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I know I am likely to get punked down on this one..... but...... here's my opinion.
Ok. I had $27 left on an Amazon gift card. I ordered a scor-pal from Ritz Camera. With shipping the whole thing cost me $7.
I have a Fiskars and Cricut cutting tools, with swing out arms and scoring blades to use with them. Most of the time I cut my paper, then pick up my scoring tool and ..whoosh... cut and scored. But I'm ashamed to admit it, I'm a gadget junkie. After reading the recent craft tool thread everybody was raving about this thing. So, ok.... 7 bucks. Now I have it, and I wish I had spent my money on a book or something else....anything else.
After playing around with it, I realized that my Fiskars and Cricut cutters did just as good a job at scoring with much less effort! Picture it - you have just cut your paper, and just by moving your paper to the desired score mark, you pick up your tool , make your score, it's done. With the Scor Pal, now I use my cutter to cut my paper, then put that away, and drag this thing out, line up my paper, score.
This thing takes up so much room that it needs to be put away and then brought out again to score. But my cutter is always out, with the swing arm neatly tucked away until I need it. And truthfully, I see no difference in the quality of the score. Both tools score, but my cutter does it with less fussing about. I guess that's what really irks me the most. I was expecting some kind of divine , hand of God, score. Nope. No better, no worse than what I can make on my Fiskars.
So then I decide since I have this piece of crap that I might as well keep it out and try to optimize my work area. So, I cut a heavy acrylic sheet to fit into the scor pal and make a work surface. But I already have 3 cutting mats covering my desk already. Now I have 4 - one on top of this extraneous 12x12 piece of plastic.
The moral of this story is this....... IF you already have a Fiskars, Cricut or any other cutting tool - you DON'T need a Scor-Pal. Get a scoring blade to use in your cutter, or a hand held one and you can score your cards just as nicely and accurately as with the Scor-Pal. If you don't have a cutting tool, and are cutting your papers with a ruler and craft knife, then a Scor Pal would be good to have. Or better yet, just get a Fiskars or Cricut (many other brands) and you could have the best of both worlds.
Save yourself. Don't go down the same road of gadget addiction that I am on. I just wasted a perfectly good $27 gift certificate on this thing. I only have myself to blame for buying it. Life would be so much easier if I had a brain.
Did I mention I wish I had gotten a book instead?
My name is Sewnmachine, and I am a gadgetholic.
__________________ A good dog, a sewing machine, and an old guitar......
I am sorry you dislike your scorpal or are not getting along with it at the moment. I have one that I bought from scrapbookingalley.com (same company as ritz but free shipping on everything) and love it. When I have to prepare classes I know that the scorpal (for me) is more accurate (and better for mass production). I love the tool and would suggest it to any and every card maker as a must have. I would agree that is IS ANOTHER tool that takes up space... but I love it
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I too am sorry you don't like your scor pal. Can you return it or is it too much of a hassle? If it's a pain to return keep working with it maybe you will find a magic use for it.
I have the scor mat and keep it in my scor pal out my counter and it has worked very well for me. But I never had any other scoring too........but I love the scor pal.
I love mine not only for the scoring.. but for the projects, 3 d items you can make with it. I like being able to score multiple times without moving the paper. I keep mine out and use it regularly.. I didnt care for the fiskars trimmer with scoring blade so my paper cutter doesnt have the scoring ability.
Im sorry you dont like yours, list it on the BST and I am sure you will get rid of it. I love mine!
Well, ok, maybe if all you ever do is score basic cards. I personally love my Scor-Pal. I have purchased two at full price, one as a gift, and couldn't be happier with this product. I think it is great and indispensible for 3D items and all but the most basic cards. I use mine daily and it never leaves my work surface! I use a SU! Table Top Cutter which is guillotine style, so no scoring blade. I have given all of my Fiskers/ProvoCraft/Cricut cutters away. I could never get a clean cut with any of these without a brand new blade. I was spending a small fortune on cheap blades that went dull in no time. I will never own another one of those types of cutters. I have no problem with my Table Top cutter, even after two years of constant use.
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Thanks guys - but I'll probably keep it. That's another one of my problems. I keep all my stuff ( that's why I have a closet full of fabric that I'm hoping to use SOMEDAY).
I didn't buy the scor-mat, but I have managed to rig up a work surface for it. The product itself does exactly what it says it will do. It does make accurate scores. I guess I was just having buyers remorse. I already have sooooo much stuff, that after I got the scor-pal I realized too late that what I already had does the job just as well.
I'm sure I haven't learned my lesson yet either. No doubt sometime in the future the Glue Glider Pro will end up in my craft room. :rolleyes:
__________________ A good dog, a sewing machine, and an old guitar......
I have a Cricut, but I would never be with out my my scor-pal! I use it on every card and it's just wonderful. Especially for when I am making something that needs a lot of scoring, like a treat box for example.
I would suggest that if you are not happy with your scor-pal you could sell it or trade it for something that you would rather have. I'm sure you would have no problem selling it.
Lets talk about gadgets.... I have a ton of them but I still use my ScorPal each and every day!
Yes... I have 2 guillotine style cutters, a $200 Carl Cutter (cuts, scores & perforates), a cheap Cricut cutter and a Fiskers cutter...
I dont' think my Fiskers cutter or Cricut cutter scores as nicely as my Scorpal. And it is a PITA to change blades on the Carl cutter to score.
I think the scores are much thinner and not as well defined on the Circut or Fiskars cutters, vs. when I use my Scorpal. The ScorPal (IMHO) is best hands down when it comes to scoring decorative grids on cards and fancier stuff where you have to turn the paper constantly.
Too bad you don't like your SP.... maybe if you play with it a bit you will get to like it better.
I love mine not only for the scoring.. but for the projects, 3 d items you can make with it. I like being able to score multiple times without moving the paper. I keep mine out and use it regularly.. I didnt care for the fiskars trimmer with scoring blade so my paper cutter doesnt have the scoring ability.
Im sorry you dont like yours, list it on the BST and I am sure you will get rid of it. I love mine!
I'm with the OP...I only drag it out when I need mutliple scores on the same sheet...and even then, I find it hard to do 1/8 inches...and just not all the lines I need regularly are there.. I do find it easier for mass production tho.
I also love my Scor-Pal. I have the mat too. It sits on my desk and I work on it all the time. I used to have a Fiskars cutter with the scoring blade and I really didnt like it at all. I just find the Scor-Pal so simple and easy to use.
I LOVE the score-pal. But I use it on projects that require multiple score lines: boxes or cards that you have to score in multiple places. I also love it to put texture on your paper... like the diamond pattern... I saw that and knew I had to have it. Now that I have it I use it on my everyday cards too... I can tell the difference between it and scoring on my fiskars cutter.
I used to use the Fiskars cutter with the scoring blade, but the cards always came out wonky. That's no longer a problem with the Scor Pal!
__________________ "Life is much too important to be taken seriously." Oscar Wilde Proud to be a member of Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge DT! My BlogMy Gallery
I just recently bought a Scor-Pal and am loving it! If you only use it to make a single score for a card fold, then no, it probably isn't necessary. It's great for decorative scoring, making easy gatefold cards, boxes, etc. I find the scored groove is a little more definitive than my Fiskars scorer. I stamped for many years without it, but must say I'm glad I now have one.
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I am with the majority here. Love my ScorPal. I like to score a stack of 10 on 12 sheets at the 4.25 mark and then cut them all at 5.5 on my huge old guillotine.
I have made just a few of the projects on the Scor-Pal website. They are wonderful... boxes et cetera.................
I have got to say I love my Scor-Pal!!! It is big, but I just keep it on the floor leaning against the table leg and grab it when I need it; easy-peasy! I mainly use mine to score folds, but will also use it occasionally for decorative scoring.
I recently made a box for a wedding card. It was fast and easy and looked so classy with a belly band and monogram on it. I lined it with a felt-like fabric, too. I will definitely be making more of these!
I have heard their website is awesome, but I havn't checked it out yet.... Need to do that....
I don't often post my opinions but have to say that the Scor-Pal is one of my all-time favorite crafting tools! I may not use it on every card, but I sure use it to make boxes. It's made my life so much easier.
haha! I have a scor-pal AND a score-it tool. I use the score-it for single scores and the scor-pal is great when you have to do multiple scores, like an accordian fold, quickly and accurately. I used to have the scoring blade for both my fiskars personal cutter and my carl cutter and I never used them.
Like Gale, I have the Scor-It. I have the mini however, because I knew I didn't want something that took up a lot of room. I LOVE this little thing, and it fits in a drawer! I do accordian folds on it and everything I need. Here is an accordian fold mini altoid tin album I just made this weekend using the Scor-It Mini. I am sorry you don't care for your tool but I guess I am suggesting if someone wants something smaller, try the Scor-It Mini!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sewnmachine
Thanks guys - but I'll probably keep it. That's another one of my problems. I keep all my stuff ( that's why I have a closet full of fabric that I'm hoping to use SOMEDAY).
I didn't buy the scor-mat, but I have managed to rig up a work surface for it. The product itself does exactly what it says it will do. It does make accurate scores. I guess I was just having buyers remorse. I already have sooooo much stuff, that after I got the scor-pal I realized too late that what I already had does the job just as well.
I'm sure I haven't learned my lesson yet either. No doubt sometime in the future the Glue Glider Pro will end up in my craft room. :rolleyes:
LOL, No doubt I can be a gadet/tool freak too. I am waiting for the Glue Glide Pro to show up in my craft room too!! Good luck.
I love my score-pal too. I use it a lot and have it on end propped against my cabinet leg and whenever I want it I just grab it and put it back--very easy and convenient.
I do use another bone folder with it, though, as the girls in my stamp club said the one that came with it did not work very well.
I waited a long time to order my Scor-Pal because I know I am a gadget freak and have way too many tools I had to have and then only used once or twice; what sold me on it was the all the gorgeous cards that used it to add decorative lines to projects.
Now I can honestly say that I use it on every card I make and it has made its way to work with me more than once and saved me a great deal of time there. I did have several Fiskars cutters with scoring blades, but they all had a hinge or something that made it difficult to line the paper up where I needed to; also every one of them was wonky somehow because I was never able to get an even score - not only did the card not fold quite exactly in half (one edge always was a little longer than the other), but the top & bottom didn't line up - the score wasn't perpendicular to the top & bottom edges of the card. I'm not sure if it was the scoring function that was wonky or if it was the cutting. Either way, I was not happy with those trimmers.
I'm really happy for anyone who has the Fiskars trimmers and has good luck with them. I just couldn't make them work for me.
I know I am likely to get punked down on this one..... but...... here's my opinion.
Ok. I had $27 left on an Amazon gift card. I ordered a scor-pal from Ritz Camera. With shipping the whole thing cost me $7.
I have a Fiskars and Cricut cutting tools, with swing out arms and scoring blades to use with them. Most of the time I cut my paper, then pick up my scoring tool and ..whoosh... cut and scored. But I'm ashamed to admit it, I'm a gadget junkie. After reading the recent craft tool thread everybody was raving about this thing. So, ok.... 7 bucks. Now I have it, and I wish I had spent my money on a book or something else....anything else.
After playing around with it, I realized that my Fiskars and Cricut cutters did just as good a job at scoring with much less effort! Picture it - you have just cut your paper, and just by moving your paper to the desired score mark, you pick up your tool , make your score, it's done. With the Scor Pal, now I use my cutter to cut my paper, then put that away, and drag this thing out, line up my paper, score.
This thing takes up so much room that it needs to be put away and then brought out again to score. But my cutter is always out, with the swing arm neatly tucked away until I need it. And truthfully, I see no difference in the quality of the score. Both tools score, but my cutter does it with less fussing about. I guess that's what really irks me the most. I was expecting some kind of divine , hand of God, score. Nope. No better, no worse than what I can make on my Fiskars.
So then I decide since I have this piece of crap that I might as well keep it out and try to optimize my work area. So, I cut a heavy acrylic sheet to fit into the scor pal and make a work surface. But I already have 3 cutting mats covering my desk already. Now I have 4 - one on top of this extraneous 12x12 piece of plastic.
The moral of this story is this....... IF you already have a Fiskars, Cricut or any other cutting tool - you DON'T need a Scor-Pal. Get a scoring blade to use in your cutter, or a hand held one and you can score your cards just as nicely and accurately as with the Scor-Pal. If you don't have a cutting tool, and are cutting your papers with a ruler and craft knife, then a Scor Pal would be good to have. Or better yet, just get a Fiskars or Cricut (many other brands) and you could have the best of both worlds.
Save yourself. Don't go down the same road of gadget addiction that I am on. I just wasted a perfectly good $27 gift certificate on this thing. I only have myself to blame for buying it. Life would be so much easier if I had a brain.
Did I mention I wish I had gotten a book instead?
My name is Sewnmachine, and I am a gadgetholic.
I think we've all purchased a few things and later found it may not have been a good fit for our needs. ;)
I can honestly say I use my Scor-Pal pretty much daily, and find it to be extremely useful; I keep it propped right under my desk where I can reach for it quickly whenever I need it.
I've tried a variety of scoring tools, and for me the Scor-Pal has been a most excellent investment--one of the best I've ever made in 15 years of stamping! A perfect fit, if you will.
Perhaps you could gift it to a stamping friend who would enjoy it, or sell it, and get something else that better fits your needs?
And, since you're a gadget-a-holic, perhaps I could interest you in a rarely used, dust laden Roll-a-bind . . . . ? ;)
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
I think it is all a matter of what you want to use it for, how accurate you want things to be and how well your current tools work for you. I use mine and really like it. For single fold cards I can see not "needing" it but there are lots of other great projects and techniques it work for and makes super easy. I like the fact that I can make multiple scores without moving the paper so they stay accurately lined up. It's nice for Z fold and gate fold cards. Also great for boxes and bags. I also like it for evenly scoring around the edges of a card panel//base or creating patterns. Yes, I could use my Fiskars trimmer with scoring blade but for me I prefer the high edge of the scor-pal that helps me keep things perfectly straight and even. And even for single fold cards I was always bad to press too hard with my Fiskars blade and cut through the paper instead of actually scoring. With the Scorpal I have never had that happen. I don't have the mat so when I'm not using it I just lay a piece of cardboard over the groves and use it to stamp on and put my projects together on. That works great for times when I need to move to another room or set things aside to work on something else. But again it is all a matter of preference.
I love my Scor-pal. I understand the OP's point if all you ever want to do is score one line and fold a card but I use my Scor-pal for so many things that I honestly don't think I can stamp without it. LOL!
From the many boxes and lids that I create to one of my favorite techniques of creating faux woodgrain, that Scor-pal is on my desk every minute. (I had the fiskars one and I found that I constantly pulled down the wrong blade and ended up cutting my card stock in half instead of scoring it. Yes, I know, that's me being a dummy but that's me all the time. LOL!
Here is one of my favorite cards that I made with my Scor-pal doing the Faux woodgrain technique. The Scor-pal made this so easy because I didn't have to re-measure with every score.
Here's what it looked like before I attached my focal image.
Occasionally I get buyer's remorse but then, I go find a bunch of things that I can do with the tool and voila! Buyer's remorse- gone!
__________________ Be polite to those who are rude to you. Not because they are nice, but because you are.
Owner- Gina K. Designs
Personally the cutter that I had that I tried to use a embossing tip to do my scoring with just didn't do clean lines. Now I just got my scor pal so I haven't used it to it's full potential yet, but I plan on it.
Thanks Gina for giving me another idea to play with
(I had the fiskars one and I found that I constantly pulled down the wrong blade and ended up cutting my card stock in half instead of scoring it. Yes, I know, that's me being a dummy but that's me all the time. LOL!
Hey, save a seat for me in the dummy club! :mrgreen:I either forget to channge the blade or forget I want to score not cut and press so hard I cut with the scoring blade. :rolleyes:
Ok, I must admit I didn't take the time to read through all 30+ comments at this point, but I'm really glad you posted this! I have a Tonic Guillotine cutter which has score marks on it. So I've never found it necessary to buy one, but was considering it. Now I will definitely save my $$ for other things I "need".
I waited a long time to order my Scor-Pal because I know I am a gadget freak and have way too many tools I had to have and then only used once or twice; what sold me on it was the all the gorgeous cards that used it to add decorative lines to projects.
Now I can honestly say that I use it on every card I make and it has made its way to work with me more than once and saved me a great deal of time there. I did have several Fiskars cutters with scoring blades, but they all had a hinge or something that made it difficult to line the paper up where I needed to; also every one of them was wonky somehow because I was never able to get an even score - not only did the card not fold quite exactly in half (one edge always was a little longer than the other), but the top & bottom didn't line up - the score wasn't perpendicular to the top & bottom edges of the card. I'm not sure if it was the scoring function that was wonky or if it was the cutting. Either way, I was not happy with those trimmers.
I'm really happy for anyone who has the Fiskars trimmers and has good luck with them. I just couldn't make them work for me.
Ditto!! I am only making do with my Fiskars cutter - mine is not 90 degrees exactly and is always a little off. I don't like it.
To the OP: I don't have a Scor-Pal, but buy from Scrapbookingalley next time!! They are the same as Ritzcamera, but with FREE SHIPPING!!!!!!
Man! I don't think I could LIVE without my Scor Pal! I can not imagine prepping for the classes and workshops I teach without it. Plus, when you move into higher end trimmers, they don't generally have a scoring blade. (I've got a Dahle 440)
Have you considered listing it in Buy/Sell/Trade? I am very confident there is someone out there dying for a Scor Pal, and then you wouldn't feel unhappy with your purchase.
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I have a Scor-Pal and will agree that you don't "need" it just for basic scoring but for projects or techniques (or if you score card stock for classes or workshops) requiring scoring it's great to have
Like Gale, I have the Scor-It. I have the mini however, because I knew I didn't want something that took up a lot of room. I LOVE this little thing, and it fits in a drawer! I do accordian folds on it and everything I need. Here is an accordian fold mini altoid tin album I just made this weekend using the Scor-It Mini. I am sorry you don't care for your tool but I guess I am suggesting if someone wants something smaller, try the Scor-It Mini!
I LOVE your tin. I am going to have to try and attempt it. Thank you for sharing
