Keeping Border Punches Straight

I’ll go back to posting cards and stuff… promise.

I just wanted to share this little tip about border punches. Something that probably everyone else in the universe knows – but just in case…..

When I first started using my Lacy Days border punch, we were not quite getting along. I kept ending up with edges that were not perfectly straight. It would kind of go “uphill”. They were just off by a little but it was driving me nuts.

Turns out it was operator error (namely me).

When you punch, you need to concentrate on keeping the cardstock flush with the top edge (see the arrow). It is not flush in this picture.

This seems obvious, but if you push the cardstock in tight where the punch is, the cardstock can tilt slightly (its exaggerated in the photo). By the time you finish punching a whole strip, you can end up uneven. Before you push down the punch, take a second to check that the cardstock is flush with the top.

The hardest bit is the last, where you don’t have any cardstock left to be flush. You can match up the images on the punch, but also make sure the cardstock is square to the grid on the base.