I am new to scrapbooking and have purchased a paper cutter, which is great as long as the lines are straight. it is not very useful if I’m cutting other shapes, so I bought a cutter that has a blade with a pointer which was designed for scrapbooking. This makes it difficult to cut exactly where I want, because the blade is covered. Are there any tools someone can suggest for cutting pictures, tags, etc? Or do I just use plain household sciccors? Any advise is appreciated.
I crop my photos on my 12" trimmer or my personal trimmer (from Creative Memories). The personal trimmer is just for photos. Here’s a link to show you: http://www.creativememories.com/MainMenu/Our-products-and-services/Traditional-Scrapbooking/Tools/Cropping-Tools/Trimmers/Personal-Trimmer (Creative Memories is a direct sales company and you buy through a consultant)
For doing tags, you can use the 12" trimmer, scissors or buy a template for tags. For templates, there are a couple of options. You can get one that you trace the image and then cut. Or you can get a Coluzzle. The Coluzzle is a type of swivelling exacto knife that sits in a template and cuts the image out. You can get a lot of different templates (circles, ovals, squares, hearts, tags, alphabets…). You get the starter with knife, cutting mat and a template or two to get you started. You add what templates you like. http://www.provocraft.com/products/index.products.php?cl=coluzzle
There are different scissors in different sizes. Depending on need, you can get smaller ones for small shapes with a 2-4" blade. Of course, scissors have tons of uses but can be hard to cut straight if you don’t have a line to follow. 
I also cut "uphill".
There are a ton of options out there. You can get machines that cut a lot of shapes, a machine to punch out shapes and the list goes on. Those are a big investment though. If you just want to do photos, start with basic stuff and go from there.
Hope this helps you some! 
P.S. If you edit your question to say specifically what shapes you have had trouble with, perhaps we can give more exact advice.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
try a scalpel
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February 19th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Im not sure look it up.
sorry
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February 19th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
It depends on how much you want to spend. I have a Cuttlebug, which is a die cut machine that embosses and cuts. You have to crank a handle to put the dies through the machine, but you can’t change the shape or the size. I can cut out a variety of shapes as long as I have the "die" to do it. The Cuttlebug (just the machine) will run about $90, but I paid far less than that. The dies are between $5 and $50, depending on what you want.
If you have between $200 and $400, you could get a Cricut. It doesn’t require dies, but you have to have a cartridge. The machine will cut the items for you, in whatever size you specify.
There are a few other die cut machines on the market too. Sizzix and Quik Cuts are similar to Cuttlebug.
Other than that, your options would be the Fiskars cutting system, a small cutting knife, or scissors.
References :
http://www.cricut.com/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.provocraft.com/products/index.products.php?cl=cuttlebug
February 19th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I use pen knives to cut small things. I get mine from dollar stores but there are better ones out there.
Like this one
http://www.xacto.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=167
References :
February 19th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I crop my photos on my 12" trimmer or my personal trimmer (from Creative Memories). The personal trimmer is just for photos. Here’s a link to show you: http://www.creativememories.com/MainMenu/Our-products-and-services/Traditional-Scrapbooking/Tools/Cropping-Tools/Trimmers/Personal-Trimmer (Creative Memories is a direct sales company and you buy through a consultant)
For doing tags, you can use the 12" trimmer, scissors or buy a template for tags. For templates, there are a couple of options. You can get one that you trace the image and then cut. Or you can get a Coluzzle. The Coluzzle is a type of swivelling exacto knife that sits in a template and cuts the image out. You can get a lot of different templates (circles, ovals, squares, hearts, tags, alphabets…). You get the starter with knife, cutting mat and a template or two to get you started. You add what templates you like. http://www.provocraft.com/products/index.products.php?cl=coluzzle
There are different scissors in different sizes. Depending on need, you can get smaller ones for small shapes with a 2-4" blade. Of course, scissors have tons of uses but can be hard to cut straight if you don’t have a line to follow.
I also cut "uphill".
There are a ton of options out there. You can get machines that cut a lot of shapes, a machine to punch out shapes and the list goes on. Those are a big investment though. If you just want to do photos, start with basic stuff and go from there.
Hope this helps you some!
P.S. If you edit your question to say specifically what shapes you have had trouble with, perhaps we can give more exact advice.
References :