A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post on making your own scoring board. That was one of my most popular posts, so popular the owner/inventor of the Score-Pal read it and asked if she could send me one! What do you think I said? YES!!!!!!!! Grab a cuppa something yummy and settle in cuz this is a long post.
The lowdown: The Score-Pal is a thick piece of heavyweight plastic with grooves in it every 1/4 inch or so. It lets you score cards, brochures and boxes as well as emboss decorative lines in your projects. I decided to use my new Rubber Cafe stamps and papers with the Score pal because the owner of the rubber cafe is a huge fan and tried to convince me that I needed one months ago! She will be so proud! Here are a few project I made with it:
The box was simple to make with the Scor-Pal. I placed my 12×12 paper on the surface and scored at 4 and 8 inches, turned it and scored again at 4 and 8 inches. Then I scored from the corners to the points and folded the box. You can see a tutorial of this project at SplitcoastStampers. I used the 6×6 Marrakesh paper pad to decorate the box, there was no waste at all! I gold-embossed the Feathered Fan on blue, cut it out and attached to the box. I’ve wanted to try this box for weeks but didn’t want to bother with the measuring but since the Scor-Pal has the marked grids this was a snap to make. Note: This is a surprisingly big box, you may want to reduce it in size.
To make the double gate-fold cards I used the directions printed on the back of the box, easy as pie! I used the feathered fan again as well as the new Lori Renn Love Always stamp from The Rubber cafe.
The decorative lines on the edge of this card were also done with the Scor-Pal. The stamps used here are Large Paisley Dragonfly, Small Paisly Dragonfly, and Together, all by The Rubber Cafe.
They also sent me the Scor-Mat, this sold me on the product because I always need to have a cutting mat (or 3) out when I craft because I often need to alter a pattern or cut a slit for ribbon and the mat fits in the recess of the board so the Scor-Pal turns into a cutting surface. That means I can leave this out on my craft table. It would be a major drag to have to put it away every time I used it and I likely wouldn’t use it if that was the case.
The bottom line: The Scor-Pal isn’t cheap, it’s $39.95 and the Scor-Mat is $15. However it is rugged and is built to last so if you figure the cost over the years of use it’s not bad. Once you have it and start using it you will love it. I recommend this product to anyone in the market for a scoring board. If you only make one card at a time, or craft occasionally and have a limited budget you may want to skip it BUT if you mass produce cards to sell or if you are a stamp demonstrator/teacher and need to prepare for a class the Scor-Pal will save you so much time. It’s also great if you make one sheet or die cut boxes. If you want it but are on a budget get the Score-Pal and see if a craft mat you have already will fit (and cut it if it doesn’t!)
I am enjoying this product, it hasn’t left my craft table since I got it and it is likely to remain there right next to my big paper trimmer for years to come.
To learn more about the score pal and see projects visit their website. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!
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