Making Memories Circle Cutter

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Reported by Martha Bonneau

I recently had a project come up where I was going to need to make lots and lots of circles in various sizes...I realized quite quickly that I was going to need to break down and buy yet another tool for my scrap-room as making precise circles without the appropriate tool could prove to be quite difficult. I went to a couple of stores and looked at all of my options and finally came home with a Making Memories Circle Cutter.












A couple of things that drew me to it vs. some of my other choices were the fact that it would cut up to a 9" circle, larger than that of the EK Success Curvy Cutter or the Fiskars Circle Cutter, I also liked the fact that it was pretty compact and would not take up a lot of space in my work area. It is a relatively simple tool to use. There is a blade in a small holder on the arm that can be adjusted for either right or left handed users. This same holder can be adjusted with a couple of turns of a knob to determine how large of a circle you want to cut. You simply place your paper on a cutting mat (one is provided with the tool), center the tool on the paper, press down on the center of the tool and then turn the arm in a complete circle to make the cut. Sounds easy enough, but MM stresses both on the packaging and on their website that it will take practice. I found that you really need to apply a lot of pressure (which means you will be standing while using it) and have the steady hand of a surgeon to get multiple perfect circles, I frequently ended up with a not so perfect circle because I moved just a little or hesitated while cutting and the circle did not line up exactly when I got to the end. Another thing I found frustrating was when I tried to cut a circle within a circle, I found it next to impossible to get the interior circle centered.

All in all this is a handy little tool. I like that it cuts so many different sizes of circles, it is easy to see where you are cutting, replacement blades are housed in the handle of the tool so there is no fumbling around looking for a new blade when you are in the middle of a project, plus the fact that it comes with it's own cuting mat makes it something I would pack to take to a crop with me. Just do as MM says...practice, practice, practice! MSRP is $19.99, I found it for a little less and was able to use a coupon.