Need Circles? Get a Curvy Cutter from EK Success

When EK Success released the Curvy Cutter, I told myself that I did not need to look at it. I already had a great circle cutter that I loved. Then one day I walked into my local scrapbook store, and found a large crowd around one of the tables in the back. I asked what was going on, and I found out that the new Curvy Cutters had arrived, and everyone was trying it out. After watching the reactions of several ladies, I thought, "Okay, I will give it a try." I proceeded to tell everyone around that I would not buy it because I already had a great circle cutter. Well, let me tell you, I have never been so impressed with a product. I literally left the store with everything in my hands-glass mat, circle, rounded square, and oval templates. After having this product since its debut in the store in September 2006, here is what I have learned about this great product.

Mats

There is some debate on message boards as to whether or not you need to use the EK Success glass mat with the Curvy Cutter. I am here to tell you that I would not use this product without it. If you use a self-healing mat, the blade does not glide like it should and you end up with jagged edges. The glass mat makes the blade glide through the paper like a knife through butter. It is so smooth and fast that you can literally cut your circle in one step. The glass itself is a 13" square cutting surface, perfect for your 12" x 12" papers. It also has a smooth surface with printed grid lines which I find very helpful. The polished edges and safety corners are perfect for those scrappers that have little ones in the house. The rubber feet keep it stable on your desktop. These features make the glass mat a definite must-have.

Templates

The Curvy Cutter has three shape kits available: circles, ovals, and rounded squares. Each of the circle and rounded-square kits cut 22 different sized circles and rounded squares, respectively. The oval shape kit cuts 24 different sized ovals. Each kit includes two shape tracks and two positioning templates. The shape tracks each have gripper feet to hold them in place while you cut. The positioning templates are very helpful in determining which size shape and track to use. By using the inner and outer tracks, you can get many, many sizes of each shape. If I had a large enough piece of paper and a larger glass template, I could actually cut a circle that is 15" in diameter by using the outside track of the larger circle and with the cutting arm fully extended on the cutting tool. These shape tracks are very adaptable.

Cutting Tool

The cutting tool is like no other I have used. The handle actually swivels making cutting extremely easy. The blade is two-sided so it cuts in two directions. The cutting tool can be used with all of the shape tracks, and replacement blades are very inexpensive. The cutting arm can extend out to four different lengths. Each notch you see on the cutting arm actually extends it by 1/8" so that you can make mats and frames. This works beautifully. It also has a blade cover which I keep on the blade when I am determining where to cut a shape on my paper. I actually run the cutting tool on the shape track to make sure I can get the most use out of my paper. Once I am truly ready to make the cut, I remove the blade cover.

Storage

When I first opened each of my template kits, my first thought was, "Oh my goodness, how am I going to store this thing.?" The templates are rather large but to make large shapes, we need large templates. I finally found a perfect storage solution that is working well for me. I keep the glass mat and all of the templates standing on edge with some of my books. It works really well, and it is easy for me to grab what I need. They do not take up much room at all being stored this way.

I hope that you will have the opportunity to try out this great new product. But beware . . . you will probably end up like me and walk out of the store with every piece in hand!