I (try to) pride myself on being on the cutting edge of the scrapbooking industry, and usually have heard of something several times before it makes it’s official debut, but this one really snuck up on me! I opened my e-mail box yesterday to see this little gem of a note from HSN, the Home Shopping Network channel.

****************************
hsn cad-II
****************************

So the “first generation” Crop-a-dile has been around for a bit. I’ve had one for months and really enjoy using it. Memory Works carries them and, boy howdy, have I sold ’em to others! Once a scrapper sees the CAD (as CKMB’ers so affectionately call it) in use, they have to have one. Now, the question is, do we “need” a CAD-II?

Here is what I love about my CAD:
~ Punches holes and sets eyelets/snaps like butta’, in 2 sizes.
~ Shhhh….it’s so vewy, vewy kie-wit (quiet) and I can happily create in the middle of night without waking any family members.
~ It comes in cute colors like pink, purple and lime green. There are different configurations it sells with, where you can even get a matching case with tons of eyelets. For instance, Memory Works sells it with the pink tool alone, the pink case alone, or the green tool & case together.
~ The hole punches are cool to use because you can adjust the sliding thingee (that’s a highly technical term) for how far into the paper you want to punch. Then all your holes are uniform looking like, say, one inch in from the edge of the paper.

Only negatives I’ve seen to the CAD:
~ Because of the tool being smaller, there are limitations with how far into an item you can punch. I think it amounts to 1 or 1.5 inches. Personally, it doesn’t bother me because I mostly set eyelets and snaps into flowers, smaller pieces of card or other embellishments. But I know it’s been a concern for others.
~ The thing doesn’t know it’s own strength and, if you’re not careful, you can smoosh (another technical term) your snap or eyelet beyond the point of recognition. Basically, ya just gotta practice with it until you find the amount of force needed to set things.

So, in answer to the “short reach” complaints, WE R MEMORY KEEPERS (manufacturer of the Crop-A-Dile) have provided us with the Crop-A-Dile II Big Bite. Talk about responsive ~ WTG, WRMK! Now the burning question is: Do we need the Big Bite? For now, I think I will hold off. It looks expensive, and crikey, could they find a better color than that gawdawful orange? Actually, WRMK usually has rockin’ color choices in all their items, so I’m sure there will be mo’ better color choices to come.

Here is the discussion on Big Bite so far ON CKMB and ON 2PEAS. What are your thoughts on this new biggie? Will you be purchasing one on HSN tomorrow, or anywhere else?

Edited 1-9-08: Huggy Bear says word on the street is retail will be only $39.99, and some LSS’s are doing pre-sales for $32. Okay, now I’m tempted. I thought that puppy was gonna’ be WAY more than 40 bucks…Wonder how much HSN will have it for???

Edited 1-10-08: Okay, I watched the HSN presentation on the CAD-II Big Bite (like most of you, yeah?). I have to admit, I’m kind of in love with the thing. I didn’t want to be, but that cute little WRMK guy, and the enthusiasm of that little blondie, Suzanne Runyan…jeez, they won me over big time. The CAD-II can punch even further than 6 inches into an item. They punched into sheets of tin (yeah, I’ll be doing that ALL the time), thick chipboard, even a 5-layer dealie of a metal snap, 3 flowers, and a plastic Chinese takeout box. Gotta’ give ’em props, they knew how to sell me. And the price was around $40 with another $6 or so for shipping. HSN said they were the only ones who had it in stock; the WRMK guy said he doesn’t even have one. So, if you MUST have it now and you don’t mind orange, I say get it from HSN. I will patiently wait for another color, but I WILL have one, oh yes, I will have one…

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

19 Comments

  1. avatar

    Great minds must think alike, cause I just posted about this baby today too. Yes, I want it really bad. I love the original! But will I buy it? Depends on the price I guess.

  2. avatar

    Want! Want! Want!

  3. avatar

    I think I am going to hold out on this one for a while myself and do the “wait and see” thing. I do love my pink CAD but I didn’t run out and buy it right away either.

  4. avatar

    Though I am a tool !!NUT!!, I am going to do the “wait and see” thing too. I wonder how much it weighs and how difficult it is to manipulate?

  5. avatar

    Thanks so much for posting you thoughts! Now I don’t have #1. Do you think I should not buy 1 and just get 2? Or is it a good idea to start off with 1??

    Was hinting to DH that I need the CAD. But should I be hinting to 2 and what do you think the price range will be?

  6. avatar

    It’s freakin’ orange!!! I must have it!! Go Beavs! Go Beavs!!! :D

    OK, I knew I wanted this as soon as I heard about it and now that I know that it’s orange, I’ve got to have it!!! :D

  7. avatar

    Mine is on order through HSN already. The orange will make it easier to find in my crop bag. lol Who am I kidding with the size of this thing, I should be able to find it. The 6″ reach is WHY I got it. I don’t do a lot of layouts, most of my work is cards and altered items, so really needed more reach. Also think the fact that it sits and you just push down will help with the force needed so should be less smooshed items. The price was a little high, but you get a load of goodies to apply with it, and shipping is just a fact of life. Now I will be daily checking for my email that it has shipped, as on delayed delivery.

  8. avatar

    I just got the crop a dile ll today. How do you use this thing with no directions? I can only figure out how to punch a hole. “Help I’ve bought a punch and I cant get it to work”

    1. avatar
      grandma funbunny says:

      my instruction on the crop a dileII big bite is written a forgien language that I don’t even know. I am trying to find insturction in english. Does anyone have and can share them Thanks

  9. avatar
    Dawn A. says:

    Mine just came in the mail. The instructions are in the triangle at the bottom of the plastic container. I haven’t been able to try it out yet, but it seems like it will be great to use!

  10. avatar
    Karla says:

    I got it! I got it! Now what do I do with it? The directions are weak and I can’t figure out how to use it to attach embellishments to fabric. I get the snaps and eyelets but how does this thing work with the gromlets?

  11. avatar

    I got mine and I love it! To answer the poster above, there are instructions for using the gromlets in the package on a piece of paper. Basically, use 4 and D with the gromlet spikes facing upwards.

  12. avatar
    Tiffiany Cowart says:

    Yikes! I threw away my directions tooooo! I can t figure out how to set gromets!!! I am frustrated!!! Can anyone help? PLEEEEASE!

  13. avatar
    Cindy Bauman says:

    Okay, now I’m wondering if I made a mistake. Hubby bought me the CAD#1 for Christmas. Life got busy and I never opened the package. I saw the presentation on HSN for CAD#2 and thought, “Isn’t that just the way it happens? I take sooo long in getting the first one that the second one is already out!” Well, figuring that the newest must be the “best” I returned my still unopened #1 back to the store and ordered #2. It came and I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to try it out. The first thing I learned is that it seems bulky/clumsy to use. The directions were barely helpful if at all, but perhaps the users of the CAD1 already had previous knowledge? So…I kept trying. I gave up after getting several eyelets actually STUCK in the thing that I had to pry out with various tools. I clearly will have to practice more, but I agree….it’s not intuitive about how to use it and the instructions are not much help. Anyone offering a scrap class on how to use this tool???

  14. avatar

    I just got mine in the mail. I too am confused as to how to use it. I also ordered the storage box and for about an hour I tried to fit the CAD II in it. If anyone knows how to do it, please reply. Thanks in advance.

  15. avatar
    Beverly McCarthy says:

    I bought the CAD II and the case from HSN and it won’t fit into the case because of the feet. Apparently
    they have changed the design so that the feet slide off for storage in the case. So if you bought the
    first one on the market like I did, you can’t use the storage case designed to hold it.

  16. avatar
    Cindy S. says:

    to whom ever cannot figure out out how to set eyelets and gromlets and such on the CAD2, this is how you do it. you see that little slider button that is on top that you slide to select the hole size? it has the 3/16 and the 1/8th settings. when you have it set on 3/16, you can see a little symbol above the switch that looks like i tiny eyelet. slide the selector all the way up so that the tiny eyelet is in the little square. the just look at the pics on the directions to figure out the rest.

  17. […] thinking some of these could make great mini-albums. Just punch a hole in 1 or 2 corners with your CROP-A-DILE and use some binder rings. Or you could make some fun kids projects with […]

  18. avatar

    How do you do snaps with this? I can’t figure it out. I have another snap setter but bought this one with hopes to set them deeper in…HELP!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.