Question regarding Sizzilits

[Kori]

Hello,

I got a Sizzix sidekick for Christmas along with some alphabet sizzlits. I've never used one before and it's great. I have a couple of questions though...

When I use it, the plastic plate on top gets an imprint of the letters I'm cutting. Is this supposed to happen? Also, now that I've cut lots of letters out, the dot in the "j" gets stuck into the foam and if I use a needle to get it out, it gets damaged.

The other issue I have is with the letters themselves. When I bought the machine, I was advised to also get the adhesive cardstock which is designed for the 12" sizzlits. They stick down fine but fall off after a couple of days even when they're inside the page protector.

Any advice?

Kori x

[honora2929]

Hi yes the plastic plate does get imprint thats normal ,the adhesive 12x12 strips are not that good and you will need to run them through a zyron if you have one .Dont know about the dot sticking on foam as i have never used that but it does stick sometimes on paper also .Hope that helps please pm if you need further help x Honora

[Kori]

What's a Xyron?

[Syl]

I use normal paper and card and a glue pen, not the thin pen but the marker pen style and I find they stick really well with that.
Yes I have had probs with with the dot in letter but manage to pick out the build up on the dot with a pin, well a pokey tool...carefully. I do not do this everytime I use it as the build up can help to clear the dot too.
And yes the plate does become well scored and buckles in time but you can still use it but keep a spare pair in reserve...just incase.

[deelish]

Xyron is a sticker maker device, quite cheap (£6/7), you can get them in Tesco's Extra as well as craft stores, you just put whatever you need to get stuck through them and it makes the back sticky. But you can use whatever manner of sticking you currently use on them too. I find a lot of stuff (such as chipboard letters) which are ready glue'd don't stick well without some help. You can use regular card, I use Bazzil a lot, and then add adhesive afterwards.

You will need to periodically replace the acrylic spacers, but remember to use both sides of each one. Only one gets marked per use.

I'm not sure if sharpening the sizzlits would help, apparently if you run them through with a double sheet of foil instead of card this sharpens them. You might find if you're cutting the J's in the same place every time that causes a problem so move your acrylic spacer around a bit so it's on a flat part.

HTH

[Kori]

Thanks that does help. I like the idea of a Xyron. Will try and get one soon. It's a real hassle when I've carefully placed my letters and they fall off!

Since I 've only used the sizzlit about 10 times I'd be disappointed if it needs sharpening already - will try it out though. Perhaps I could use a xyron with the foil letters in my pages?

[gwyneth 123]

I just prick my dots out with a pin Kori, they do get stuck in there as they're quite tiny. I've never sharpened my dies and I've had them some years. I, like Syl use a Zig glue pen to stick tiny letters/images on, works fine.

[lizzydripping]

They don't need sharpening, it is just the foam getting squashed in such a tiny space. As said before use a pin or use something else to add the dot e.g. a sticky gem/pearl etc.

Liz

[Kori]

I love the idea of using a small gem instead of the dot! Why can I never think of these things by myself?

[lizzydripping]

You could also try cutting scraps of funky foam just over the dot so the hole fills up with more foam.

Liz

[MJ]

The dot on the i seems to stick on a few alphabets, I am a bit of an alphabet addict, but only 3 out of my 50 seem to stick, but I tend to use the pin method as well and this gets them out fine.