The Tattered Rose: WE WILL NOW TAKE A BREAK FROM OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TEXT TO BRING YOU THIS COMMERICAL MESSAGE: HOW TO CUT A PERFECT CIRCLE EVERY TIME!

I went to a craft class this last weekend put on at a local independently owned craft store by a Fiskars representative. The great thing about demos by company representatives is that they really understand their merchandise and they bring a lot of free samples and door prizes. This demo was no exception. I am not really a gadget kind of person, but in my art stash I confess to owning quite a few. No Cricut, but I do own an older State of the Art Fiskars paper cutter and a Fiskars Drill. I use them all the time and they make my job a lot easier. I also love paper presses which can be a great time saver. I have never owned any border or circle or corner punches (which are bigger and take away more space from my endless collections of antique flowers, dolls parts, etc - you get the picture), but I have found the extra large single paper punches to be especially helpful with shrink plastic and altered books (you can cut a perfect window to the next page) and I own a modest number of these. I went to the Fiskars demo to see what other tools might be helpful - or I thought I might get another pair of scissors - what paper artist doesn't love scissors!

What I did discover that I could no longer live without was the nifty shape cutter pictured above and below. It is called the Fiskars Ultra ShapeXpress. I recognized it as a tool my sister owns, but has never used. I generally retails for about $20 (or at Hobby Lobby for the low, low price of $14.99 MINUS this week's 40% off coupon -sorry, independently owned craft store).

The ShapeXpress is surprisingly easy to operate, once you have figured out what it does. You use it with a hard plastic template. I bought this set of templates at the Fiskars class. They can be used with the ShapeXpress to cut perfect circles from 4.5" in diameter up to 8.25" in diameter. Just follow the easy steps in the enclosed picture instructions to load the blade and then put the safety lock back in place. Then snap off the plastic cover on the bottom and twist the orange freehand spacer to remove it. Then position the blade at the top of the template with your fingers on the sides (not the top!) and move it around the inside or outside of your template. It's that easy! It really works!

This size package of templates will cut circles between 4.5" - 8.25" in diameter. This package retailed for $13.75 and is guaranteed for life of the original purchaser - as are all Fiskars products - another useful fact I learned. Just call an easy 800 number if you need to repair or replace a product. Its like the Tupperware guarantee!