Saturday, June 07, 2008

TOOL SHOUT-OUT

I love everything there is about scrapping. I love PPs, adhesives and all the embellishments. But I think what I probably love the MOST are the tools available. If there is a new tool that looks even remotely interesting, I'll buy it without a thought.

So a big part of the embellishments available in the scrapping market today are rub-ons. I think most people would be familiar with the wooden ice cream stick that comes with most rub-ons made by Making Memories and Fancy Pants Design to name but a few.

wooden ice cream stick

Then you get the more sophisticated version of the wooden stick. This comes from Heidi Swapp and it has two functional ends (a pointy tip and a slanted edge).

wooden stylus with a pointy tip and slanted edge

American Crafts' version of the "pointy-tip-and-slanted-edge" rub-on tool has the same design but is made of plastic and in what I would think is a cool gun metal grey colour.


plastic version of stylus with pointy tip and slanted edge

Of course you can also BUY dedicated rub-on tools/stylus like the one below made by EK Success. This special tool has a rubber body which makes for easier gripping. The two functional ends are made from hard plastic. You get one flat end and a double slanted edge on the other (sorry best way I could describe it).

EK Success Rub-on stylus

So I have been happily using whichever run-on tool is packaged with the rub-ons that I buy. I keep the EK Success stylus in my tool caddy on my desk but I find that the hard plastic makes for difficult rubbing and if I rub too hard on textured cardstock, the tool would leave "dented" and/or unsightly marks on my cardstock. Personally, I am quite happy with the wooden ice cream stick. But sometimes I still have to put quite a bit of weight on the stick and rub quite hard just to make sure the rub-on is fully transferred. Also, I find that with all the sticks and tool above, I need to rub over the image many times repeatedly to make sure I get every bit on.


But then at Shabby last week, I saw the new Basic Grey Rub-On Roller hanging on the shelf. The Shabby crew tried it out at the Winter CHA and thought it was awesome. I was a little hesitant because of my huge disappointment with the EK Success one but I noticed the roller-ball tip and thought, heck why not. It costs less than $16 and it looks good. Hee. I was just too curious really. So what did I think of it?

HALLELUJAH!
* Cue wondrous and enlightening music (you know what I mean!!) *



The king of all Rub-on stylus (in my humble point of view)

Ok I have only used it on American Crafts and Heidi Grace rub-ons but I should think that it would work the same on rub-ons made by different manufacturers.


The roller-ball tip is just amazing!! It made transferring the rub-on effortless (and I mean that quite literally!!). You only have to rub the roller-ball tip over your rub-on image and voila done! The ease of it made me start hunting around for more rub-ons to use. Haha. The flat edge on the other end is for making sure your image is transferred properly.

The description on its packaging says it all:-

Roller ball rub-on stylus
Rolling ball tip glides smoothly for a controlled application
Flat nylon paddle for setting the rub-on
High-quality design

I think this tool is a MUST-HAVE in any scrapper's tool caddy and it is definitely the best buy of the year for me! Thanks Shabby for bringing it to Brunei!!

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Update update read all about it.

I wont start this post with an apology for not posting in ages. I think I've done that too many times lately. So what have I been up to? A couple of cards, a couple of LOs (which shall be posted another time) and a small item for a charity sale.

First up is a card I did for my beloved cousin who just had a baby. I had the honour of being in the delivery room with my cousin as her husband was away in the UK and till today my pride in my cousin knows no bounds.



Then I did another card for a colleague of mine and her hubby who is an ex-colleague of mine. My colleague just gave birth to a baby boy by the name of Ayden Zahari. How I love that name!! Well done S & H!!

I decorated the plain white envelope as well with a die-cut of a train and a strip of cardstock.


Not sure if you can tell on the card but i went back to my old Fiskars Shapeboss and did a dry embossed border. The Shapeboss is one of the first things I bought for scrapbooking but I find that I hardly have any use for it on my pages cos embossing doesn't really stand out. But now, with the Cuttlebug rage and its oh so brilliant embossing folders, I think the Shapeboss could be rejuvenated for card-making at least.

Last but not least, a small item for a charity drive for the victims of the recent tragic earthquake in China. I was really inspired by Ruey's cards which she posted on a forum but my attempts to scrap-lift her designs did not pan out. So I decided to do a simple cd hanger. Its not much (really felt no mojo) but then again I haven't had much time for anything scrap related lately.


TFL!!