Any advise please!!! I always see cakes w/ such awesome figures & they look so clean & smooth..like they were cut from a cookie cutter. But of course not everything has a cookie cutter for it, so how do they do it? How long do you wait to handle figures before putting on your cake?

It depends what your making really, I like my fondant bows to be solid.. so I make then far in advance... 1-2 weeks ahead of time..
I usually make my figures a week in advance, but if i'm bored or have no orders - I'll make them earlier.
Fondant/gumpaste figures/bows/flowers are safe to stay out upto a year.. I wouldn't eat them after a week though ... IMOP

I sometimes make a template of the figure I need to cut. I found plastic template sheets at Walmart in their craft section. Then I either let the fondant dry a bit or freeze it after it's rolled out before I cut it to get smooth lines. Powdering the knive with powder sugar helps the knife not stick as well. I hope this helps!