Watching a few You Tube tutorials I learned a few tricks to using this tool:  definitely use the cutting mat designed for it; give yourself LOTS of practice sessions with different paper thicknesses, figuring out the thickness setting is more art than science; and remove the orange freehand base when using the templates.  Once you master those basics, you're on your way to utilizing and creating with a pretty neat tool.  Four stars only for the fact that there is a learning curve.