Shop Scissors Blog

Easy Valentine's Day Card

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to tell your family and friends how much you love them. Your children will love created this heart envelope card to share with family members and friends. It’s also easy and fun to make and in just a few simple steps you can have the perfect card for Valentine’s Day. You can even create custom stamps with your own pictures!

You will need…

• Scissors or pinking shears
• Wrapping paper or origami paper
• Sticker
• Custom postal stamps (optional)

Use your pinking shears to cut a heart from a solid-colored piece of paper or one with a pattern on one side. Fold in the sides as shown in the diagram.

1. Fold the top of the heart down just above the middle of your card, where only a point is left.
2. Fold the point up so that you are left with a rectangle.
3. Turn your card so that the flap is at the top, leaving it looking like a regular envelope.

Seal your card with a sticker and voila! You are left with the perfect card to send to your family for Valentine’s Day.

Learning to Use Scissors

It’s important that when children reach the age of approximately four years old they begin to work on developing their hand muscles for other fine motor skills using scissors. By the age of four, children’s hands have grown large enough to fit scissors and they have the hand strength to cut paper without causing it to tear.

When holding a pair of scissors, the tips of the thumb and middle finger should be in the holds of the handles. The index finger should be on the outside of the scissors for stabilization and the ring and little finger should be curled into the palm, out of the way.

Cutting activities use the muscles in the fingers and require separation of the two sides of the hand. It’s important that the scissors are held correctly and that the scissors be of an appropriate size, or else the child will use the large muscles of the hand and decrease precision while cutting.

When teaching a child to cut, it is easiest to use training scissors so you can help the child and guide him or her initially during cutting activities. Start with thicker materials when you begin teaching your child to cut. Construction paper is a good place to start, even play dough as the child begins to understand how to operate the new scissors.

For more cutting tips or to purchase a pair of training scissors for your own child, visit us online at ShopScissors.com.

Feature Friday: Trauma Shears

In an emergency, it’s important to have scissors you can count on. If emergency responders need to cut off a seat belt or cut off thick, bulky clothing it’s important that the scissors perform as expected and that the EMT not need to saw away at the material to cut it away.

The 7” Muscle Shears can easily cut aluminum, canvas, carpet, leather linoleum, rubber and many other materials. Designed as utility shears, they work perfect for use as EMT bandage shears, or trauma shears.

An anesthesiologist from San Antonio writes,

“These shears look like most trauma shears, but they are not the slightly too small variety or the ones that 'gnaw' rather than cut. I have purchased 4 of these for home, work, and my car. I am very pleased with them so far.”

Another customer writes,

“I have four pair, in my home and in my three studios. I can't be without them.”

For more information about the 7” Muscle Shears or to find another pair of trauma shears, visit us online at ShopScissors.com.

Tips for Scrapbooking

Whether you are a beginning scrapbooker or have been making scrapbooks for years, all scrapbookers can benefit from scrapbooking tips, since tips are designed to improve the look of scrapbooks, save money and make you more efficient.

1. Choose one photo as the focal-point and treat the others on the page as accessories to help tell the rest of the story. You don’t need to mat all the pictures, but you do need to mat your focal-point picture.
2. Cut a piece of patterned paper into a large curved shape or a triangle and attach it to the cardstock to create an eye-catching background.
3. Wrap ribbons around your focal-point photo.
4. Cut out letters from patterned paper for a great page title.
5. For unique handwritten font, handwrite each letter with enough space in between to easily cut out each letter individually. Mat the letters on cardstock and be amazed how unique your font turns out.
6. To make your photos pop, just add a white mat as a background.
7. Journal on a tag or piece of cardstock and tuck it behind a photo when you want to write a quote, story, or other sentiment.
8. Want a more energetic look? Try tilting your photos to create the illusion of movement.
9. Give your scrapbook an edgy look by using staples to fasten journaling blocks, accents or page titles.
10. Cut up fabric to use as a background design or as strips for ribbon.

For more scrapbooking tips or to purchase scrapbooking supplies, visit us at ShopScissors.com.

Homemade Mint Candy

Even though the holidays are far behind us, the wintertime, when you’re stuck inside out of the cold, is a great time to make homemade candy. Depending on your favorite flavor, you can easily make this candy with cherry, mint, or spearmint oil flavoring. With only a few ingredients and a little effort, you can have some tasty, homemade candy made in no time.

You will need…

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. water
• 3 tbsp. butter
• Cherry, mint, or spearmint oil flavoring
• Food coloring
• Ice
• Extra butter
• Candy thermometer
• Cookie sheet
• Cold kitchen scissors
• Marble slab

1. Before beginning to cook, butter the marble slab and cover it with ice. Place the kitchen shears into the refrigerator to cool.
2. Combine the sugar, water and butter into a large saucepan. Cook on high until the temperature of the mixture reaches 240 degrees.
3. Remove the ice from the marble slab and wipe it down.
4. Stir the mixture constantly from 240 degrees to 258 degrees, because it will cook quickly at these high temperatures.
5. When the candy reaches 258 degrees, remove it from the heat and pour it onto the slab.
6. Add 3 to 4 drops of color and 8 to 10 drops of the flavoring.
7. Leave the candy to cool for approximately a minute, spread the corners to the side, then fold it over while moving it across the slab.
8. When it is cool enough to handle, twist and pull for 10 minutes.
9. Use your cold kitchen shears to cut the candy into small pieces before placing it onto waxed paper on a cookie sheet.
10. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before removing and allowing the candy to become creamy overnight.

For more cooking tips continue reading our blog. To purchase a pair of kitchen shears, visit us online at ShopScissors.com.

Decorative Pillows

The cold winter months when you’re stuck inside can be a great time to work on making small improvements in your home. Changing some of the accessories around your home, such as adding a vase or changing out the pillows on your sofa, can go a long way towards changing the look of your home. If you are looking for a new project, try playing around with the design of these pillows – they’re just solid bases with sleeves that slide over them. Because they’re so easy to make, you can make many of contrasting colors and be constantly changing the look of your pillows to create more variety in your home. Just follow these few easy steps from Martha Stewart and you will have new pillows in no time.

What you will need…

• 18-inch pillow
• Fabric shears
• ½ yard of fabric
• ½ yard of contrasting color fabric
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

1. Cut one 19-inch square and two 19-by-12-inch rectangles. Lay the rectangles on the square so they overlap a few inches in the middle. You will be inserting the pillow in the middle at that overlap. Pin the pillow all the way around and sew with a ½-inch seam allowance.
2. To ensure that the edges remain sharp when the pillow it turned right side out, cut away some of the seam allowance by cutting diagonally across each corner. Turn the pillow case right side out and insert your 18-inch pillow. Cut a 19-inch square for the contrasting sleeve.
3. Fold in half end-to-end and sew along the ends and fold. Cut the seam allowance at the corners like before. Turn the case right side out and slip over your pillow.

For more craft ideas or to purchase a pair of fabric shears, visit us at ShopScissors.com

Sweater Mittens

Do you have sweaters lying around your house that you haven’t worn in years? After years of wear, many retire sweaters to boxes in the attic or the back or drawers. However, you can still get years of use out of those sweaters, breathing new life into them by using them to make a pair of mittens to keep you warm and toasty this winter.

You will need…

• Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Sweater
• Pins
• Sewing machine

1. Make a pattern by tracing one of your hands onto a piece of paper, with your hand at a 30-degree angle. Rather than drawing the individual fingers, draw a mitten shape around the outline of the hand, adding 1/2-inch (or more for bulky sweaters).
2. Cut around the pattern and pin it onto the sweater. Make sure, when you pierce the sweater with the pin, that you piece both layers. When you cut out the hand pattern you should have to pieces (both sides of the sweater).
3. With the right sides of the sweater facing, pin the cutouts together. Use a sewing machine to attach them together, leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance. To create smooth curves around the fingers, pick up the foot and sew slowly, rotating the mitten as you sew.
4. To prevent your mitten from fraying, sew around the mitten again, this time leaving just a 1/8-inch seam allowance.
5. Turn the mitten right-side out and press the seams flat so they lay smoothly. Repeat these steps with the second mitten.

Not only will your new mittens make great use of those old, worn out sweaters, they also make great gifts for friends and family!

For more crafting tips, continue reading our blog. If you wish to purchase a new pair of scissors for your next sewing project, please visit us at ShopScissors.com.

Kids Party: Jungle Adventure Theme

Monkeys, tigers, tree frogs, and snakes – these familiar jungle creatures can turn any average birthday party into a wild jungle adventure. Learn how to turn your child’s birthday into a memorable trip through the heart of the jungle.

Invitation

Create a template for the shape of a leaf and draw onto green poster board. After cutting out, write the party details on one side of each leaf and the address on the other. Check with the post office to find out if you will need additional postage before putting the “post cards” in the mail.

Decorations

Make paper-bag vines to transform your home into a wild jungle. Remove the bottom of a brown paper grocery store bag and then cut down one side of the bag to open it and lay it out flat, one large rectangle. Cut the bag, lengthwise, into three strips and twist the strips to look like vines. You can connect your vines using masking tape and hang them from your ceiling and down your walls.

Using the same template you created for the invitations or an entirely new template, cut out large leaves from green poster board and tape them around your house. Purchase a CD with jungle sounds and play to finish transforming your home into a jungle.

Food

Prepare jungle-themed snacks for the kids to load up on before they head off on their jungle expedition. A few snack ideas include:

• Dried ants (dried cranberries or raisins)
• Crocodile teeth (apples sliced into wedges)
• Worms (either candy worms or hot dogs cut into strips lengthwise and boiled till curly)
• Jungle juice (any brightly colored fruit punch)

Games

Games are one of the most important parts of the party, and you should have the kids gear up before their jungle adventure. Set them at the table or on the floor with straw pith helmets, plastic pugs, and poster tack or double-sided foam tape. Give each child a bandana to wear and have them begin decorating their hats with bugs.

Crocodile Alley Obstacle Course

At the beginning of the course, set out a backpack, sleeping bag, map, and flashlight in a box. The explorers are required to, one at a time, grab all their gear and follow a masking tape route through the obstacles that you have set up. When the explorer reaches the end, he or she must retrace their steps back through Crocodile Alley until the reach the beginning, where another player will grab the gear and run.

Obstacle ideas include:

• Quicksand: a blanket on the floor that the kids must jump over
• Poisonous vines: tape grocery bag vines or crepe paper in doorways or hallways that the kids must crawl under
• Bat cave: bring chairs together and throw a blanket over them for the kids to crawl through
• Crocodile territory: kids have to jump from rock to rock to avoid the crocodiles (rocks are made from paper cut into circles taped to the floor)
• Spider nests: make dashes with the tape that kids have to jump over
• Piranha pond: lay a towel or small area rug on the floor that kids have to jump over
• Jungle animals: place stuffed jungle creates along the course that the kids must avoid

Snake Hunt

Hide several dozen plastic snakes around a dimly lit room: under rocks (cushions), in caves (closets), and in the bushes (houseplants). Give kids flashlights and have to set out to locate all the snakes. When they finish, each child can pick a snake to take home with them.

Party Favors

The hats the kids decorate and take home make a great party favor. You can also create little brown bags filled with candy and plastic bugs and tied with twine. On the outside write each child’s name and “Supply Rations.” Kids scissors that looks like lions, tigers and monkeys also make great gifts that the kids can use again and again.

So good luck and stay safe during your jungle adventure!

Reversible Cotton and Wool Scarf

With January only about half over, there’s still plenty of time to make a beautiful new scarf to last the rest of the winter. This easy, reversible scarf features one side that is soft warm wool and the other cheerful cotton. The best part is that one size fits all, as this scarf makes the perfect gift!

You will need…

• Lightweight wool or wool-blend fabric
• Lightweight cotton print fabric that is complimentary to the wool
• Cutting mat
• Clear quilting ruler
• Rotary cutter
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Iron

1. Lay the wool fabric on a cutting mat and use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut the fabric to the desired length. Repeat with the cotton fabric, using the same length.
2. Place the right sides of fabric together with the cotton side on the top. Sewing on cotton is easier than wool, since it minimizes slipping. Pin the fabric together at each end and at regular intervals in between to hold the pieces in place.
3. Use your sewing machine to machine-stitch all four seams, leaving ½-inch opening in the middle of one short end.
4. Careful not to cut your stitching, clip the corners at a 45-degree angle so they will be sharp corners when you turn the scarf right side out.
5. Turn the fabric right side out and press the seams with an iron.
6. Use a slip-stitch the close the opening.

Super Bowl Party Invitations

Super Bowl XLVI is still several weeks away, but it’s not too early to start planning for your Super Bowl party. Even if you aren’t wholly into watching the game, the commercials are entertaining and the food is fantastic. Set the stage with fun Super Bowl party invitations.

What you will need…

• Cardboard jewelry box
• Grass carpet (from a home improvement store)
• Texturing tool
• Texture plates
• Brown cardstock
• White cardstock
• Heavy duty scissors
• Fiskars scissors
• Border punch
• Glue stick

1. Create the card easily by adding texture to grown cardstock using texture plates with the texturing tool. Use your Fiskars scissors to cut the cardstock to fit the size of your jewelry box.
2. Create the laces by cutting a 1-3/8 inch wide strip of white cardstock and punch along one side with a border punch. Punch along both sides, making sure the designs are aligned. Attach to the front of card with glue stick.
3. Line the bottom of the box with the grass carpet.
4. If you don’t want to spend the extra postage to send the jewelry box container, skip the box and just mail the textured card in an envelope.

You can use the carpet in other areas as well. It can make great lining for serving to add extra flair to your party.