A little Slice of heaven

You may have seen several of us mention our Slice - I'm pretty sure that we all love our Slice, most of the time!!



Picture from Making Memories

I got my Slice when they first came out and couldn't wait to play with it!! I started off with just the Slice and the Design Card that came with it. I eventually got the Basics 3 card and Fa La La. I was also lucky enough to buy my Slice at the right time and get the offer for the free Design Card - Seasons. So within just a few months, I had enough Design Cards to keep me busy!!

I made several fun things right away - like this December Daily Album and our Christmas Card for 2008! I made this Countdown to Christmas and decorations for out little Alabama tree, too!



I really loved cutting things out - since this was the first die cutting system I had, I went a little crazy, obviously!! But, it was so fun!!

I had a few issues with my Slice, mostly operating issues on my part!! I wasn't always patient and when it wouldn't do just what I wanted, I tended to just unplug it and walk away!! I did end up watching several of the videos on the Why Slice website and that helped a lot. I still tend to have a few problems with it now, but sometimes you just have to give the machine a rest and take a break!!

Now, I've added several Design Cards to my stash! I have Basics 2, Spooky Alley and Mix and Mingle. I've used my Slice for accents on layouts, cards and altered items. I've used it for Banners - for Birthdays and Baby Showers. I've used it on three diaper cakes now, too!

Here's the breakdown on my thoughts on the Slice:

Pros:

• Super portable
• with the recent upgrades to the machine, it's much faster
• design cards are affordable, especially when they are on sale
• endless options with the extra things they've added recently - shadowing, mirror imaging, etc
• cuts paper and cardstock easily
• cuts vinyl

Cons:

• battery runs out quickly to me, so even if it's portable, you still have to plug it in to get the best results
• temperamental - sometimes I really do just have to unplug it and walk away when it won't cut all the way through the paper, or cuts wonky - coming back to it later seems to make it work again though
  
• the Design Cards and accessories aren't on sale often enough for me (although I've recently discovered that the accessories aren't excluded on JoAnn's coupons - YAY)
• when cutting tons of designs, I hate that I have to hold the machine, but the good thing is they've now come out with a Hands free option and I'll be looking into adding that to my stash soon!
• adhesive is pricey and my last tube clogged up and was a pain to fix
  

What I hope they come out with in the future:

• the ability to cut your own designs (I've heard this will be available in the future though)
• the ability to use the new features (mirror image and shadowing) on the old design cards
• Disney design cards (oh my gosh - I hope this happens!!!)
  

Things the Slice does that I haven't tired:

• embossing (I really want to try that)
• drawing (I don't know if the pens are out yet, but I know they showed it at CHA)

Overall, I love my Slice!! I love that I can cut out any title for a page (that is, when I'm not using all the alphabets that come in my Scripts kit - Thickers are tough competition for the Slice). I love that I can cut multiple sizes of shapes and layer them for some fun accents. I love that I can cut vinyl now. I cut out a name and stuck it on a cute pink pail for my future niece. Her first Easter bucket is ready (she isn't arriving until after this Easter, but I just couldn't help making a cute pail for her). I've also cut my initials for my back window on my van. I feel like the options are endless - there are so many things I get excited about doing!!

Making Memories sales vinyl that's marketed as Slice Vinyl, but it's patterned and that doesn't always work for what I want to cut. They haven't come out with solid vinyl yet, that I know of. The Slice does cut the vinyl for the Cricut and Silhouette. I also picked up a scrap of vinyl from a sign shop and it cut that, too!

So, back to the OVERALL part, I love it!