Perfect Layer or Layer Ease Tool?
 

I don't know much about either one but it bugs me when my layers don't look quite right or perfect. Which do you recommend? I'd rather spend money on cardstock, ink or stamps than a 'tool' that I might not need. I have a problem with cutting layers then the top/bottom being shorter than the left/right part of the layer or vice versa. I probably waste alot of cardstock this way. I don't have the patience to start all over again so I just go ahead and layer it the best I can. I'm wondering how helpful and convenient these tools are for you. Which one is better? Please share your input.

A friend of mine has been scrapping for 12+ years. She bought the Perfect Layer tool about 3-4 years ago on QVC and swears by it--says it was a great investment, she uses it all the time. But I suspect, as with every tool, they take time to master and one might seem easier to you than another. If you have a larger local scrapbook store near you, I would ask them if you test/try the products. They should have them out and available as both have been on the market a long time. I have no personal experience with either product. I just eyeball everything.

Annette
http://stamponthis.com

I'm a demo and I bought the perfect layers because of all the good things I heard about it and I LOVE IT!! I use it all the time, its so easy and all my mats are perfect. I would say definately get the perfect layers tool! Almost all of my customers who have tried it have bought one, its been a big hit with my friends who are perfectionists :)

Both :) If you are mostly matting items with straight edges then the perfect layers is the way to go. It's a great tool but it's made to mat items with flat edges.


BUT if you are into layering items in shapes - ie a circle, flower, heart. Then the magic matter is what you want. As you place you pencil into the middle hole and draw around the object to make the mat.

I first purchsed the layer ease (is that the one where it cuts with the coluzzle blade as you go around the picture?). I couldn't get it to work right. I ruined a few pictures that I was trying to mat. I should have practiced more. So, then I bought the majic matter. Unfortunately I am not out of the habbit of cutting odd shapes!

I have both. The perfect layers is good for straight lines but the layer ease is good for other shapes. I use the perfect layers more because it is quicker and easier to use.

I love my Perfect Layers. I can cut layers just fine on my paper trimmer, but I have a hard time getting them adhered straight! I am constantly looking at something I did and thinking, "dang it! It was straight last night!!" Perfect Layers takes care of that.

I have had perfect layers for scrapbooking for years and I LOVE it! I now use it all the time for my cards. It is much much cheaper on QVC but sometimes it is on back order. For straight lines Perfect Layers is the way to go.

The Layer Ease is something that is sold on QVC (I think?)...Perfect Layers is SU's same products with a different name. I'm not sure if you can find LE in your local scrapbook store...I've looked and had no luck.

i totaly am with you.
i have the cm system and the small cutting machine cuts often on the top of the paper a little notch where the paper was squeezed and at the bottom it gets crooked.
iam a beginner in stamping and i would rather spent money on the nice colors sets and all this stuff but i hate when a project doesnt turn out right. i am so happy to see the layer tools in the next summer catalog i will defenetly order it.

all the people here have positive things to say about it

Perfect Layers
 

Hi there...perfect layers has been in a couple of the mini catalogues... think your demo has to write it in a special spot on the order form...it isa 2 ruler combo set and the price is $ 22.95
# is 105962
I hope helps they also have a wheel guide that looks similar to help with rolling your wheels straight...I believe is $ 9.95

Perfect Layers orginally debuted on QVC 5 years ago, and since then SU! has started to carry it. Layer ease has also been on the market for several years as the 'Magic Matter'. They are 2 completely different products, that do 2 different things. You can find Magic matter at some LSS, but Perfect layers is only available through SU! and QVC.

I have owned both products for several years. I rarely use layer ease, but I use my perfect layers every time scrapbook :) I couldn't scrap without it :)

I use my layer ease for stencils on the INSIDE...I have some rather large (about 4-5 inch tall ones) and they are in a really cute font....so, when I want to have that same font, only smaller, I pull out the layer ease. Also, like previous posters suggested use them with shapes you are wanting to mat.

Perfect Layers - well, I LOVE IT!!!! I bought one a few years ago on QVC and it is wonderful. Yes, it may be cheaper than the SU! one, BUT it does not have the metal edge that the SU! one does. At least mine doesn't and I don't believe QVC offers that one anyway. I will say that mine that I bought has a few slice marks cut into it when my craft knife got away from me! Ha! No really, I would want one with the metal edge. It is a great tool!

HTH!

The one offered from QVC does have the metal edge. It is the same exact item that is offered by SU. I believe that they are made by the same company. The difference is the QVC one comes with a self healing mat and a craft knife for less than the SU. SU only sells the rulers.

I love my Perfect Layers! I use it all the time for scrapbooking and making cards. It's nice that it now has the stainless steel inside. I started buying the one from QVC a couple of years ago and at the time it didn't have it and I used to shave the foolish thing constantly. Having that stainless steel edge prevents that.

I think I should get this but I'm afraid I won't know how to use it and I don't have a near-by demo to show me how. How hard was it to learn how to use perfect layers?

It really was easy. I delayed buying it for a while because I thought I might have a hard time learning how to use it but it was very easy. Each ruler has four different matting widths. Each width has a "lip" that catches onto your cardstock to hold it still. Pick the matting width you want, catch the lip on the cardstock and use the hobby blade to cut. It really does make perfect layers. If you buy it and would like some help, PM me! :)

A friend of mine just bought the layer ease and it is sooooo COOL!! Works like a charm and is super fast and easy to use. She highly recommends it! It is on page 221 of the SU catty.

I used to use a compass with two metal points (remember the ones from school that were used to make circles and arcs for math class--it's like that but instead of a pencil on one end both are metal points. You can find it at most office supply stores in the drafting section.) to make sure my mats were equal. It was handy to make sure all sorts of things stay equal and straight, like titles or journal boxes. Because it's hinged the points are adjustable to any size and stay that width apart until you move them. I got pretty handy at tracing odd shapes, too, which is how I traced before magic matters and perfect layer tools were sold. The new products are a bazillion times easier to use!

perfect layers, I can't cut straight when I use my layer ease

I have the Perfect layers...I don't use it much...but i know that practice will make perfect.....

SU! carries Layer Ease
 

Layer Ease is found in SU! catty pg. 221 for $13.50.

It's a great tool for layering shaped images. It comes with four different sizes of "discs" (1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2) and you just put your pencil in the hole of a disc and trace around the image to get the desired size mat.

HTH :)

Calling all Lefty's
 

Help! Any other Lefty's out there?? I tried to use my Perfect Layers, and never did get it right. I've always been able to figure things out, but this one has me totally stumped. I love the concept of it...just...
Any suggestions?
thanks
Kim

oh and it's in the current SU mini..

I am not sure if this would help, but one of my friends uses the fiskars rotary knife with her perfect layers. She is also left handed and she said it is much easier with the rotary blade. :)

Can you tell me in detail exactly how that thing works. I've seen it in the catalogue and just can't figure it out by looking at it. It looks flat and looks like you would have to have something similar to a rolling cutter thing to make it work.

Kim Now I know what your problem is..............




You're a Southpaw........:-D :-D


And there's Nothing wrong with that........I just so happen to be one myself.

Nancy,
rofl!!
Yeah, you know WE are the ones in our Right minds!! :D
SouthPaws Rule! :-D

When you use these tools do you adhere your image on the cardstock you are using as a mat and then mark and cut?

I have the Perfect Layers and love it! I don't understand how the Layer Ease works...if you use it with a pencil, does it just draw lines and then you have to cut with a scissors?

Laura,
The Layer Ease are like small thin washers that roll along next to your cardstock. With the pencil marks left behind, you then cut the layer out with scissors. They roll rounded corners, so you have to cut them square yourself.

Diane - thanks for the clarification on the Layer Ease. How about the Perfect Layers and the trouble as Kim is refering to for us lefties?

TIA!

Lynn,
I'll try! Being of the right-handed persuasion, the problems that left-handed people run into aren't always clear to me. With the Perfect Layers Tool - this is one of those times where I am unable to see what it is. The tool has markings on both ends so either of "us" can see, for example, the 1/2 inch layer mark. Mine would be turned one way, yours, the other. I would put the tool against the right edge of the photo/cs, hold it with my left hand and cut with my right. You would put the tool (turned upside down from me) against the left edge of the photo/cs, hold it with your right hand and cut with your left. Right?

Please educate me if I'm looking at this the wrong way! Thanks, Twinks! You're gonna get me in trouble - I just know it!

thank you, Diane!
I thought I'd ask because like kimeboss, I'm a lefty and it sounds like she has the tool which looked like a ruler to me. Info about it was clarified by previous posters and by your response, I'm even more confused because it sounds as if the metal edge is accessible to us lefties so I don't understand the problem she's had with it.

Kim, can you shed any light to our problem?

TIA

Let me get back to you on this...I gotta go try it again...:)

I love the Perfect Layers, I am also a quilter and I use an old rotary cutter and small self healing mat with it. It works like a charm. Just make sure the lip of the ruler hugs the side of your cs.