Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers: Product Review

Make New Pages for Your Discbound Planner Such as the Happy Planner, Arc, Tul, Martha Stewart Planner or Maggie Holmes Planner Using the Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers

I used the Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers (pictured in the upper left-hand side of this photo) to punch the discbound edge along the sides of the paper embellishments I used on these garden journal pages. The punch enabled me to use these pages in my discbound planner. I use this punch on a near-daily basis. If you use a discbound planner, you're likely to get a lot of use out of this punch, too. — I used the Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers (pictured in the upper left-hand side of this photo) to punch the discbound edge along the sides of the paper embellishments I used on these garden journal pages. The punch enabled me to use these pages in my discbound planner. I use this punch on a near-daily basis. If you use a discbound planner, you’re likely to get a lot of use out of this punch, too.

This is a product review of the Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers (We R Makers is part of American Crafts).

The Most Important Things You Need to Know About This Paper Crafting Tool:

You can use the Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch to punch mushroom-shaped holes in paper. Perhaps right about now, some of you are wondering why on earth anyone would want a mushroom hole punch. Well, this is a tool you’d want to own if you use discbound planners or notebooks where mushroom-shaped paper edges connect to large round plastic or metal discs with a corresponding inverse shape. The design of these planners allows you to remove and add pages as you need to, which gives them a huge advantage over spiral-bound planners.

Some examples of brands that offer these planners include the Happy Planner by Me & My Big Ideas; the Martha Stewart Planner; the Maggie Holmes Planner by Crate Paper / American Crafts; the Tul Planner; or the Arc Planner.

What this punch will do for you: It will empower you to add any paper or other punchable surface to your discbound planner. This will free you from being limited to only buying the expensive paper refill packs that are available for your planner and similar planners.

This Crop-A-Dile tool is able to effortlessly punch through a variety of materials, including cardstock, fabric, chipboard, leather, thin tin, and plastic. So the punch also makes it possible for you to make your own planner covers using materials like chipboard and clear acrylic.

Examples of Paper Craft Projects You Can Make With the Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers:

Planners

Notebooks

Homeschooling Lesson and Attendance Organizers

Garden Journals

Junk Journals and Art Journals

The Best Things About the Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch by We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers

Use This Punch With Any Size Planner: You can use this punch with any size discbound planner. It works with Big Happy Planners, Classic Happy Planners, Mini Happy Planners, and Skinny Classic Happy Planners. It will also work with any other Happy Planner size you might happen to have on hand. This is significant because many of the other competing discbound planner punches are made to be used with a specific planner size. If you want the option to use your punch on different sizes of planners, that’s one compelling reason to choose this punch over others like the Happy Planner 9-Hole Punch.

Increase Your Productivity by Customizing Your Planner Exactly the Way You Want It: Having a discbound punch will free you from having to buy premade papers that are made specifically for your planner. It will enable you to buy or make your own printables. Simply print out the planner layout you want on your printer; then cut it down to size if you’re using one of the small-sized planners, and punch the edges using this punch so that the paper can be added to your planner.

You can increase your productivity by designing or using planner pages that are exactly formatted to meet your needs. For example, if you are a social media manager, you can buy or create a page layout that is specifically designed for helping you track your goals for followers, shares, or whatever else you want to track. If you’re a homeschooling mom, you can create page templates specifically geared to tracking the progress of the actual precious children you’re homeschooling; this beats relying on ready-made teacher planners that are probably designed for teachers who have classes of 30+ children to keep track of.
Save Money on Planner Paper: If you have a classic-sized Happy Planner, at current pricing, you’re probably spending somewhere around $7 for 40 sheets of refill paper to use in your Happy Planner. For what you get, this isn’t an unreasonable price. The Happy Planner paper is high-quality, and it resists bleed-through if you write on it with markers or highlighters.

But the cost really does add up fast if you go through a lot of paper.

If you habitually use highlighters and markers in your planner, maybe you find it worth the cost to buy the expensive Happy Planner refill pages. But if you’ll be writing on your pages with ordinary pencil or ballpoint pen, you can save a small fortune by using a lesser quality paper and punching the discbound edge yourself so you can add it to your planner. That’s where the Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch comes into play. If you use a lot of planner paper, you’re likely to find that this punch will pay for itself quickly while also giving you a much-improved level of flexibility.

Live Sustainably and Reduce Paper Waste: This punch also allows you to make use of paper that might go to waste otherwise. For example, I habitually punch discbound edges onto scraps of scrapbooking paper that would otherwise get thrown away. I’m able to use lots of them in my planner.

Cons:

When punching extra thick materials, this punch doesn’t work as well as intended (at least, not if you’re using discs by the Happy Planner / Me & My Big Ideas; I’m guessing it probably works better with the We R Makers branded discs, but I haven’t bought any of those to test this assumption one way or the other).

The covers or pages made with the thick material don’t always turn easily or smoothly in actual practice. However, this problem is reasonably easy to solve. I get around it by punching twice, very slightly overlapping the first punch and the second punch to make the punch very, very slightly wider. This is annoying, but it’s doable. I don’t mind doing it because I am super grateful to have this as a solution; before I bought this punch, I had no easy way to make my own planner covers or to make pages using thick materials. So I don’t think this is a deal breaker.

I don’t personally find it intuitive to use the alignment guide on this tool. It works, but even so, I have made bunches of mistakes when using it. It is also time consuming in cases where you need to punch multiple holes in the same piece of paper.

If you’re interested in this punch because you frequently need to create a discbound edge on your paper entirely from scratch, I recommend taking a look at the Classic Happy Planner 9-Hole Punch. That punch is more efficient if you are punching every hole, because the punches are all perfectly aligned.

If you spend a lot of time embellishing your planner, it’s actually worth buying both punches, in my opinion. I have them both and use them both frequently. I use the We R Makers punch more often — almost daily — because it’s the one I reach for when I have to punch through the stickers or the washi tape I’ve placed near the discbound edges of my pages. Let’s say I stick down some washi tape and embellishments overtop of that discbound edge; then I just reach for this Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch, and I re-punch the edge in the right places so that my page will fit in my planner despite the washi tape, stickers or other embellishments. In contrast, I use the Happy Planner 9-Hole Punch when I want to punch through a sheet of notebook paper, patterned paper or other paper I want to use in my planner. So I use both punches frequently, and wouldn’t want to be without either one of them.

Conclusion

I’m delighted to recommend the Crop-A-Dile Disc Power Punch to other crafters, particularly to crafters who frequently use a discbound planner or notebook. This punch is one of my most frequently used craft supplies; I consider it a must-have essential, and I wouldn’t want to be without it.

Where to Buy the by We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers:

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Posted By: Amy Solovay

About Your Product Reviewer: Amy Solovay is a freelance writer and content marketer with a background in textile design. She holds a bachelor’s degree with a studio art minor from Sweet Briar College and a degree in textile design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Los Angeles.

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This page was last updated on 7-20-2023.