January is always an excellent time to begin a Family Scrapbook Album for the previous year. Each year I have usually found, or been given, a new tool to use in my scrapbooks. This year is no different and I am thoroughly excited about this year’s new tool.
For a Christmas present I received the Xyron Model 500 Create a Sticker. I have used it on almost every page I have done so far this year! This machine comes with 18 feet of adhesive, and extra cartridges can also be bought.
The Create a Sticker does exactly what it says, it creates a sticker out of whatever item can fit into the machine. Generally it can only make a sticker out of items that are less than five inches wide and an eighth of an inch thick. I do wish it would allow for wider pieces to be put through. I find that the strips of paper that I use in my page layouts are often too wide and I have to fall back on other forms of archival adhesives such as glues or tapes.
There are wider machines available but I am unsure about them also. In order to not waste the adhesive in the machine I feel I need to fill up each round of stickers that I make so that there is not any unused space. Although I would at times like to be able to make a wider sticker, I’m not sure if I want to exchange that for having to fill more space in order to not waste anything.
The Create a Sticker is not electronic so you do not have to worry about plugging it in or keeping it filled with batteries. You just place an item in one end, then roll the knob on the side and out pops your item on the other side. I love that it is so easy to use and I can take it anywhere with me. I already have to worry about having my computer, external drive, printer, modem and light plugged in so it is nice to have a scrapbook tool that does not have a cord!
I have used the Create a Sticker to make many of my embellishments into stickers. Scrapbook embellishments do not always come as a sticker so it is nice to turn that little paper tree or a photograph into a sticker but I use it more often for embellishments such as ribbons or buttons. Ribbons are all generally thin enough but I have found that I can only put through the thinnest of my buttons.
It is also good to know exactly where you are placing the sticker once you take it off of the sheet because this adhesive is very strong. It is not possible to readjust the sticker like you can with some other adhesives. I have tried to move a sticker and it ripped the paper underneath so it takes careful planning when placing a large floppy sticker such as a ribbon.
Even though it takes some experimenting and careful placement of stickers due to the strength of the adhesive this is an excellent addition to the tools you use for your scrapbooking craft.
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This is the left side of my two page layout. The back ground, except for the white border around the largest picture and the swirly paper beneath it, is a printed sheet of paper. I added the button in the left corner and the ribbons, buttons and letters below the largest picture. 
On this page, the background is a printed also and complementary to the previous. I added the large ribbon at the top and the ribbon at the bottom. Around the white border of the large picture on this page I placed four buttons. 
Here is my front page layout (not my proudest moment but it was the first page of the new year). The picture is one of the best nature pics I've ever taken. It is difficult to see in the picture of the page but you can even see the veins in the wings of the dragonfly. This page does hint at my embellishment obsessions for this year - sewing, ribbon and buttons! Let me know what you think!
