Top Tip Tuesday – Fussy Cutting Tips and Tricks. May I just clear something up before we start on this? ‘Fussy Cutting’? When did that become a ‘thing’? whatever happened to just plain ‘cutting’? I totally get that in quilting there is an obvious difference, but in paper craft? SO to be clear, in quilting ‘fussy’ cutting means that you are careful about the EXACT part of the fabric you cut out. This means that you make sure that the image is exactly where you want it. I don’t think this works for paper craft, and certainly not when you are talking about cutting out a stamped image. You would only ever cut the image, surely? So not sure why we need to be ‘fussy’ about it. Rant over!!

Today I thought I would share some hints and tips about how to cut out images, or in this case a sentiment, easily and cleanly every time. The first thing you will need is a good pair of scissors. Ideally, you paper scissors should only ever be used for paper and by you. If you use your scissors for general household tasks they are unlikely to stay nice and sharp. Opening thick plastic packing or foil packets is not good for fine tipped scissors. Which brings me on to the next point. Cutting our small images is easiest with a pair of fine tipped scissors. I really do like our Snips, they sit well in my hand and are really sharp.

Next, when you get a new pair of scissors try them out to see which way up you will get the best cut, right to the tip. Good scissors should give you this either way up, but sometimes there is a slightly better cut one way up or the other. Once you have established this, mark your scissors in some way. I have scissor charms hanging from the bottom of the handle on mine. I know that as long as I pick my scissors up with the charms hanging from the bottom handle, they will be just right.

Now for the actual cutting. Try to start with a rounded cut, so that you can blend this in when you meet it again. Please try NOT to move your scissors round the image. You get a much better and neater cut by moving the image. All you need to do with your scissors is open and close them as you move around the image. Try not to completely close your scissors as you move round the image, this will form a tiny nick in the paper.

This is really not the easiest thing to describe in words, so watching the video should be a great help (I hope!) I used this image on my Inspire Create Challenge project last Wednesday, so if you want to see the finished project, please take a look.

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Nail Varnish Colours

Today’s Nail colours are Wing it & Bring it and Million Dollar Diva by Nails Inc