April's Review	Andrea's Review	Catherine's Review	Chris' Review	Tammy's Review

Review by April

In the last couple of years, I have started using chipboard, rub ons, and plastic embellishments for a variety of projects and scrapbook layouts. I love the versatility of all these products and when I found out we were going to have the opportunity to review the new Grafix chipboard sheets, Clear Craft Plastic, and Rub-onz, let's just say I was ecstatic! Grafix actually started in 1963 under the name of Ohio Graphic Arts Systems, and has since come a long way by continuing to produce new innovative art and craft products. They are well known for their outstanding customer service, competitive pricing, and have been honored several times for their support of United Way and their donations to various art and school programs.

I received three different amazing products from Grafix for this review. The first item was a package of chipboard and it contained two 4x6" sheets, two 8.5x11" sheets, and two 12x12' sheets of acid free chipboard. All of the chipboard sheets were of medium weight so they were perfect for creating sturdy embellishments, chipboard albums or altered projects, and would also work great as layout backgrounds. The chipboard comes in a natural color, which is a great benefit because this allows you to dress it up however you desire! The chipboard sheets work great with paint, ink, and several other mediums, and their also great for distressing, sanding, stitching, and layering. The packaging states that the chipboard is compatible with most die cutting systems, however I do not own a die cut machine. Even though I was unable to try die cutting the chipboard, I did use a trimmer and a craft knife on the chipboard and found that it cut easily, so I can only imagine the possibilities.

The second product I received was a package of four 8x8" acid free clear plastic craft sheets. The sheets came with a blue liner on each side for protection and they are offered in two different sizes of thickness, .020" like the sheets in my package, and .007" which would be great for card and tag making. Grafix also offers the craft plastic in several other sizes like: 4x4', 6x6" 8.5x11", and 12x12", and all are available in packs of 4 or 25. These crystal clear sheets are perfect to use as is for making albums, clear layouts, or wall hangings. They are thin enough to cut with scissors or a die cutting system and offer the crafter a unique way to create transparent embellishments. You can decorate them with paint, alcohol inks, markers, paint pens, or dress them up by adding paper, glitter glue, stickers, etc.

Last but not least, is the product I was most excited about playing with - a package of Rub-onz to create my own rub-on transfers! It contained four 8.5x11 sheets of Rub-onz film and four 8.5x11" sheets of adhesive film. The rub-onz are also offered in packs of 10 and 25.The Grafix rub-onz sheets are acid free and allow you to easily create your own rub-on transfers in a short amount of time. To create your rub on images, you can use rubber stamps, draw your own, or simply print your images or text on the rub-onz film. Afterwards, you apply the adhesive sheet, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, and then peel off the back and transfer it onto whatever surface you desire. You can use them on a variety of surfaces like paper, chipboard, glass, wood, transparencies, and more. Rub-ons are one of my favorite embellishments and I'm not sure what could be better than being able to design my own!

I recently created a new topper for my blog and thought it would look really cool printed out as a rub-on. I cropped the image in my photo editing software and then printed it out onto a Grafix Rub-onz sheet. I added the adhesive sheet to it, and after waiting the suggested length of time for the adhesive to bond efficiently with the picture, I trimmed the entire piece and then transfered it onto a sheet of white textured cardstock. I cut the chipboard rectangle from one of the 8.5x11" chipboard sheets and then colored it with a metallic crayon. Afterwards I dabbed a light blue paint all over it and smeared it into the crayon with my fingers. I then adhered the rub-on image piece to the chipboard sheet with glue dots to add extra dimension. I matted the whole thing with another sheet of white cardstock, distressed the edges, and then used my crop a dile to punch holes through the top of the chipboard. I cut 2 more chipboard rectangles, punched holes in them and binded them all together with book rings. Now I have the perfect little chipboard book to store all my crayon techniques in and I can add other papers or more chipboard whenever needed.

Title: Crayon Technique Book
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Chipboard (Grafix)
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Crayon (Crayola Metallic Crayons)
Paint (Ranger Paint Dabber)
Glitter Pen (Sakura)
Book Rings & Ribbon (Personal Stash)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

On my second project, I decided to use one of the 12x12" Grafix chipboard sheets as the background for my layout. Since I already love the color and look of natural chipboard, I simply added a little paint and pen doodling to dress it up a little. I placed a smaller piece of white cardstock in the middle of the chipboard and designed the rest of the layout on it. The picture of my daughter Charlie is actually a rub-on that I created using the Grafix Rub-onz and I was thrilled with how it came out. I printed out the picture of Charlie onto the rub-onz film, added the adhesive film, then trimmed around her face and mickey ears and adhered her to the white cardstock. I then created a title rub -n to match and I was amazed at how easily the rub-onz transfered. I added some journaling and then stuck mini glue dots all over the page and covered them with silver glitter to compliment the whole magical theme of the project.

Title: Magical Memories
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Chipboard (Grafix)
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Paint (Ranger Paint Dabber)
Glitter (Personal Stash)
Pen (Staedtler Triplus Fineliner)
Font (Wilderness downloaded from Internet)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, & Zots)

Since the rub-onz film worked so well with my pictures, I thought it would be cool to turn one of my recent butterfly photos into a rub-on and create a sun catcher using the Grafix Clear Craft Plastic. I used a butterfly picture to create a large rub-on and simply transfered it onto one of the 8x8" sheets of craft plastic. For the most part, the picture was easy to transfer, however with this piece I had quite a few air bubbles that I could just not get rid of no matter how hard I tried. I had printed the photo out in mirror image an intended to use the other side, but with all the air bubbles it looked better on the opposite side of the plastic. My only advice to help avoid air bubbles is to go really slow when you are attaching the adhesive rub-onz film to the printed rub-onz film sheet. Lucky for me, I was using a picture of a butterfly and it almost looked more like dew drops rather than air bubbles. I did find that pairing the clear plastic with the rub-onz image produced a beautiful transparent picture and would be an awesome technique to include in mini albums made just with the craft plastic. After I transfered the picture, I realized I had trimmed the photo a little too much and had some open space on the sides of the plastic. To my surprise, I was able to trim off the excess plastic by placing it in my trimmer. I also thought the plastic was easy to punch holes in. To complete the sun catcher, I added a some journaling and ribbon so I could hang it in my window!

Title: Butterfly Sun catcher
Products used:
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Clear Craft Plastic (Grafix)
Pen (Uniball)
Paint (Ranger Paint Dabber)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants)

I had a blast working with all the Grafix products, but I was especially pleased with the results of the rub-onz. It did take a little investigating to make sure I had correctly identified the rub-onz film from the adhesive film, however both of the films have a protective covering so if you just find the one that has an adhesive side by peeling back a small corner, you can easily tell which film is which. The instructions tell you to be sure and print on the rough side of the rub-onz film, and even though both sides feel quite smooth, the frosted side is slightly rougher and the correct side on which to print. I experienced a little trouble with air bubbles while adhering the rub-onz film to the adhesive film sheet, but for the most part they came out great and it was not enough to keep me from wanting to use this product again. Since you can stamp or draw your images on the film, I made sure to save every last scrap of it after printing and trimming my photos. I printed 3 fairly large pictures for my projects yet I still have quite a bit of the rub-onz film to work with. The clear craft plastic was great and I really liked the thickness of each sheet, it just made it so easy to work with! I already have plans for using up the rest of my chipboard and can't wait to try out more of the Grafix products. Each of these products promote creativity and I would encourage other crafters and scrapbookers to give them a try!

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Review by Andrea

Grafix, a company based out of Ohio, manufactures many different products perfect for a scrapbooker. We received three different packages of items: Rub-onz, Clear Craft Plastic and Natural Chipboard just waiting to be used for embellishments or as bases for pages and cards. There are so many things that I could create with each item that I had a hard time deciding where to start!

Let's start with the Chipboard Grafix product. The package consisted of a natural colored or raw medium weight chipboard in three sizes from 4" x 6" to 12" x 12". With two sheets of each size, I was able to try a couple different things with each size. The first characteristic of the chipboard was the crispness of the edges of each sheet. Clean and free from lint, fuzz and otherwise undesireable traits, the board was thick not flimsy with a smooth surface on each side. The natural color is tan throughout. The clear package offered a great colored insert showing a ton of ideas on what to do with the chipboard with even some project pictures. I took one of the suggestions and cut out a 12" x 12" scalloped edge piece at the local scrapbook store by using their large die cut machine. It cut super clean around each edge with even the small section between the scallops coming out totally cut to a fine detail. After cutting, the pieces separated completely with not chipboard "fuzzies" clinging or left in the die. I was impressed right away!

The next product in the bunch was the Clear Craft Plastic. The 8" x 8" package of 4 sheets had a similar clear package as the chipboard with another terrific colored insert jam-packed with ideas and suggestions. This plastic is 0.020" thick or about as thick as 4 sheets of good quality copy paper. The sheets can be held between your fingers with no bending at all like a regular transparency or paper. A blue liner covers each side to protect the crystal clear plastic. I have never seen such a smooth and practically invisible plastic as this product.

The final product in the review is the Rub-onz package. Containing 4 sheets each of 8 1/2" x 11" Rub-onz Film and Adhesive Film, there was plenty to play around with and experiment. As the name implies, the product creates any drawn, stamped or printed image into a rub-on. The clear packaging again included some design ideas with explicit directions on how to create a rub-on with this product. As with the other packages, the web site address was included to find even more products and ideas online.

Not being a huge rub-on fan, I went for the Rub-onz product first when creating my projects for this review. I printed out some digital images onto the rough side of the Rub-onz film with the laser printer. By following the directions for the adhesive sheet application, I was able to closely trim the design out and apply it to my layout with no trouble at all! I was actually commenting to myself, "could it be that easy?", after I saw it on the page! Yes, it was so I applied a second one! To add a little more detail to it, I traced parts of the design with Stickles glitter glue. It went right on with no distortion to the design. Very cool!

Title: Gone to the Beach
Products used: Patterned Paper & Die Cut (Three Bugs in a Rug, Island)
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Digital Doodle Art (Dawn Moore)
Flowers (Prima)
White Pen, Ink and Stickles (Ranger)
Stamp (Vap!)
Brads (American Crafts)
Fiber (unknown)
Sketch (ScrapFriends)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I've seen many clear cards lately, so I wanted to try my hand at that, using the Clear Craft Plastic as a base instead of cardstock. I trimmed one sheet in half with my paper trimmer to create a 4" x 4" card. The edges were even and not sharp. Using a ruler and bone folder, I scored the plastic and folded it in half with no distortion or cracking of the plastic - WOW! I removed the blue plastic liner and started to embellish the card. I used patterned paper on both sides of the back cover then stamped with StazOn ink for the front cover. A little bling and an epoxy sticker completed the clear card. I was really happy with the result!

Title: Kindness Card
Products used: Patterned Paper (Doodlebug)
Clear Craft Plastic (Grafix, 0.020" thick)
Epoxy Sticker (Cloud 9)
Stamps (Inque Boutique)
Ink (Tsukineko StazOn Opaque White and Cactus Green)
Square Bling (Kaiser)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Since I had so much fun with the clear card, I wanted to try another type of card base that's been gaining more popularity lately - chipboard. I trimmed the chipboard with my trimmer to create a separate front and back cover, similar to a mini album. I punched holes near the edge through both sheets at once with a Crop-a-dile. A small score with a craft knife was made so that the cover could open without disturbing the ribbon holding the covers together. Each cover was coated with Dimensional Pearls and showed no signs of degradation. Stamping was a cinch on the chipboard too due to the smoothness of the surface. I cut a fish from the Clear Craft Plastic on the die cut machine, alcohol inked it and accented with the pigment ink pen. The sentiment was stamped and edged in white ink. I love the way the whole card turned out!

Title: Best Fishes Card
Products used: Clear Craft Plastic (Grafix, 0.020" thick)
Chipboard (Grafix, Natural Medium Weight)
Alcohol Inks, Dimensional Pearls and White Pen (Ranger)
White Ink (Tsukineko VersaMagic)
Stamps (Starving Artistamps)
Bling (RhinestoneNY)
Ribbon (unknown)

Working with the different products from Grafix was a real pleasure! I loved experimenting with the different projects to try some different techniques. They ALL came out exceeding my expectations. I can't wait to use that killer chipboard and scalloped template on more projects! The plastic is just stunning with it's totally clear qualities. And the Rub-onz, just more fun now that I can make my own. I highly recommend each of these products to any paper crafter wanting that extra quality and "wow" factor for a project.

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Review by Catherine

Have you ever searched and searched for a rubon or other embellishment that would exactly fit an idea you had in your head for a layout? If you are like most scrapbookers I know, then I am sure that you have. Now the frustration of searching can end, with the newest products from Grafix Arts. Grafix Rub-onz, Grafix Chipboard Sheets, and Grafix Clear Craft Plastic were created so that you can design your own embellishments, mini albums, frames, and more.

First for this review, I received a package of Natural Chipboard Sheets, which come in three different sizes: 4 X 6, 8 ½ X 11, and 12 X12, with two of each size included in the package. The chipboard is very heavy weight, so you can use the Grafix Chipboard to create embellishments, as well as to create covers for scrapbook albums. One thing that I was happy to learn, is that the Chipboard sheets from Grafix Arts is Acid Free, which most natural colored chipboard that one would get from recycled sources is not. So, I was able to place a chipboard embellishment onto a photo without fear. I used chipboard pieces to die-cut, paint, and cover with paper for this review with no problem at all. Additionally, in the past whenever I have tried to apply adhesive to chipboard embellishments, the top layer of the chipboard has peeled off whenever I have used a glue runner. With the Grafix Chipboard I did not have that problem at all. The chipboard layers did not separate as most other chipboard will. Another great thing, is that the back of the packaging includes a list of ways that one could use the Chipboard sheets.

I also received a package Grafix Rub-Onz. The Rub-Onz were the most interesting product to me whenever I received my review package. I was intrigued by the fact that I could possibly create my very own, custom rubons. The package comes with four sheets each of the Rub-onz film and adhesive film that one will need to create custom rubons. One thing to make sure is to read the enclosed instructions carefully and completely all the way through at least once before attempting to use the Grafix Rub-Onz. I thought I knew what I was doing, and did not pay as close of attention as I should have, and ended up spending much more time than I should have correcting mistakes. I did find that with a bit of patience, and some struggling with my computer, I was able to create several rubons that I was proud to use on my pages.

The final product that I received for this review is a package of 8X8 Grafix Clear Craft Plastic. The Clear Craft Plastic is exactly what the name implies: clear plastic sheets to use in any number of crafting projects. The Clear Craft Plastic is available in two different thicknesses: .020” which can be used for thick items like clear scrapbook albums, and .007” which can be used for cards and thinner embellishments. The Clear Craft Plastic is also available in a variety of sizes: 4 X 4, 6 X 6, 8 X 8, 8 ½ X 11, and 12 X 12.

For my first project, I decided to play around a bit with the Rub-Onz. Like I said previously, my first attempt at using the rubons led me to first place the Adhesive Film into my printer instead of the Rub-Onz film. I cleaned the printer ink off of the adhesive film, and started again. This time, I read the instructions completely once more and was able to create a rubon title to use on my page. Another thing that I learned is that it is best to create a rubon that can be trimmed pretty closely to the edge of the image that you create, because a slight “vellum” look is left where the rubon is applied to the page. I also used a sheet of the Clear Craft Plastic which I die-cut into a star shape with my Wizard die-cut machine and attached to my layout.

Title: Let’s Play
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Exclusives)
Rub-Onz (Grafix Arts)
Clear Craft Plastic (Grafix Arts)
Patterned Paper (Autumn Leaves; KI Memories)
Journaling Notebook (Making Memories)
Stickers (7Gypsies)
Digital Embellishments (TwoPeasinabucket.com)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second project, I again used some of the Grafix Rub-Onz to create my title, as well as die-cutting a piece of the Grafix Chipboard for an embellishment.

Title: Undeniably Cute
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Exclusives)
Rub-Onz (Grafix Arts)
Chipboard (Grafix Arts)
Patterned Paper (BasicGrey)
Mesh (MagicMesh)
Stickers (7Gypsies)
Fonts (Chatterbox)
Brad (Making Memories)
Photo turn (7Gypsies)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my final project, I decided to see how the Rub-Onz would look on a darker sheet of paper. I created a title embellishment for my page, and used it on a dark blue piece of patterned paper. The milky look of the rubon was almost completely taken away after I rubbed a stylus completely over the rubon area a couple of times.

Title: Explore the World
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Exclusives)
Rub-Onz (Grafix Arts)
Clear Craft Plastic (Grafix Arts)
Chipboard (Grafix Arts),br/> Patterned Paper (BasicGrey)
Buttons (Autumn Leaves)
Fonts (Chatterbox, and CK Ali’s writing downloaded from the internet
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

After working with these products, I would have to say that I am quite pleased. The Rub-Onz sheets took some time to work with, because my printer just didn’t seem to like printing on them. Otherwise, I have very little problem with any of the Grafix Arts products. I must say that I like having the ability to create my own embellishments whenever and however I need them rather than always using pre-made embellishments and titles. If you are like me, and often like to have custom made titles and embellishments for your pages, or if you like creating your own mini albums; then the Grafix Arts products are for you.

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Review by Chris

Founded in the early 1960’s, Grafix has been providing art supplies to commercial artists for over 40 years. They have received awards for the quality of their product as well as their support of the industry. In recent years, Grafix has added an Arts and Crafts division to its company that develops and sells art products to retailers such as local scrapbook stores, Michaels, Aaron Brothers and other arts and crafts stores. Their lines of chipboard, clear craft plastic and rub-onz are particularly useful for paper crafters and it is those products that will be addressed in this review.

I received an assortment package of Grafix medium weight chipboard in natural. The package included two 12" x 12" sheets, two 8 ½" x 11" sheets and two 4" x 6" sheets. The retail price of this assortment is $3.99 – a great buy considering that it contains those two 12" x 12" sheets. This medium weight chipboard cuts easily with a craft knife, guillotine-type cutters or scissors and can also be used in die cutting systems. I used it in my Sizzix and successfully cut large as well as small shapes. The edges of the die cuts were clean with no fraying. This medium weight chipboard is perfect for book covers, as well as title letters and assorted shapes. One of the advantages of cutting your own chipboard shapes is that you can also die cut your paper to correspond, or adhere your paper FIRST and cut both at the same time for a perfect match!

This card demonstrates how cleanly this chipboard cuts both a flower shape and small letters.

Hello card
Products used: Chipboard (Grafix Chipboard, medium, natural)
Die Cuts (Sizzix Flowers layers #3, Ransom Alphabet)
Patterned paper (Fancy Pants, Botanical)
Brad (CK)
Crochet flower, ribbon
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I tried adding texture to the chipboard using a texture plate with my Wizard machine and I was extremely pleased with how the chipboard accepted the textured image. This will look fantastic with some ink or paint!

Textured chipboard
Products used: Chipboard (Grafix)
Texture plate (TenSecondsStudio)
Wizard machine (Spellbinders)

The 4" x 6" pieces included in the assortment were perfect for the covers of this little album. This medium weight chipboard works very well as a nice stiff cover and fit perfectly in my Bind-It All machine. I also used several smaller pieces inside the album for a variety of page sizes.

Spring Flowers mini-album
Products used: Chipboard (Grafix, medium weight, natural)
Patterned paper (Fancy Pants, Botanical)
Stamps (Heidi Grace, Inkadinkado)
Chipboard flower, wing (Maya Road)
Paint (Ranger, Crackle, broken china, old paper)
Stickers (Making Memories, 5th Avenue)
Grungeboard (Tim Holtz)
Paint (Ranger, Adirondack pigment ink, Cool Peri)
Embossing Powder (Judikins, clear)
Bind-It All
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Although the package states that this chipboard can be punched, I was not successful in getting a clean punch after trying several of my punches. I also was not able to cut it all the way through with the lower profile dies such as QuicKutz or Spellbinders.

The second product which I received was a package containing four sheets of 8" x 8," 0.020 thickness Clear Craft Plastic. This plastic comes covered with a thin blue film to protect it from scratching. When I removed the film I was amazed at how crystal clear this plastic is. It has to be some of the clearest plastic I have encountered. I used it for several pages in my Spring Flowers album. I cut my pages using my Tonic Guillotine trimmer. I got a nice smooth cut, with no sharp pieces. I also cut this plastic with scissors and used it in the Sizzix machine. It also punched nicely in the Bind It All. I was not able to punch it with shaped punches. With clear elements and pages being all the rage, this is an outstanding product!! Priced at $6.99, it’s also a nice value.

Spring Flowers mini-album
Products used: Clear plastic (Grafix, Clear Craft Plastic)
Chipboard (Grafix, medium, natural)
Paper Frills (Doodlebug)
Gems (Prima, Say It in Crystals)
Tab Die Cut (Sizzix, Clipboard and Holder)
Ink (Tsukineko, StazOn, rusty brown, cherry pink, vibrant violet, teal blue, midnight blue, sunflower yellow, cactus green)
Stamps (SeeD’s, Technique Tuesday, Hero Arts, Paper Inspiration, Hot Off the Press)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Finally the product I was most excited to try was the Rub-Onz. The idea of being able to create my own, custom made rub-on is very appealing to me. I have a lot of digital files and I would love to be able to create images using the brushes and other artwork in them. The package, which retails for $8.99 contains four 8 ½ x 11 sheets each of two different types of film – one on which you print, draw or stamp your image and the other is the adhesive film which turns your image into a rub-on. I was a little confused at first, trying to figure out which was which since they are not labeled in any way. Once I had it figured out, I was ready for the next step. The instructions say to print on the "rough" side, but I had trouble determining which side was rough. I think "frosted" would be a better word. And a word of caution, the sheet on which you will print or stamp has a thin layer on it - don't peel that one off! After printing my image on the proper side, I applied the adhesive, rubbed it well, and waited the instructed 10 minutes. I then cut my images as closely as I could and adhered them to my project. I am quite satisfied with the results. It is crucial to have an image which you can trim closely. If not, you end up with a larger area of the shiny adhesive sheet. It’s not sticky on the top, but you can see it. I would almost want to call these clear stickers, rather than rub-ons. But whatever name you use, it is fantastic to be able to manipulate an image, change its orientation or size or alter its color to have the perfectly coordinated embellishment for a project, and make it yourself! Depending on the size of your images and how economically you use the film through strategic placement and printing, this package can create dozens of customized rub-on transfers.

On this layout, I used My Mind’s Eye paper. I just happened to have recently purchased some My Mind’s Eye digital images and I created the butterfly, bird and flowers from them. I flipped the butterfly and altered the color of the flowers to match my layout. How cool is it to be able to do that!

Breakfast Friends
Products used: Rub-Onz (Grafix)
Clear Plastic (Grafix, Clear Craft Plastic)
Patterned paper (My Mind's Eye Bohemia)
Digital Images (My Mind's Eye, Love Brushes, Multi-Beauty brushes)
Die Cut letters (Sizzix, Ransom)
Buttons (Chatterbox)
Flower Die Cut (Sizzix, Flower layers #3)
Photo action (PhotoBlast, Sepia and Midnight Color)
Sketch (PageMaps)
Felt
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

When I used the Rub-Onz to put an image on a transparent object, the object become frosted. I love that effect!

Grafix has brought three products of outstanding quality to the papercrafting market. The medium weight chipboard (available in natural, black and white) is extremely versatile, thick enough to stand as a cover of an album, yet still thin enough to be used with die cuts to create embellishment shapes. The craft plastic is the clearest plastic I have seen. It is virtually invisible. This 0.020 thickness is perfect for clear pages but also thin enough to die cut or trim with scissors. And the Rub-Onz are a totally unique product. They bring more flexibility to creating customizable embellishments for our papercrafting projects. Kudos to Grafix for crossing over into the arts and crafts market and welcome! Keep the innovation coming!!!

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Review by Tammy

Grafix – a company that has been around since 1963. Starting with only one product line, this company over the years has expanded their product line to include the arts and crafts industry. Their excellence in customer service and the ability to produce quality products that consumers want and need is what "has made Grafix a leader in plastic films".

For this review I was sent just a few of the many products that Grafix produces; Rub-onz, Clear Craft Plastic, and Chipboard. All of these products are acid free and safe to use in any of your altered art or scrapbooking projects.

The Chipboard has a natural color and is of a medium weight. The package contained 2 sheets each of the 4 x 6 inch, 8.5 x 11 inch, and 12 x 12 inch sizes. I found that the chipboard was very easy to cut using an Exacto knife and it left very nice clean edges.

The Clear Craft Plastic is .020 in thickness and it comes covered in a blue liner to prevent scratches. The package contained 4 each of the 8 x 8-inch sheets that were easy to cut with a heavy pair of scissors or an Exacto knife.

Rub-onz allows you to create your own Rub-on transfers in 3 easy steps. The package contains 4 each of the 8.5 x 11 inch sheets of Rub-onz Film and Adhesive Film. This product allows you to quickly create transfers using an ink jet or laser printer; rubber stamps, or just simply drawing your design.

I had purchased a paper mache purse with the thought of making it into a mini album. With the Grafix products now in my possession, it would be the perfect time to start this project. I began by covering the outside and inside of my purse with yellow cardstock to give me a good surface to work with. In Photoshop Elements 4.0 I created the circle text for the front of my purse. Using the Rub-onz Transfer Film I printed out my text using my ink jet printer. NOTE: The instructions clearly state that you need to make sure you print onto the rough (dull) side of the film. If you happen to print on the shiny side, like I did, simply wipe the ink off with a paper towel and start over. Once your text is printed onto the film, peel away the white liner from the Adhesive film and apply the printed side of the Rub-onz film. Be very careful when you peel away the white liner because the adhesive is extremely sticky. I did find that it would sometimes peel away around the edges but this did not bother the end results because I had ample room to apply the adhesive over my image. To prepare the image for transfer, I trimmed closely around the edges of my text and then carefully peeled away the liner that was covering the adhesive sheet. I placed the text transfer, sticky side down, onto the front of my purse and used the craft stick that was provided to rub across the surface until my text was completely adhered. I then carefully peeled away the backing and I had successfully applied my first transfer! I followed the same procedure to create the flourishes on the striped paper. Then I added some Stickles to the design and a little pen work and the outside of my purse was now complete.

One thing to keep in mind is that this product is not like the rub-ons that are found pre-packaged by various scrapbooking manufacturers. This product is more like a decal and therefore the trimming process is probably the most important step in creating a clean looking image.

The quote on the inside of the purse was created using the Rub-onz transfer technique and was applied to a piece of Prism cardstock which was then added to some patterned paper along with a sticker. Now it was time to create the mini album for the inside of the purse. Because of the odd shape of the purse, the Grafix products were perfect to use in this project. The ability to cut and design my own covers and pages gave me the versatility that I needed. Once I had created the template for my book I used a ruler and an Exacto knife to cut out my two book covers from the Chipboard and 4 pages from the Clear Craft Plastic. I was pleased with how smooth the edges were once the designs were cut from the materials. My husband used a ¼-inch drill to make the binder ring holes for the book. I then removed the blue film from the acrylic pages and assembled my book. As with any plastic products you may be working with, you need to make sure that the mediums that you are using on the Clear Craft Plastic is permanent and will not smear or smudge.

Title: Circle of Friends
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Sandylion; Chaise Lounge & Ocean Spray)
Stickers (Sandylion, Tropical Paradise)
Chipboard (Grafix)
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Paper Mache Purse (Hobby Lobby)
Flowers (Prima)
Ribbon (Tie One On & Misc)
Stickles (Ranger)
Digital Brush (My Minds Eye Friend Brushes)
Fonts (Arial & CK Kiddo)
Pen (Micron & American Crafts)
Misc. Embellishments
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The instructions that were included with the Rub-onz stated that you could turn your rubberstamps into transfers. I was intrigued by this idea because now I could take my rubberstamps to places I never could have before, like I did on this layout. To create the Rooster and the row of chickens I simply stamped on the rough (dull) side of the transfer film then I colored the images with colored pencils. I followed the same steps to apply the stamped images as I did with the printed text and images. I was amazed at how true the colors stayed when they were applied to cardstock or photos. If you notice, the Rooster is layered onto the photo and the cardstock.

Hand journaling on my layouts is something that I just don't do. I think it is very important to journal at least a little something on each page, but since my handwriting is so terrible, and I have not quite mastered the art of printing directly on my layout, I have resorted to using ink jet transparencies which are quite expensive. With the transparencies I also have the job of trying to creatively hide my adhesive which sometimes just doesn't seem to work. Using the Rub-onz for my journaling is the best that I have found! I don't have to worry about hiding the adhesive and it doesn't have a shiny glare like the transparency does. I am convinced that this product is PERFECT to use for journaling! You can place it anywhere on the page and if you happen to be creating a 3-D project you can even take it around corners!

Title: Doing the Chicken Dance
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Diasy D's)
Rub-onz (Grafix)
Stamps (Stampin' Up! & Rubber Cottage)
Ink (Ranger)
Pencils (Prismacolor)
Ribbon (Ribbon Trends)
Pen (Micron)
Font (Boys on Mopeds)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

With the scraps leftover from my layout, I decided to make a quick card. I wondered how well the chipboard would cut using my Creative Memories circle cutter. I decided to give it a try but I found that the chipboard was a little bit too thick for the depth of my blade. Of course, I like for chipboard to have a heavy weight to it so I was not disturbed by this discovery. Instead I used the already pre-cut line as a guide to finish cutting out the circle with my Exacto knife. I then covered it with my patterned paper and embellished it with a stamped image; a button, and some ribbon. I inked the edges, stamped my message, and my card was finished.

Title: Always in Season
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Daisy D's)
Always in Season (Inque Boutique)
Ink (Ranger, Versamark)
Embossing Powder (Creations Unlimited, Desert Gold)
Ribbon (misc)
Circle Cutter (Creative Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The products by Grafix allowed me to create "outside the box" which means that I can add a very personal touch to my projects. I was not restrained by any particular shape, size, or image because the raw Grafix products put me in charge and the only thing that held me back was my imagination.

Would I recommend the Chipboard, Clear Craft Plastic, and Rub-onz by Grafix? You bet I would! And, since I have discovered how wonderful these three products are, I am going to be on the lookout for all of the other great products by Grafix.

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