Kristine's Wish List

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by Kristine Fowler

As a kid, the holidays were so much simpler, as soon as Halloween and Thanksgiving were over, the TV ads started for the hottest gifts every kid 'needed' to see under the tree. Your senses were filled with the must-haves, the hard-to-finds, and the most exciting products. The hard part wasn't making your list, it was paring it back to something reasonable so as not to seem greedy.

Today though, things are different - for me anyway. It seems that each and every year making my holiday wish list gets more and more difficult. I am so busy making the holidays merry for everyone else: planning, baking, shopping, wrapping and so on, that it's hard to find the time to focus on myself for even a moment. That's why I love Craft Critique and the annual Holiday Wish List feature! It makes me take the time to think, sit down and write it down. And then......my list get's published for the whole world to see.......so let's face it, my husband can never again say that he doesn't know what to get me! {hint hint}

So what's on my list for holidays 2009?

1) The Creatopia by Zyron

I have to admit that the first time I saw this video, I was literally drooling (well maybe not literally). This truly professes to be an all-in-one machine! With it you can apply edge-to-edge adhesive, laminate, emboss and cut (both straight or decorative edges) on items up to 12" wide and you can die cut shapes on paper up to 6 1/2" wide! With this much functionality, it could replace several of my current tools!

Once I started looking into this a wee bit more (that first video is just a teaser, believe me), I found a pile of how-to and project demonstration films on YouTube. I think because the product is relatively new to the market, most of the videos currently loaded are authored by XyronCorp, but there are a couple as well from some creative crafters.

For me, the feature of this tool that really draws me in is the 12" embossing platform. Now, I absolutely adore my Cuttlebug by Provocraft and use it almost exclusively to emboss, but the one drawback in my opinion is that the embossing folders, and the platform itself are designed only to emboss 'card front' sized paper. The Creatopia on the other hand has a 12" platform, which means that I can emboss a full-length border on a scrapbook page, or even an entire sheet of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper that I can either leave as-is or cut down to make smaller items. And....it embosses items up to 1/2" thick! How cool is that?

At present it looks like the number of Creatopia Patternz and Border Patternz available for embossing are pretty small (with only 2 available patterns for each), but once this tool gains popularity, I'm sure that the more and more will be introduced regularly.

The MSRP for the Xyron Creatopia is not terribly unreasonable at $149.99 USD (remember it's a multi-use product), and the machine comes stocked with 25 feet of permanent acid-free adhesive. Even with just this adhesive cartridge, many projects come to mind as it would certainly make adhering paper to altered art type projects super easy.

To get each and every advertised function though, the investment is much higher since each component is sold separately. Here's some pricing info from the Xyron site (in USD).

• Xyron® Cutz™ MSRP $44.99
• Xyron® Cutz™ Cartridge - Deckle & Postage MSRP $14.99
• Xyron® Border Patternz™ Starter Kit MSRP $24.99 (includes Floral Border)
• Xyron® Border Patternz™ - Hearts MSRP $8.99
• Xyron® Patternz™ - Fleur-de-Lis & Floral {no pricing given at Xyron.com but are $24.99 according to Ain'tSheCrafty?}
• Xyron® Shapez™ {no pricing given at Xyron.com but is $69.99 according to Ain'tSheCrafty?}

Just think with all of these components -- not only could this be on your holiday wish list this year, but additional items could go on next year's list, and then your list for 2011 and so on.

Still looking for more information on the Creatopia? Check out this story at Ain'tSheCrafty or visit Xyron.com.

Making Memories Embellishment Centre

As my office/craft space construction nears completion (the drywall is up, with flooring and ceiling coming soon), I am really starting to get focused on how it's going to all come together and trying to make smart storage decisions. We all know how difficult it can be at times to get organized and stay that way, so I'm hoping that by 'planning' instead of 'reacting' I can find the solution or combination of solutions that will work for me.

The one storage product I am loving the idea of right now is the Making Memories Embellishment Centre!

Now I know this one isn't new, but it's still pretty exciting if you ask me. I just love the idea that it holds ribbon and displays it beautifully, and also has shelves to hold & display some of your other crafting gems. On top of that you have the drawers which you can decorate and use to corral all those little items that may not look quite so nice but you want to have handy.

The product comes fully assembled (love this!) and is available at most craft specialty stores for around $80 (even less if you have a coupon) - so that's pretty reasonable I think. It's already painted too, so it's literally out of the box and 'in-use', no fuss. It can be mounted on the wall or can sit atop a desk (although I would probably recommend some type of stabilizer) and assembled measures approximately 31.5" tall by 25.5" wide by 3.75" deep. I'm sure you could paint it or otherwise alter it also - to make it your own.

Here's the specs from Making Memories.

• Made from Sturdy MDF
• 6 sides, each with metal label holder
• 6 drawers with metal handles and magnetic closures (now that's smart!)
• 10 compartments

While I'm not generally an open storage kind of gal, I think that by incorporating this shelf unit into my space will be 'inspired' by what I display and what is displayed will get 'used' because it will be serve as a constant reminder! Even the product pic from MM makes me smile since they have everything sorted & displayed by color which is so my style!

{Funny thing....as I write this, I think it should have been in my number one spot since with each sentence I'm getting more & more excited as I think about the possibilities. I've even seen pics online of how individuals are altering the Embellishment Center to hold even more items! This gal added a strip of steel to the bottom of the unit and put magnets on the bottoms of her Stickles bottles so that they hang upside down to prevent clogging! Now that's thinking!}

Tim Holtz Design Ruler

The third must-have on my holiday list this year one that's quite a bit simpler than either of the above, but is definitely just as functional: the Tim Holtz Design Ruler.

Now admittedly, I never thought I would ever get excited about a ruler, but after seeing a couple of reviews right here on Craft Critique, I'm sold.

I won't go into a lot of details on this one since Heather and Mary did such fantastic reviews in Nov 2009 and April 2008 respectively, but here are the basic features.

• Made of Clear Acrylic
• One metal edge
• Surface grid to make evenly spaced lines a breeze with no fussy measuring.
• Over-sized numbers
• Holes to use as guide for perfectly spaced piercing/stitching
• Center Measuring Guide

The ruler generally retails for around $7 (USD), and there is a great video featuring Tim himself on YouTube where he details some of the ruler's unique features. Check it out!

So, if you're reading this and you're not a crafty person, but maybe have a crafty person on your list of people to buy for - this next part is for you so listen up! These are items that pretty much every crafter would love to receive.

1) More Time To Craft

Now, this is a tough one since it's not generally available at retail. But......if you can swing it, the crafter in your life would love you if you could figure out how to deliver.

Here are some ideas to make this happen:

• Purchase a gift certificate for a crop or class that they can attend in the New Year. Check with your local craft/hobby store for a list of upcoming events.
  
  
• For scrapbookers, search the web for "scrapbooking retreats" where the crafter can actually have uninterrupted time away from home to create. These retreats often come with other luxuries like spa treatments and lots of pampering, so it'll be almost like 2 gifts in one! You'll of course have to pare down the search list to suit your geographic needs, but here's a couple of links for you to check out that will give you an idea as to what is out there.
  
  
• Younique Country Retreat, Guelph ON
• Cropping in Utopia, Newago County, Michigan
• Galveston's Red Victorian, Galveston Texas
  
  
• "Create" (now if you're not crafty I realize this could be a stretch!) your own coupon book, giving your crafter 'coupons' or 'passes' that can be redeemed for uninterrupted time at home to craft. Plan on taking the kids out for the day, giving your crafter time off from cooking, cleaning and all those other mundane tasks that take up valuable crafting time.
  
  

2) Basic consumable supplies:

Think adhesives and/or adhesive remover for the photo historian or cardmaker, floss and aida cloth for the embroider, yarn for the knitter....you get the idea. Snoop around and try to figure out what gets 'used up' regularly as your crafter creates, and then put a gift box or basket together. They'll thank you, believe me. There is nothing worse than running out of a favorite supply when your mid-creation. A gift of basic consumables can help avoid that.

3) If you're not comfortable deciding what your crafter will need, let them decide for themselves. Pick up a gift card from your local craft or hobby store - wrap it up and you're good to go. {If you want to really impress them, you could even package the gift card in a hand-made gift card holder! Here's a great tutorial posted by Cambria Turnbow for creating one that takes only an 8" x 8" piece of fancy paper that you can make in 10 minutes or less. But I'm not crafty you say? Trust me....even you can do it!}

So I've talked about my top three must-haves for the holidays and I've given those non-crafty people some crafty gift ideas. What's on your list? Am I way off mark? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!