Back to School & Cutting Basics by Julia Stainton

For some school has already started and for others, we have another few wonderful weeks of summer.This time of year brings busy shopping trips, nervous and excited children, a fresh start, a return to routine and the last beautiful days of summer. I have always enjoyed getting ready for back to school as a child and as a mother. There's something about fresh new books and pencils, sneakers and art supplies.

Lately I been creating a few fun back to school projects that you can use now or throughout the year. They are great for kids to take to school, or give to your favorite teacher. I hope you'll get inspired to create a basic bound notebook, thank you card, fridge magnet and glittered pen.

While the kids are going back to school, the instructor in me is coming out and I'll be sharing some very basic cutting tips throughout this newsletter. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to recently help out a scrapbooking event and did a lot of helping out with the paper trimmer. I know this may be basic for some but for those just starting out in paper crafting, the proper cutting techniques will make your project much more professional looking.

Everyone can always use a personalized notebook whether you create this for your child or his teacher or even for yourself. This is a super simple project and it's a great place to start with cutting basics. When paper crafting your projects will only be as good as your tools. Dull blades and uneven cuts really tell on a design and a poor paper trimmer can make the best designer frustrated. I love using a guillotine style paper trimmer for the cleanest cuts.

The Tonic Paper Trimmer is my go to tool and I've been thrilled with the initial investment. The blade sharpens itself with each cut saving me money in not having to purchase replacement blades and it always gives clean precise cuts.

Whether you use this paper trimmer or any other, the first thing you should note is to place your paper squarely at the top edge when cutting. This will prevent the paper from shifting and get you a perfect 90­­° angled cut. I know this is something that most know but I bring it up as there are crafters who have never been taught this. Essential.

Make sure you press down on the safety bar to prevent shifting.

On any paper trimmer you will find a ruler or grid to help you measure your paper for cutting. I like to cut in precise measurements as it makes matting and layering easier and reduces waste. When cutting small strips of paper you can cut down to one inch. The smaller you trim the more difficult it may be to keep the paper from shifting.
 
 

When cutting small strips I like to use a little math and cut in the reverse. If the paper is 12x12 inches and I want a 1 inch strip I place the edge of the paper at 11 inches to get a perfect one inch strip with no shifting.

One of the things I like best about the Tonic Paper Trimmer is it's ability to cut through more than just patterned paper and cardstock. Craft-a-Board and chipboard as well transparencies and specialty paper cut perfectly and easily. For the altered notebook project I've created it by cutting two pieces of Craft-a-Board to 4 x 6 inches in size. After covering the covers with patterned paper and adding white cardstock for writing on, the notebook was bound with the Bind it All.

 

Another of my favorite cutting tools is the Tonic Non-Stick Scissors. I love how easily they cut paper, ribbon and transparencies as well as many other products and the non-stick coating is wonderful for not gumming up with adhesive. These scissors are also amazing for cutting out unmounted rubber stamps.Here I've used them to trim the paper from around the chipboard.

 

Any additional paper that was too tight to trim off is easily sanded away with the Basic Grey Precision File Set.

 

Supplies: Craft-a-Board, Bind it All by Zutter, Oliver Paper pack by Basic Grey, Buck Naked Alpha Buttons by Cosmo Cricket, Tim Holtz Hinge Clip and Ruler Ribbon by Advantus, Farmer's Market Twine

You can never have too many thank you notes and this one can be used for anyone but I like to think it's particularly suitable for a teacher. There are so many office supply products out there and they all look great on school themed designs.

When creating you may often find that your layers are not 100% lining up. Even a millimeter off will look less than wonderful. The Tonic Paper Trimmer is fabulous for trimming off those tiny increments of paper that a sliding blade trimmer would make a mess of.

 

See how tiny a strip I was able to trim off to get a perfectly clean edge?

For my sentiment on this card I used the Basic Grey stickers that are included in the Oliver Paper Pack. Giving the first letter a bit of pizazz is easy by matting it with black cardstock to make it stand out. The EK Success Titanium Blade Scissors are another favorite of mine and they are great for precision cutting. I keep these scissors just for paper as I want to maintain their fine cutting abilities.

 

Here's the T after it has been cut out. These scissors are also fabulous for paper piecing and other fine detail work.
 

To highlight the remaining letters I traced them with a 0.3 Copic Multiliner pen.

 

Supplies: Oliver paper pack by Basic Grey, black cardstock, Copic Multiliner,  Tiny Attacher & Mini Paper Clips by Advantus, Kraft Library Cards by Maya Road, Binding Edge Punch by EK Success, Basics Kraft Small Details by Basic Grey

With back to school comes the never ending cycle of papers and notes and things to keep a track of. This sweet little Inchie+ is a magnet that will attach to your fridge and keep those notes under control. If you have a large family, create these with your kids and personalize them with their names.

To create this magnet simply stamp the Inchie+ and then embellish as desired. The hinge clip is attached with a brad and a Basic Grey magnet adheres to the back.

Supplies: Inchie+ Squares, Tiny Type by Cosmo Cricket, Cling Ledger Stamp by Hero Arts, Game Spinner,  Tiny Attacher & Hinge Clip by Advantus, Crop-a-dile by We R Memory Keepers, magnet, Sepia Archival Ink and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink by Ranger, Large Magnetic Snap by Basic Grey

Finally with the myriad of pens and pencils at school make yours stand out and keep it from wandering off. I think I'll be making more of these as I'd like one for my purse, my daughter has claimed this one and I'd like to give a couple out as teacher's gifts. This pen is an altered Copic Multiliner and if you've never used them for writing, you're missing out.

The Tonic Paper Trimmer easily cuts this sheet of Wonder Tape. I used 1.5 x 3.5" for the barrel and 1.5 x 1" for the cap. The clip on the cap is removable and can be reattached after altering.

 

After peeling off one of the adhesive papers, roll around barrel of the pen. Apply glitter as with the Burnished Velvet technique that you can find here in last month's In Touch Newsletter.

I've used  the beautiful Peacock Blue and Regal Red glitters by Glitter Ritz for this project.

Have fun getting ready for back to school and I hope you've had a little fun yourself, learning with this tutorial today. Thanks for stopping by and happy creating!

Comments

[Sharon Harnist]

Great tips, Julia! I especially love that glittery Multiliner -- I see one of those in my future!

[KathyN]

Julia, your ideas and projects are wonderful! I would never have thought to cover my Copic Multiliner with the glitters! I really like the little notebook you put together. I'm waiting for my toy to arrive, should be here in the next few days (to make some notebooks). Oops, that would be product, should use the proper term. I too love my Tonic Paper Trimmer! Thank you for your wonderful ideas!