Welcome Summer! "cool" links, Summer CHA 2011 "sneak peeks," freebies and more.

Summer has officially arrived!  The joys of summer, long days of sunlight, walks in the evening, lots of outdoor parties, enjoying a cool drink on the patio, the list goes on and on.  Of course there is also the heat,  but fortunately for those of us in San Jose our heat is usually limited to a few days at a time.

Don't forget that Summer CHA is just around the corner, I will be posting links to all the sneak peaks as I find them, there seems to be lots of cool things heading our way this year, stay tuned!  (One CHA link today, more to follow).

Because I don't have enough to do (insert laugh track), I have taken on writing a column for the Examiner, signing up as the San Jose Paper Crafter : )  I would be honored if you stopped by the Examiner online and took a quick look at the article I just posted there on a local art studio, "A Work of Heart," that has tons of classes for kids (and adults).  If you are in the San Jose, CA area you should check out this studio, location and other information can be found in the article.

Before I go on with the links, wanted to let you know that I have entered the world of  "Cricut" with my first purchase of a Cricut Create : )   My new toy is still in the box, will be playing with it later tonight (my birthday was a little bit ago and used the bday money to purchase).  I was able to get the machine for $38.01 plus $12 in shipping on Ebay.  It is an opened box, and we shall see if the thing works.  Have also bought a few cartridges, two, for $20, also on Ebay (I refuse to pay full price for the carts).

If you have any suggestions on "must have" carts, please let me know in the comments, I would be very interested in what you recommend : )

Ok, enough of this and that, how about some links (which is why I am sure you stopped by today : ).  Here we go:

Studio Calico:  A wonderful site for all sorts of inspiration, tutorials, lots of scrapbook ideas and more, you are going to love the things you find here.

Summer  CHA 2011 Sneak Peeks:  The granddaddy of sneak peek links for all things Summer 2011 CHA! Lots and lots of new things coming our way, make sure to check this link often for updates of new sneak peeks for Summer CHA 2011.  There are not many links listed yet, but as the time draws near this list will grow (tempting your wallet to shrink).

Cardmaking 101:  Great site (I posted this on Facebook as well), all sorts of tutorials and wonderful information.

Honeycomb Stamps:  These stamps are designed to be used with honeycomb paper, check out the video and view the stamp sets, love this site.  You can also buy the paper at this site (a bit cheaper, but the link is only for the paper, no stamps).  This link was on Facebook as well.

Get it Scrapped:  The link takes you to a post on their site that has 50 links to ideas for scrapbooking (many of which can be used for card making as well).  Make sure to tour the entire site as there is a huge amount of information here for you.

Cricut Cartridges:  The link is to Ebay and wow can you save money buying the cartridges here!  As soon as I hear from you about the best cartridges I will be spending a bit of time on Ebay : )  Watch for the carts you want and then start bidding (many of the carts do not charge for shipping, which saves you even more money).

Making an ink pad swatch ring:  From Get it Scrapped (like I said, lots of GREAT information on that site).  Loved this idea and it is pretty helpful when you are trying to match a certain paper or color scheme.

Posy Patch Stamp and Die:  Love these stamps on "It's Cheaper than Therapy," make sure to visit the main page for more stamp/die sets, makes card creating/scrapbooking so much easier !  The dies are below the stamps, and the stamp set is very reasonably priced!

Adorable Free Digital Images: New images are added on Tuesdays, and you will just drool over some of these!  I loved the Bird reading the book (shown to the right), there are lots more images, so take a look and have some fun! Scroll down to see the images.

Craft Gawker:  Lovely collection of links to all things crafting, and I do mean all things!  A real treat for the eyes, click on the pictures to be taken to the blogs/sites.

That is it for this week, don't forget to read the article posted at the Examiner,  let me know what you think and what you would like me to write about over there.

And thank you all for your continued support and visits to this little crafting corner of the internet.  Have a great week, check the AfterHoursStamper Facebook page for daily links, and see you next week.

What makes an expenisve tool worth the cost?

While we have touched on many various types of products here, we have not yet explored the the big ticket tools yet (this could have something to do with the fact that I can't afford them ; ) Tonight I thought it might be fun to take a look at some expensive tools, what do they do and most importantly, are they worth their cost?

Cricut

Cost: $250 - 300 less with a coupon or special deal.



First up, everyone's favorite,the Cricut. No, I do not own one of these, and likely will not be buying one in the future. Why? Because, in my opinion, the cartridges are very expensive, $40 plus on sale. And you have to buy an additional program if you want to use this machine with your computer to do your own designs. The base price plus the design studio, plus accessories can put you easily over $400.

Pazzles Inspiration

Cost: $599




Next up, the Inspiration by Pazzles. Extras for this machine include a tool to hold any pen, an engraving tool, embossing tool, a whole list of accessories that you can buy. The machine comes with 300 images, and it will pretty much cut on anything you might use, including fabric. And you can hook this machine up to your computer and use images you already have, which means you don't have to buy their images or cartridges if you need more die cuts. This machine also embosses, engraves and distresses (from what I could read the Cricut does not do any of these things).

Slice

Cost: $141.99 and up.



This is a neat idea, a really small, portable cutter, runs on batteries or a cord, and instead of feeding paper into a machine, you place the machine on the paper which enables you to use your paper more efficiently. I like this idea, and they have a kit you can order which will allow you to download any image onto a memory chip that you can then use in their machine. You can also buy a number of memory cards with various patterns, I haven't seen the prices for these cards yet.

Here is the slice in action:



All of these machines offer something a bit different, one can use cartridges and also hook up to your computer, another one can also emboss, engrave and distress, and the last one is portable and runs on batteries.

For my money, given my limited budget, I would most likely go for the slice (which also would fit into my little area a whole lot better then the other two machines). For the price of the slice you can do as much as with the larger cutters, but it takes up far less room and it is portable.

What makes all of these tools nice is that they make your crafting so much easier. And if you are making a large number of the same thing, you just set the machine and cut away, which ends up saving you a whole lot of time.

Do you have any of these machines (I understand the Slice won't be available until October)? What do you like/not like about them? Would you buy it again? Would you buy something different? Why?

Have a great night, and see you tomorrow