Andrea's Review	Karen's Review	Tammy's Review	Stephanie's Review	Pomaika`i's Review

Review by Andrea

Altering is one of my favorite ways to experiment with new products and to try new techniques. I'm not bound by the edges of a scrapbook page or card on an altered project! Often times the item is much more 3D than a piece of paper too, as with Glue Art & Paper Studio's Card File. Picture a Rolodex with a beefy wood base, wooden dowels for holding the cards and attractively colored dividers with cards! Bingo, you've got a Card File from Glue Art & Paper Studio.

Measuring nearly 6" across the top, 5 1/2" wide and just over 2" tall, this Standard Card File is very impressive. There is a Mini Card File available also. Comprised of a light colored wood, the entire piece is sturdy and rugged. I love the burned-in logo and web address on the bottom of the piece, always there when I need it for reference. The flat base supports 2 side supports that flare out at an angle for complete access to the 3" x 5" cards. The sides also hold two dowels across the middle. The cards fit right over the dowels and easily slide back and forth.

Speaking of the cards, they are available in packs of 100 per color. The paper is a light cardstock weight with no texture. Dividers are available in various colors in packs of 12. The paper is a heavier cardstock weight with no texture. Both card packs come packaged in clear cellophane which makes it easy to see the color.

A couple of years ago I made altered birthday rolodexes for my friends with the intention of making one for myself. I was never able to quite get it together until NOW! I knew immediately upon seeing this product that I must have one for this project and I was right. It is the perfect size to show the person's picture AND get the relevant information on the card. The paper that the cards are made from is ideal for stamping and layering. The card color that I received for this review complimented the patterned paper choice and made it easy to match ink colors too. I punched the tabs from the patterned paper to attach to the top of the dividers. By inking all the edges, the project really coordinated top to bottom.

Covering the Card File itself was not difficult at all. I used a strong double-sided sheet of adhesive on the back of the patterned paper after measuring and cutting three pieces to fit the 2 sides and inside bottom. I'm a huge flower fan, so mini Primas were a natural choice to cover the sides with a sparkle center of Stickles. A large fabric blossom graces the front of the project. More Stickles accent that embellishment since it's my 2nd favorite supply! Rubber feet were perfect for the bottom since I wanted to keep the logo uncovered and the Card File from slipping or scratching the table.







Title: Andrea's Birthday Card File
Products used: Card File, Cards & Dividers (How Do You Glue)
Patterned Paper and Cardstock Stickers (BasicGrey Sultry)
Stamps (Inque Boutique: Enthusiastic Upper Mini, Lower Mini, Fun&Funky Flowers, Memoir Tags)
Ink (Ranger Adirondack Dye: Espresso, Willow, Citrus, Pink Sherbet, Watermelon)
Stickles (Ranger: Pink, Cinnamon and Lime Green)
Scalloped & Straight Edge Rectangles (Spellbinders Nestabilities)
Die Cut and Embossing Machine (Spellbinders Wizard)
Tab Punch (Stampin' Up!)
Ric Rac (Tie One On)
Flowers (Prima and Rag Shop)
Self-Adhesive Rubber Feet (unknown)
Adhesive (Ad Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I really LOVE this product! Lots of fun and infinite possibilities, where can you go wrong? An "A++" for Glue Art & Paper Studio's Card File product. Solid and high quality are very visible here. Jump into "glue arts" today, you'll love it!

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Review by Karen

How do you glue? is a new company for me. They produce wooden products that can be altered. For this review, I am working with the card file but this isn’t the only product by How do you glue? They also produce a vertical album, cupcake stand, dress forms and more.

The card file itself come bare in a natural wood finish. I loved that I was able to choose what happened to the wood. The paper work that came with the card file said that you can paint, stain or decoupage the wood. I’m currently in love with Glimmer Mist so I decided to try that as my finish. I really love the look of natural wood and honestly would have been proud to have that be the finish. I added the pink Glimmer Mist and really love how it turned out. The wood itself is beautiful. It’s been sanded and is free of splinters. I really didn’t know how the wood would be prepared so I was ready for anything. I can honestly say “thank you” to the ladies of How do you glue. I hate to sand wood and not having to do that really made my project come together faster.

I also received three packages of blue cards and two packs of thicker tab cards, which come packaged in 12. I love the weight of the blue cards. It’s a bit lighter in weight than cardstock, but it’s not patterned paper weight. The cards also come in white, ivory, grey, tan, green, pink and lilac. They come in packages of 100 cards.

The hardest part of working with the How do you glue? card file was trying to come to a decision on what to do with it. I had so many ideas for this file. Everything from a place to keep quotes, to actually using it to keep addresses. I finally landed on the idea of a place to keep up with birthday and other special days. After missing my mother in law’s birthday, I really needed a system to help me not forget again. I knew that I wanted something that I could add new cards too easily and they still look like they all went together. I decided that with the blue cards and the tan colored dividers that using pink and green as accent colors would make this file feel more like me.

Title: Dates Card File
Products used:
Patterned Paper (Heidi Grace, Prima Marketing)
Punches (EK Success, Fiscars)
Pen (American Crafts)
Letter Stickers (Doodlebug Designs)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I started with the divider cards. I added punched circles as the tabs. For each card, I added a small line of patterned paper and another circle of the pink paper with the letter of the month on it. I carried the circle theme throughout the file by adding a picture cut into a circle on each card, with the exception of the anniversary cards. On those cards, I am going to use a heart shaped photo of the happy couple.

I am SO excited about my new card file. It’s so me! I think that it looks like something that I would create. it’s simple enough in style that I can create new cards in just seconds. I love that the filler cards come in a pack of 100. That really gives you enough cards to create just about any project. I also loved that in the packaging, How do you Glue? gives you some ideas of topics to use on your file. So far I will need at least 3 more files to create projects with! On my future project list, I want to create a vacation highlights file with tabs from each of our adventures. I also want to create a Disney characters file. With all our trips to Disney, I would love to show the children with their favorite characters from year to year. And I still need to create one as an address book!

This really was a super fun project to create. I love the quality of the wooden file and the paper cards. How do you glue? really put some thought into this product and it shows! I hope that you take some time to create a card file. It really doesn’t matter what the theme is, you are going to love the finished project!

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Review by Tammy

How Do You Glue makes many different wood items that are perfect for altering and since this company is fairly new to me. When I was asked to review the Crafter's Card File, I was delighted.

The standard How Do You Glue Crafter's Card File measures about 5.5 x 4.75 x 2-inches and is made of sturdy pine wood. All of the How Do You Glue wood products are left unfinished which allows for greater versatility in decorating each piece. A pamphlet of instructions and a flyer came with the Crafter's Card File that gives many ideas on how to use the file. Some of the ideas included using the file cards to organize your favorite quotes, music collection, recipes, school highlights, etc.

Index cards and dividers are also available for the Crafter's Card File. The Index card dividers (12 per package) are made of a heavy cardstock and can be purchased in an array of colors. For this review I was sent a package of red and green cards along with 3 packages of ivory index cards (100 cards per package).

With so many possibilities for this card file it was hard to decide where to start. Since I have a lot of green and pink in my studio I decided to draw from those colors and began creating a decorative cover for my card file. I used Gel Medium to apply solid papers to all of the surfaces. This was easily accomplished because the wood surface and corners were pre-sanded. I then added cork to the bottom of the card file to prevent it from slipping on a slick surface. Once the card file was complete I realized that the green paper that I chose was just not the right shade so I painted over the top of the paper with a lighter shade and now I was happy with the look of my new card file. A few more embellishments and my Crafter's Card File was complete!

Title: Create Art
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Wooden Crafter's Card File (How Do You Glue)
Gel Medium (Liquitex)
Paint (Making Memories)
Flowers (Prima)
Glitter Glue (Stickles)
Pen (Micron & American Crafts)

The next step would be to create the index cards. I had already decided that I wanted a place to keep ideas and bits of inspiration close at hand and the card file system would be just the right place to keep all of this organized. I used some coordinating papers along with a large label for each of the green index cards. Instead of a tab at the top of each card I chose to use a flower with a coordinating letter for each of the cards.

Title: Art Index Cards
Products used: Cardstock (Tinkering Ink)
Index Cards (How Do You Glue)
Pen (Micron)
Ribbon (misc.)
Alphabet Stamps (The Angel Company)
Diamond Glaze (Judikins)
Ink (Ranger)
Flowers (Prima)
Font (Pea Leigh Leigh)

Now it was time to try out how my file would work. I punched some circles from a couple of paint chips that I had laying around and I placed them on the vanilla card file. I placed the cards behind the Index Card titled "Color" and now this combination will always be right at my fingertips whenever I am looking for a little color inspiration. Recently I was inspired by some flowers I found Claudine Hellmuth's website so I grabbed a card and doodled some of the flowers that I found there. I then filed these behind the index card titled "Doodles" and once again, when I need some doodling inspiration I will know exactly where to look!

I still felt as though a part of my Card File system was missing so I used the red Index Cards for each month of the year. I created a large monthly label and used embellishments that were appropriate for each month. I then added a tag and some ribbon for each tab on the individual cards. Now when I am inspired by something that happened during a particular month, I can quickly create a little piece of art and place it behind the appropriate month.

Title: Month Index Cards
Products used: Cardstock (Tinkering Ink)
Index Cards (How Do You Glue)
Pen (Micron)
Ribbon (misc.)
Embellishments (misc)
Stickles Glitter Glue (Ranger)
Tags (Avery)
Label Maker
Font (Pea Leigh Leigh)

As a mom, it is almost impossible for me to forget when my son's birthday is, but none-the-less I still wanted place a little something about him during his birth month – just in case I do ever forget. I love this picture of him because he has such an expression on his face. I was able to easily capture this moment in time by creating a small digital design and placing it on the plain vanilla index card.

Products used: Index Card (How Do You Glue)
Art Nation Digital Kit (Memory Makers)
Brads (misc)
Font (Pea Leigh Leigh)

The Crafter's Card File by How Do You Glue brings the old fashioned rolodex to a whole new level! What used to be something that sat on an office desk, filled to overflowing with client telephone numbers and information is now a thing of beauty and a work of art!

The Crafter's Card File would make the perfect gift for anyone and for any occasion. Pick up one (or two, or three…) of these unique file systems and you will never look at an index card or rolodex the same again.

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Review by Stephanie

The Crafters Card File by How Do You Glue is a really exciting product to work with. Seeing this card file for the first time had my head swirling with the possibilities. The creations that could be made with this item are endless. Initially, I could see using this card file as perhaps a mini album, perhaps for a collection of quotes, perhaps as an address file, perhaps as a friend’s file complete with pictures and pertinent information, or perhaps as a daily journal. Oh, the possibilities!!!!!!!!

For my review, I received a wood card file, 2 packages of 3 x 5 pink index cards (100 cards in each pack) and 2 packages of dividers, one in gray and one in purple. Each divider package held 12 cards.

I had to really think about what I wanted to do with this file because I just had so many ideas calling to me. Then, I realized that I have wanted to organize my vast collection of sentiment stamps and I thought this would be an awesome way to do just that. I want to know what my stamp choices are instead of pulling the same stamp out again and again. I am so tired of spending time looking for the perfect stamp I "think" I have. By organizing my stamps with this card file I know I will be able to find exactly what I want, and not spend time constantly searching through my collection.

I first painted the file base. Once it was dry, I adhered pattern paper, both inside and out, to give it a really nice finished look. I added flowers to the front corner and used stickers to label my file.

Now that my card file was ready, I knew I wanted to create an alphabetical index of my stamps, so I added tabs to my dividers. To dress them up, I added flowers and brads to each. Since I only had 24 dividers (and I needed 26), I also used 2 of the pink cards. As the cards are all the same size and weight, this was no problem.

To help categorize my stamps, I chose the prominent theme I would seek from the stamp. Where I could use the stamp in several themes, I categorized it several times. I stamped the sentiment on the front side of the card and used the reverse to note the manufacturer's name. Now I have a really good way of seeing what stamps I have, as well as who manufactures them. This is an awesome way for me to find a stamp I want without having to go through all the stamps I own. And if I need the manufacturers' name for submission purposes, I now have it at my fingertips!!!!

As I said, I have a lot of stamps so I needed to further break down some categories. I added additional tabs to the side of some of the cards for specific categories, such as Baby, Dad, Grad, Thank You. I know I’ll need to add more categories as I get all my stamps in order, but this is a good starting point.

Title: Card file
Products used: Card file (How Do You Glue)
Patterned Paper (Basic Grey Two Scoops collection: Sprinkles and Creme Brulete)
Paint (Making Memories )
Flowers (Prima)
Brads (The Paper Studio)
Stamps (Hero Arts, Stampendous, Stampin Up, Technique Tuesday)
Punch (Stampin Up)
Ink (Colorbox, Stampin Up)
Stickers (Basic Grey, Colorbox)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Thanks Glue Arts for an incredible product. I absolutely loved working with this card file. I am by no means completed with my project, but I am having so much fun working on it. And, the organization angle is such a plus for me.

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Review by Pomaika`i

How Do You Glue makes unique products for crafters to alter including the Vertical Album, the Dress Form and the Crafter's Card File. I am an avid altered artist, so when I was given the chance to play with How Do You Glue's Crafter's Card File, I jumped at the chance.

Here are the supplies I received:

1 - Crafter's Card File

2 - 12 divider cards, one brown, one dark lavender

3 - 100 card packs in lilac

Included in the package with my Crafter's Card File was a full color instruction sheet with ideas for how to use your Card File, what supplies you need for decorating it, ideas for altering your card file, making your tabs, and making your cards. I also received a two page addendum with more creative ideas for how to use the Card File.

Some of the ideas shared were using the Card File to catalog your photos, recipes, favorite quotes, book collection, movie collection, or favorite things about a special someone.

I liked many of the suggestions included in the "more ideas" section of the instruction sheet like this one; Since the 3" x 5" card space is so small, it would be a great opportunity to have fun and try techniques you haven't done before. Or how about this one: "Give up some control-once you have your card file going, invite friends or family members to add cards to the file." Wouldn't this be a great teacher gift with each child making a card for the teacher!

When I first saw my Crafter's Card file, I loved it instantly! It is made of light colored wood, and is around 6" long, 5 1/2" wide 2" high. The unfinished wood is so pretty, you could use it as it is with very little sanding, but of course I wanted to play with my paint and glue! The rest of the items were neatly packaged and clearly labeled. The divider cards were packaged in little poly bags and the pages were shrink-wrapped in a compact package of 100 sheets.

I chose to decoupage my Crafter's Card File. I painted over the beautiful wood and added patterned paper with Mod Podge. The only thing that would make altering easier would be if the two card support rods came out so that I could more easily alter the whole inside of the stand, or alternately, if there was a paper pattern for the inside front and back of the stand showing where to cut circles for the holes and slits leading up to the holes so that these areas could be altered seamlessly. No matter, I chose to decorate the top inside font and back panels above the rods, and left the area around and below the rods plain. It looks wonderful and was very easy to do.

Title: Seascapes
Products used: Crafter's Card File (How Do You Glue)
Dividers (How Do You Glue)
Index Cards (How Do You Glue)
Patterned Paper (Flair Designs)
Cardstock Stickers (Flair Designs)
Tab Punch (McGill)
Stickers (Doodlebug)
Stamp (Catlife Press)
Shells, ribbon
Mod Podge (Plaid)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Next I tackled the divider cards. I wanted to make a traditional A-Z file, and I wanted to make it quick and easy for myself, so instead of covering the whole card (which means tracing and cutting by hand), I just cut a piece of paper 5 x 2.75", adhered it to a divider card, and cut holes for the rods with a scissors and a craft knife. I don't know if this is possible, but I would love to see How Do You Glue offer a punch for the holes in the cards. It would be an awesome tool to have, especially if you are altering a lot of these Card Files (once you start, you won't want to stop at just one!). I want to mention that the card holes are large enough to be cut out almost entirely with a scissors which is very nice. I ended up using a craft knife for some of the holes that did not cut cleanly with the scissors alone. You can skip the hand cutting altogether by cutting your patterned paper 5 x 2 3/8" which would look wonderful as well.

I used a punch to create the alphabet tabs for the dividers, and stickers to embellish the divider cards. My card file was done in a very short time, and it was totally fun to do!

Decorating the cards was fun. I tried some techniques, like doodling, that I usually don't do on my pages. I really love the tiny canvas. I know it will be really fun to fill this file up with memories!

The Crafter's Card File is such a cute project! It is sturdy and refreshingly not made of plastic or metal. The retail price is $21.99, 12 dividers are $2.99, and a pack of 100 pages is $4.99 making it comparable to other office organizing tools out there, with the added bonus of being fully customizable. In addition to being able to paint or alter your Card File, both the dividers and the pages come in a number of gorgeous colors to choose from.

Anyone can alter the Crafter's Card File, beginning to advanced crafters, even children! I encourage you to visit the company website at www.howdoyouglue.com. You will find a beautiful gallery with photos of completed projects, and information about where you can purchase your own Crafter's Card File. Once you have your Card File in hand, I can guarantee that you will know exactly what to do with it. How Do You Glue has all the ideas and inspiration you need to create a project that is both beautiful and functional!

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