My New Second Favorite Tool

I have a Crop A Dile!  I love this thing. It does all I thought it was going to do and them a few things that I didn't think of.


First, it punches holes in two sizes and that really makes setting your brads and grommets really easy. And that was a hint... it sets grommets. Makes life so much easier when you can set a brad without a hammer... lol... I can't tell you how many strange looks I got when I wanted to do that in a scrapbook or card and I was looking for the hammer. lol..


It is quiet, it is fast and it can be done with one hand. All of this makes using this a real treat. The only drawback that I can see with the original Crop A Dile is the fact that you are limited in how far in you can place a hole. The original Crop A    Dile is really only good in that respect for working on the edges of cards and pages. 


To solve this problem We R Memory Keepers have come out with the Crop A Dile 2 called the "Big Bite". This one is able to reach into a page up to 6 inches. Which is right in the middle of a 12x12 scrapbook page. I am still a hammer girl for the middle of the page. I am not sure I will be getting one any time soon... but one is in the future, because you can never have too many tools!


Back to the original Crop A Dile, I just saw a video on how to use it for embossing!  This is the unexpected extra that you can do with this tool that I didn't even have in my mind that you could do. There appears to be 2 ways to do this. 


First you can make your own template by using chipboard or thin plastic and punching the design you want. Then using that place the card stock over the plastic and using and burnishing tool emboss the paper... Easy enough!


Second, that the one that I tried and found to be a bit tricky is to use the Crop A Dile to lightly press the card stock using the brad setter. I tried this also and I have to tell  you I thought I broke the darn thing because I didn't realize that the buttons on the base recessed. When I saw that circle of paper (yes, I squeezed too hard and made a hole instead of an impression) I was completely upset and when I "not so gently" placed it on the table, the paper popped out and the button returned to normal! PHEW!!!!!