Cuttlebug ideas

This, my friends, is a nifty fun tool for scrapbooking and any other paper making craft. It's a manual die cutting machine, and I know that you're thinking..."I'd rather have the Cricut." Well, the Cricut can't emboss, and this baby can. It's made by the same people as Cricut, and I've heard that you can make your own embossing folders with the Cricut and then use them in the Cuttlebug, but I've never seen it done or used it. Don't know what embossing looks like? Check it out. See the raised part on the words below....that's what embossing does. Makes it just a little bit cooler than flat paper. They have tons of designs for the embossing folders, and they are pretty inexpensive (less$6 a piece...or cheaper with a coupon).

You can get the Cuttlebug kit for about $35-$40 online plus shipping, but it's uses are limitless. I bought mine here last year, and I know you can get them here also for a good price. So it's well worth the money. Or use a 40% coupon in stores in town although it's still more expensive this way.

Oh, and I just found out that you can use the folders on acrylic shapes in these. Check out this website here and here to get a few more ideas. Pretty cool, huh? Oh, and did I mention that they have sets of dies that will be embossed and cut out too.

Couple of reviews

Tim Holtz Grungeboard - Honestly?? I haven't really used it to much. I think I used it once, but it's pretty fun. You can stamp it, distress it, paint it, or pretty much do anything with it. It's a flexible material so it won't rip, and look at it...it comes with all different fonts sizes. How fun is that? The only con that I've found so far is to be daring enough to actually use it instead of just looking at it. However, there are tons of videos on youtube explaining different ways to use it.
The Cricut - one of the greatest scrapbooking tools ever. Seriously, I don't know what could be better. One of these days I'll make a post of just the stuff that it can do. It's amazing. It can cut and make almost any shape, and now there is software that you can buy so you hook it up to your computer and will cut any ttf. font (sure cuts a lot) so that you never have to buy another font cartridge again. However, you'll still want to buy cartridges because they have some of the cutest shape ones ever. It's very, very easy to use. I think the only con to it is that is is pricey, but it totally makes up for it.

Let's see....the pros are...it holds lots of stuff and it is easy accessibility. It helps you not forget what you have. The cons are.....it's not too pretty. It's BIG, and it's a little pricey unless you use a coupon. Overall, I think it's pretty cool. I wish that the clips were a little bigger to you could attach more stuff to each clip. It's so hard for me to only use one clip for every two items.