About Sizzix
Sizzix is based in Lake Forest, California, and operates as a division of Ellison Educational Equipment Inc. Ellison built the original consumer die-cutting machine, the 1977 Ellison LetterMachine, for the classroom market; Sizzix launched in 2001 to bring that same die-cutting mechanism to home crafters. The catalog centers on manual and electric die-cutting and embossing presses, sold alongside the wafer-thin steel dies (Thinlits and Framelits), embossing folders, stamps, and stencils that run through them.
The Big Shot, Sizzix's longest-running press, has stayed in continuous production for two decades on the strength of a simple pitch: no software, no subscription, and a mechanism simple enough to outlast the digital machines built around it. It's covered regularly across the papercrafting press, and papercrafters and quilters keep one on hand as the low-overhead counterpart to a digital cutter, since a die press has no recurring software cost and works from a physical die collection alone.
Brand website: sizzix.com
What Sizzix makes
Sizzix's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Die-cutting & embossing machines
manual and electric presses, from compact 2.5-inch to 9-inch openings — featured on DeskRated
Thinlits & Framelits dies
wafer-thin, chemically-etched steel dies for cutting, embossing, and stenciling
Embossing folders
detailed texture effects for cardmaking and paper crafts
Stamps & stencils
coordinating sets sold alongside die collections
Starter kits
bundled machine + die + accessory sets for new crafters
Why we recognized Sizzix
The DeskRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Sizzix earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, used at a real desk, and judged on merit.
Sizzix products we rated highly
Sizzix Big Shot Die-Cutting & Embossing Machine (6-inch)
The manual counterpoint to every digital machine in our lineup: no computer, software, or subscription, just a hand crank that cuts thick steel-rule and wafer-thin dies plus embossing folders every time. In our testing it stood out as a mechanical workhorse with nothing to update or break, and the redesigned 2025/2026 body added a storable handle without changing the mechanism that's kept it in production for two decades.
Read the 7 Best Craft Cutting Machines of 2026 guide →What earned Sizzix the recognition
- The only manual, subscription-free press in our craft cutting machine lineup, cutting from a physical die collection with no software or recurring cost at all.
- A mechanism unchanged in its fundamentals for two decades, run alongside digital machines by papercrafters and quilters who want a low-overhead complement to their electric cutter.
- A three-year warranty and a design simple enough that there is little in the mechanism to fail.
- Compatible with a large existing catalog of Thinlits, Framelits, and embossing-folder dies, so the machine itself outlasts any single product cycle.