Roh Roh Relroy

It's not that I don't know my own strength or anything but I was crafting with my Big Shot on Saturday and I broke the handle off.  :o(  It had been making noise when I cranked it around but I was hoping it wasn't going, going, gone.  I put the die in with my paper, did a few turns, click, click, handle in my hand.



















My daughter Stephanie had the same thing happen to her so she knew how to take it apart to get the die out.  Since I bought my machine from Joann's, I called Sizzix directly to see what the warranty was.   Thank heavens it's a 3 year warranty.  All they asked was that I emailed a few photos of the sticker with the date on the bottom and the broken handle.  They aren't mailing me a new machine like Stampin' Up does but they are mailing me a handle and they emailed me a pdf with photos and directions to replace it.

Here's a picture of the handle broke off!  Just call me Popeye cuz I've got such big musckels.  Geh geh geh geh.  :o)

The Million Dollar Question!

I don't know how many other quilter/paper crafters out there have been doing some thinking about the AccuQuilt Go cutter...........

and Sizzix Big Shot machine.
They are both die cutters and I have the Sizzix Big Shot for card making. Would I need an AccuQuilt Go too? Would I use it? Space is limited in my sewing room. So much so, that last year I moved my paper crafts to the spare bedroom so I'm thinkin' this is a toy I could live without but I might like having a die or two.

Blogs are buzzin' about the AccuQuilt Go and now the Go Baby. There have been giveaways left and right. Others must have pondered this very same thing because I found some info on it when I did a Yahoo search. Maybe everyone already knows this and I'm the pokey puppy just finding out.

Sizzix is no dummy (maybe their even the same company!!) and they have jumped on the fabric cutting bandwagon. Here's what they have come up with so far for the Big Shot. And if I got some dies from them, I wouldn't have to lop off 1/4" from the side like you do if you buy AccuQuilt dies (see below).

AccuQuilt Go dies are a little too wide to fit through the Sizzix machine (kind of sneaky if you ask me, trying to make them too big to use with the Big Shot. Sounds sort of like Apple and IBM, hum?) If you want to buy the AccuQuilt dies for your Big Shot, you'll have to hacksaw 1/4" off the side of the template so it fits, otherwise it won't go through the machine. Here's a little video I found on a Yahoo search at My Cricut Scrapbooking. The video is a little bit slow but she breaks down the "sandwich" you will need to use the dies with the Big Shot.

And that site references this site, Lori at A Bee in my Bonnet. She gives a lot of information on the subject and shows the trimmed die template, a step you wouldn't have to do if you bought the Sizzix dies.

I will be watching to see if there is a good sale on die templates and will have to ponder if I really need one or two or three. :o) I think with the kind of quilt projects I do, maybe just the strip cutter or a charm square would come in handy. I dunno..... I am glad to know that I won't have to spend a $399.00 on another toy when I have something that will work. YAY for multi-purpose machines!!