I’ve probably walked past old rotating poker chip trays a hundred times while thrifting, never once giving them thought until last week after I’d purchased a new set of Prismacolor colored pencils. I found two racks at the same thrift store, together for under $10.I brought them home, and got to work by removing the handle hardware and gluing a poker chip into the open bottom of each stack-rack to close up the thumb holes. I gave each tray a few coats of black spray paint and finished off the open sides on one with some vintage Sorry playing cards. For the other I cut pieces from an old scrapbook of daily verses glued to cardstock. I curved each piece a bit before sliding into place.I sprayed the handle hardware with clear acrylic paint and replaced each to its tray.I filled one tray with my new pencils and the other with my Sharpie markers. These are just perfect for my little studio and with each having a handle, easy to tote into the house or anywhere I feel like working.
When I was asked to review the Genesis Paper Trimmer recently, I was hesitant only because of its price point. I wasn’t convinced that it was an item most of my readers would consider purchasing as it does come with a hefty price tag of $390. But I am certain that all my blog readers appreciate good information, honest reviews and that in the case of a paper craft product, many of you may well work with paper on a professional level and would love to know about the very best equipment out there.The Genesis Paper Trimmer is a high-end precision paper trimmer originally designed for professional photographers. However, it is now also used by invitation makers, scrapbookers, and other paper crafters, all of who’s work requires a straight, precision cut- precision being the optimal word here. The 16″ Genesis Taper Trimmer is available with and without a sidebar edgelight light that attaches under the trimmer and shines through paper or card stock to illuminate the entire cutting line. (16″ cutter price without light is $295 and the 12″ is $265.) The edgelight, however, is an incredible feature in my opinion. You can also purchase the edge guide (or jig as I call it) which rocks for making repetitive cuts like I do when trimming down orders of hundreds of business cards.I brought the trimmer to last weekend’s scrapbookers retreat, showed everyone how it worked and set it up on my table for all to use. Our hostess stated how awesome it was but couldn’t see paying close to $400 dollars for a paper cutter. By her 6th time to the cutter she was expressing how this was definitely going on her Christmas wish list. It takes only a few slices to see how incredible this cutter is and how you may find it hard to live without if you are a paper crafter at any level. Just the sound of the sharp precision blade against the cutting edge as you run it down your paper can literally give you goosebumps. But, did I mention the awesome shine-through light fixture? Well, I’ll mention it again: Brilliant. AND the electrical cord is extra long, which matters a lot to me as I often craft in different rooms of my house and am not always right up and close to an outlet.Another scrapper at the retreat loved how she barely had to put pressure on her paper to hold it in place as she cut. She was used to doing that with her trimmer to keep it from shifting as she moved the cutting blade up or down -it tended to pull the paper with it just a bit causing an inaccurate cut. You’re not going to get that with this trimmer as the blade is incredibly sharp and heavy duty, (and with excellent safety finger-guards!)
The Genesis Paper Trimmer is made of steel and aluminum (no plastic, except two small parts including a hard plastic handle), and it has been designed to last a lifetime. It’s a moderately heavy piece of equipment that comes packaged with the light separate for you to assemble. My daughter and I put it together in about 5 minutes with one screwdriver. Genesis Paper Trimmers are made one at a time by hand in the USA- Atlanta, Georgia to be exact. Each is hand-tested and adjusted until the alignment and cut meet the highest of standards. The production of the Genesis Paper Trimmer supports American workers in many fields: steel production and fabricating, metal plating, anodizing, laser etching, and more. Even their packing boxes are manufactured in the USA. You gotta love that.
But let’s get back to the price, because that may be the only thing at this point keeping you from heading over to Bonnie’s Best to purchase one right now. The Genesis Paper trimmer is the Cadillac of paper trimmers. And it holds very true in this case that you get what you pay for. And, yes, I did receive mine for free, so that may sound like a contradiction, but I’ll leave that to trust. If you are a regular reader of my blog, I am sure you know I would never steer you wrong. And with Christmas around the corner, maybe it’s reasonable to put this on your wish list.
I understand there used to be waiting lists for the Genesis for over a year, but currently, orders are being shipped within 24-36 hours. All replacement parts can also be purchased through Bonnie’s Best Art Tools, should you be one of those that uses a paper trimmer on a daily basis, this may be good to know.
If you live in my area (I’m in Sonoma County, CA) and just want to test run it before purchasing, drop me an email and I’ll be happy to bring mine by or welcome you to my studio to try it out!
I’m back from a wonderful weekend with friends where we shared a little slice of heaven known as St. Dorothy’s Rest at Camp Meeker, California. It’s a scrapbooker’s retreat in the Lydia House organized by my awesome friend, Lori O’Donnell. Although I don’t scrap, I love the company of the dozen or so women, the time away from the day-to-day things, and being un-plugged to get back to creative basics using nothing but paper and colored pencils. I spent a great deal of time drawing designs for surface patterns and going through many books for inspiration. This was my 3rd trip, and this time, I came bearing gifts! I brought bags for all the gals (as shown here packed into the back of my Suburban,) full of items sent to me by various companies and individuals to share, as well as a few goodies from me. I thought you’d enjoy a peek at all the wonderfulness! (All swag sponsor products can be purchased online!)The wonderful shopping bags were courtesy of my local Beverly’s Crafts in Rohnert Park, CA. They just moved locations a few blocks away from their previous store, with their old location now a Bevery’s Crafts Outlet, and their new digs- a shiny-happy playground for me, (yeah, and other crafters, too.) They now carry a great selection of fabric, some of the most fun brands out there, including some of my favorites such as Amy Butler and Moda and can also be found online at Beverlys.com. Thank you Monica! I gave each friend both of my Pink Persimmon Holiday stamps sets, Holly & Mistletoe and Merry Christmas Tree. Unsure if all recipients would have acrylic stamp blocks to use with them, I had 3 acrylic block sizes cut for each gift from our local Tap Plastics. Purchased locally, they came out to around $1 per piece. Also included was a small green stamp pad. I tucked everything into clear party bags and topped with a fold-over card with my blog header design.I found some wedding cake bags at the local party store, perfect for tucking in blank greeting cards and envelopes to use with the stamps. They easily ran through my desktop printer and I finished each with a bit of Washi tape.Dear friend and blogger, Selena Cate, shared gift-wrapped jeweler’s loupes for everyone from her blog Apron Thrift Girl. Loupes rock, for so many reasons, but especially for zooming-in the old-fashioned way!Selena also made an amazing blend of herbal tea to share from her fab new food blog, Flavorstitch! So delicious. Thank you Selena!The awesome Amanda of 32º North Supplies on Etsy made up and sent each a stunning kit of vintage and specialty crafting supplies. I adore the foil Dresden trim, the baby carrots, paper roses, vintage-style postcard and gorgeous German die-cuts of Santa, angels and butterflies. Goosebumpy! Be sure to check out the 32º North Supplies Christmas ornaments, decor and many other vintage items as well! Thank you Amanda!My good friends at SC Johnson sent holiday Ziploc bags, which will come in extremely handy as I go about baking the multiple tubs of school-fundraiser cookie dough stuffed in my freezer at the moment! They also sent us medium Ziploc Smart Snap containers which are awesome for craft supply storage! Thank you SCJ!Empower Your Shower is a fun little company created by three good friends with a vision, to make shower-time a more thought-full time. Empower Your Shower clings attach to the wall or tiles of your shower, or to any other smooth surface, as gentle mind motivators. Part of the proceeds from Empower Your Shower motivational clings go towards efforts to combat human trafficking in India. (I designed the EYS logo, the artwork for the clings and the logo for blossomy.org.) Thank you EYS!Whitney of Divine Twine not only shared every color of twine her company makes, but even the new soon-to-be-released purple and brown! I wound each color on vintage spools for everyone. Aren’t they gorgeous? I can NOT get enough of this stuff! I tie and wrap most everything with Divine Twine! Thank you Whitney!One of my blog sponsors, PhotoJewelryMaking.com was kind enough to send each of us EZ Photo Resizer With EZ Crop Program software for cropping images in different shapes needed for small projects such as their wonderful Photo Jewelry supplies! This software allows you to edit to the specific millimeter and shape needed for photo jewelry, or most any crafty photo/image project such as junior high campaign buttons for your kid! This latest version includes the text-maker! Thank you Susan!What’s scrappin’ without snackin’?! Sensible Foods, from here in my neck of the woods, sent me packing with delicious assortments of “Crunch Dried®” fruits and veggies for everyone to nibble on. I think I’m in love. My favorite was the Orchard Blend, and these healthy snacks kept me from overdoing it on the not-so-good-for-me ones that were of great temptation in the house. Thank you Linda!Meyers Imports comes through once again with a little assortment of fun. 3 vials each of different colored German Glass Glitter , because who doesn’t love GGG?! And tiny bits of sweetness in the form of vintage mushrooms and bitty plastic animals. With all the moss growing around the retreat house, I enjoyed an itty-bitty photo-shoot. Thank you John!Everyone was super thrilled with the unexpected swag and I was over the moon being able to share it all. Once again, an enormous thank you to all the contributors.
I will be returning to the retreat in March of 2011, so if you are interested in contributing to retreat swag and to promote your products on JustSomethingIMade.com, please contact me. Next time, I’ll be sure to put together enough bags not only for the scrappers, but also for a blog giveaway!Be sure to stay tuned to see the incredible product that was sent to me for review that I’ll be showing off tomorrow!
I brought them home, and got to work by removing the handle hardware and gluing a poker chip into the open bottom of each stack-rack to close up the thumb holes. 
I gave each tray a few coats of black spray paint and finished off the open sides on one with some vintage Sorry playing cards. For the other I cut pieces from an old scrapbook of daily verses glued to cardstock. I curved each piece a bit before sliding into place.
I sprayed the handle hardware with clear acrylic paint and replaced each to its tray.
I filled one tray with my new pencils and the other with my Sharpie markers. 
These are just perfect for my little studio and with each having a handle, easy to tote into the house or anywhere I feel like working.
