Fussy Cutting Tips

Hi Cherries! Today I wanted to share a 12×12 inch layout that I made using the Moonlight Magic collection from American Crafts. This is a collection with many forest elements, such as flowers, leaves, butterflies and fairies, its palette has darker tones despite being very colorful; It’s something I don’t usually pick for my projects, but I thought it would look really interesting with the idea I had of creating a flower garland around the photograph.

The main technique used in this layout was fussy cutting, this is a very common practice here in Brazil, as much as I love the practicality of die cuts, I have acquired the skill of fussy cutting over the years and I will leave you with some tips.

Tip 1: Have sharp, precision scissors! Do not use this tool to cut other materials, this way it will always remain sharp.

Tip 2: The hand that is holding the scissors does not move, the one that moves is the hand that is holding the paper, and this makes the necessary movements so that the cutting is done fluidly.

Tip 3: If you don’t have much skill yet, you can cut leaving a thin edge, this way you don’t move forward incorrectly in the illustration causing it to deform.

Tip 4: Choose illustrations with few details, medium to large size at the beginning; Make it more difficult as you improve your skills.

Tip 5: Practice a lot, take the paper with lots of illustrations, and cut everything out; you can also practice with printables or magazines. Soon you will be making beautiful, precise, and fast fussy cuts!