This weekend marked a significant step forward for My Lovely Wife: She made her first ever purchase through Kijiji.
For anyone that doesn't know her, My Lovely Wife is a very crafty woman. I mean that in the sense that she has a flair for cutting paper into the shape of small flowers and animals, turning those cut-outs into stickers, then putting those stickers together with bits of twine and coconut shells to create visually pleasing images.
In the scrapbooking world, there is a device that is much lusted after called "The Cricut". For those of you that are not familiar with it, it's a machine about the size of a 1990's ink jet printer that cuts paper. It's like a CAD for the paper world. It also, I would say, costs a fairly ridiculous amount of money.
I was going to get one for My Lovely Wife for Christmas last year, but it just wasn't in the budget. Just like it wasn't in the budget the year before that. Or the year before that. Or the one before that. You get the idea. This year, I had the awesome idea of checking Kijiji. My theory was that what with it being around Christmas, there had to be somebody out there who already had one that might have gotten a new one. This theory rests solely on there being somebody rich enough to afford a second one soon enough that the first one would still be in good condition, but not so rich that they wouldn't consider taking some cash to help pay off the new one.
Kijiji provided me with many possibilities, two of which were definitely in our price range. Unfortunately, we were in Holiday Travel Mode by the time I was able to get responses. I let both of them know that we wouldn't be able to look at or pick up anything until the New Year, and I wouldn't expect them to hold anything for us so no hard feelings if they're sold by the time we got back (because I am not a Kijijerk).
Low and behold, one of them sold before we got back. But the other one was still up for grabs. We had a couple of aborted pick up/drop off events before we were finally able to connect. Great purchase - he had it still in box, still wrapped, and had even put twist ties on the cables so they'd fit nicely. My Lovely Wife handed him the cash and we now own a Cricut (which she spent approximately, oh, Sunday playing with).
Now, I am not a crafty guy. Glue and I do not see eye to eye, I have trouble staying inside the lines when I'm colouring and outside the lines when I'm cutting. I usually end up covered in glitter, which is great when I'm heading out to the rave, but not so much when I'm going to work. If I worked at a rave, it might be a different story. But I have to say, this little thing is quite clever.
From a purely technical standpoint, it does incorporates a lot of stuff that makes sense - you get different cartridges with different design elements on them, you can use whatever paper or card stock you want, it will remember how much paper you had left on a piece you just used so you don't waste it, you can adjust the size of the cut-outs, and the things you can make with it are just so darned pretty. Marketing it has to be easy - it's simple enough that your grandmother could use it, but it comes with enough bells and whistles that husbands will do that frowny face/head nod look of being impressed.
Just to recap: I had the idea, did the search, did the email and phone calls, did the negotiations and planning and set up the meet, and My Lovely Wife paid for it. As first Kijiji buys go, I'd say she did pretty well.
For anyone that doesn't know her, My Lovely Wife is a very crafty woman. I mean that in the sense that she has a flair for cutting paper into the shape of small flowers and animals, turning those cut-outs into stickers, then putting those stickers together with bits of twine and coconut shells to create visually pleasing images.
In the scrapbooking world, there is a device that is much lusted after called "The Cricut". For those of you that are not familiar with it, it's a machine about the size of a 1990's ink jet printer that cuts paper. It's like a CAD for the paper world. It also, I would say, costs a fairly ridiculous amount of money.
Somewhere out there, a scrapbooker is getting soooooo hot looking at this. |
Kijiji provided me with many possibilities, two of which were definitely in our price range. Unfortunately, we were in Holiday Travel Mode by the time I was able to get responses. I let both of them know that we wouldn't be able to look at or pick up anything until the New Year, and I wouldn't expect them to hold anything for us so no hard feelings if they're sold by the time we got back (because I am not a Kijijerk).
Low and behold, one of them sold before we got back. But the other one was still up for grabs. We had a couple of aborted pick up/drop off events before we were finally able to connect. Great purchase - he had it still in box, still wrapped, and had even put twist ties on the cables so they'd fit nicely. My Lovely Wife handed him the cash and we now own a Cricut (which she spent approximately, oh, Sunday playing with).
Now, I am not a crafty guy. Glue and I do not see eye to eye, I have trouble staying inside the lines when I'm colouring and outside the lines when I'm cutting. I usually end up covered in glitter, which is great when I'm heading out to the rave, but not so much when I'm going to work. If I worked at a rave, it might be a different story. But I have to say, this little thing is quite clever.
From a purely technical standpoint, it does incorporates a lot of stuff that makes sense - you get different cartridges with different design elements on them, you can use whatever paper or card stock you want, it will remember how much paper you had left on a piece you just used so you don't waste it, you can adjust the size of the cut-outs, and the things you can make with it are just so darned pretty. Marketing it has to be easy - it's simple enough that your grandmother could use it, but it comes with enough bells and whistles that husbands will do that frowny face/head nod look of being impressed.
This one. |
Just to recap: I had the idea, did the search, did the email and phone calls, did the negotiations and planning and set up the meet, and My Lovely Wife paid for it. As first Kijiji buys go, I'd say she did pretty well.
I am jealous. I don't scrap book per se but I do enjoy me a paper craft from time to time. Yay for you wifey!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to say that she would leave me for the Cricut, but I'm not willing to test that she wouldn't.
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