Quickutz Die Cutter and Dies for Scrapbooking

For a long time, Quickutz and Sizzix were THE brands to have as far as die cutting tools went. Now, there are more expensive electronic ones out there, but not everyone can afford them. For the budget minded scrapbooker, Quickutz is still the way to go.

The Quickutz Personal Die Cutter comes in blue most of the time. There have been other limited edition cutters, but the blue is the most common. It can be used with or without a stand. If you use the stand, place it on the table and the cutter fits inside. All you have to do then is press down on the upper handle. Without the stand, you must press both handles together. There is also an attachment you can purchase called Komfy Kutz. It is designed to be used with the stand. Place the Komfy Kutz on the top handle that you would press down on to make it more comfortable.

With the Quickutz, there are 2 metal plates and two long handles. The dies magnetically adhere to one of the metal plates. The paper or cardstock is places between them and the handles are pressed together. When released, this cuts out the patter on the die on your cardstock or paper. It is easy to use, and fairly inexpensive compared to the electronic ones out there. The handtool and cradle retail for around $70 but can usually be found cheaper on ebay. The Komfy Kutz attachment retails for around $10.

The dies for the quickutz are thin metal wafers. They come with tons of designs, shapes, flowers, uniforms, holiday themes, and alphabets. If you can desire it, Quickutz probably makes it. They come with ejection foam, which is placed of the die design and a shim. The shim is a tiny thin clear sticker that goes on the back of the die in the even that the design doesn't punch out completely when the hand tool is pressed together. Each die is numbered, and they fit into a Quickcutz binder with ez store die sheets. The binder runs around $8 and the die sheets run about $4 for a set, whcih will store 16 dies. A zippered binder is also available that runs around $25.

For your Quickutz, you can also buy alphabets, called fonts, just like on the computer. They come in several different fonts and in 3 sizes: classic, mini and skinny mini. Previously fonts were sold with uppercase, lowercase, punctuation and numbers sold seperately, but now they all come together. Classics, which are the largest at about 1 1/4 inch, run around $200. Mini's are about $150, and skinny mini's are around $70.

Often, Quickutz puts out limited edition sets. These are great to have and a lot of times come with little extras. There are also things called Goosebumpz embossing dies, which emboss your designs. Some dies also come in sets. Dies come in singlekutz (meaning it only takes one die for the design) and doublekutz (which means it takes two- they come together). The dies are added to about every month, but then, some are retired just as often. It is wise to get the ones you really like.

The Quickutz system is easy to use, easy to understand, and easy to buy. For people who can't afford the electronic $300-$500 die cut systems and the sets to go with them, it is a thrill to have one. I highly recommend it for scrapbookers.