Review: UHU envelope sealer

Last month I noticed a new sample on the UHU blog so I applied and waited patiently, knowing I still had a few more holiday card to make, and how I could give this a thorough testing. On the 24th Nov I received my samples and set to work. This blog post will review the UHU Envelope Sealer.

First I'll start off by saying I loved the UHU products I've reviewed in the past, and was looking forward to this sample on the envelope sealer. Unfortunately once I started using it, I hit on a design flaw almost immediately. As you can see the top has a handle, that's basically the "plunger" to push the glue through the stick. Well this works great BUT it doesn't give you anyway of storing the stick when in use other than sideways on the table, which can result in sticky situations. Obviously not designed by someone who crafts!

I had a few cards made up that needed envelopes and so I chose some co-ordinating paper and using my one heart... one mind envelope templates, I traced and cut some envelopes. I assembled the envelopes using the UHU envelope sealer. Then I set about taking the photographs of the projects as usual!

Supplies: Papers: Cosmo Cricket; Rub-ons: Cosmo Cricket: misc: snowflake & gems; adhesive: UHU;

Once photographed I wrote inside the card, picked up the envelope to insert the card and the flaps lifted up. So I picked up the envelope sealer again and reapplied the glue, a little thicker this time and left it for a while before testing the results again. Meanwhile I wrote more cards, then labeled and addressed more envelopes.

Supplies: Papers: Cosmo Cricket; Rub-ons: Cosmo Cricket: misc: snowflake & gems; adhesive: UHU;

Supplies: Cardstock: DCWV; Paper: Paper pizzazz; Sticker: Target; buttons: misc; Adhesive: UHU;

I came back about 10 minutes later and the envelope was very secure. So I guess a thicker application was needed, going over the area an extra couple of times really made a huge difference.

Now the big question:- would I buy it? Honestly? Probably not. Sorry UHU, I guess just don't see a need for a special envelope glue stick. Yep once it stuck it did stick well, but I really didn't see a huge difference between the envelope glue and the glue stick. In fact I tested both, sticking scraps of paper together and each stuck equally as well. For value for money, I'll stay with the UHU glue stick and UHU tape runner I think...

I know some of my blog readers signed up for a sample so get your reviews done, tell me what you think, hook me up in the comments when you do your review! I still have the photo glue stick to review and a couple of other samples I need to review so keep checking back for my honest opinion.

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Got it pegged

Having email issues apparently today, that's never good. We're gearing up for a storm heading in today. Supposed to bring heavy rains, flash flood warnings and all that. It was definitely colder this morning. Yesterday was gorgeous! Today I plan on making some cards for an upcoming call, preparing the blog sketches for December, and then organizing my computer files! Thursday is also the day I chat online with my Mum so I have that scheduled too. Thought I'd share some Boxer stuff today...

Every so often on the Boxer Design Team blog we have challenges, where Angie will challenge us to use a specific product, and the last one was these oversized pegs!

Not much of a supply list because everything is by Boxer, aside from the paint I used to paint the peg with. Boxer supplies: Dotted paper, grosgrain ribbon, white buttons, transparency, slidemount. This is one of my favorite papers from Boxer, you all know I am a dotted addict! I did take the peg apart to paint it, and they go back together again pretty easy.

You can see all the DT pegs on the Boxer DT blog!

more creations coming soon!

hugs

Di

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Card Sketch December #1

Happy Wednesday! This weeks card sketch is below. Lots of opportunity to personalize with this one! I have another card done with this that I'll share later this week. As usual for the digitally inclined the digital card template is available for download here.

Here is my card for this week! Hybrid card made with the November Scrapstreet free kit by my friend Janneke. I just LOVE this digi paper and had to use it out! I used the template and printed onto cardstock, then added the rub-ons, flower etc. Loving the hybrid!

Supplies: Papers: Janneke Smit-Falling into Fun (scrapstreet.com); Flower: Doodlebug; button: Junkitz; Rub-ons: Joanns/DCWV

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Jackie made this cute "little ballerina princess" card with her paper scraps and stamps. Love the colors on this card, paired with the stamps they really work well together!

Card by Jackie Price
Supplies: Paper Scraps; Studio G Stamps; Stazon ink

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Indah made a beautiful digital card. Love the alphabet on this card, with all the little flowers and tags. So cute!

Digital card by Indah Permata Sari
Credits:- NitWit Collections' FQB Hearth and Home; Flossy Alphabet by Michelle Underwood

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Wendy as always shows us her elegant style with lace, stamping and stickles! I love that the team have such a wide variety of styles. It's always fun seeing the cards emailed in and thinking "wow look what they did this week!". Great card Wendy!

Card by Wendy McGlinchey
Supplies:- White card Stock, Versafine sepia ink pad, two lengths of crocheted lace, Image from Joanna Sheen Enchanted Christmas CD, Tanda Stamp Greeting Stamp, Copic pens and airbrush system and Gold Stickles

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I admit I am very partial to Cindy's style. She just rocks the cards and this one is no exception. Love the papers with the scallop and the stitching. The circle embellishment with ribbon just finishes the card off beautifully!

Card by Cindy Gilchrist
Supplies: K&Co Patterned Paper, DCWV Cardstock, K&Co Chipboard Embellishment, Ribbon (unknown brand), Colorbox Chalk Ink, Machine Stitching.

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I love the papers on this card by Pearl. Being an SEI fan I am loving their "ally's playground" line. Pearl teamed the SEI with bling for a great card!

Card by Pearl Liu
Supplies: Bazzill CS , Cellphone bling , DCWV quote sticker, SEI Ally's playground paper, chipboard & beaded flower

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This is the second card from Jackie this week, the girl is rocking her scraps! I think this sketch works well for scraps as all you need is a 3" strip across the card. Love how Jackie pulled the ink color from the patterned paper, really ties the card together well!

Card by Jackie Price
Supplies: Paper Scraps; Studio G Stamps; Stazon ink

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My Mom chose to rotate the sketch this week. I love that she's thinking about that now and getting braver, trying new things!

Card by Linda Flinders

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Kelly followed the sketch to a tee, with this Holiday themed card. Love the non traditional colors and the tree stamp! Beautiful!

Card by Kelly Nelson
Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey patterned paper, Deja Views rubon, inkadinkadoo stamp, encore metallic ink, embossing powder, faux stitching

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Jo went with a flower embellishment for this thanks card. The white sentiment really works well with the white cardstock, great card!

Card by Jo Willis
Used: Papermill card, K&Co classic McKenna paper, lace from collection, Cuttlebug die-cut greeting, flower from dismantled fabric flower, button from collection, Marvy pen.

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Jolene gives us a splash of color with this card using papers from Basic Grey. She used rick rack for an extra touch instead of the scallop, which works well with these papers. Great card!

Card by Jolene Johnston
Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey Infuse papers, Prima flowers, Bo Bunny brad, Colorbox chalk ink, JoAnn rub on, American Crafts rick rack

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Pretty Holiday card from Angela this week! Love the papers, and the bunched ribbon as the embellishment really adds a great touch!

Digital card by Angela Shetzer
Credits: Holly Berry kit by Wenchd Grafix; Font: dearJoe Four

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As usual hook me up in the comments if you do the sketch and I'll come check it out!

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Sharing: Scrapstreet November pub's

As usual I'm sharing my publications in Scrapstreets November issue. Fun issue packed with traditional, digital and hybrid! Something for everyone. First up is a hybrid card I made with the Scrapstreet November free digital kit.

Supplies: Digital kit Falling Into Fun by Janneke Smit at ScrapStreet.com, Other: flower, brad, Rub-on action: Atomic Cupcake.

Next up is a layout I made for a challenge earlier this year, that ended up fitting one of Novembers months calls for "Naptime" layouts. Love this photo of River, and the papers on this one.

Supplies: Paper: 7 Gypsies, Cardstock: Die Cuts With A View, Buttons: Bazzill, Chipboard: Heidi Swapp, Flower: Heidi Swapp, Other: label maker.

As usual the card article was fun! Novembers theme was Thanksgiving, or thank you cards. I made this card using the new seasonal papers from Boxer Scrapbooks.

Supplies: Cardstock: DCWV; Sticker: Target: Papers & Eyelets: Boxer Scrapbooks

Don't forget the December issue is up for viewing! Along with lots of fun projects there is also an awesome free kit, Christmas themed, which you can find here.

As always the new calls are up for the February issue. So check them out and see what you can submit!

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Ramblings & Gift Ideas

Hello all! Good weekend? We had a productive kinda weekend, ate WAY too much food though. Still stuffed. I got most of my USA holiday cards mailed today after spending much time yesterday writing cards, and sticking on labels and stamps. So tedious, I much prefer MAKING the cards instead.

Anyways, check out this gift ideas tutorial on the EDS blog. Here is a hybrid frame gift I made earlier this month. You can check out the full tutorial instructions here.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: April Staker (signs of fall kit); Frame: April Staker (frame me - flourishy overlays); ribbon: SEI; Chipboard: Lil Davis; buttons: EK Success

Special thanks to Nancy who is let me use some of her great pics of Bella bug (hence the B!). Isn't she a cutie? I LOVE that Bella's top matches this paper perfectly!!!

Hmmm what else? Well, I'm debating adding a couple more girls to the card sketch team. Just need to get myself sorted really and decide how I'm gonna do it. Also debating holding a DT call for my digi products. I just finished up another 12x12 layout template set. I'm trying to get the 8 1/2 x 11 set finished up today or tomorrow. Trying to set aside some time for digital designing this month so hopefully put some stuff in the store soon!

catch you tomorrow with more creations!

hugs

Di

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Round Up: November

The monthly round-up is something I found on Katie's blog ages ago and adopted as something I do every month! Check out her site and join in!

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Books: Life Artist by Ali Edwards. Though I'm still reading it. I'm about 2/3 through and loving it so far. Magazines: Simple Scrapbooks Nov/Dec edition. I'm also going through some old mags and culling a few.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
Not many! Other than Greys Anatomy and House there isn't much "must see" TV on right now. I'm trying to find other ways to use my time that sitting in front of the TV at night (see note above about magazines). Really need to use this time more wisely.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
Parents left on the 3rd, always sad to see people go, but on the bright side I got creating again! Thanksgiving was fun with Gautam, Srikanth and Sandeep. We had traditional (well kinda) dinner with Indian evening food. Did we mention we love Indian food?

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
Hmmm, got to think now. I got a RAK from Sher at scrap-diner, a RAK from Jennie, and some cards. Don't think I gave any gifts this month, or if I did I can't remember! Unless you count the blog sketches and templates of course, but thats something I do every month.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
Some weird bug that Bob brought home from work. Dizzy, sickly and generally blergh. Bob really hasn't been well recently. But the weather has been all over the place! Warm and windy with fire warnings, and actual fires. Then a total cold snap where we drag out the sweaters, gloves and turn up the heating. Crazy weather here!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Just time with family the first few days of November while they were still here. Played a lot of "Rock Band" this month with friends. Totally fun that game!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
We went to "Royal Delhi Palace". Excellent food but a little pricey. Worth it though! We tried making mushroom masala and failed. Had a cooking lesson from Srikanth and Sandeep and hopefully will be able to recreate the recipe this time! We have however conquered Aloo Matar in our Indian cooking, loving that!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
Bought scrapbook album and some papers from Scrap-Diner. I am moving to D-ring albums. Wanted to try one of the American Crafts albums. Now to just get it out the box! *sigh* Bob bought a 'new' truck. It's actually a 2006 model but we got a deal on it and he loves it.

What were this month's disappointments?
My parents leaving after their vacation. Every time family leaves you always think of things you didn't do (like take more photo's). I didn't leave enough time for digital designing this month. Need to get new items in the store but just ran out of time doing other stuff.

What were my accomplishments this month?
Um, Simple Scrapbooks picked up a favorite layout of mine for their March/April edition. Cardmaker picked up some projects. Paper Trends picked up a card, my first with them so very excited about that. Got a mention in Scrapbook Dimensions winter mag! Creative Techniques picked up 2 hybrid cards. Scrap & Stamp arts magazine came out with one of my cards in it. Also a few projects picked up by ezines.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
Why yes! But, my lips are sealed for now! Oh and I most likely going to CHA winter again. Just need to finalize dates etc.

Ok thats it for me, more creations coming tomorrow!!
hope you're enjoying your weekend!

hugs

Di

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Layout Sketch December

Ringing in the new month with a jingle jingle! December is here and that means a new layout sketch! Lots of inspiration for this one from the sketch team so keep scrolling for paper and digital layouts, something for everyone here! As always the digital template is available for download here. Enjoy!

I admit I struggled with this one! After trying paper and failing miserably I switched to digital. After going pink and it not working, I switched to green and it all fell into place! The kit used here is "remember her smile" by Melothria who is the digital sponsor this month at the EDS blog.

Credits:- Remember her smile" kit by Melothria @ digital arts cafe; Alpha: Doris Castle; Font: Wonderful wendy & Times new roman;

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Digital layout by Jacinda Prattley
Credits: Country Christmas Kit by Mad Scrapper Designs at Treasures to Scrap; Century Gothic font

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Layout by Michele Ciola

Supplies: Paper/Embellishments Little Blessings and Memory Lane by Junianas

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Digital Layout by Dawn McDowell
Credits: fall pin, ruled paper and notepaper border - Boo to You kit - Gina Cabrera; everything else - Touch of Autumn kit - Mad Scrapper Designs (Robin Blankenship)shadow actions - Traci Muprhy

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Layout by Jackie price
Supplies: Scenic Route – Metropolis, Butler Street; Bazzill; Transparent Touches Transparencies; Star Dust Stickles; StazOn – Olive Green; Starving Artist - Stitch stamp

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Layout by Christina Dean
Supplies: white bazzil, Chatterbox patterned paper, mm white lettering stickers, heidi swapp chipboard lettering, cloud 9 design sticker, and lil davis chipboard frame painted white. journalling printed from computer

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Layout by Lisette a Madsen
supply list: papers from Bazzill and American crafts, letters and rub-ons from American Crafts,Clear stamps Ki Memories

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Digital Layout by Renee' Morris-Dezember
Credits: Floral Ice papers and elements by AndreaDesigns

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Digital Layout by Egle Noel

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Digital Layout by Dawn Inskip
Credits: Cartoon Capers, Doodled & Painted Alpha, Christmas is Coming by Dawn Inskip

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Digital Layout by Angela Shetzer
Credits: "Bad Boy" Kit by Kara Jones @ KJoiStudios; Fonts: Tekton Pro & Mesquite Std

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Congrats to Jolene! Her layout is being published in Scrapstreet February 2008 issue!!!

Layout by Jolene Johnston

Supplies: Archiver's cardstock, Creative Imaginations paper, StazOn ink, The Paper Studio flocked brads, Making Memories brads, Scrapbook 101 laser cut title

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Digital Layout by Joanne Bain
credits: kit by Manuela Zimmerman, Font by Livin' Hell

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Digital Layout by Peta Boardman
Credits: Petit Moineaux's Amore Blue and Brise Marine Kits and Dawn Inskips, Timeless Treasures Kit

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Digital Layout by Jacinda Prattley
Credits: Poppy Kit by Tracy Collins at Digital Freebies; White cardboard alpha by Sherri Tierney at Elemental Scraps; Cardboard borders by Laura Burger at TTS; Binder clip by Debbie Fisher at Pickleberry Pop; Carpenter ICG font; Angelina font; PS7

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Digital layout by Lisa Peppers
Credits: American Made kit by Shelle Pukas

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Layout by Amber Bell
Supplies: Bazzill white cardstock, Miss Elizabeth's foam letter stickers and letter stickers, Magistical Memories chipboard flower, Alison Wong stamps, Scenic Route Laurel arrow, JoAnn's brads, unknown flower brads and mesh

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Digital layout by Brigitte v.Tienhoven
Credits : Funky Christmas Kit by Scrappassie Designs at KJoi Studios; Fonts used : my own handwriting and BVT-Fantasyfont

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Layout by Dawne Carlisle
Supplies:- Patterned Paper: ScrapWorks; Sticker: ScrapWorks; Clear Buttons: Hero Arts; Floss: DMC; Pen: Zig; Photo Strip created in PSE 5.0; Adhesive for clear buttons: Glue Dots

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As usual hook me up in the comments if you do the sketch as I love to come check them out!

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