Elmer's and X-acto team up!

As a bzzagent, I get access to lots of cool stuff.  Recently, Bzz sent me a box full of products from X-acto and Elmer's to try out.  The problem with crafting is that you never really know what works well and what doesn't and none of us wants to spend our hard-earned money on something that's not going to work the way we want it to.  With the economy being what it is, crafting is on the rise.  Personally, I think this is a good thing since I'd much rather get a home-made scrapbook that I can treasure forever than a new sweater that I'll wear once and stash away in my closet.  (Not that I'd ever turn down a sweater as a gift!  Pink and fuzzy, if you please!)  If you're a crafter or just getting started or even just want to put a little extra edge on your hand-written letters, here are a few product reviews so that you know what you're getting for your money before you decide to buy.

X-acto Corner Rounder Puncher- This is a cute little gadget.  Mine's black with a fuschia button.  It's small and easy to hold in your hand.  This gadget is used to gently round the edge of corners of paper/photos/etc.  Yes, you can easily do this yourself with a handy spandy pair of scissors, but this gadget guarantees that each corner will match perfectly with no guesswork.  It has handy guidelines to rest the paper on while snipping off the corner and the push button goes down easily.  You don't have to be a body builder to use it!  The downside- I can't find this thing on sale anywhere!  Even the X-Acto website doesn't have a price listed for it.  It's supposed to be on sale at Walmart, but I haven't been able to find it.  I'm still searching!  It's a great product if you can find one to buy one!

X-acto Decorative Edge Scissors- Again, I ran into the problem of not being able to find a price or find them on sale anywhere.  I had a little trouble getting these to work at first due to a difficulty in opening them to use them.  Not the packaging, but the scissors appeared to be stuck in the closed position.  As soon as I got them open though, they worked beautifully.  They scallop and zigzag like nobody's business!  I've used Fiskars before and I have to say that the X-acto brand seems to cut more smoothly and feels more comfortable in my hand.


Elmer's CraftBond Glue Spots- This little guys were fun to play with!  Basically it's a dot of sticky glue that's wedged between non-stick sheets.  You pull off the glue dot and stick whatever you want to whatever you want!  The downside is that I wasn't talented enough to remove the dots without perpetually getting them stuck on my fingers.  The upside is that they stick incredibly well.  These are perfect for projects where you want a bit of a 3D effect since it makes the item you're gluing stick out a bit.  They're malleable though and can easily be flattened if you don't want a 3D look.  Again, no price available yet and nowhere seems to sell them.  Actually, that's true of pretty much everything I tested today, so I'm going to stop saying it.  I'm just hoping they aren't released yet rather than they're going to continue to be difficult to get ahold of.

Elmer's Tape Runner-  Innovative and wonderful idea!  This runs about the same as the old White-Out strips.  You just put the tip down to whatever you want to glue and pull back.  The tape comes off the device easily and sticks incredibly well for being double side tape.  The only issue I had with this is that the cap doesn't seem to click on quite right.  I had a difficult time removing it and a more difficult time putting it back on. 

Elmer's Craft Bond dual tip Glue Pen- I love this thing!  It has that clear gel type of glue in it.  One end is a fine tip which I expected to leave a gloppy line, but it didn't.  It left a smooth, thin line of glue.  The other end is a thicker tip with ridges that leaves a nice, smooth thick line of glue for larger projects.  It reminds me a lot of rubber cement but without the smell and the mess.  I hope this one doesn't end up being expensive because it's a new staple in my home.  It sticks the best of all the products I've tried.  WINNER!!!

Elmer's Craft Bond Glue Stick - This is your typical glue stick....or....is it???  Yep!  It is!  Honestly I didn't see any difference between this glue stick and any other.  It sticks well until it dries, at which point it easily pops loose with a bit of prying.  This is great for those projects with your kids that you know will get destroyed anyway, but I won't use this again for my own personal crafting needs.

For crafting ideas, go to Elmer's Craft Club.   There are some innovative and fun ideas to be found!