Selecting The Right Cutting And Trimming Tools For Stamping
Having the right cutting and trimming tools makes a big difference in the final look of your scrapbooking, rubber stamping, and cardmaking projects. This guide helps explain the differences between tools and what they are best suited for. Your finished stamping or scrapbooking project will look superb when you use the right cutting and trimming tools.
Popular trimming tools are the guillotine cutter, personal paper trimmer, and rotary cutter. Paper punches, scoring blades, T-squares, and shape cutters are also important tools and will assist with each and every project.
The first paper trimmer to come to mind is the guillotine, which can be purchased at any office supply store. A straight blade is pulled directly over the paper to make a perfectly straight cut. Get a solid, well made trimmer with tight handle fittings. Most guillotine trimmers can cut between ten to twenty pieces of paper at a time. The guillotine handle should be made of metal or strong fiberglass and should not flex at all.
Rubber stamping and scrapbooking projects often need small, simple cuts to photos, mattes, and card stock. The personal paper trimmer is an excellent choice for the small routine trimming and can fit inside a desk drawer. Many of the smaller paper trimmers have special safety features that make them suitable for fast trimming of objects held by hand close to the cutting blade. This allows you to crop small pieces of card stock, trim photos, and matte scrapbook pages. Personal paper trimmers are not suitable for large paper trims or making long straight cuts.
Rubber stamping and scrapbooking projects are perfect examples to explain the rotary trimmer advantages, mainly because you can purchase different decorative blades. You'll want to find a rotary trimmer that has inexpensive replacement blades. If you decide to use a handheld rotary trimmer, you'll need to purchase a good self-healing cutting mat. The self-healing cutting surface is designed to allow you to use your rotary cutter many times without perceived wear. Many cutting mats come pre-lined to assist with your cutting.
Shape cutters have quickly become a favorite tool for scrapbooking enthusiasts because they allow you to cut many different sized shapes with one inexpensive tool. The plastic shape templates allow you to cut various shape styles and sizes.
To insure that you have perfect cutout shapes on every scrapbooking layout, why not use a paper punch? The most important thing to consider when purchasing a paper punch is the punching handle. Your paper punch should be easy to press and cut through any thickness of paper up to 110 lb. card stocks. Quality paper punches also have scrap holders that keep your crafting area free from punch debris.
T-squares and the scoring blades are tools that can be very helpful while stamping and scrapbooking...and often get overlooked. Accurate, durable T-squares can be purchased at your local hardware store. Smaller less durable versions can be purchased at a craft or hobby store. Make sure to buy a quality T-square that has a tooled edge. T-squares allow you to line up corners and make for a perfect scoring and marking tool. Scoring blades can be used to make straight tears along the bottom of your matte paper or handmade card. Some of the new designer scoring blades allow you make decorative tears on card stock.
You should get at least one version of each of these cutting tools to enjoy all of the benefits. Having the right trimming and cutting tools saves time and makes your finished paper craft project look much better. Buying high quality tools that will last for many years will insure inexpensive overall costs and usually a much better look. Give them a try today and see how they improve your work!
Kathy Williams runs Rubber Stamping Fun, an online stamping store. She writes articles about rubber stamps and scrapbooking.
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Selecting The Right Cutting And Trimming Tools For Stamping
Having the right cutting and trimming tools makes a big difference in the final look of your scrapbooking, rubber stamping, and cardmaking projects. This guide helps explain the differences between tools and what they are best suited for. Your finished stamping or scrapbooking project will look superb when you use the right cutting and trimming tools.