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Let’s Talk Paper Trimmers – Why I have NINE and which one is my fave!

Byshelliemarie

Paper Trimmers. Ah, the dilemma of a paper trimmer. My friend Sharon can get seriously fired up on the topic of a paper trimmer and how seemingly impossible it is to find the “perfect” one. In my opinion there’s not a single one that’s perfect, meaning that it would alleviate the need for any other ever. I believe that depending on your projects and current needs, there are a few that come in handy. I currently own nine. Yes, nine. I’m only a little bit ashamed.

Here is the exhaustive list of the ones I own and why.

(Some of the links below may be affiliate links if available.)

  • Fiskars SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer – (If I was forced to choose only one, this would probably be it.) I called it “the one with the wire”. I have had the 6 inch wide one for many years and it was my favorite, however, recently the wire bent so I replaced it with the next size up. I like it because it’s lightweight, reasonably sized, travel friendly and the most accurate when you want to cut in an exact spot, like when slicing up cut apart sheets. My newest one, I will admit, doesn’t cut straight when you use the extender arm so I don’t use the arm for alignment, only for measuring. (Scrapbook.com) (Amazon.com)
  • Tim Holtz 8.5″ Guillotine Trimmer – I love this trimmer for cutting smaller sized papers. I want it to be larger without it actually being larger – meaning I want it to cut bigger pieces of paper, without the bulk of having a big enough cutter to handle larger sized pieces of paper. On that note, I’ve been wanting to get the 12.25″ tall one for a while because it’s tall enough, with the accuracy of the guillotine, but still narrow and travel friendly (sort of) but it’s pricey so I haven’t bought it yet. (Scrapbook.com) (Amazon.com)
  • Tim Holtz 12.25″ New Rotary Cutter – This one is new to me so I haven’t really put it to the test yet. I’m hoping it lives up to it’s hype and will replace my need for the 12.25″ one mentioned above. I’ll let you know. This was gifted to me by my BFF because she didn’t like it so I’m going to give it a test. (Scrapbook.com) (Amazon.com)
  • We R Makers – All-In-One Tool – The Works – I really like this one. While I don’t always reach for it if I need to slice a simple sheet of paper, I find it to be super useful and a space saver when cropping away from home. It replaced so many of the individual punch boards that I used to try to take with me everywhere I went. It’s also a pretty great trimmer and scoreboard. It makes envelopes and tags and I love the tab maker punch especially. It also has a stamping tool but I’ll be honest, I don’t use it for that purpose, though it may work well for that. I can’t say. Love this one. (Scrapbook.com) (Amazon.com)
  • Fiskars ProCision Rotary Bypass Paper Trimmer – I bought this in a moment of frustration because when making photo albums and matting the pages, you need to have accurate cuts. If you don’t, it really shows. I’d been at a crop and had been trying to bring less stuff and had made a poor decision when choosing which paper trimmer I brought. I no longer own the one I’d used that weekend, but needless to say, it wasn’t a great experience. The cuts were often inaccurate and the blade was dull and I was annoyed. I ended up using my neighbors trimmer for most of the weekend which was frustrating. So I did some research when I got home and bought this trimmer. I do believe for accuracy and straight cuts this one is top of the line. If I’m making an album or cutting a lot of papers that I need to be accurate, this is what I would choose. It’s big though. Not really travel friendly unless you’re specifically working on a project that would call for it. (Amazon)
  • Fiskars 6″ Photo Bypass Trimmer – This is a small photo sized guillotine trimmer that I keep tucked into a pocked of one of my travel bags and use for photos specifically. It’s sharp, accurate and convenient. (Amazon)
  • Creative Memories 12-inch Trimmer – This trimmer is the one I use when I want a decorative edge on my scrapbook pages. The swap out blades for deckle and waves and scallop are so cute and it works beautifully. I didn’t scrapbook in the days when border punches were super popular so I don’t have many in my collection. This just gives the perfect edge and I didn’t have to buy a big expensive trimmer just to get that deckled edge. (Sorry!) (Creative Memories – not an affiliate)

I also have this Fiskars 12″ Guillotine Trimmer and it cuts accurately but dude, that handle is so freaking big and the trimmer is just so big overall that I find it to be unnecessary. I only use it when I have lots of space and some kind of bulk project, like cutting papers to use in organization projects. One of my co-scrappers once asked me, “What’s with the snow shovel?” That’s how big that handle is – it looks like the handle to a snow shovel. Ridiculous.

In summary, it really does depend on what type of crafting you’re doing and what your specific needs are when it comes to choosing the best paper trimmer for you. Do I need all of these, probably no. Am I going to get rid of any of them? Probably no.

Let me know what your favorite trimmers are if they differ from mine and why.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps!

Talk soon,

Shellie

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