Feeling lucky?

So, all of our neighbors and us went in on some Lotto tickets when the pay-off hit 600 million a few weeks ago.  We were not lucky...unless you count $5 between 10 families lucky...50 cents each...hmmph.

However, I was feeling a little lucky when my mom surprised me with two new LUCKY 8 punches from We R Memory Keepers for my birthday. Actually, she is a HSN-aholic, and ordered them not really expecting them to be so big and heavy. She told me she had ordered some punches, but was going to send them back if I didn't want them. When I saw them, I swooned. I had been secretly wanting to see, try, and buy these. It was kismet. They became my birthday present!

The one that I used on this layout and card is called Lace Kerchief (I'll save the other one for another post). With 8 or less punches, I got the look of laser cut and shaped paper with paper I already had. For the layout about "my track star", I used just the outer cut on a 12x12 sheet of cardstock. I made a punch in each corner, then flipped the paper over and punched the opposite four corners. For the card, I used both the inner and outer cut combined on a 7x7 sheet (no need to flip for this size, just four quick punches and I was done).

Now, if I'm going to be picky (which I have a tendency to do), my only complaint is that I would have liked a crisper cut on my paper. I used a cardstock with a slight woven texture from American Crafts for both the layout and the card, and I can see some fray on both. Can I live with it? Yes. Should it happen? I don't think so.

Is it worth it to be able to create all of these paper shapes from a few punches?...I think yes. Is it a good birthday surprise?...I think yes. I'd like to hear your review if you've tried the Lucky 8 punches, and do you have a favorite shape?

~Kelly