Spellbinders & New ATG

Finally, and at long last, I broke down and bought an ATG.  It was getting wearisome constantly refilling the small adhesive applicators.  Using it still feels a bit clunky, but practice will make perfect.

I love working with Spellbinders dies.  The collection is still rather limited, mainly because they're so doggone expensive.  Most of what I've bought are the Nestibilities... squares, rectangles, ovals, just very basic shapes, all on sale.  Unfortunately, Spellbinders don't go on sale very often, and when they do it's not by a large percentage.  I've yet to buy any of the Grands because doing so will mean buying a Grand Caliber machine and I can't justify the expense at this time, especially considering Grand dies cost between $50-60.  Each set.

Before going forward there's a tip I'd like to share.  Before opening the acetate package, cut down the right, side of the package, just inside the sealed seam, and then cut the bottom fold to create a reusable envelope.  Keeping the acetate packaging for storage is a winner as most of their products are susceptible to damage by accidental bending.  When finished using the die, place it back into the package for protection, and if cut correctly you'll have a snap-tight envelope.  I didn't know about this for the first few sets bought and I've had to adapt stiff packaging to overcome this oversight.  It's truly worth the initial time and effort.  This technique works equally well with other thin dies such as QuikCutz.)

 Package already cut as described, locked back into place

Demonstration of the opened envelope created.  (Forgive image quality, I only had so many fingers and hands available.)

Hobby Lobby has a small area of the store where real bargains can be found.  Lately, they've been throwing a few Spellbinder sets in the pile.  I found a charming full-size Borderability set at about 1/2 off.   It's even hard finding a good deal on Ebay, but apparently a lady scavenged a few hundred from an earthquake sale.  I bough four sets of the petite Borderabilities for the same price one would have cost elsewhere.  (I'm honestly hoping this was a scavenge sale and not a theft!  Can you imagine the police coming to the door demanding the merchandise returned?  Egads!)  I had found a set of their Classic Scallop Edgeabilites on sale at HL months ago and love incorporating these dainty cuts into my cards and scrapbook pages.  And again, the earthquake sale lady had another set of the postage stamp Edgeabilities.  These are still in transit, but once these arrive, I'll have accumulated half the Edgebilities sets currently available.  The very best aspect of the Edgeabilities is that they are all interchangeable.

The only sets I don't particularly care for, or see much value in, are the Shapeabilities.  Maybe that's because I haven't played with the enough, or I don't find much use for the couple of sets acquired; but they just come out looking blah.  The Impressibilities provide a soft embossed touch, great for matting photos, but the size is very limited and it's difficult, if not impossible, trying to repeat the pattern on the same piece of paper.

Any of the Spellbinder dies afford a flexibility to shape paper into almost limitless possibilities.  It's a shame that some of these possibilities never enter my mind.  What helps the most is my little Miss or other scrapbookers playing with the dies sets.  That is when so much possibility opens up!  Everyone always comes up with something different.

It would be positively wonderful to have a monthly scrapbook meet somewhere in the area.  Why there isn't anything like this available now is a shame.  Perhaps it's time I step out and give it a try.