When crafting with paper nobody likes to see scraggly edges. Here are a few simple tricks to keep those cuts nice and clean.
1. Designate scissors for specific purposes. I have a nice set of fabric shears, and nothing touches those blades but fabric. Keep a good pair of shears just for kitchen duties, and assign a pair just for paper crafting.
2. Keep it sharp. When your shears, or paper punches, are cutting a bit dull grab some tin foil, or very fine grit sandpaper (100-200).
Fold a piece of tin foil several times over and cut it up. Snip away at your sandpaper until you are satisfied with the cuts. Make sure to flip the sand paper so each blade gets touched by it.
Punch the sand paper grit side up and grit side down. Punch a few shapes out of wax paper after your have sharpened it with foil or sandpaper. The wax paper will help your punch glide.
You can also buy a manual scissor sharpener for under ten dollars.
3. Change your blades. Scissors are not the only tool for cutting paper. Paper trimmers and utility knives often come in handy. For nicest cuts change the blades at the first sign of snagging.
Written by Nikki from Salty Pineapple