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!

Don't you just love brads?

A few weeks ago there was a lovely 60% off an item coupon for Michaels. I was so excited. I couldn't decide what I should buy. I mean 60% off is awesome. I wandered through the aisles thinking about something sort of big that I could get with my coupon. I looked at punches, but the one I really wanted wasn't there. I looked at Tim Holtz stuff, but moved on. I looked at other things in the store and didn't really find one big thing. Well, that's what happens when you work there and you buy stuff all the time. Then, I was helping a customer locate something and we were just chatting about scrapbooking (the best part of my job) and I saw this:



It's a brad maker.

I think I need it!!

So, I bought it and bought a few packs of the brads, too. I couldn't wait to play, but had too much going on at home to really dig into my scrapping supplies. I had a trip to Memphis coming up and knew there would be some spare time so I started pulling some of my older Scripts kits out - ones I just didn't get around to using all of. And grabbed my new tool. In the meantime, I looked around for reviews on this tool and really only found one or two and they weren't really detailed. They both said they had problems with the brads staying together but this was right when the tool came out. They contacted the company and got replacement brads and it never happened again. A coworker said she had played with it somewhere and the tool actually broke. So, I'm hoping all those glitches were just random and that the kinks are all worked out now!

The tool itself is around $35. The packs of brad parts are around $3 (there are three different sizes, I believe). There's a pack of templates, as well - $3, and a punch that was around $11, I think. I wasn't willing to buy the punch yet though, but may later.

I opened all my goodies and got to work. I picked the size I wanted for my first brad, traced the template and cut out the paper. So far, so good. Used the packaging directions and made my first brad. It was pretty simple. Oh - the tool comes with a dvd showing full instructions, but I haven't watched it yet.

Here's my end result:



(don't you like how that one button is just hanging there, ready to fall off? lovely! must go back and stitch instead of glue dot that!!)

Here's a close up of my brad:



I used my September Scripts kit and these pictures from a mini photo shoot near Carol's house. Every time I drive over there, I get a little giddy over this spot in the road. I love the trees making a canopy over you as you drive through. I tell her every time I come over that I want to take pictures there and finally we did. I just loved this photo of Cole in the road - he looks so tiny compared to the surroundings!

I only made one brad and it's used to hold the tag down with my journaling. I think it turned out well. You can see the paper where it buckles a little around the brad, but I don't mind it too much. I think a thinner paper would probably be a better choice for this. Cardstock would probably not look good at all since it's so thick.

In the end - here are my thoughts:

Good points:

• with the coupon - it was a steal at around $14.
• the directions were super easy to follow.
• brads to match anything you could imagine.

Bad points:

• wouldn't buy it without a coupon, but I'm pretty thrifty
• thick paper won't work out very well
• using the template to cut your paper is a little time consuming, but this isn't a deal breaker
• I believe the punch is only good for one size brad
  
• not enough time in the day to make all the brads I would want to make!!

So, all in all, I really like my new tool. I haven't had a chance to play with it again yet, but hopefully soon!! I want to try some thin fabric and tissue paper and see how that turns out and would also love to buy the adapter to make the big brads. This tool only does two sizes, but they have an adapter for a third. I just hope this is a tool that sticks around so I can find the parts I need for a while. I may have to just keep stocking up when good coupons are available - just in case!!

Oh - if you ever come across about 60% off coupon - use it while you can! The rumor from Michaels is it won't happen again. Turns out the coupon was for certain states only, but ended up being taken everywhere. I know the Michaels I'm at had tons come through!!

Have a wonderful Monday - despite the gloomy weather outside. If you have a tool you've purchased lately - let us know about it. And if you have this tool - tell me what you think! How do you like it!!

Lisa