Paper piercing finds

I spent a good couple of hours wandering around Michael's today. I had a 50% off coupon burning a hole in my purse and had the hardest time finding something to get with it! None of the Martha Stewart punches appealed to me (I already had the ones I liked most) and the Fiskars punches were already on sale for 40% off. (I got the diamond border punch) Hmmmm, what to do? Well, I ended up getting a large Wilton cake leveler, of all things. Not even stamping-related! Now at least my daughter can do her 4-layer cakes with ease.

But anyway...

So I was wandering around in just about every section imagineable looking for a tool I could use for paper piercing. I can make do with the pins, but after awhile my grip gets a bit crampy. So I've been keeping an eye out for an alternative.

Well, first I found one in a sculpting kit in the clay area, but I'd have to buy a bunch of stuff I might never use and spend $11 to boot. I wasn't about to waste that coupon on such a thing! Then I ran across a suitable tool in the jewelry department that was actually very cheap ($1.99, I think), but the handle was long and I could see that my grip would become fatigued after using it for awhile. Then I ran across the (almost) perfect solution in (I think it was) the jewelry making area. Or was it? I can't remember! Anyway, it was around where the Making Memories tool kits were. It has a reversible stylus/piercer with a short, fat handle that I think will be easy to grip. I tried it as soon as I got home and I liked it!



In my wanderings I also found some plastic canvas templates that I had sorta blogged about here. Well, I got the smaller circle one ($0.49) and tried it out. It works marvelously! I think the only thing that will be hard to do is to line it up where I want it, especially on black cs. I think I might recommend taping it lightly to the cardstock so it doesn't slip while you're piercing your circle. Either that or hold it firmly and carefully until you're done. I aimed in the same corner of each hole to get a uniform distance between the holes. You can see from the picture that it did an excellent job making a circle.



(Ignore the stamped rose. I was using a scrap from my last card to practice on.)

So you can see that for around $3.50 plus tax you can have a circle paper piercing extravaganza on your cards! If you don't have a cushion like the Mat Pack has, you can take an old mouse pad and turn it upside down and pierce into that.

Have fun!