mini mo's sugar baby brownies versus wacom's intuos 3

sorry it has taken me so very long to get this first ever product review up and blogged. i promise it wasn't so i could see how many of you poked your heads in for just that .53 minute to see if it had indeed appeared only to click on the little 'return' arrow to leave in a huff when only the same ol' stuff popped up on your screen.

one of the reasons it took so long was that i had promised mini mo that she could do the work to prepare for the baking portion of the first ever product review and she had trouble fittin' me in to her new schedule. overnight, the mini mo i have known and adored up and left and in her place appeared a daughter i am having to familiarize myself with and i've been a little hesitant to use that stern mean mother voice i have perfected over the last 12 and a half years with the new girl. but the body snatcher finally pulled herself away from the mirror and yanked off her ipod long enough to whip up the necessary goods.

i started considerin' the wacom tablet not long after i first started doing daily digital doo dads for delivery via download. i had never used the png format before and i was certainly fooled by what DIDN'T appear on the screen! i had no idea that the were oodles of pixels i was just GIVIN' away - not charging a cent extra for them! who knew that they were there, lurking behind all that see-thru area? i didn't. add to that the fact that i was long overdue for a new prescription for my blue cat eye rhinestone decorated fancy glasses and you've got a recipe for the thing a digital doo dadder dreads most - a COMPLAINT! oh my - before this any complaining about me or something i'd done had been behind my back so this was new for me and was a dire day for this digital designer.

i removed the free pixels from my doo dads but just the thought of it makes me delirious - all those serious scrap bookers saying i sent them second quality stuff. i am certainly thankful they gave me another chance! how horrible it would be to make digital doo dads and there be no one to deliver them to via download! shortly after these dubious day, i got my new glasses prescription (as well as replacement rhinestones for the ones that were knocked out during one of my rougher garage sale escapades) and a big ol' 30 inch digital screen which helped quite a bit. but there had to be a better way to get all those petite pixels to leave my screen!

around this time, there was quite a bit of chit chat among digital doo dad designers about the different wacoms and if newer was better or payin' a hundred dollars for the top of the line was worth the money blah blah blah. it was then that i realized i must be the only livin' human that spends as many hours as i do in front of a screen still pushing around a little mouse and NOT using a wacom.

as you might be able to see in the photo under all the necessary testin' materials, the first ever mo product review pitted three different wacom tablets against each other. they were the oldest one i could find in the computer cemetery but that would still attach via usb and two brand spanking new ones i discovered in mini mo's stash. i call this area 'the many things my father has purchased for me but i have yet to get around to using'. this discovery was a bit upsettin' to me since i have deliberated long and hard over which wacom tablet would be best for designing my digital doo dads and damn it if the dad hadn't already delivered the daughter a duo while i was dithering over which one would do best for doo dads!

which one did i like the best? well, first let me say they all passed with flyin' colors - at least for the things i needed them to do, but the one i'll be keeping around is the wacom intuos 3. as for the oldest one (a intuos 2 i think) and the newest lower range wacom (the just plain wacom) - well, there wasn't much difference between the two of them to speak of. so all of you who have said there was no need to be spending your hard earned money on a newer model until your old one dies - well, you have been right in your thinking. but when it does come time to retire that beloved first one, you just gotta dig up the extra hundred or so the intuos 3 costs because it works a zillion times better than the one you're scooting your pen across presently.

forget all the PR about the added buttons etc. etc. on the intuos 3 - it's just worth the extra money for the way the thing works before i even discovered those. and i don't know about you but i haven't exercised my hand writing muscles much over the last couple of years and when i held that pen my hand got so tired it was slowing down the doo dad production. but there's SOMETHING about the pen from the expensive model that keeps that from happening. i can't see the difference and even had a parade of mini mo's hip huggin' jean attired, ipodded, mirror staring friends inspect it and no one could figure out what makes it FEEL better in your hand but it sure does.

the only thing i don't like about any of wacoms is the more PC like way the mouse has all those clicky areas - they work great and a hard core PCer won't complain - but as a die hard mac-er, i am having a time getting used to extra clickers.

if you are a lefty but use the mouse right-handed, like i do, there is an added bonus and some bad news.i am now a double fisted doo dadder with the pen in one hand and the mouse in the other and have found my doo dad production just humming along. the bad part is those pesky buttons on the left side get in the way and make my work zoom off to infinity - so if you are of the age where you learned to write with your left hand upside down, you might want to tape over those buttons before you get started.

and for those of you who read all the directions from the first word to the last and set up all the fancy bells and whistles right away, you'll be even more delighted with this digital dynamite. for me, if all it had was that good feelin' pen and the tablet, i'd still think it was worth the money to have the better model.

now, those of you who are very neat and organized with lots of rules about how you take care of your equipment stop reading now...go on...nothing else here will benefit you.

okay - for all us others who can pretty much confess to doing a little of everything in front of the computer, let me say you are safe with any of these models. they all can crash to the floor from pretty high up and they'll just keep right on working. they are sturdy enough to use sort of like a tray to carry a number of things away from where you're working - like if your dirty dishes have piled too high in front of the screen to have a place for your keyboard. best of all is they clean up really nice and easy. as you can see from the picture taken in the mo lab during the test, i tried eating just about everything you might crave while sitting in front of your screen to see if the wacom could hold up to what's dropped on 'em. that's where mini mo's incredible bakin' skills really came in handy. her sugar baby, caramel and marshmallow topped brownies are to die for and were perfect for testing out different cleaning techniques on the wacoms. they all wiped off with either a dry or damp cloth like a dream. it was a little harder with the intuos 3 to get melted caramel or pixie stick bits out of of those buttons on the sides. but still, it's worth the extra little bit of work in my opinion. and ya' know, i found they all work almost as well with the caramel still on them.

so that's about it. if you need a little bit more 'mo' type info on these, feel free email me at mojackson@mac.com. i'd be happy to help you out. if you need more technical type info, go to the wacom site for that. and if there's any interest in mini mo's mega cinabuns, sugar baby brownies or her incredible oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, i'll have her blog on up the recipes. they'd all be great wrapped up in one of those collage boxes i assigned as your homework last week!

come back soon - it could end up bein be complete waste of your time - but you'll never know until you come back and check it out.

having cousin jo around....

...means i have someone to help me find everything i'm looking for to create delightful digital downloads to deliver via download.

when jo's trailer park was turned into a super wall mart, i invited her to come stay in our guest house. but she refused the offer because she insists on livin'in that house on wheels and pulls it behind her buick everywhere she goes - even to the 7-11 to pick up cigs. so she ended up at some other relation's curb until we can widen our driveway so she - and her home - can come and go from the back yard. our neighbors would start complainin' if they saw it in the front. at the temporary locale the neighbors all have trailers parked in front AND the back of their houses so what's one more? and there's a super wall mart just around the corner plus a 7-11 right across the street. in fact, jo lets the 7-11 employees come sit in the green and white plastic lawn chairs on the porch during their lunch hour.

anyway, as long as we're finally livin' close to each other we'll be happy. we spend lots o' time going to garage sales since i can find extra special scannable trinkets and treasures. jo is a good travelin' companion if she's got a good thick coat of aquanet on her beehive. we can then leave a window rolled down to suck out her non-stop smoke but all her hairs stay in place. we have to travel far to find desirable doo dads for digitizing - where i live people don't drag their belongins' out into the yard hopin' strangers will stop by and buy them. in fact such a thing is frowned upon.
some of the places we find ourselves in are pretty dangerous. the picture attached was taken by one of the off duty policemen that we often see at the garage sale locations just in case there's gunfire or a fight breaks out. he lost his wife at a garage sale long ago and has dedicated his life to trying to keep others from the same horrible fate. thank goodness for people like him - it makes it slightly less dangerous to attend these things and there's a better chance we'll make it home in one piece, with my doo dad discoveries down deep in my prada bag.

see those mean looking women standing around me? those are the other digital designers i had to fight recently to get the items i used to create my latest collection, nanette. as you can see, we all dress sort of raggedy so that we might get the garage sale giver to feel sorry for us and give us first dibs of the best pick'ns. it hasn't been effective lately though so i might as well go back to wearing my good dry cleaning to these things and send that old dress back to my sister queeny.

this group of designers were the meanest i've seen yet and it is truly a miracle i got out alive with my findings paid for. it wasn't until i got home that i realized the one i fought with for nanette's cosmetics had actually taken a bite right out of the lipstick! don't worry, i was able to fix it for the collection - but can you imagine! i'm sure she was aiming for my fingers which were clutched around the tube. she would have been thrilled to end my addiction for making doo dads! she is one of those who can't think of an original idea if her life depends on it and counts on other designers hard work to use for makin' her own. she needs to think long and hard before attempting to bite off the digits used to make the digital doo dads she does her damndest to duplicate. whatever the case, i better keep my digits down in my gucci coat pockets at future garage sales!

until next time...hopefully with the first ever mo product review!

a slight change in plans...

...i know i promised the first ever mo product review would come next but i decided before i posted it i would read the directions of the first ever mo product to be reviewed. the test went along fine without reading them. i even put three models up against each other and found the hands down winner. but a little direction reading might give me some insight you may want....and anything to make you happy!

so instead you get the first ever 'mo's trash is treasure' blog! oh how exciting! i know most of you guys hardly ever touch real paper any more but i aim to to show you some things to get you to put those digital skills (and expensive equipment) to use AWAY from the scrapbook now and then.

what you see here is what to do with all those things you print out that aren't quite right or those little bits of stuff you just can't bear to throw out but wish you had, later, when they need a home. so throw it in a pile somewhere until it's the next time of year when you are supposed to spend more on gifts in a week than you would ever dream of spending on yourself in a year. and when that time comes, rummage through all those rejects to find anything that now looks pretty interesting. cut what you like into nice pieces and now you are almost ready to make a oh so fabulous collage box.

what i used here is one of those boxes you see piled up at places like michael's - made out of cardboard and covered in kraft paper. they're really cheap and come in all sorts of silly shapes like bears and cats. i like to stick with the plain box shape myself. i'm sure ro would agree. just make sure the lid really fits the box as i think they make the lid and the box at two separate places because this is a real problem! i painted the box on this masterpiece with black matte acrylic paint - inside and out.

i use any sort of clear medium to attach my rejects, but have found the matte works best. liquitex or modge podge is good and if all you have is elmer's glue, his will do the trick fine if you water it down a bit first. just paint the back of the reject and slap it on the box. to get it to lay down really smooth - slap some more medium across the top and then gently rub your finger across it - starting in the middle and move out toward the edges. then slap on another piece! when they dry, if you have a bit of a bubble under under the art, just cut a tiny X over it with an exacto knife and tuck some medium under it with a little brush. smash it back down and smooth again with your finger. ta da! you're collaging your way to a cheap but lovely present!

when all the rejects are safely attached, i always paint a couple more coats of the medium over the whole shabang. it dries really fast so this takes no time at all. i like to even put stuff inside and on the bottom but just the outside is enough. it really depends on how much you like the person you're making the box for.

the one in the picture has all photos on the outside and i used deckle edged scissors to cut them out. on the inside i put teeny copies of letters my daughter had written and lots of her art work. we've filled our boxes with all sort of things. this one had cookies we pretended to bake (we actually baked some but as always happens, we ate them).

so you might say - BIG DEAL MO! well, the reason i decided to make this the first 'mo's trash is treasure' is because the first christmas i made these for everyone, i got more raves than for any of the things that i thought WERE really a big deal! and the next year everyone called me to get instructions so THEY could make them as presents. so you're just gonna have to give it a try to see for yourself.

if you need some help let me know. my directions aren't fancy and formal but i can still get you what you need to have the prettiest little treasure out of your trash in no time flat! be sure to send me pictures if you make some yourself.

okay - i promise the review to come will be even better now that i bought some time to check out the directions.

thanks for visiting the mo blog and be sure to check back often! you'd hate to anything!

ADDED FOR MACY's MOM: oops! this box is about as wide as a shoe box of someone with big feet. and the paper is epson photo quality item #41062. you get a big stack of it for about 13.99 - 100 sheets i think. i use it for all my trashy treasures as it prints color beautifully. it is NOT shiney...although i have nothing against shiney.

it's not a very good idea...

...to try to make digital doo dads and run on the treadmill at the same time. let's say someone was foolish enough to try it - you know - like scrappin and i were JOKING about yesterday - well, what COULD happen is that the laptop could jump - without warning - onto the tread of the mill and be hurled through space against the back wall. if it were to do that, the screen of the expensive machine might look like the one in the picture attached here - on the left. and if that happened you would be forced to hide it in the 'hidden mac cemetery" with some of it's other family members who have met different yet still horrendous and yet to be confessed acts of violence at the hands of a young girl and her wonderful mother. such a cemetery is pictured here also - on the right. i have no idea where i got these pictures but am glad they appeared in my camera so i could keep you from making this stupid mistake.

be sure to tune in tomorrow when i'm aiming to do my first ever mo product review along with the story behind the serious testing of this often "wondered about whether to buy it or not and if so which one" computer gadget. just remember - i'm not an 'official product discusser' so it will be my OPINION...but damn fine opinion if i do say so myself!

oh this should be great fun (for people who sit at the computer all day and need a change of pace). i'm not going to tell you the product so maybe you'll be curious enough to return.

picture postin....

i need to post a picture of myself here i guess cause that's what all the other bloggers seem to do. i just have to find one where i look like someone who has somethin interestin to say so you'll want to come back and read what i write. it's temptin to post a picture that has been photoshopped to make it appear more appealin but i would never try to mislead you like that.

i'll admit, there have been times - not many - that i may have slimmed down my thighs in a picture or two or erased some bulge from some part of my body but only because everyone KNOWS a photo can addd TONS of weight to you. now that would be WRONG - posting some picture leaving you to think i was not in tip top form when i am....or at least WAS until i became addicted to designing digital doo dads to deliver and delight via downloads. and i will be again. today i plan to figure out how to attach my laptop to the treadmill. i can't take credit for this brilliant idea - it was suggested to me by an artist named scrappin and i'll let you know how it works out.

hi....my name is mo. i have had this blog for some time now but have been dragging my feet as i wasn't sure any one would be much interested in some ol artist goin on and on about makin doo dads (that's what i call them - the more formal word for them is 'elements') and livin with a lil body snatcher, cute dog and silly husband. but i have decided to give it a whirl and see what happens.

so please come back and visit. yikes - it would be awful to have a blog and then no one come! i hope they don't have those counter things on here someplace like they do in all the scrapbook galleries. if they do maybe you could reload a couple of times so i don't have the blog with the lowest amounts of hits....no no - never mind - that wouldn't be right and since this is just the first post i guess i shouldn't already start worrying about that.