Out with the old, in with the new : )

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (anyone give out the little planners as gifts?) Our Christmas was very nice, lots (too much actually) of food, great visits from family and friends. Our Christmas day was rainy and windy early on, something that usually doesn't happen, so it was a unique experience for us here in sunny CA to open presents as the outdoor decorations blew down the street : )

And now we close a chapter on another year. For our household this year has been, shall we say, interesting, challenging at times, and certainly memorable. This was the year that my rubber stamping came back "out of the closet," and basically has become one of the things I look forward to each and every day. And to think, it all started because I wanted to learn to watercolor, decided to pull out some stamps (at that point I didn't have a huge amount) to make it easier. The rest, is as they say, "history."

Tonight my family will ring in the new year at home, sharing a nice meal, playing some games and hoping to stay awake until midnight. At some point today I may play with my new Slice (my hubby gave me one with two additional carts for Christmas). A while ago I did a post on some of the various electronic cutting machines, and the Slice seemed to be the one that would work best for me.

Given that my craft area is very small, the larger machines didn't seem to be the best choice for me at this point. Additionally the Slice can be purchased for anywhere from $70 to 140, mine was 119.00 (no tax or shipping) and the cartridges are anywhere from $20 to 40. RitzCamera.com has a sale (ending today) with some very good prices on the Slice accessories (and all scrapbooking stuff, 20 percent off), though they are out of stock on a few of the cartridges. My machine came from one online store, and the accessories were purchased at Ritz.

So, what is the skinny on the Slice? It is a GREAT machine with some drawbacks. First of all it doesn't work that well on the battery power, so it isn't as portable as claimed. Secondly it does not cut some of the smaller images very well, nor is it very good at circles. Some of the shapes are misshapen, and I have heard that the cartridge that comes with the machine, Basic 1, may be "flawed." MM is supposedly working on that issue right now.

Ok, so after all of that, do I still like my Slice? You Betcha! It is PERFECT for me, and I love the shapes it cuts out well, and the fact that you can cut the shapes out from 1 inch up to 4 inches in 1/2 inch increments. It cuts fairly quickly, does a great job on cardstock, and it hardly takes up any room! Also, I like that (with practice) you can place the slice on your paper to minimize any waste.

Here are three cards I have made with the Slice (and I have an envelope filled with images I have cut out and haven't used yet)

From 12-30-2008

Sorry that the above picture is a bit blurry, my camera battery was almost dead. I used the "Noteworthy" cartridge to cut out the label shapes, the "Basic 1" cartridge for the word (I did the word twice so I could have a black outline) and then stamped a dragonfly on the top, added some other stamped images and there you go : )

From 12-30-2008

This one I layered various flower shapes and printed out the word "create" and layered that as well. The corner was also cut out with the Slice, but that piece could very easily have been cut with a trimmer.

From 12-30-2008

I got a bit carried away with this last one, but it gives you a good feeling for the images you can cut with the slice, love the scrolls, the little tag, the layered labels (which are frames on this card) and the insert in the frames has a cut out of a flower in the lower left corner.

There is also a new Yahoo group for Slice users, you can go here to sign up and learn how other are using their new machine. Hopefully there will be more cartridges soon, but overall I have to say the machine (for me anyway) is a wonderful addition to my stamping/card making tools.

And what would a post be without at least a few links? I found some great how to videos on YouTube by Jennifer McGuire. Here is the first one I found, and it is filled with GREAT ideas! I especially LOVED how she gave her card a raised border, what a simple yet so effective idea! And watch how she colors her image using the colored pencils and Gamsol, absolutely stunning. Of course I love this video because it also includes glitter.



And this one gives you a little more on her method of colored pencils and Gamsol, but make sure to check out the great card she makes, lots of little tricks here for some great card design.



Make sure you visit her blog, click here, it is loaded with all sorts of goodies, from card making, scrapbooking to storage (I am still drooling over her craft room.)

So, that is it for this year. Thank you all so very much for your continued support and encouragement, you really have helped me through some challenging times this year.

To you and yours, a wonderful start to the New Year!