Thursday, December 24, 2009

Teacher Gifts - Snowmen


This year for miscellaneous gifts, I made these cute snowmen covers for the extra large Symphony and Hershey candy bars. I think they turned out cute and were fun to make! All the cuts on these were made from the paper doll cartridge. His nose is actually the pirates eyepiece...LOL. These went to people like school teachers, primary teachers, visiting teachers, mailman, piano teacher, neighbors etc. Just kinda fun way to say Merry Christmas!

In the past we've done:

1. Cocoa mugs with a hot chocolate package, candy cane, and marshmellows with the saying about snowman poop.

2. 2 liter Sprite pop that said, "May your Christmas be Merry and Sprite:

3. 2 liter Rootbeer that said, "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Rootbeer"

4. Box of popcorn that said "We just popped by to wish you a Merry Christmas."

So I was looking for something different this year. I think these turned out fun and who doesn't like chocolate? Yum! Have a Merry Christmas!

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Winter Tiles



Ok...here are a couple more....I decided to try my hand at actually creating a tile file from all the SVG's that I've been collecting. I think it turned out cute! I struggled trying to get some snowflakes and the penguin to weld to the "frame" and with the help of Kay on the message board, I figured out what needed to be done to do what I wanted. Unfortunately, I was running out of time so I just cut them as is. I like it. My husband likes the multi colored one. I can't decide.....which do you like?
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Make the Cut

To all my friends that I originally started this blog for...to share some info about SCAL, if you haven't purchased SCAL, you may want to wait! Yes, you heard me! LOL. There is a new program that has just hit the market called Make the Cut. I have downloaded and played with this new software a little bit and so far I'm really impressed. There are some things that they too need to work out...no shadowing feature, no way to "keep proportions" locked so the shapes match, but overall, this program has REAL potential. Since I upgraded to SCAL 2 not long ago, I probably won't be purchasing this anytime soon, but if I ever need another license to cut with, I may jump over to this program. It eliminates most of the need for Inkscape which is wonderful because the learning curve on that program is so intense. This program is easier to use than Inkscape and SCAL and does the same things.....or at least it will in a short amount of time! Go check it out!

If you want to check it out, look up on the right hand top corner of my blog and there are some links to the Make-the-Cut website to purchase or just learn more about it.

There is also a free download so give it a try! The free download does cut a line across your image, but you can try it to see if you like it!

Have fun!


****Update*****They have fixed all the issues that I mentioned above and added so much, much more! It's awesome! Woohoo.....********

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Glass Etching Pans



See what I made my mom for Christmas! I think they turned out great. I actually did a full set of pans all with different fonts and flowers. I hope she will like them. Just in case she peeks, I won't actually show this post until after Christmas. She wanted some so that when she went to different functions her pans didn't walk away....you know....we've all lost a couple after helping with funerals or whatever. This way, they should find their way back home! LOL. If you haven't tried glass etching, you should. I do have to say though that this project took way to long. I used some of my outdoor vinyl that I had gotten from the sign company and boy was that a mistake. It cut great, went on great, etched great, but it DIDN'T come off great! It took me about an hour to SCRAPE this vinyl off after using the etching cream. Needless to say, I won't make that mistake again. I just figured since I had a lot of it that I would use it for this but.....NOPE. NEVER again so just for your info. If you are using vinyl for etching, make sure it's repositionable and not outdoor 5 year vinyl! LOL....Having done glass etching before, I KNOW that it is a lot easier than this project turned out to be! Lesson learned.....!
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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Wise Men Tile



Ok...so I have redone this again. I cut it once in a thinner font and the "weight" wasn't right on the tile. Then I cut the original file that I found and wasn't crazy about that font either. So today, I decided to try one more time. I LIKE this one. So this is the file that I'm saving to make more when I get a chance. I'm about out of black vinyl so I'm going to have to find some of it. There wasn't as much black in my lucky stash as other colors, but thankfully, black will be the easiest color to find. :-) What do you think....is this one better?
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Nativity Tile


Ok...so I'm having too much fun playing. Here is a nativity scene that I just had to try on a tile too! I think it looks great also. I did clean it up a bit for easier cutting.....I took out some of the little details that made weeding it easier. I'm LOVING this vinyl business! Fun fun...

Have fun!

Welcome Moose Tile




I am so excited. I came across this image that lindamac shared on the craftedge forumn. It was perfect as part of my brother's Christmas gift. I was so excited. I think it turned out wonderful and can't wait to give it to them. I'm going to make one for us too and my hubby has even said he'd try to drill holes in mine. I've heard that it's easy to break them so we'll see how that goes...... In the meantime, I really like this one and I think my brother and his wife will too!


If you would like this file, it can be found here:


http://forums.surecutsalot.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9305&start=0


Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Gingerbread House


I found this adorable gingerbread house on the internet the other day. Thinking it would be a fun way to do gingerbread houses with the kids, I proceeded to cut one out. The kids decided that they "didn't" want to do them and since I had started this one, I thought I'd finish. Well, this adorable little house gave me fits! Actually, I should say my cricut gave me fits. It tore my thin paper and wouldn't cut through my thick paper. I was so frustrated. Then the little cuts on the candy canes wouldn't come out and I recut these several times. UGH. I finally figured out part of my problem was my blade so I replaced it and then had better luck but didn't have "great" luck until I used the multicut feature. Finally success to where these little pieces didn't tear. All in all a good learning experience, but dang....I bet I have about 5 hours into this little guy. Doing it again, I'm sure it wouldn't take nearly as long but.....live and learn I suppose. So....I decided I'd better post him to remember all the hard work that went into him. It did turn out really cute in the end and I "might" try it again....I'm not sure. It makes a pretty good size box for gifts but my tiles didn't take nearly as long and look even better soo.....I'm sure he'll find a good home somewhere. In the meantime, he's sitting on my table where I can appreciate him! LOL.....

If you'd like to try him yourself, you can find the files here!
http://www.aimitup.blogspot.com/

Good luck and I hope you have better luck than I did! :-) (Really it was more operator error than anything and I had just gotten some paper from a stationary place so it was good thick cardstock...which is why I couldn't get it to cut through....sooo....give it a try. It really does turn out cute!)

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