Product Review of the We R Makers (Formerly Known as “We R Memory Keepers”) Frame Punch Board — Learn About the Pros and Cons of Using This Tool; Plus Find Examples and Project Ideas for Scrapbooking Layouts You Can Make Using the Frame Punch Board
We R Makers Frame Punch Board: Product Description
The Frame Punch Board is a paper crafting tool that empowers you to quickly and easily make a variety of square or rectangular paper photo frames to use in your scrapbooking projects, handmade greeting cards, and other paper crafts projects. The frames are also useful for framing elements other than photos.
The frames you can make measure from 2 inches to 12 inches.
The Frame Punch Board incorporates a punch you can use for rounding corners on your frames and for punching out the center portions of the paper to make the center window on the frames. It also has a replaceable blade. Replacement blades are sold separately.
Examples of Paper Craft Projects You Can Make Using the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board:
Scrapbooking Layouts With Photo Frames:
Sailing Away From Sardinia — A 6″x8″ Pocket Page Scrapbooking Layout
Nautical Themed Scrapbooking Layout
6×8 Scrapbooking Layout Featuring Handmade Fabric Crochet Tote Bag Project
Colonial Beach, Virginia Stenciled Scrapbooking Layout Featuring Multiple Photo Frames
Beach Themed Scrapbooking Layout
Benefits of the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board
- Save Money: In my opinion, this tool’s primary benefit is that, in the long term, if you use a lot of frames in your paper craft projects, it allows you to save money by making your own frames rather than buying expensive packages of premade chipboard frames.
- Customize Your Own Photo Frames: This tool empowers you to easily create exactly the frames you need. You can use virtually any cardstock or patterned scrapbooking paper to make your frames. This means you are no longer limited to just using pre-packaged frames that might or might not be available in the colors, sizes and patterns you need.
- Easy Enough for Total Beginners to Use: You do not need an engineering degree to use the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board. This tool is easy enough for beginners to paper crafting to use. If you have the skills to use a paper punch and you know how to measure, you pretty much have the skills needed to use this tool. Instructions are provided. Furthermore, there are videos available online showing you step-by-step how to make frames with this tool, so you can watch those and get up and running with this tool easily.
- Save Time and Avoid Wasting Expensive Cardstock or Patterned Paper: It is possible to make your own frames without using the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board. All you really need is a craft knife such as an X-Acto knife and a ruler. I’ve made bunches of frames, myself, using only those simple tools. However, it’s much quicker and easier to get excellent results using the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board than it is with a craft knife. In my experience, you’ll waste a lot less paper if you use the Frame Punch Board than you will if you attempt to make frames by hand, with a craft knife.
- Low Risk of Injury: You’re less likely to cut yourself using the Frame Punch Board than you are if you’re using a craft knife or X-Acto knife to cut your frames. It’s theoretically possible to cut yourself with the Frame Punch Board, but the risk of that is low. The tool does include a blade for cutting, but the blade is both small and well protected. You’d have to be really careless with your use of the tool to cut yourself with it. The design is reasonably smart and safe. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it for small children. Because of the blade, this is not a product I’d give a child to play with unsupervised.
Disadvantages of the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board
- You Have to Be Precise: This tool requires a significant amount of manual effort on your part. The frames you make with this tool are only going to be as good as the effort you put into using it. If you are distracted while using it, the odds are good that you’ll end up with wonky frames. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing when you use it.
- Die-Cut Frames Are Cleaner: I think die-cut frames look cleaner, nicer and more appealing than the frames I make with this tool. However, die-cut frames have some downsides; for starters, you have to buy and store bunches of different dies to have all the options you might need. If you have a lot of space to work with, that might not be a problem for you. If you’re working with a limited amount of space for crafting, storing all those dies is not ideal. Beyond that, it gets expensive to buy all the sizes you might need, and storing them all is really cumbersome. It is also very time consuming to find the exact size frame die you’d need for any given project. So considering all the downsides to die-cut frames, I personally prefer to rely on the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board for making the majority of my paper photo frames. That said, I do keep a few frame dies on hand, too, and I do prefer die-cut frames in cases where it’s practical to make them.
The Verdict: For Me, the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board Is a Must-Have Paper Crafting Tool.
I had been a scrapbooker, card maker and paper crafter for many years before I bought the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board. I coped fine without it before I bought it, but I spent much more time and money than I needed to when making projects that incorporated frames. Now that I have the Frame Punch Board, I wouldn’t want to be without it. If I had to give it up, I’d feel as if I were at an extreme disadvantage without it.
I highly recommend this tool to other paper crafters who use frames in their projects frequently. If you don’t often use frames, this is a tool you can safely live without. But if you like using frames, and you use them often, you’re likely to find that this tool will pay for itself in terms of time and money you’ll save as compared against the money you’d spend buying premade frames and frame dies, or as compared against the paper you’d waste if you were to hand cut your own frames using a craft knife.
Where to Buy the We R Makers / We R Memory Keepers Frame Punch Board
- Click or tap here to shop for the Frame Punch Board at Amazon.
- Click or tap here to shop for the Frame Punch Board at Scrapbook.com.
About the Manufacturer
We R Makers recently rebranded; they used to be known as “We R Memory Keepers.” Their old name positioned them as a scrapbooking and memory keeping brand, but nowadays, they want to be known for more than just scrapbooking; their products are also useful to card makers, junk journalers, art journalers, mixed media artists and a broad variety of other creative people.
American Crafts is the parent company of We R Makers.
Find More of My Favorite WE R Makers Tools HERE.
Posted By: Amy Solovay
About Your Product Reviewer: Amy Solovay is an educator and craft pattern designer with a background in business management and textile product development. 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.
If you’re a paper crafter, Amy encourages you to check out more of her paper craft project ideas here at KnittingCrochetCrafts.com.
This page was last updated on 9-11-2024.