It was probably 4 or 5 years ago when I first stumbled upon a
Xyron Create-a-Sticker 250 for sale in my local Wal*Mart. I bought it wondering how I would ever end up using it. Little did I know that I would soon find my life impossible to live without it. And not just for scrapbooking. I have used it for all kinds of crafts, some of which I will talk about in this article.
First let's talk about what the
Xyron Create-a-Sticker is. There are a few different models and the model number coincides the width of the sticker making option.
The
Xyron 150 makes a sticker 1.5" wide.
I own the
Xyron 250, which means that the widest option for a sticker is 2.5" wide.
Likewise, the
Xyron 500 makes a sticker up to 5" wide.
They all work in essentially the same manner. You put anything in the slot, face up. Pull it through either manually or by turning a crank, and when it comes out the underside is completely covered with an even layer of adhesive. This process is shown below. And yes, my husband is totally digging his sticker.
Now, let's get to the fun part...
What can you make with your Xyron Create-a-Sticker?
The answer:
anything.
The primary way I use the smallest model is for applying ribbon to a layout or other project where you want the ribbon to lay completely flat. Before I got my Xyron I tried ribbon glue, which always bled through my sheer ribbons and was a sticky mess. I also tried regular adhesive runner tapes, which are too wide for some skinny ribbons and didn't hold very well. Feeding your ribbon through the Xyron Create-a-Sticker makes it perfect every time.
I use my 250 Model the most often. Here are just a few of my applications.
Stickers for children. When my daughter was potty training I scoured the store for just the right stickers to fill her reward chart with. She declined every suggestion I made and finally I said,
Honey, what kind of sticker would you like? And she answered
A sticker of me. I immediately went home, printed pictures of her face, cut them into small 1 inch squares and sent them through the Xyron. She was completely thrilled and was potty trained in a week flat.
Last month this same daughter would not eat her potato. While she was sitting at the table regarding her potato with disgust I jumped up and found some quick clip-art and printed out a small picture of a cartoon potato, waving gleefully, and typed
I ate my potato around it. I printed it out and made a sticker of it. The bribe worked like a charm. Once she finished her potato she got her sticker. Soon after, I made a compete set for future dinner table rejections. Including, but not limited to,
I ate my carrots, I ate my peas and
I ate my ham. My girlfriend begged for some for
her picky eaters and declared this a million dollar idea.
Children's crafts. Last year we had our annual Pumpkin Carving Party. This was the first year we would have many children present and I wanted to make activities for them to do. The problem was all of the kids were under 4 years old. I grabbed my sticker maker, sheets of black foam and orange favor bags. I cut 16 various eye shapes, 8 various mouth shapes and 8 various nose shapes. I then ran these shapes through the sticker maker by category. The each child got to decorate the front of their orange favor bag (which was filled with candy and small toys) with a customized Jack-O-Lantern face. When they were finished I stapled the bag closed with a green leaf and vine. It was a huge hit, and after that party 3 of the attending moms ran right out that day and bought themselves a Xyron.
I have also used it to put sticky onto the back of pre-cut faom craft kits that were not already backed with adhesive.
Applying glitter to chipboard and paper. This project is truly great. The Xyron can take any item up to the width of a nickel, so you can run chipboard through it with no problem. Run your chipboard shape through once right side down,
then run it through wrong side down. You should now have a chipboard piece that is on the waxy paper and sticky on top. Simply shake the top with glitter and peel off like a sticker and adhere to project. Or, cover both sides with glitter and punch a hole in the top to make an ornament.
I'm sure by now it's obvious that I am completely smitten with this product.
Have you ever tried it?
I really really WANTED to like this book, but I didn't care for it. The photographs are beautiful, however I found the patterns to be way too simple (like sewing a loop and a button onto a dishtowel) to much to complicated (like the pattern for the fabric outdoor tent). At least one third of the book is dedicated to clothing for women, but it has limited sizing. The section for children consists of dresses made from two rectangles...one gathered for the skirt and another sewn together to form the top. Now, I understand that this is intended to be quick and easy projects, the problem is that any/all of the patterns in this book can be found for free easily on the internet.
