Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Fun Factor!

Most people don't buy a digital die cutter to take the drudgery out of life.  They buy one because it adds something TO their life.  Let's face it it.  They are fun.  And, fun is what I was having yesterday with 1 eCraft, 2 granddaughters and a boatload of paper.

The eCraft is designed to be portable.  Yes, it is wide.  But, it's not very deep with the cover closed and it's not very heavy.  So, I bundled mine off for one of our frequent visits to see our granddaughters.  The box to carry the papers was far heavier and more bulky than the eCraft itself.  And, it traveled quite well on the back seat of my car for the 100 mile trip.

It didn't take me long to have an excellent demonstration in how easy the eCraft is to use for the first time and how much children love the most expensive papers!!!   Yikes!

The only SD chip that I have is the basic Fundamentals #1.  And, that shape collection includes a single font.  So, my oldest granddaughter, 10, picked out a gold glitter paper (American Crafts AC Cardstock 71417 12x12 GL Gold)  and proceeded to find the letter 'G", the initial off her first name, select 10" size and pushed cut.  The pressure was set to 8 and, to my surprise, it cut through on the frst pass.  This particular glitter paper seems very heavy and I fully expected to have to use the multicut feature.  But, I did not.

My second granddaughter, 8, then cut out an "E" for her first cut.  And, again, the cut was excellent.  By the way, this particular glitter paper was purchased at A.C. Moore.  I looked for it at Michaels and they do not seem to carry it.

One they saw what the eCraft could do, the real exploring began.  And, we tried a variety of glitter papers and foil papers without a single failure.  They had the most fun cutting out a variety of leaves.  Now, there is one leaf that I had expected might give us trouble because of the long, curling stem.  But, it did not.

I'd picked up some DCWV cardstock in the collection called, "The Autumn Splendor"  It includes some glitter papers in autumn colors that seem lighter than the American Craft cardstock.  With these autumn colors they proceeded to cut out dozens leaves and trees of all sizes... right down to 3".  And, again, we did not have a single failure.

The girls had a great time.  And, when PopPop's girls have a great time then PopPop has a great time.  I can hardly wait to get the computer interface and some more SD cards... in particular the paper doll SD collection.  And, YES!  It IS for them... well, MOSTLY for them.  OK, I'll let them use it; but, it stays here with me!

While I enjoy honing in on the technical capabilities and problems that come with new products.  It's just plain nice to do nothing but have fun with this wonderful new addition in our midst.  As factors go, the FUN FACTOR is the most important of all.  And, in this regard, the eCraft has more than proved itself a winner.

2 comments:

Ruthie said...

Aw - it sounds like you all had a blast! Rx

Tom Meeks said...

The girls loved it. They kept wanting to cut out more leaves in different glitter colors and then a couple of large trees.

It's interesting that one tree can have so many differently shaped leaves in so many colors!!!! LOL!

But, now they want their names in a fancier font in large letters. Let's see $1.99 x 10!!! Where's that A. C. Moore coupon!!!