My appreciation for X-ACTO began in the early 80s with my first job as an ad agency paste-up artist- pre-digital era. I’ve had a #11-blade X-ACTO knife within reach my entire creative career- from graphic designer to professional crafter. So when I was sent X-ACTO’s recently reshaped popular knife set to check out and review I was over the moon. This new set is housed in a premium soft compression case which replaces the traditional wooden chest- so much easier to carry and store. There are magnetic slots on one side of the kit that securely stores the blades. The kit is very lightweight and includes X-ACTO’s most popular knives for precision trimming and cutting:

• #1 for lightweight materials
• #2 for medium to heavy weight materials
• #5 for heavy weight materials
• #7, #10, #11, #16, #17, #2, #18, #19, #22 & #24 precision knife blades

Check out the very cool X-ACTO® Basic Knife Set video here. The new set retails at $29.99 and will be available nationwide beginning July 1, 2014. This is an ideal gift for your creative friends and the perfect tool set for creative you.

And, speaking of gifts, here’s one from me to you. A free printable with all those little measurements that are good to keep handy when crafting and shopping for materials and supplies. The Holden’s Easy Handy Crafter’s Sizing Guide. (A mouthful I know, but the wording fit so nicely into that lovely vintage label graphic found in an old book.) The printable guide features two rulers, one with inches and one with centimeters/millimeters. There’s also width visuals and rounds in both standard and metric. Download the sizing guide PDF file (that includes two sets of graphics on one letter-size file), and print to white or colored paper or cardstock. Do a test print run to check for measurement accuracy. You may need to adjust your printer’s settings to print at 100% and not scaled to fit media. All printers are different so you’ll have to play with your settings to get the best results. Once printed, trim down and through the side rulers at the grey trim marks as shown, allowing ruler increments to bleed off the side of your guide. You can fold guide in half along the dotted line for tucking into your bag, pocket, or sketchbook. I keep one at my desktop for visually referencing the size of supplies I purchase online such as ribbon widths, bead sizes, jump rings, cabochons, wooden disks, dowel rods, vintage ephemera, and so much more.Happy crafting!