Took a bit of practice at first. What I discovered is that if I cut circles from paper that is too thin (like tissue) or not wide enough to fill the circle that there isn't enough thickness for everything to grip, so the pin falls out of the machine when doing the last step. But as long as you cut a large enough circle out of thick enough paper (or use multiple layers) it is foolproof. I love this and I will be making a lot of pins for various projects!Edited to add: The circle cutter is useless -- so cheap it doesn't even hold together. I didn't get it to cut a usable circle once. So you'll need another way to cut your circles.