BasicGrey has a great tool called the Notch and Die Cut Tool with three interchangeable magnetic tips for adding slots to your pages. The tip shapes are half-circle, v-wedge and straight-edge and the blades are razor sharp. This tool has been around for a few months now but there are still many people who have not seen it in use.The tool is pretty easy to use - simply mark the area where you want to make your incision, place the tool in place and rock back and forwards a little. Make sure you have a protective self-healing mat under the project area you are working on, and you should emerge with a clean crisp cut.
The notch and die cutting tool has application in both the scrapbooking and card-making arenas. Some ideas for its use include:
- creating photo corner or slots for attaching photos
- making incisions through which to weave paper strips
- attaching vellum and transparencies without adhesive
- creating patterns to jazz up your page
- weaving ribbon, string or thread for effect
- creating closures for mini-books, matchbooks and cards
- attaching journaling strips and journaling blocks
- creating placements for attaching titles
- attaching accents
On the layout "Sally" I have used the tool to create a hand made flowers using the half-circle notch tip. First I traced a circle on my page, then I lined the notch tool up, and went around the circle, leaving little gaps in between. Once I finished that I cut out some petal shapes and placed them into the slots that the notch tool created to make a flower, then added a small circle and a brad to create the middle off the flower. The number of petals you will need to complete your flower will be determined by how big you make your circle.
For the layout "Almost Four", I used the triangle shape notch. I cut my paper to look like ribbon and used it as journaling strips at the edge of the photo. I made little triangle slots to slide the strips in to and then attached each strip with a brad. I also used the straight tip along the bottom of the layout so that I could weave patterned paper through the page.
On the layout "The Dora Pose" I have used the half-circle tip to create slots on the edge of each strip of patterned paper. I had a hole in each semi-circle and then strung ribbon from side to side, and then placed some photos over the ribbon.
Attaching a title by mounting letters on chipboard or cardstock and then stringing each tile through a notch in this same way is also very effective.
Review by Nic Wright...
