Review: Elmer's Crafter's supplies

IMG_2623, originally uploaded by WeeBeaks.

My disclaimer here is we got the items pictured for FREE to try through the Bzz Agent program. I get no compensation for my opinion (hey, not even 2 cents LOL) but we did not have to purchase the items. So here is our (kids included) opinion of the items.

First off, the glue stick is a typical glue stick honestly. I wouldn't say it is particularly better or worse than any other glue, excepting the ones that got too old in the craft box and were no longer sticky. The kids and I all tried the stick, and we all liked it. It stuck well, smoothed on nicely and was a good size.

The glue pen was even better. It had a nice fine point applicator and a wider applicator for larger items. The glue itself is clear. All of us particularly liked this one, and I will be purchasing a few more of these for use around the house. It is perfect for small craft projects as well as regular paper use, schoolwork and scrapbooking.

Now, on to the scissors. These we have to say we hated. The plastic they are made from is really really thin and flimsy, so flimsy that the tips of the cutting area bend and then don't cut. They stick together even when just holding them and opening and closing. We have other scissors that do special cuts for nice borders, and those don' t have this particular issue. We will not be keeping these as they were frustrating to use and certainly not strong enough for thicker nicer papers (heck, they didn't even do well with the thin sheets of paper). And the littlest fingers in our house found these extremely frustrating to use.

The other thing with a pink button in the middle is a corner rounder. This performed pretty much as expected though was a little sticky. I find that to be true of most of these types of products though so it is certainly average and worked okay.

The glue dots and glue on a roll I love. These are my favorites for scrapbooking, quick, easy, nonmessy, good hold. I tucked these away for my own personal use. The kids then asked me where they went. LOL They loved them too, and I don't usually buy them the nicer supplies as they are extremely HUGE consumers of glue products.

So my overall opinion is that we loved all the glue products. I would most certainly buy those for scrapbooking and crafting. The X-acto cutting supplies I just don't know. The corner thing worked okay but the scissors honestly felt pretty cheaply made IMHO.

Flashback ...

photo, originally uploaded by WeeBeaks.

We went grocery shopping this weekend. We saw someone dressed oddly, but then again next weekend is Halloween so didn't think too much of it. We finally thought it looked like he was dressed ala Ghostbusters. Again, an odd choice as most teens and below wouldn't recognize that costume at all. Geez, I feel a little old here. In any case, we finally realized that Dan Aykroyd was at the local Albertsons grocery chain promoting his like of vodka, complete the Ghostbusters automobile. We then had to explain the movie to the kids so they knew what it was all about. LOL

Review: What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?

The book opens describing the size of a pygmy shrew relative to an elephant, then relative to a ladybug, and proceeds smaller and smaller, each smaller item compared to a new even smaller item down to atoms, quarks and electrons. The book wraps up by describing how everything in the entire universe is made up of atoms. This book dovetails nicely, by the way, with another of this author's books, Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?.

Suggested age range for this book is 4-8 yrs. I used this with boys ages 8 and 5. The 5yo grasped some of the concepts, but really a lot of it was over his head as he could just not grasp it totally. The 8yo was much more enthralled with the whole idea, having used a microscope before and really understanding it better. It is one of the most user friendly books I have found though to put it in a true real world perspective, as most science texts simply start with what an atom is without really trying to explain how incredibly tiny that is.

We thoroughly enjoyed this book, even mom as a refresher, before starting in on our basic chemistry textbook for my 3rd grader. :) My kindergartener will stop here with this brief intro, and is enjoying paging through the pictures again and again.

And, by the way, I'm not paid at all for my review. I am just sharing a book we liked! :)