PAPERLICIOUS

Product Review: Dahle 155 Pencil Sharpener

This week I met the Dahle 155 Professional Pencil Sharpener... and my life will never be the same.  Well, using colored pencils will never be the same.

Stick in a pencil.  Turn.  A perfectly sharpened pencil. 

No batteries or cord.  $30 list price.  

This is the sharpener that Dave Brethauer, owner of Memory Box, recommends.  But now it is also the sharpener that I recommend. 

You have a favorite new product?

 EDITED TO ADD:  I puchased this at my LSS.  I do not know where else you can buy it but a quick romp through google shows that Dick Blick and Amazon have it.

 

Hey, Inspired By

is inspired by me, which is funny because I am inspired by Inspired By all the time!!  Confused?  Don't be -- just check out Jill's blog today. Her work is gorgeous (please don't compare me too harshly!!)

When Jill emailed me last week, I was so flattered. Her videos are the best and if you've noticed an improvement in my work it is primarily due to studying Jill's blog (and the I Love Mementos blog, where Jill is a regular contributor.)  By the way, in a totally uncompensated plug, I've purchased from this shop because of Jill's enabling and it is a great store. 100% on customer service.

Thanks Jill. I can't wait to see what else she creates.

Breaking News: Review of A Muse Studio Ink

A Muse Studio Kit came.  Tested out the inks.  Bought sight unseen and wasn't sure what I would say here if I hated the inks.  Sooo --

Short Answer:  100% Paperlicious Approval!!  Certified Results by the Husband (I scribbled over his signature for security reasons): 

(not the greatest picture, but I'm in a hurry....)

THE TEST:

1. Does It Stamp a Clear Image With Both Clear and Rubber Stamps?

Yes, it does.  Solid clear leaf (from Waltzingmouse) -- first time I stamped too long and ink smudged (see blue leaf above).  2nd - 5th times time perfect. All other images, in both brown and blue stamped perfect first time -- Solid (butterfly from A Muse Studio Starter Kit) and outline ring (from A Muse Studio Starter Kit), teeny sentiment from A Muse Studio Starter Kit in -- perfect first time.  Light Blue is Sky and Brown is French Roast

2. Drying Time?

About 10 seconds.  It is pigment Ink. Could be a disaster!  See the times on my goofy photo?  I thought I would have to time how long the images dried.  However,you can literally see the ink dry.  I rubbed my finger over the stamped images.  The ink dries to a chalk like finish in about 10 seconds -- In other words, by the time I stamped 4 rings, the first ring was dry.

3.  Matchy Matchy?

Do the ink colors match the cardstock.  YES. 

4.  Colors -- Are they nice?

I love them, but that's a personal preference.  I will be selective.  I don't need 39 new colors!  I particularly like the blues and yellows.  Gorgeous.

5.  Coverage?

Solid stamps, both clear and rubber, came out great!  No gaps. 

6.  Name of ink on the side of the ink pad?

NO!!!  Have to make my own labels...At least the top is clear...

7.  AM I BIASED?

Yes.  In my view, anyone who is affiliated with a company is biased.  As I was opening the ink pads, I figured that if I hated the ink, I would drop my demoship and then casually mention here that the ink didn't work out for me.  So I wouldn't have done a blast against the ink, but I would not have posted a positive review if I didn't believe it.  And of course you can trust me, I'm a lawyer....

(ducking tomatoes....)

Edited to Add:

In response to many inquiries:  A Muse Studio only ships products to US addresses at this time.  I am not making purchases for non US residents and then shipping on my own. 

I'll be reviewing and describing the A Muse Studio cardstock in the near future...

 

 

A Muse Studio, Chatter, and Cards

If you had told me earlier this week that Amuse Arts was entering the home party papercrafting world and that I would have joined up, I would have told you that you were crazy.

But they did, and I did.

So here is A Muse Studio.

You can see the 2011 Inspiration Guide by waiting for the image to scroll to the link. I'll list my favorite sets after I get a paper copy and have time to study!

So here's how this went down in my house -

Mike: No

Me: Why not?

Mike: You'll last an hour an a half.

Me: Maybe. Maybe not. I LOVE their paper and inks. Love the fact that there is white on one side. The colors are luscious.

Mike: Have you tried the inks?

Me: No, but several folks told me that they are very similar to Impress Fresh inks and that, even though pigment, they dry really fast. They will MATCH!

Mike: So you JOINED BEFORE TRYING THE INKS?  Are you crazy?

Me: Yes. ... Remember the lady that out of the blue sent me a huge box of stamps and papers a few years ago after I posted about the financial drain of taking care of my Mom?

Mike: Yes.

Me: Well, that was Linda, the A Muse owner. I can't resist getting in on the ground floor of her new venture. And the company's style is Clean and Simple and while most of the stamps are not my first love (clear), they are cling mount with the image and I love the colors but I'm not getting all of them because I'm limiting my colors to save $$ and space and I'm all freaked out over my Mom and I need a diversion and ...

Mike: So does this mean your blog is going to be all Amuse all the time?

Me: NO!!! I could never give up my addiction to Waltzingmouse!! We can post, promote, design team, link, anything for any other company but we can't also be a demo for another home based paper crafting company, like SU or TAC.

Mike: Craft Budget?

Me: Not breaking it. Really, truly. I'm stuck like glue to you and the budget.  And JULIE is A Muse Studio's Director of Education!!!!

Mike: Well why didn't you tell me Julie is involved?

So I'm taking orders (at least for now).  If you want to place an order with me in March, send an email to me -- jabardee@gmail.com. In April I'll have an online store and it will be much easier. Remember that I work full time outside my house and won't be checking my emails during the day but I'll get back to you. 

*********

Hero Arts Layered Flowers and Truly Appreciated. Color by Copics and Me.  Hero Arts Grass cards. Glitter for fun.  

 

8 Christmas Cards (made in February)  Waltzingmouse Oven Fresh Gingerbread Joy.  The Waltzingmouse February Christmas Challenge was to use something laying around on your craft table.  I had these Hero Arts Grass cards. I really don't like this shade of green.  Good bye Grass cards!  (sorry the photo is not better. but my camera is allergic to this color too.)

Have a great weekend!

 

Favorite products/seeking birthday cards for Mom

My Mom turns 89 in a few weeks.  She'd love to get some cards. Please email me for my address if you are so inclined.  Thanks!

And, in response to 2 emails that I received recently I'm listing a few of my favorite products.  These are products that I've used for a while and go back to again and again.  Sadly, I have no connection to any of these companies (!!). The upside is that my thoughts are unbiased.

HINT:  Don't buy a thing because I recommend it.  User experience varies.  Check around and see what others think!

1.  Memento ink by Tsukineko -- a great ink for clear stamps, particularly solid ones, and it doesn't stain.  Perfect for Copics. Wish they had more colors.  

2. Reinkers -- worthy buying when you purchase ink pads you know you will like, particularly for light colors.  Just reinked my Memento black and wow, what a difference.

3.  Japanese Screw Punch -- punch a hole in various sizes anywhere on the page.  I've had mine for years and have used it hundreds of times.  Pricey but if you amortize over the length of its life, it is inexpensive.

4.  Stampin Up Grid Paper -- One pad lasts months.  Serves as a cushion for stamping.  The ruled grid is perfect for lining up ribbon or placing paper.  I always stamp first on this to make sure I have good coverage.  Here's a video on how Kristina Werner uses this paper.  Much better review than I can provide!  The downside is that it is a consumable and I hate buying stuff that eventually gets thrown out, but I make an exception for this.

5.  Ranger Heat-It Craft Tool -- It's QUIET.  It takes longer to emboss and the air flow is lighter than other embossing guns so it doesn't blow around the powder.  I get less warping.  Did I say it is quiet?  Perfect for my middle of the night work.

6.  Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet -- I put it over my Stampin Up grid paper or any pad of paper and heat emboss.  

It is slippery, so it is perfect for sponging.  Until I used this I didn't get a smooth swirl with my sponges. (I don't care for the Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool -- I can never get a smooth swirl.) Great for inks, paints or anything wet.  

Cleans up quickly with water and a paper towel or regular towel.  

I've read you can get something similar for less $$ that is made to line baking sheets.  Why are craft items are often overpriced (in that similar items are marketed for other purposes and sell for less?)

There are lots of videos on you tube using this craft sheet and Ranger Distress inks or other products.

7.  Ranger Distress Inks -- a dye ink that stays wet for about 30 seconds.  Allows you to blend, blend, blend and if you move your booty quickly, emboss.  They react to water so you can sprinkle water and get great effects.  I'm just starting to use these and they are my new best friend.  Check out Jennifer McGuire's videos on using these inks.  She's a genius.

8.  Spray bottle of water, paper towels and baby wipes.  Now that I'm a neat freak, I use the baby wipes to clean my stamps as I stamp.  I use the cheapest non scented ones I can find that don't leave lint behind.  They are a generic brand sold in my local Shoppers Food Warehouse.  Not environmentally friendly but I use one wipe for one card.  If it isn't too inky, I use it to wipe down my table to get rid of glitter, embossing powder, or my paper cutter.  

Spray bottle of water is just handy for a million things from misting cardstock prior to using an impression plate, water coloring, etc.  Paper towels?  Clean up the mess and essential for water colors.  

9.  A radio turned to C-Span.  Amazing how much intelligent conversation, speeches, etc. are on this channel.  I rarely listen to music (that's for another post) and this station is my stamping companion.

10.  Versamark Pen -- Versamark ink in a marker with two tips, wide and narrow.  Cover a colored image with the marker and then emboss with clear embossing powder. Perfect for embossing a small part of an image (think a flame on a candle, etc.)  Since ink won't stick to an embossed image, this is great for embossing flowers and then stamping a background over the flowers.  No masking needed. Great for touching up spots that you missed when embossing.  Use with a ruler to draw a line and then emboss.  

Lasts forever (I lost mine during the big clean over the holidays and just replaced it. I missed it!)

11.  Labels.  Why don't ink pads come with the name of the ink on the side?  Every stamp set is labeled, paper files are labeled.  I'm a label convert.  Only way I can consistently put things away and then find them.

12.  Scotch double sided temporary tape -- lots of uses.  Die cut, put tape on top of the SU grid paper so the die cut is lined up straight, then stamp on the die cut.  Use to keep a card partially closed when photographing, etc. 

13.  Stampin Up scissors.  Use Craft and Paper for ribbon and fabric. Use Craft and Rubber to cut around images.

Problem Solved with the Grand Calibur

 

I love one layer cards, and I often like to add something to make them more interesting. Bling, texture, a window. But when I put the cards through my die cut machine with a die or embossing plate, the back layer of the card would always have a mark made by the edge of the plate.  Ugh.

I tried various fixes but none of them worked well. Solution? Spellbinders Grand Calibur. The machine has a plate that is 8.5" x almost 12". So I could put my square scalloped die through the machine and the back of the card has no crease. It's the small things that make me happy!

I am lucky. Spellbinders sent the Grand Calibur to me in December because I was a member of the Waltzingmouse Design Team. (Waltzingmouse is a partner with Spellbinders). So I got it for free. Then I quit the Design Team.  Claire at Waltzingmouse contacted Spellbinders and explained that I wanted to pay for the machine since I was leaving the Design Team. Spellbinders declined my payment! What a great company.  So I got the machine for free and had no obligation to ever mention it.  (The Design Team is featuring the product over the next 3 days - I can't wait to see what they did with it!).

But I love the machine and figured I'd share my experience anyway. It has a handle to turn (easy), rather than the Wizard (with the crank). No more shooting plates. The machine has a knob that, when turned, holds the machine to the table. It works.  Seriously, that's all I ask of these tools.  Just do what you say you are going to do.  I'm happy. Very happy. The plates are so big that you can put multiple dies in there at once and cut away. Ok, enough about the machine.

After all, I LOVE THIS CARD!  It's pretty and calm and perfect for a wedding.  Or just to be nice.

Card Construction Details

1. Cut white card 10 x 5 to make 5" square.

2. Punched 16 flowers with an EK Success punch. (Slimline style -- great for storage, hard on the fingers).

3. Used Vintage Cream cardstock for the flowers because love cream on white.

4. Embossed card with the nestability square scallop.  Next time will use plain square (already have more punched flowers ready...stay tuned).

5. Glued flowers and then bent up petals.

6. Added white pearls.

Mood When Done = Grace Kellyish (classic and beautiful)

Does This Bow Make My Card Look Fat?

Card Construction Details:

1.  Cut 5 and 1/4" x 4" PTI Kraft cardstock.

2.  Stamped the snowflake (love this!) from Waltzingmouse Very Vintage Christsmas with  Tsukineko Blue Frost Kaleidacolor spectrum ink pad (try saying that twice) over the kraft cardstock.

3.  Stamped small flower from same set with Stampin Up White Craft ink.  Set aside to dry.

4.  Stamped twice tag image from Very Vintage Christmas with same Blue Frost ink on kraft.

5.  Hand cut oval center.  Stamped center with snowflake and white ink.  Sponged edges. Set aside.

6.  Sponged Blue Frost over edges of kraft background, with more in corners.

7.  Stamped sentiment from same set with the darker portion of Blue Frost ink.

8.  Sponged white cardstock with Blue Frost ink and adhered tag to white cardstock. Trimmed to form layer under tag.

9.  Mounted oval with dimensionals onto tag. 

10.  Needed something.  Added Ranger White Opal Liquid Pearls to centers of snowflakes and to sides of sentiment.  LOVE this product. 

11.  Used Stampin Up punch to make corners on kraft background (the tag already has corners).

12.  Cut SU Night of Navy to mat; added more Liquid Pearls to corners.  Tap card to get liquid pearls to form smooth circle.

13.  Adhered all, tag is on thick dimensionals.

14.  Tied bow and adhered. 

Mood when done = Pleased

****

Life:  work is busy in a weird it's still a new administration kind of way.  My Mom is ok.  My husband is fine.  I have NO idea how my son at college is because, apparently, communication is a ONE way street.  I wonder if he'll call if his bank account reaches zero?

Argh. 

Review: Making Memories Felt Stickers

Review:  Making Memories Sticker Felt Alpha

This product shouts "trendy."  It has texture, color and it's not expensive ($4.99).  The two sided package comes with 127 thin (more on that later) lower and upper case alphabet and other shapes stickers.  The stickers come on a nice sheet of polka dot paper that can be re used for projects -- the paper is coated so that the stickers do not leave a residue behind.

 Reasons to Buy

• you need a reason to buy stuff?

• adds texture and dimension

• comes with adhesive already on it

Reasons to Think Twice Before Buying

• very thin; loses shape and tears easily

• name is backwords -- Sticker Felt Alpha instead of Felt Alpha Stickers

If you look closely at the letters in this card, you'll see that they are not perfectly straight.  This is because they do not hold shape when removed from the backing sheet.  When I tried to fix the N, the left side of the letter tore a bit.  Despite this significant flaw, this is a fun product.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Sick of Kraft and looking to make "kitchen sink" card. Placed felt stickers on white cardstock.  Trimmed cardstock.

2.  Drew swirly border by hand with black pigment pen (swirly to go with not perfectly straight letters).  Hint:  draw border first.

3.  Removed n (it was the lower case) and replaced with upper case on punched out old olive cardstock adhered to PTI paper punched with SU scallop punch.  Popped up with dimensional.

4.  Added strip of polka dot paper and punched border.  Adhered to A2 Real Red card with dimensionals.

5.  Added red and white striped ribbon -- yes, after panel was mounted. (Hint:  don't do that.)

6.  Printed out 2009 on typing paper, punched with Martha tag punch.  Punched scrap of white cardstock and adhered typing paper punch to cardstock.  Tied tag to ribbon with red embroidery floss.

7.  Added red eyelet with Crop a Dile.

8. Showed card to Mom "too much red, add some green."  Amazingly, agreed with Mom.

9.  Colored in swirly border with SU Old Olive marker.

10. Removed red and white striped ribbon and substituted green ribbon. Retied tag.  

Mood when done = eyeballs tired; desire for cleaner cards returns

Sale at I Heart Papers!

Kate's having a sale at I Heart Papers.  Lots of good stuff, including the JustRite Stampers.  That reminds me that I have this -- I put them away when I was organizing.  I hate that!

I'm a little late noticing this as I've been away for a few days.  Hopefully, I'll have some stamping to share sometime in the next day or two!

Sunday Sales

So there's a bit of economic trouble lately!  The upside is that there are sales! Be sure to look around these web sites as many of them also have clearance items in a special section that I have not highlighted. I have not purchased from all these stores and cannot vouch for them.  Happy Shopping!

I {Heart} Papers -- Halloween stamps and papers on sale. 

Verve Stamps -- bundled stamps sets at sale prices

Marcos Paper is having free shipping until November 30.  code:  Holiday. 

Cutathome 
Cuttlebug clearance - Halloween, fall and Disney products on sale.
Quickutz sale - variety of Flourishes and Vines on sale The Revolution is also on special at $39.99!
The code for the month of November is NOV238.

Ellen Hutson:  Sunday, November 23 through "Black Friday", November 28:  15% discount on EVERYTHING currently in stock in the store. In addition, we will have a new "Red Hot" category. Look under the category sections later this month to locate it.   First come, first serve. Checkout promotion code - CELEBRATE2

Cornish Heritage Farms:  Retired backgrounders on sale until Thursday, Nov 20th, 2008. After that they will no longer be available. $6.99 cling mounted & $9.99 mounted.  Friday & Saturday (Nov 21st & 22nd, 2008) Club CHF double points promotion again so for every dollar you spend on rubber you will get 2 points instead of the normal 1 point.

HappyNScrappin -- assorted sale items

Stamp Magick  -- assorted stamps on sale

Paper Garden -- 20% off all shiny things and 20% off Copic Markers

Oh My Crafts -- sale ends today (Sunday) -- lots of items marked down, including Stickles, Big Shot, Cricut Cartridges, a cruise to Alaska (!!) and many others.

Eureka Stamps & Biblical Stamps  free shipping - no minimum order

Flourishes Stamps has a bunch of stuff for 10% off!  Sale ends Wednesday...

AC Moore -- in store only  -- Sunday November 16 - Saturday November 22nd -- 20 - 50% off regular price of entire store.