SCRAPBOOKERS!!! Advice on Zutter tools?

I’m considering purchasing the zutter bind it all and/or the zutter dreamkutz. I am a very crafty person and I know both these tools will come in handy. However, they are very expensive. Is it worth the money? Do the tools work perfectly great? Advice is needed!

I’ve seen the Zutter demonstrated but don’t have any interest in it, I’m afraid.

I have a few die cut machines and each has it’s own charms. I like the Cricut for being able to make the size you want. They’re big, expensive, take up a large amount of space on a table and need power to work. The mats are a major expense because they wear out pretty fast. I have 5 or 6 cartridges and don’t use anything the way I expected. I don’t cut letters for scrapbooking or card making with it because the small the letter the more likely the machine will screw it up. I’ve made lots of things like cupcakes and starts and big letters for posters and such. I’m glad I have but probably wouldn’t buy it today. Custom Crops is a good source with reasonable prices for Cricut, and Hobby Lobby and Michael’s frequently have things on sale…but the 40% excludes Cricut stuff.

I also have a Sizzix and a Sidekick. I use these much more. I have several alphabets and again, some cut more easily than others, but I do use them. I also have a lot of dies and they take up space. The little ones called Sizzlets are the ones I prefer because they’re small enough to be useful in a scrapbook and don’t take up a lot of storage space. The bigger ones I don’t use often, but I have a few I really like. I can’t seem to get the hang of cutting several out of different colors and snipping them to make a colored die cut. I like the Cricut for that because it tells you which button to push to get the piece you want, but it’s still not the piece of cake it seems to be on TV. These are frequently on sale at Michael’s and the 40% coupon works on them. I usually check the Sizzix website on Tuesdays when they have big sales. You have to buy at least $25 worth of product, but on Tuesday that gets you quite a lot of stuff.

I have a Quikcutz and don’t ever use it. It’s like a pliers and I have arthritis in my hands and I’m just not strong enough. The sets are quite expensive, at least they were when I got mine a few years ago. If you have a Sizzix you can get some shims and use the Quikcutz in them.

I love Nestabilities and can use them in my Sizzix with just a little rigamarole. I can’t remember which machine they’re made to use, but you can use them in most of the manual ones. I get those at Hobby Lobby with the 40% coupon, they’re about $20 to $30 full price, and you might get 6 or 8 circles in graduated sizes. The cool thing with these is that you cut the piece out then turn it over an emboss it. It’s really my favorite thing. I have some circles and some bookplates, snowflakes and leaves. The leaves are very swell. I like those the best. If you type in Nestabilities you can find a website that will show you all the styles. If I was just starting to buy my first machine, I’d probably get the one from this company because these are the dies I use the most. You can also stencil with then. They’re little bitty brass things. I keep them in a little file folder I got from Creative Memories to store photos.

I like die cuts better than paper punches but mostly because of the arthritis.

A couple tools I can’t live without are the Fiskars paper cutter (the one with the X on the orange blade) and the little X shaped Xyron thing that turns anything into a sticker. I don’t know how I lived without that. Creative Memories also has a tool that looks like a little plastic spatula on one end and a broken fountain pen on the other. It’s wonderful, and the best $7 you’ll spend! You also need a pick up square, which is a funky little eraser that will remove excess adhesive from paper, pictures, etc. It’s a couple bucks and worth it’s weight in gold.

It’s a cinch with this new binding machine!

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