Punches

Punches - die cutting without a machine!

Hand punches (hand dies) or also known as punches for short have become indispensable in card design, handicrafts and scrapbooking. With these practical tools, you can decorate your creative projects very individually and, above all, quickly. With the punched motifs your greeting cards, boxes, gift packaging, mobiles, pendants, etc. become real eye-catchers. Great DIY projects such as party decorations can also be easily realised with this (e.g. small hearts as scatter pieces for the wedding table or maybe some green lucky clover for the next New Year's Eve party?). In addition to paper and cardstock, you can also use foil and thin felt as a medium with these hand punches.

Tips and ideas for handicrafts with hand punches or motif punches

Tip 1: Look, it's that easy: put the paper in the hand punch, press down the lever and the punching is done.
Tip 2: If you turn your hand punch around, you can control where the motif is punched - for economical use of paper and material and for precise placement of your motif on your creative project.
Tip 3: If the cutting power of your hand punch decreases after a lot of use, you can sharpen the punch a bit. For example, use aluminum foil and punch it out a few times.
Ideas: once you've punched out your motifs, you can continue to work on them (glue them on, decorate them, refine them). You can add color to your punched out parts with stamping ink and the blending tool. You can also just add color to the edges for accents. You can use embossing paint and embossing powder to emboss the die-cut parts to give them more dimensionality. If you have an embossing and punching machine, place your motif in the embossing folder and you've already provided your punched motif with a pattern. You can even foil your motifs with the Sticky Embossingpowder from Ranger and a hot embossing dryer. And if you use the negative (meaning the opposite of the punched motif) as a stencil, you can create enchanting backgrounds with paint or paste. And with stickles or the Nuvo Drops you can add embellishments, for example. The possibilities are endless. Maybe you have other ideas and discover other possibilities in your creative work that suit you?

What material can I use with hand punches?

With a hand punch - also known as a punch - you can punch out design paper, cardstock, foil and also thin, compact felt. How strong the material for punching can/may be also depends on the hand punch you use. If it is very small and light and only punches mini motifs, then in most cases you can only punch out thinner paper with it. The more compact and heavier the hand punch, the thicker your paper and foil can be. And you can also punch out thin, solid felt. But make sure that the motif is not too delicate, because then the motif might fall apart. The following are not suitable for punching out with a hand punch: chipboard, greyboard, cardboard or leather.