Hi, it's Maria here and I hope that you are well and enjoying your weekend.
I have been lucky enough to get my grubby mitts on the The ultimate from Crafter's companion. Having had a play I couldn't wait to report back to, you, our lovely readers.
This really is an amazing piece of kit and if you haven't seen it I would urge you to go and investigate. Whether you are a card maker or a scrapbooker you will find a use for it.
It's a complete wolf in sheep's clothing as this, at first glance, simple plastic folder can .........
* Trim your card and paper to size
* Score your cardstock to make cards the exact size and style you want. This is fabulous for a newbie cardmaker like me. I was really fed up of either wasting expensive card blanks as I'd messed up the design. Or, measuring and cutting cardstock to the wrong size for my envelopes.
* Score your card to make gift boxes or bigger envelopes to fit those thicker cards.
* Make your own matching envelopes. How lovely to line them with pretty paper from your scraps box.
* Using the embossing tool you can emboss shapes and patterns onto your cards, envelopes or boxes. I'm a tad ham fisted and always struggled to cut a decent circle. I found that by scoring the circle shape before cutting it out gave me a much cleaner cut.
You could even use the scoring tool and lines to get the perfect fold on your exploding boxes. You'll need to measure your box yourself but if you want a really crisp fold it's totally worth it.
The instruction are clear and easy to follow and even a beginner like me managed aperture cards, envelopes and boxes.
How lovely not to have to worry if you have the right size envelopes at home. It's so simple you can make your own and you can even by the special *lick and stick* gum if you make cards to sell.
The possibilities for the Ultimate are really only limited by your imagination. Everything stores away in it's own compartment so it's easy and safe to transport.
The Ultimate retails at £39.99 but will soon pay for itself and it has got me using my scraps to make gift boxes, cards and envelopes.
The best bit of all is that it is designed and manufactured in the UK. Now, you can't say that about many crafting products.
If you would like to check out The ultimate in all it's glory just visit www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/default.asp apologies for the lack of a posh linkie dink but Typepad doesn't want to play nicely today.
I'm back on the 8th August and I'll be sharing some cards and gift boxes that I'm making for some special people.
Toodle pip
Think i need to bring one home with me from my UK visit...
Posted by: Diana | July 20, 2008 at 09:11 AM
Now this looks like one gadget that I might actually use! Thanks Maria :-)
Posted by: jakey | July 20, 2008 at 09:48 AM
I LOVE this! Definately on my birthday list :)
Posted by: Charlotte | July 22, 2008 at 09:02 PM