A couple of tips for those stubborn dies.

This post is for the newbie crafters having issues with dies.
Here is a tip for those anyone having trouble with those stubborn dies that just won't release the card after it's been cut.

The first tip is to use a piece of wax paper  big enough to cover the die and place it between the die and the card stock before running it through the die cutting machine.

You can buy small packs of wax paper especially for crafting but these tend to be expensive for what you get in the pack.  You can save money by buying a whole roll of  Reynolds  wax paper for just a few pound and it will probably last you forever as there is quite a lot on the roll.

The wax paper will help the card stock release from the die.
Some of  the wax on the paper will transfer to the die which will help further die cuts release.
So you should be able to get several cuts from the die  without using  having to use wax paper again.

At this point I have to say I am a member of
several crafting groups on Facebook and quite
often there are discussions on the the use of wax paper and baking parchment, it seems some people are under the impression that they are the same thing as they look similar.
So this bit is to clarify the difference between the two.
 If you look at the photo above you can see that the wax paper is more translucent than the baking parchment.
The wax paper feels like the surface of a
candle, the baking parchment does not.



Another difference between the two  is if you screw up a piece of wax paper and a piece of baking parchment and then  open them up you will see the the baking parchment has a few faint white lines on it where it has been screwed up. But the wax paper will be covered in bright white lines where the wax has cracked.



There is no wax on the parchment to  crack therefore it won't help a great deal in the release of the card from the die.
I do hope this post has helped clarify the differences.

Another quick tip for getting all those bits out of the die when you haven't used wax paper.
Take an old toothbrush and on the reverse of the die,  use a quick firm stabbing motions so that the bristle s penetrate the holes in the die pushing out all the small  pieces, it's  a lot quicker than picking them out one at a time with a paper piercing tool.