Mercytiara's Reviews

Spellbinders dies are such good quality, I sometimes forget how heavy-duty they are compared to other companies. This die cuts smoothly with one pass, and gives you a gorgeous detailed partial snowflake in a very thin frame. I love the different sizes in the set, but the large one is my favourite!

I love this die for creating an intricate frame for a title or journalling. It cuts beautifully and is a great size for 12X12 layouts, as well as for 5X5 inch cards. It cuts beautifully and I like how I can cut a few extras of the tile shapes without having to send the whole large frame through the machine.

This is a great die cutting machine and will meet all my regular die cutting and embossing needs. I like the size of the platform and that it folds up to make the machine so compact when it's not in use. I also like that the machine comes with the tan embossing mat which I like to use for embossing the edges of my Nestabilities dies. This machine is very sturdy and the plates glide through very smoothly with minimal popping noises as other reviewers have mentioned. Because it fits so compactly on my workspace, this is the machine I will be reaching for from now on!

I used to keep all my cards in a drawer with the cards and booklets all floating around. I was researching the generic media storage solutions at office supply stores when my sister bought me this little beauty for Christmas! I love that it keeps everything together and looks so cute on my table. One thing I do is print up a copy of the design shapes index card for each card I own (I just print it from WhySlice.com). Then I glue the card onto an 8.5X11 reference sheet I keep in a page protector. That way I can scan through all the images I have in my Slice library without having to pull out all the little booklets. I actually never use the booklets since doing this.

I think I have 9-10 cards now, and Noteworthy is still my very favourite, as far as usefulness goes. This card has great flowers and now that I have it I rarely use my Basic Shapes 2 card. I love the topnote shape and other fancy shapes. The font is classic and great for monograms.

I've made several baby cards using shapes and welded words from this card. The animal shapes look cute cut from solid cs with googly eyes added. This card would be great for baby cards or for a baby book/album.

The font is a very classic one, similar to Just Chillin, but a shorter/fatter version.

If flourishes are your thing, this card is for you! I'm not much of a flourish person and even I love this card! What I like most is that it includes some of the "chunkier" flourishes as well as the intricate ones. There is definitely something for everyone on this card. I love the font and the leaves are really pretty. As another reviewer suggested, this card is great for layering different sizes of the same shape.

I was apprehensive to buy a card that had only fonts, but I have used this card so much in the short time I've had it- it is definitely worth it! I love mixing up fonts, and without this card, mixing fonts meant inserting and removing multiple cards, navigating to the right size for each one.

This card has a nice variety of fonts ranging from skinny to fat, tall to short, serif to sans serif. There are 6 of each letter, and 2 of each number and symbol. The fonts vary for each letter, so you couldn't pick all the same font to make a title.

Also this card has the MS+ features, which means you can do mirroring (cut the font in reverse), cut a shadow for your letter, and the card automatically upgrades your machine to enable the speed boost.

I bought this magnetic sheet to store my few sets of Nestabilities. I was looking for a rigid magnetic sheet to keep them on while they are in my drawer. I didn't need them to be perfectly secure, as I was not moving them about very much, and I planned to just lie the sheet flat in my drawer to keep them together.

This sheet works *ok* for my purposes, but would not be good at all if you were putting this sheet into a binder, as it is meant for. The magnet is simply not strong enough to hold the dies in place, plus, the sheet is becoming quite warped so that the larger dies won't even stick to it at all because they are flat and the sheet is not. Basically this sheet is somewhat better than leaving my dies loose in the drawer, but not by much. I can't imagine using it in a binder system.

ETA: Since this review, I actually threw this product away. I made my own replacement magnetic sheets using sheet magnet stickers that you buy for your ink jet printer, and adhering the full sheet to a a heavy piece of chipboard. It works much better- the magnet is stronger and the sheets haven't warped after several months. So I'm changing this review to 1 star, and recommending people make their own.

I was surprised by the quality of these bingo cards. Very sturdy cards with nice clean edges.

I was surprised by the quality of these bingo cards. Very sturdy cards with nice clean edges.

I was very impressed with these tags. I was expecting them to be in a sheet with perforations between them but they are actually pre-cut and come in a stack with smooth edges. They are very versatile, and have a nice variety of topics ranging from general to specific. They are a nice heavy cardstock, much sturdier than I was expecting.

This was my first Basic Grey paper purchase and I was thoroughly impressed by the beauty and quality of this paper. I love that the collection comes with 2 alphas and the page of cs stickers. It really helps to know that you at least that something to match the paper. I knew I would love the funky designs in the pp, but the surprise for me was how much I love the solids! They have an interesting mottled look and so much depth. The only problem I had with this collection is that it is so beautiful I had trouble cutting into it!

I LOVE my thermo web adhesive, so I was excited to find this refill value pack for such a great price. These refills are about $7-8 locally, so I always buy these as soon as they are available.

The only slight thing I noticed is that the little flip closure thingy on the dispenser catches a bit on this refill (and this never happened when I bought the refills locally in individual packages). It doesn't interfere with the use of the item, so I didn't reduce my rating. If this is the only problem, it is well worth getting them at such a reduced price. They do sell out often, so get on the notify list if you want to keep well-stocked!

I got this because it was offered as part of a coupon deal with my purchase. I like the tins and the CS accordian albums, but the paper, stickers, and embellishments that it come with are rather plain and unexciting. You would have to dress up your minis with other things from your own stash in order to get that real "oomph!" that I like to get from mini albums. But it is a nice base from which to start a cute mini album. I like the tin canisters as they really make the mini more durable for throwing in your purse etc. These would make good brag books for grandparents, etc.

I really love these chipboard flowers. They are a nice thick chipboard, come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and unlike some chipboard, the edges are nice and smoothly finished. Very versatile.

These are cute stamps that coordinate nicely with the lime rickey collection, but also look cute on a card or layout from any line. I like to stamp with a coloured pigment ink, clear-emboss it, then put googly eyes over the eyes. The stamps are great quality too!

If you love butterflies and flowers, this is the card for you! There are 49 different flowers on this card, and most if not all are available in 7 different sizes! Multiply that by the kinds of paper you have to cut with and the possibilities are endless! The butterflies and bugs are really cute too! I like to dress them up with markers and stickles to get the look I want.

I was trying to decide between this and Basic Shapes 3 and I am so glad I got this one... although if I have my way I'll eventually get BS3 too!

I've had this card for awhile now and use it quite a bit. I don't have teenagers, but I bought this card mostly for the font. The font is one of the most versatile fonts that I have, but I find I use the shapes even more! I love the owls, the butterflies, and the intricate flowers. Although I don't have much use for the rock-star shapes, there are some basic stars, arrows, and thought-bubbles that would work on any layout. The fleur-de-lis is beautiful! I can't wait to do a layout that uses the iconic man and woman shapes! For someone who doesn't have a tonne of cards (I have a total of 3!) this card has really added some interest and a nice versatile font to the basic cards (I have Basic Shapes 1 & 2).

I like this funky font for its whimsical and playful look. It definately ads pizzaz to a page! I bought them in white so I could ink or paint them if I wanted to. I've only used them once, and they did take the ink quite nicely.

SB.com has such a great price on these thickers (I can't get thickers for under $7 here locally!!) that I bought 3 packages! They are such a great basic font to have in black that I figured I'd use them up for sure. I have used them on a lot of layouts and they always look nice. I usually cut out letters with my slice, but these are so much more convenient!

I've never bought desinger buttons before, in fact, I only recently started using buttons on my layouts. At first I just bought a bag of rescued buttons from Walmart and they looked ok, but I ordered this set of buttons through SB.com because the colours just looked so amazing! The colour and texture of these buttons are really gorgeous! They are well worth the price as they make such a strong impact on your layout. My only problem is they look so nice in the glass jar I store them in, I can't bear to use them in my layouts!

I love the Lime Rickey collection, so I knew I would love this card kit. I am new to making cards, so I wanted to start with a kit to show me some of the basics. Each piece is labelled so you know which card it is for, and the instructions, although black and white, are easy for a beginner to follow. This kit is a nice starting point for beginner card makers, or a nice way to have some "no-brainer" cards to make up at the last minute.

I bought mine about 3 years ago and really only lucked into getting such a good pair, as I did zero research before buying them. I use them as my main scrapping scissors and also use them for cutting out intricate designs from patterned paper. I also use them for cutting out fonts that I’ve printed out from my computer. They are so precise that you can get into every little nook and cranny and they are really smooth and easy to maneuver. The non-stick coating means you can cut stickers without them getting gummed up. I’ve even used them to cut glue dots (in a pinch when I ran out of the little ones) and although the glue did stick a bit, the blades just wiped clean with one swipe of a babywipe!

I got my slice in March and was so excited about it and impressed with it that I wanted to write a review right away. However, I held off, deciding it was only fair to review it after I had used it enough to have more of an opinion than just “This little thing rocks!”

Firstly, I want to say that I haven’t had any problems with mine at all. I’ve never had to adjust the pressure on the blade (although I’ve looked into it and it looks easy enough), never had it go wonky on me other than a few times when I tried to use it when the battery was almost dead. I’ve been really pleased with the variety of items on each card (I have 3), and with the overall quality of the cuts. I like how I can pull it out and be cutting within moments and I like how easy it is to bring to crops. I have replaced my blade once in the 3 months of using it and it was very simple to do.

Some of the limitations to the Slice are that it is a little noisy (although no noisier than my friend’s Cricut), it obviously has the 4-inch cutting size limitation, and you do have to hold it while it cuts. I personally also find the letters don’t have as sharp corners as I would want, and sometimes the Slice leaves a little corner still attached to the paper (although this is easily snipped off with scissors). Probably the biggest limitation of the Slice is that it cuts each letter one at a time, which can take a long time if you're cutting long titles.

I hear that the replacement glue is pricey, but I’ve never used the glue that comes with it. I use Kyron repositionable spray adhesive, which requires little to no drying time and seems easier and cheaper than the glue the Slice comes with. I also cover my mat with waxed paper when not in use, which preserves the adhesive for several uses. I never clean my mate before storing it because I like being able to grab it and use it without having to spray it first (although I obviously do clean it before reapplying the adhesive spray).

The strengths of this machine include its ease of use and convenience. Having used a Cricut a few times now, I have to say the Slice is beautifully simple to use. There are only a few buttons, and the menus are self-explanatory and easy to navigate. I like the cordless feature, although I often just leave it plugged in. I’ve already mentioned that it only takes a few seconds to take it out and start cutting. The only slightly difficult thing about using it, is figuring out how to get the most out of your paper. It is a little tricky to predict where the machine is going to cut. Although you can see where the blade is relative to the planned cut (a little x on the screen marks the blade’s position so you can foresee where on the paper the blade will go), it does take some experience with the machine and the different sizes of cuts to become able to predict whether you have enough space on your paper for a particular cut.

Due to space limitations I only have the small mat included with the slice, but I think the larger mat would make it even easier to get the most of your paper.

I bought the Slice because I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a Cricut and then hundreds more collecting a decent library of fonts. There has been a lot of debate about whether the Slice is actually less expensive than the smaller Cricut machine, and it seems like yes, you can get a Cricut on sale for almost as little as a Slice. However, from what I’ve seen of the cartridges, the slice cards have more bang for your buck. Having said that, I still think that if you’re someone who wants a Cricut, you probably shouldn’t get this instead. I know lots of people who have both and use both, so it doesn’t have to be a one or the other kind of decision. I got my Slice because I knew if I got a Cricut, I would want the big fancy one, and I just couldn’t afford that this year.

I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who wants a quick and easy way to get die cut letters and shapes in a variety of sizes up to 4 inches. I think the machine itself is good value for the price, and the design cards include a large variety of shapes and fonts to make them a great value for their price. However, this little guy does not do what the Cricut does, so if that’s what you’re looking for, then you should probably hold out for a Cricut.

I’m experiencing post-purchase dissonance for this item! I wanted to like this trimmer, I really did! I’m giving it 3/5 because the good qualities do outweigh the bad, but for the price, I was hoping it would be all good! Thank goodness I used a coupon.

I’ll start with the good:
-The feet are nice and grippy and for such a light-weight trimmer, it really does have a solid feel to it when you’re using it.

-It is lightweight which would make it great for bringing to crops (although see my point below about the “locking” rail)

-Replacement blades are available at M’s, inexpensive, and there are some decorative blades, like wavy or pinked.

-It does slice very well (smooth and precise) if you get used to its quirks (see below). In fact the quality of the cut does make up for some of the flaws I’m going to outline below.

The bad:
-Although the rail does lock in place for storing and transporting, the blade carriage itself does not lock. Mine actually slides quite abruptly as I take it down from the high shelf I store it on (I have preschoolers). This isn’t a huge problem, but if you consider the locking rail a pro, then I would think you would want the carriage to lock in place as well. I don’t transport mine, so it doesn’t really matter for me, but I thought I’d mention it.

-As other reviewers have mentioned, this trimmer in only 8 inches wide, making it difficult to measure cuts for pieces bigger than this. Yeah, I can do the math… but for almost $70 it could have had a swing out arm for measuring longer cuts. Much cheaper models have swing-out arms.

-This might be just a flaw on mine, but after much head scratching over slightly angled cuts, I’ve finally figured out that the raised plastic ledges for lining up your paper (the ledges you butt your paper against) are slightly off on mine. This means I have to use the grid lines on the flat part of the trimmer (underneath my paper) to line up my paper, rather than the ledges. This problem makes the 8 inch width of the trimmer an even bigger problem because those grid lines aren’t there if you’re cutting paper greater than 8 inches. Like I said, maybe it’s just a flaw in mine. I’m going to email Fiskars and see if they can do anything about this. If it weren’t for this flaw, I would probably give this item 4/5.

Other points:
-I have found that the trimmer works better if you position it so that you’re moving the blade carriage up and down rather than across. Because the blade guide is plastic rather than metal, it cuts slightly wavy if you cut side to side with it, probably because the pressure on the blade changes as you move your arm across your body. Maybe everyone knows this already, but as a newbie, I had to figure this out myself, so I thought I’d pass it along to others :)

-The orange plastic strip that the blade runs across can be changed out 3 times before replacing it. You can flip it around, then turn it over, then flip it around again. If you use a decorative blade with it you should reserve one portion of the plastic strip for that blade, as I found the straight bade didn’t cut as evenly once there was another ridge in the replaceable plastic strip.

Summary: I'll live with it, and it does give good cuts. But I really wish I had held out for the MM one. Recommended only if you get it on sale or with a coupon.