Maria: Fussy cutting is awesome! I love love love it, despite not being the best at it. I love how you can get so much out of a 12x12 sheet of pattern paper by just fussy cutting the shapes out of it. Some people use huge scissors, and some others use small scissors. I am in the second group. I normally try to leave a small border around the shape that I am cutting, although it is not always possible.
Emma C: Ahh fussy cutting, labour intensive but oh-so-worth-it! Some papers just cry out to be fussy cut and one particular designer that springs to mind is ... you guessed it! ... Paige Evans. Her designs are perfect for cutting out images and layering them for something spectacular - especially the florals! Here is a prime example, created when I attended a workshop last November. Top Tip: when cutting try to move the paper around rather than the scissors, saves your hand aching a bit! Also, a good pair of small sharp scissors that cut right to the tip are a must. Happy cutting!
Jess Claire: Fussy cutting can be kind of time consuming but I love the look of it. I am a bit of a budget scrapbooker at times and I always feel like fussy cutting gets a lot of value from the paper. My tips are to start by roughly cutting out the shape; that way it's easier to move as you cut it. Depending on the look you want, you can cut leaving a border; I like to do this if the image has a white border behind it, because it then looks a bit like a die cut you might buy. Alternatively, you can cut right up close to the image; I tend to do this more just because its less obvious if you cut something off so you don't have to be as precise. I really like to adhere fussy cut pieces with adhesive foam tape, which pops the piece up and makes it look more like a true embellishment. Finally, don't be scared to use a large fussy cut piece - it can be the focal point of the layout.
Terri-Ann: I absolutely love fussy cutting! My GoGo Getaway nickname is 'scissor ninja' because I love to cut shapes from patterned paper. I find it relaxing to sit in front of the TV with a crazy busy pattern and cut out all the images. If it's super intricate I will leave a slight border but prefer not to. I also like to get my craft knife out to cut out the inner pieces from designs such as between flower stems and leaves.
Lisa-Jane: I'm quite partial to a bit of fussy cutting - like stitching, it can be a lovely way to pass the time while chatting with friends or watching your favourite programmes, etc. Like many others, I like to cut things out of my patterned papers to use in place of die cuts or to layer up on top of each other to add some dimension. Despite having a Silhouette and quite a few sets of Thickers, I do sometimes fussy cut a title, like I've done here. We have a few sets of alphabet templates between our local groups and I used them to trace the letters onto a coordinating design for this layout, then stitched around it to add some texture.
You don't have to stop at titles or flowers though, try things like ticket stubs, etc. I've also been known to cut out images from Project Life style cards such as cameras, hearts, and frames. The layout below is quite an old one now but I wanted to show an example of another different kind of fussy cutting. I've used chipboard shapes as templates to trace onto thick card stock, cut them out, then applied Mod Podge to some old jeans to make it stiff enough to adhere the card stock shape onto and trace and cut out. They make really unique embellishments and are worth the effort I think.
Pol: Fussy cutting is one of my Favourite Things Ever! I used to hate it because I cannot cut a straight line to save my life, but it turns out that makes me ideal for fussy cutting! LOL!
I like to leave a border around whatever I'm cutting out, and I love to make little scenes for my pages. I will purposely choose papers that can be fussy cut, and I enjoy fussy cutting while I'm watching TV in the evening. I'm really rubbish at sitting doing nothing so I'm often doing several things at once! Fussy cutting is a great way to make your papers go further if you're on a budget.
Susan: I too am a fussy cutting fan. I especially like to do it at crops when I can sit and chat and keep my fingers busy at the same time - it helps to keep them out of the chocolate, too! Any papers with large images are fair game; I sometimes wonder if I cut out just for the sake of it as I seem to be sticking the pieces back into the same place as they were originally! LOL! Seriously though, if you put the pieces back with dimensional sticky dots under some of them it gives your page some nice height and texture. I always cut close to the edges of an image not being too keen on white borders. I will even cut off the border from a ready made sticker. Occasionally I will fussy cut a photo if there is too much distracting background. I don’t like the white edge you get when cutting into photographic paper; a good tip is to gently edge the cut image with a dark ink.
Gemma: I agree with the others in that I love fussy cutting! I love doing it to create extra embellishments for a page. My favourite would be a fussy cut floral, and I love to fussy cut a whole 12x12 paper leaving a small border around the shapes. By leaving a border you get some of the background colour come through, in this layout I liked how the green broke up all the pink.
I like to fussy cut my own free-hand shapes as well, like I did in the moodboard challenge layout, where I used coloured raindrops. Also in this layout you can see that, like Susan, I will even fussy cut a photo to help create the scene on my page.
Laura: My tip for fussy cutting is to keep the scissors still, only moving the paper and to experiment with different scissors. Personally I fussy cut best with my largest pair as they are more comfortable to hold.
Michelle: It looks like l might be the only one on the team who doesn't love to fussy cut. I love the end look of it but I’m just not very good at it, although I have been incorporating it into more layouts, especially in my Traveller's Notebook. I now have some super sharp scissors to make the job easier. I may even get round to using some of the many cut-apart sheets that I have collected and stashed over the years. I agree with what others have said in that it is much easier to move the paper and not the scissors.
I do hope we've inspired you to crack out your sharpest scissors and get snipping!
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