Guillotines, Trimmers & more shopping......

Good Morning Ladies,

We all buy the same type of tools at some point along our Crafting journey, whether its something as simple as Scissors, of which there are thousands and as many bad as good, or die cutting machines.  So I thought that it would be good to share some of our experiences with different brands of machines and tools, it would then be a good reference guide for any of us thinking of buying new tools or upgrading.
I will give my experience on each tool we feature but it wouldn't be anything without your experiences too, so please add your favourite make of tool and why you like it.

This weeks we are featuring : Guillotines and Trimmers

The Trimmers I have used over the years are .........

The Xcut Guillotine (small)

This was my first Guillotine style cutter, I still use it today for smaller jobs, my only problem with this cutter was its size, I found it frustrating that you were so restricted lengthwise, apart from the size I haven't really had a problem with the Xcut Guillotine. Bearing that in mind I moved on to ..........

The Tonic 12 x 12 Guillotine

I upgraded to the larger 12 x 12 guillotine after being frustrated with limited size of paper I could use in the XCut, for about 3 years this Tonic Guillotine worked well, its handle and ruler extension fit underneath the guillotine, making it easier to store and take with you to craft in classes or with friends. 

However after about 3 years my cuts become more and more 'wonky', no matter how many bits I trimmed off, I started with a 10 x 10 inch piece of card and end up with a wonky postage stamp!  Paul took the handle off and reattached and tightened it and it seemed better but within a few cuts it returned to cutting a wonky line, if you look at it closely you can see that the blade is bowed slightly, which is what is causing the problem, so this one is now retired! It cost me about £39.99 at the time, which isn't cheap.   I then went on to try .............

The Xcut 13 inch Guillotine

I only had the Xcut 13inch trimmer for about at month at the very most, it had a frustrating issue, the handle/blade tightened with each cut, so after a few cuts I had to get paul to use an Alan key to loosen the handle, so frustrating ! 

In desperation I went for .............

Tonic Super Trimmer 

How frustrated I was with this trimmer, it cost be about £20 and the first few cuts were fine, one frustrating point is that you have to remove the  scoring blade if you are cutting a 12 inch piece of paper and the cutting blade if you are scoring a 12 in piece of paper!  The major issue though is that after about 15 to 20 cuts the 'v' blade blunts, giving a 'fearhered' finish to thicker paper and it just wrinkles and tears thinner paper, I ruined many pieces of paper with this tool! 

The Cutterpillar Pro

This is my latest Cutter, The 'Cutterpillar Pro', it was a birthday gift from Paul, (I think he got fed up of hearing me complain about ruining paper and card)! 

Obviously it is a lot more expensive than the other cutters featured above at £119  but I have wasted what this one cost on rubbish trimmers before!  

So far so good, it has a lifetime guarantee on its blade, which is said to sharpen itself with every cut. Its a good size and the the cutting is very easy. 

I will update this review in a months time, to see if its still performing as it should.

Now I have a review from Karen on her experience with Paper Cutters.....

 - I have a very old X-cut guillotine which I bought from a closing down sale It's OK but you cannot line up for prcision cutting very easily - your pleat card being a perfect example for lining up the cutting line and sometimes it doesn't appear to cut squarely.

I also have a Fiskars A4 trimmer which you can line up really accurately for the cut line but doesn't cut at all well. I think I've binned it because I was going to take photos of them both and can't find it!

Thank you Karen, I think your review goes along with what I have said above.

Lillian's Trimmer Review.......

Hello Sandra, this is the trimmer that I use now, it's by fiskars, I had the old model for years but this new one has a fine wire so you can see exactly where it's going to cut.
I bought it at the range a couple of years ago,can't remember exactly how much about £25 if my memory serves me right.

I had the very expensive cutterpiller bought which cost an arm and a leg, saw Mel on C&C selling it, and thought it looked good, but really don't find it any near as good as the fiskars , teach me not to take to much notice of selling on tv. The only draw back with the fiskars is that you have change the blade quite frequently.

Hope this helps, I have had many others , too much to mention as they weren't much good.

Thank you Lilian, I have a friend down the road that uses this Fiskars trimmer and she swears by it, she also finds the guide wire very useful, she doesn't use it very often though.

I am interested to read your comment about the Cutterpillar Pro, what is it that frustrates you, I tried to ignore the fact that 'I couldn't wait to bring this trimmer to you' Mel was selling it, I bought a Cricut cutting machine under her influence, I have seen her contradict herself so many times now, even Paul laughs when he sees her on screen, I don't doubt she puts the work in getting to know machines, I just find her a little hard to believe, I guess she is a fantastic saleswoman though, I'm sure a good many of us have bought a punch or machine after a 'Mel' sales pitch.

So far I haven't had any issues but I haven't had mine as long as you.

I would love to hear what the rest of you have experienced, so please leave your comments below...

Now for some more Craft Shopping ............

Anne's Craft Shopping

Anne you have bought some lovely new dies, the basic rounded corner rectangle dies are so useful, for either cutting apertures, making frames or creating a basic shape,

The Sizzix Tim Holtz Trees and Thinlits Background dies are fabulous, I am really looking forward to seeing how you use them, I love the Flower Garden stamps too, 

Having flower heads and stems separate is so useful, you can use the stems as extra foliage, grasses etc, the heads stamped individually can be cut out and decoupaged, again I look forward to seeing what you make with them. 

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us xxx

My other shopping......

I had some birthday money to spend when we got back from holiday so here are a few bits I bought.......

The Crafter's Companion Nordic Christmas Time Embossing Folder, I was inspired by one of Val's Christmas card to buy this folder, I love its clean, crisp look. 

The inkyliscious Winter Bauble kit, I saw this a few months ago on their website, they had a link to their blog, showcasing this technique, I was hooked there and then, I bought this just before we went away, its surprisingly easy to use, I love it.

I have wanted a Window die for months now, I think that you all know that as I have mentioned it more than once, I originally wanted the Memory Box Madison Window, well I think they must have discontinued it as I couldn't get it anywhere, I looked at many different ones but decided that the Tim Holtz Bigz Window was the one I wanted, I got this one for £10 on eBay. The Tattered Florals Bigz die is one I have had on my wishlist for years, it was on sale in Hobbycraft £10, so it went in my basket !

Now the last 3 photos were all 1 bargain purchase!!!, after Sue and I had spent a few hours browsing Pinterest I noticed I that my eye kept being caught by the Inkadinkadoo Grasses Silhouette Stamp, so I set out in search, I found it on eBay butvas part of a bundle, I 'ummed and aarghed' for an hour or two, but it only had three hours left, I decided I wanted it, I liked the butterflies too, so decided that I would bid no more than £18 which would be the cost of buying the two individually.

I put my bid in and waited, (it was on £8.50 when I started), much to my surprise I won the auction and call 8 sets cost me £13.50 !!! A real bargain. 

Please feel free to share your shopping with us anytime, just email me the photos.

Have a lovely day ladies, sorry for the huge post !

Love and hugs,

Sandra 

Xxxxxxx