From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.
My awesome mother-in-law got me this Martha Stewart Score Board for Christmas. I have to admit I was excited by the possibilities (envelopes!) but didn’t see immediately how often I would use it.
Cut forward to the invention of the FlipOver planner and my elbow, sore from using a rotary scoring blade. I pulled out the score board, and I’ve been using it since.
To Love:
• I heart the square corner to line up in, and the ruler. I often will put a piece of masking tape on a score point I plan on using again and again.
• The 1/8 inch divisions usually give you all the options you need. Also, if you would like to make something like a curved/flexible spine you can do a few scores in a row, and they are all parallel and perfect.
• There’s a little box at the top of the board that stores your bone folder, or anything else you might like to keep in there. There is also a corner guide for scoring on 45 degrees that slips into a slot at the bottom of the board.
• The score result is lovely, straight, consistent, and deep
• I really like how flat and compact it is (especially compared to my rotary cutter). It’s a lot easier to find a home for it.
To Hate:
• DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Do not glance away. Do not blink. If you blink the Angels will make your bone folder slip and will ruin what you are doing. I plan for 10% failure rate on this because I get distracted easily.
• The bone folder they provide is clumsy at best, and danged uncomfortable at worst. I replaced mine with a slightly sharpened bone folder from an art store. (I’ll tell you how I sharpened it, if you ask nicely.)
• I want to score everything, and I really don’t have time to make all my own envelopes.
Note: I did not receive any kind of compensation for this product review. At Adventures in Making we love sharing information about our favorite tools and resources because we believe knowledge should be shared and that we can all learn from each other’s experiences.
I am a late comer to your blog , but I think I am hooked!!! I bought the Martha Stewart score board thinking it would be the best out there (and I had a gift card to the craft store). I am disappointed. I made cards for Operation Write Home, so I had a lot to score, but as you said you have to really pay attention to what you are doing. I ruined many pieces of cardstock when the bone folder (I replaced mine also) slipped or I pushed just a little too hard. It does have it’s good points, I agree with you on those and I will keep the board,but I learned to take my time when using it and not have any distractions. Thanks for your great blogs-I am signing up now on your mailing list!!
Hey Debby,
I know what you mean- there were some days I felt like I had no luck with it. If I have a trickier material (like handmade paper for instance) I’ll often use a rotary style paper cutter intstead- with a scoring blade. The one I use isn’t made any more, but most craft stores would have an option with different sorts of blade accessories.
I also took the recommendation of a book binding teacher and sanded one edge of my bone folder to be a little sharper. That helps sometimes!