SVG files and links

Holly and Vickie, this post is for you!

I figured if I put some of the links in one spot it would be easier for you to bookmark and find. I hope this helps. I would join yahoo groups (yahoogroups.com) and then join the make the cut forumn. There you can ask any questions and they have links and files that they share regularly. Some of those people are really knowledgable and can help you do anything you would like to do. Once you join, there are some help files, svg files, and links to help you find more files and how toos.

http://forums.surecutsalot.com/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=0743344e1be56d98d075b7581b6adebl


This is the Sure Cuts A Lot forumn, but they have tons of free SVG files that you can search for and download what you like. Some nice things.

http://www.scrappydew.com/tutorials/

this site has tutorials, free files, and files you can purchase. If you decide to purchase this software, they also gave me $20.00 worth of free files for buying the program through them. I used paypal when I purchased it and once I had the code, when I went into MTC, I just copied and pasted the code in the register box that pops up.

You can also search utube for make the cut videos. Many have been removed, but many some still remain.

http://www.scrappingtable.com/scalvsmtc.html
She sells SCAL, but has free SVG files and font files that she's cut and tested. Good info but not one of my favorites, but.....she's partial to SCAL and doesn't list some of the positives of MTC on her blog, but her files are nice and her free fonts listings are helpful.

http://dscrapbookingroom.blogspot.com/
This lady is amazing and very helpful. If you do a search on her blog, you can find just about anything that you could want. TONS of files.

http://svgcuts.com/blog/
This lady offers amazing free files all the time plus sells her files in kits for really good prices if you just want to buy some already to use. Her files are amazing and she has tons of different kits you can buy.

http://www.teddybear-treasures.com/
This is the site that has the cute witch and Halloween people you liked in my scrapbook pages.
She sells her files if you are interested.

http://stackyscraps.com/
She has lists of free SVG sites and coloring book sites along with tutorials on her blog.

http://www.treasureboxdesigns.com/category_16/FREEBIE-Treasure-Box-Tuesdays.htm
This is one of my favorite sites. Every Tuesday, she gives away free files and often runs sales on her other files. She has some adorable sets which only cost on sale $5.99 and you get lots of super cute designs. I

http://wandascrafts.blogspot.com/
Tons of free card files on her blog

http://scale-files.blogspot.com/


http://imagesbyheatherm.wordpress.com/


http://mardenz.blogspot.com/
lots of cartoon characters & scout info files

http://pennyduncancreations.blogspot.com/p/svg-cut-files.html
This lady manages the SCALHints forum group and is an amazing artist. She has TONS of beautiful free SVG files on her blog. But beware, you'll be here a while when you stop! LOL.

http://theladywolf.blogspot.com/

http://southernbellesvg.blogspot.com/
tons of free files on her blog. She created her own faux lifes a beach cartridge and has many other images on her site if you just follow her blog. I think if you follow her blog, she also made a faux kitchen set like the cartridge.

I have tons more, but these ought to get you started. Don't forget to check out fonts and dingbats....and coloring pages....

here are a couple of links to start you that direction...

http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=dingbats

http://www.houseoflime.com/

http://www.fontspace.com/

Remember when you are downloading fonts to NOT install them on your computer. Too many fonts on your computer will slow it down. Download them into a folder under MTC called fonts and store them there and then load them in using MTC.

http://cleversomeday.wordpress.com/

She has a comparison on MTC, SCAL, and Design Studio on her blog. She also has lists of fonts that match the cricut cartridges and she uses her cricut to the full extend and does amazing reviews of different techniques that you might want to try someday. Her blog is a must for Good info not found anywhere else.

Anyway, this is getting quite long, but it will get you started. Good luck!

Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) Information and Links

In the last week, I have had lengthy conversations with 3 people wanting more information on SCAL. To make it easier for them to find out and research this option to see if it is right for them, (now that I can copy and paste links), I decided to make a post with the basic links they will need to get them started.

1. Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) - is a program designed to use with your computer to cut any font, dingbat, or anything that you design yourself out on your cricut. The main site for this is: http://www.craftedge.com/index.html It runs around $65 to $75. There are 10% off codes that are available every so often on the groups below.

On my computer I probably have litterally 300 cartridges or more worth of images I can cut. Yep, you heard me right. All for only the $65 dollar investment plus the $30 I paid when the new version of SCAL came out. For those just buying, you don't have to worry about the additional $30 because you can only buy version 2.0 now. :-)

2. To learn more about this program than you can imagine, I would recommend these forums and groups:

http://forums.surecutsalot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SureCutsAlotUsers/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scalhints/

3. Inkscape is a free program that allows you to create SVG files that will cut using SCAL. I use version .46. You can download it here. (Some people have had trouble with the newer version.)

http://www.inkscape.org/

4. I bought my SCAL from this website because I wanted an actual cd copy. Their service was great and I got free shipping and a decent price.

https://www.cutterscreek.com/store/

5. You have to download a free trial version of Design Studio (Provo Crafts poor attempt at SCAL...lol....). However, and this is important, you must make sure that you are only using version 2.32 or 1.3. This is the link I used, but I can't be sure that it is still the right version. If you currently use Cricut's Design Studio and upgrade to the latest version, they were suppose to put something in the newest version of Cricut Design Studio to block SCAL from use on your cricut, so please make sure you check this out on the forums above before you use this link.

http://www.cricut.com/cds/DesignStudioTrial1.aspx

6. To see some fun projects that were created with SCAL, follow some of these links from free SVG files (SVG files are those that can be cut with SCAL for use on your cricut.)

http://forums.surecutsalot.com/viewforum.php?f=13

http://dscrapbookingroom.blogspot.com/

http://pennyduncancreations.com/

http://dan99.blogspot.com/

http://susanbluerobot.blogspot.com/
this blog is card maker heaven. search for SCAL or SVG files-she has hundreds and they are all amazing

http://jensbrainthings.blogspot.com/
search for SVG files

I have about 30 blogs I've bookmarked that offer cute free files, but these will get you started and an idea at any rate.

7. I use a free program called "The Font Thing" to manage my fonts so that they all don't have to be installed on my machine to use them. If too many fonts are installed on your machine, it slows it down. I use Windows XP

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Font-Utils/The-Font-Thing.shtml

8. And one last thing, the only downside to svg files is that you can't "view" them like a picture which makes it really inconvenient. I installed an SVG viewer program called Renesis and it crashed my entire computer! A lot of people have used this without any trouble, but I lost everything and had to reinstall my computer from scratch so I would NOT recommend this program. I have since installed Adobe SVG viewer and haven't had any problems, but it isn't working either so.... my go around is this...when I save a file, I will open it in inkscape, make a bitmap copy (do not save after you make the bitmap copy) and this will show directly next to the file in my folder. Works great for me with no complications. So....

I know this is long, but I also know that having these links available instead of writing them down and trying to "remember" what I told you about each of these programs will be beneficial. For more information, you can read some of my blog entries, some talk about SCAL and why I bought it. Hope this helps!!!

Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) Software to use with Cricut Machines

Hi. Four months ago I stumbled across some software called Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL). It is a software that you can use with your cricut machine and your computer that eliminates the need for additional cartridges unless you want to buy them. The software is GREAT. I've had several friends ask me about this software, so I thought I'd try a blog to see if I can answer some basic questions. I'll try to cover some other helpful tips as I go along also. But...back to SCAL.

First off, you do NOT have to have any other programs to make SCAL work, but if you download a free program called Inkscape, then the possibilities are endless. You will need to have the trial version of Design Studio which is the Provo Craft cricut software (which in my opinion is a waste of money.) I'll go into some of this later in another post. For now, I'll tell you why I bought SCAL.

I bought SCAL because I hated to individually cut the letters from the font cartridges on the cricut and then cut the shadow for each letter and then glue each piece together. Then turn around and glue each now shadowed letter AGAIN to the actual layout I was working on. Way to time consuming for me. With SCAL I can cut my word in one piece, shadow it with one piece and glue to the layout in just 3 steps. Not 3 steps per letter, just 3 steps per word. LOVE it! With SCAL, I can also use almost ANY TTF font (some are really too thin to actually cut). That means that I can literally use a different font for every scrapbook page that I create because there are thousands of free fonts everywhere on the internet. In SCAL, you pick your font and you can "weld" the letters together creating a word in one piece. The snowflake in this picture is also a "dingbat" font so it is "free" too. This font had 26 different snowflakes that I can now use. So basically any font and any dingbat that are in the TTF format are now available for me to cut. Just for fun...do a search for dingbat fonts and see how many "cartridges" you now don't have to buy.....(I should warn you that some dingbats do need some cleanup in order to cut but many cut just as they are.)

I paid 64.99 for my SCAL here - (https://www.cutterscreek.com/store/) which included free shipping and a disk copy. It is available for download on the original Craft Edge website http://www.craftedge.com/index.html, but I found that it was cheaper a couple of other places plus I wanted the actual disk and I'm glad I did because my computer crashed and I had to reinstall everything. Boy was I glad I had it.

Anyway, take a peak at this picture. The white is one cut and the blue shadow is one cut. So two total cuts for the word snow. Sorry I didn't use a different example, as this one was posted before on this site, but it's time to put the kids to bed so....this one will have to do. (As I mentioned on the previous post, the penguin was created from an image that I got sent to me in the mail. I thought he was cute so I scanned him and turned him into a cut file. That also is something for another post!)

On the Craft Edge website is also a forum. You can learn just about anything there about SCAL plus you can get hundreds of free files that can be used directly in SCAL. Hence, no need for any new cartridges. The sky is the limit and if you learn Inkscape, you can literally create anything if you have the time and the skills but if you don't there are TONS of blogs with free files. I'll also share some of my favorites on another day too. So keep watching and hopefully I can help you learn a little of what I've discovered along the way and point you to my favorite spots for free SVG files.

Have fun and let me know if there is anything specific that you want me to share with you.

See my penguin and snow title....

This is why I love SCAL. See that penquin, I created him from a picture that I found and then cut him on my cricut. I also created the snow file and LOVE that they are all connected so that I can cut the word and the shadow in one piece. Quick and easy. I hate cutting each indivual letter and then gluing each to it's shadow and then again gluing them to the page. This way, quick and easy...I also LOVE this font...now if I could just remember which one it was......