Best scrapbooking cutting template on the market?

Question

Hi

I am a left handed person looking for a cutting system that will cut ovals and squares easy and quickly and is not complicated to figure out and use. I bought the fiskas templates in ovals and circles but my free handed cutting leaves a lot to be desired. Please help I really like to cut my photographs and mount them using these shapes.

thanks

Answer 1

I'm a lefty too!

I like the Coluzzle system. It has a template and you push the blade in the track and you trace it around the shape, the blade swivels and cuts as you go. It leaves the shape hanging in two spots that you just easily snip off. It's very easy. There are a lot of templates to use also (and it does squares and rectangles which are hard to find in other systems).

You buy the starter kit and it comes with the cutting mat, knife and a template or two. You can add what templates you want...shapes, alphabets, etc.

http://www.coluzzle.com/products/index.p... (the "nested templates" have the square and rectangle templates)

I've also used the Custom Cutting System by Creative Memories. They are a direct sales company so you have to find a consultant. They do have nice products and I like the cutting system but they don't have squares or rectangles available.

http://www.creativememories.com/MainMenu...

Hope this helps you! :)

Answer 2

You need the Fiskars cutter that goes with the templates. It looks a bit like a spinning top and has a swivel blade on the bottom. You hold it tight to the edge and move it around the shape. You also need the Fiskars cutting mat which works much better than a normal cutting mat for this purpose. I am left handed and after a lot of practice have no trouble cutting out the shapes. However every now and then the blade catches wrong and tears up the paper so I would only use it on a copy of a precious photo. There are lots of Fiskars templates in all sorts of shapes.

I have never found a perfect cutting system and for straight edges like squares and rectangles I would use a trimmer and then maybe round corner it.

Circle Scribe is a good system and does not require a lot of expensive add-ons. You can make an amazing number of shapes and can even cut through light plywood. It doesn't do straight edges and leaves a pinhole in the centre which you can usually push down so it is not easily noticed. You need to read the instructions carefully and practice. It is not quite as easy as it looks on Create & Craft. but I know people who have persevered and are now very pleased with it.

The Creative Memories system is indeed very good but quite expensive.

You might find free hand cutting easier with the right scissors. I like a small pair by Wedo which have soft grip handles which are much more comfortable to cut with. Or Fiskars (again) do small orange handled scissors of very good quality but more expensive. Some people prefer a knife with a swivel blade (Xacto do some) There are lots of plastic templates you can use to draw an outline round your picture and cut out with scissors. You won't get quite such a straight edge but close enough and you can do some really intricate borders this way.