text (think of copy paper or the pages in a book) and cover (think of cardstock or the books cover).

For the most part when you make mandala’s, or other Cricut projects, you want a medium cardstock that is roughly 65-80 lb. or 176 gsm – 216 gsm.

In the U.S. we use lbs. as our measurement method, while most of the rest of the world uses gsm, (which stands for grams per square meter). You will occasionally find both lbs and the gsm listed on the package depending on where you are located. Some refer to it in lbs, for example 65 lb., and some refer to it in gsm, for example 176 gsm. And some companies use both. This is why we tend to get confused.

I like to take the word paperweight, and think of it more as a reference to the thickness and sturdiness of the paper and not how much it actually weights.

You may find it makes it a little easier to remember, if you think of paper in the sense of thickness or heaviness. If you are looking at cardstock, 65 lb. would be light , 85 lb. would be medium and 110 lb. would be heavier. The larger the number in lbs. the heavier the cardstock is. Please note that this is when we are talking about CARDSTOCK and NOT paper.

Just remember that when you are looking for cardstock, try getting one that is somewhere between 65 lb. and 80 lb. You will find that works best for making most of your Cricut projects.

Be sure to check out my post here to get my recommendations for choosing the best paper for your project.

If you need more clarification leave a comment below and I will do my best to help you out. Don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss my next posts. Here’s to…..

Joyfully Creating,
Shelly