Tuesday's Tidbits

I’ve been thinking about posting some scrapbooking tidbits. You know, things that help our fellow scrapbookers decide if they need this tool or that tool or just questions we have about scrapbooking that another fellow scrapbooker answered for us so kindly. So, here’s round one of “Tuesday's Tid-bits”.

Tools you can live without (Here are 3 that I can think of off the top of my head)

• The Tag Maker by Making Memories – Yep, I did it. I went out and bought it as soon as I saw the previews for it. Well, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I thought this tool would cut your tag then frame it with the metal tag. Nope. It comes with a stencil like plastic frame template that you trace your picture or paper with then you cut it out by hand. You then insert your picture/paper into the metal frame then use the tool to bend the metal frame to your paper. Which, you can do using your fingers because the metal is very thin. Actually, it works better without the tool! So, if you were ever thinking about buying this tool – I would advise you not to and instead just buy the metal frames because each metal frame kit you buy – comes with the plastic template that you need. UPDATE – they are now selling a Tag Maker punch kit that will punch out the shapes perfectly for the Tag Maker rims. BUT – I would still advise to just buy the Tag Maker Rims and not the tools that go with it.
• The Fastenater by EK Success – Ok, I learned my lesson on the tag-maker so when this new tool came out, I let my friend Maureen spend her money on it and I would then find out if it was worth it or not. Well, she showed it to me and we thought it was “ok” until I realized that I could poke the staples (that came with the stapler) thru the paper just like a concho and then bend the pokie’s down with your hammer (or whatever you want to use or normally use for concho’s)! So, I saved a few bucks by leaving the tool in the store and walking out with the cool staples! Not to mention that you can put them anywhere on the page without limitations – whereas using them in the stapler you are limited as to how far it reaches on your page.
• The Ribbon Iron by Pebbles – Yes, this is a VERY cute tool, but odds are you have a curling iron – preferably a flat iron, but if not the “curling” ones work just as good to flatten out your ribbon too.
  
  So there you have it – today’s tools you can live without!

~dz