The hand-punch is a great tool for adding detail to scrapbook pages or greeting cards. Here, courtesy of crafts expert Debbie Stapley, are some tips you can try to get the most out of this nifty little craft tool, which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes:
- Accentuate a particular design by layering a contrasting or patterned paper underneath your punch.
- For accurate spacing of your punches, be sure to use a pencil and ruler and place a dot where the center of each punch should be.
- A glue pen is a great tool if you want to place your punched-out pieces on top of another piece of paper. Tweezers can also come in quite handy if you have small punched pieces.
- Besides the glue, try giving your punches a self-adhesive back by using a special paper available at crafts and scrapbooking stores. Simply peel off one side and stick it to paper. After punching out a shape, peel off the backing and place the shape on the paper.
- Give your hand-punches a long life by keeping them dry so rust won't form. If the edges get dull, try punching through a piece of very fine sandpaper or aluminum foil to sharpen them up.
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