Scrapbooking Meets DIY

One of the things I probably like the most about scrapbooking -- outside the photos themselves -- are the tools.

I have a Slice, which is like a small but less frilly Cricut, except this die-cutter is rechargeable and can be used cordless. I have a myriad of cutters, clippers, setters and adhesive machines.While scrapbooking and DIY clearly have this in common, it's not often that the two worlds collide, at least not for me.

But on Sunday, they did.

I have a variety of cordless Black & Decker tools, several from their Firestorm line. On Sunday, I was using my sander from that collection. LOVE the sander. It uses the sanding pads that you velcro to the sanding base. See the velcro? Do you also see the little orange triangle at the top? It's special in that the pads come with extra diamond-shape pieces so you can switch JUST that piece out to do edging or other precision sanding. I use that a lot.

Which is probably why the adhesive holding that little piece of Velcro in place finally gave way. I tried another option, which worked in the short-term, before falling off yet again.

For a while, I couldn't figure out what to do and then it hit me: the Xyron. Of course!

Some years back, when I was traveling back and forth to Rochester, a client turned friend was having problems getting her parking card to stick to her windshield. (It had a similar Velcro attachment.) I took my small Xyron in my carry-on luggage and fixed it while I was in town. A few years ago, she mailed me the piece again and I repaired it and mailed it back.

Because it was handier, I grabbed my medium-sized Xyron. It works on items up to 2.5-inches wide. The smaller one is up to an inch. I think the biggest of the three I own is up to 5 or 6 inches. Collectivelly, these are some great tools and I use them a lot.

It didn't hold the first time. The second time, after I cleaned both the sander AND the Velcro piece and then wiped both with a touch of rubbing alcohol and allowed them to dry, it stuck! Didn't have any trouble with it for the rest of the afternoon.

It's great to know that I can mix my mediums. It's like getting twice the benefit of my tools!