Heart-to-Heart from Scrapbooks from the Heart

Halloween Decorating

Hi Bloggers!

I wanted to share a couple of ideas you can use for your Halloween home decorating and gifts. I made this plate and the canvas for myself and my daughter using the Silhouette new downloads and the wonderful new fuzzy vinyl. I LOVE the way it adds dimension and texture to your creations! It was also inexpensive to build and I could make dozens with the supplies I have on-hand. The plate is a charger from Hobby Lobby for $1.99 and you can pick up the rest at Scrapbooks From the Heart!

For this canvas, I picked up some 12 x 12 flat canvas panels, then mounted the cute paper from the store and started layering on the vinyl. The cute kids are handpainted on watercolor paper by my talented friend, Shirley Taylor. Finally, I added some Making Memories stickers from their Halloween kit.

Come in and tell us what you are creating this Halloween season!

Georgia

October QuicKards Sneak Peek!

Each month Joyce teaches a Saturday morning card class that features QuicKutz cutting dies, embossing shapes, cutting media, or AccuCut shapes that we carry in the store. September's class was full of festive fall colors and shapes. You won't want to miss October's class! It's time to start working on your Christmas projects! You will get to make 2 winter greetings cards, plus 3 non-Christmas cards featuring new techniques and LOTS of sparkle & bling! I can only show you a little sneak peek here of one of the Winter Greetings cards! But all 5 will be in the store soon for you to see!

 
Saturday, October 17th at 11am. $20 per person. Call or come by to sign up!

 

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!                    

A  question came up at the Silhouette 101 class this past Sunday.  I found out the answer and wanted to share it with you, too!   Hope this helps! Answer came from Quickutz customer service -they are wonderful!

Georgia                   

MY QK DESIGN CD WON'T INSTALL/LOAD PROPERLY. HOW DO I ACCESS THE 

IMAGES ON THE CD?





If your CD is not automatically loading, you may manually install the library 

images included on the CD by performing the following steps:

 a. Insert your CD into the CD drive.

 b. If the installation process automatically starts, cancel out of the

 installation. 

c. Right-click on your “Start” menu and select “Explore” 

d. Select the CD device labeled with "name of CD". 

e. Select the folder labeled "Designs" 

f. Select and copy all files in this folder. To do this, go to the "Edit"

 menu and click on "Select All". Once all files are highlighted, go back to 

the "Edit" menu and click on "Copy" 

g. Go to C:\Program Files\ROBO Master\Templates and go to the "Edit"

 menu to click on "Paste". This will place all files into your library. 

h. Save and then run the following program:

 http://www.quickutz.com/support/programs/QKThumbnails.exe 

Your images should now be in your Silhouette library and be accessible 

from your library. 

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!                     Before we get to the Silouette topic of the day, I must take time to congratulate Joyce McCall, our very own QuicKutz Ambassador! She was chosen as one of 8 Ambassadors nationally, out of thousands of applications!! We are soooo proud of you, Joyce, and know that QuicKutz made the BEST decision! I'm sure we will hear in upcoming weeks what her duties will be and how we will benefit from them.

Q: I'm trying to cut the new Clock image. I re-sized the whole image to a size I want, but I want to cut the hands in a different color, so I ungrouped the image and moved the hands off the page. Then I decided the clock was too big, but I can't really re-size it now because it's un-grouped. 
Tell me how to cut the different parts of an image in different colors. I'm getting so frustrated with ungrouping an image just to remove a part I'm not ready to cut on the first go. I want to just use the ungroup feature to edit out parts of an image I don't like.

A:To cut individual colors go to File>Output Settings.  Then in Output Settings go to Cutting Settings and at the bottom Cutline Settings.  Here you can uncheck whichever colors you don't want to cut, or check whichever colors you want to cut.
 You can still resize the pieces, even if they're ungrouped. Just make sure to draw your box around ALL of the pieces before you resize anything. Hope that helps!

Don't forget that Silhouette 101 is this Sunday, August 23rd at 2:00pm and Silhouette 102 is Thursday, September 17th, 6:30 pm. Call the store to sign-up if you'd like to attend!

Georgia

 

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!                    

  While reading a terrific article in my Yahoo group, I found a great posting on usng the QK pens for the Silhouette and wanted to share with you.  In Silhouette 101, I show you how to use the pens to sketch an image using a doodlebat or one of your downloaded images, but did you know you can journal with them too? Here's two photos of a layout using the pens on a journaling tag:

 

Isn't that terrific? We have all the wonderful colors in stock at the store-go check them out!

Georgia

Attention Silhouette Users!

Just wanted to post some links to really great Silhouette news and tutorials!

print and cut news here

Nichol Magouirk - the master of the Silhouette - here

Jennifer McGuire's video post of lots of techniques - many include QuicKutz shapes

The official Silhouette tutorials offered by QuicKutz

So, click away and enjoy!

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!

Sunday afternoon we had a great discussion at the Silhouette 102 class about Print and Cuts. I showed the class how to make them and then went home to find a great article on Print and Cut by the wonderful Quickutz girls on their blog. So, here is a portion of that article to help further your knowledge and increase your fun on this terrific machine! 

print & cut: silhouette's best kept secret

Let me just give you a brief explanation in very basic terms . . . along with a little sneak peek, of course. ;) Take a look at Nichol Magouirk’s use of this monogram letter and word tab on her absolutely amazing page. LOVE it!

Here I’ve brought that same “Happy” monogram into a new document. You'll notice how there's a red line around the image. That's the cut line.

 

When you add the Print & Cut image into your document in the Robo Master software, it will display—in color—with a red cutting line around it. You’ll simply add registration marks to your document, print the document, place it onto the cutting mat, and Silhouette will read the registration marks and know where it needs to be cut.

 

To add registration marks, select Edit/Registration Mark Settings (or you can choose File/Document Settings and check Use Registration Marks).

Next, you’ll get this screen. Just click on the Use Registration Marks and you’ll see the little sample document on that screen change to include registration mark placement markers. Just leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.

Once you click on OK, your document will now look like this:

Select File/Print and send your document to the printer. Here’s how it looks all printed and fancy (I sized it down first).

Note: For my printer I needed to change my document size to 8.26 x 11 because if it was set to the default of 8.26 x 12.5, my printer treated it like a legal size document and printed too close and off the end of the page. I should have gone into my printer controls and created/selected a page size that would accommodate that, but I was too lazy. ;)

You’ll notice on the end that it says “Feed this side first.” That’s the end you put into the Silhouette and then press Enter to load it. Or, if you’re using the original machine, roll your paper. At this point you can go ahead and cut your image like you normally would—making sure Search Registration Marks is checked on this screen:

A couple things to note at this step here. First, if you are using the SD machine, make sure your LCD display says Load w/Carrier and not Load Media. I was unaware of this the first time I used it (I'd accidentally changed it) and of course I had a hard time getting it to work right. If you need to change that setting, just press the right arrow key on the machine until you see that option.

Second, if, by chance, the optic eye is having a hard time finding the registration marks, try positioning the blade so that it is over a registration mark (the corner lines). If that doesn’t work, there may be other factors why it might not be reading it and you can find more information about that here.

Sometimes it may take a few tries and a little patience to make sure it’s all working right for you. But I guarantee, you will LOVE it when you use it!

Once it’s cut, it’ll look just like this:

* You can find another couple great links for using Print & Cut here and here.

Georgia

Let me just give you a brief explanation in very basic terms . . . along with a little sneak peek, of course. ;) Take a look at Nichol Magouirk’s use of this monogram letter and word tab on her absolutely amazing page. LOVE it!

Here I’ve brought that same “Happy” monogram into a new document. You'll notice how there's a red line around the image. That's the cut line.

 

When you add the Print & Cut image into your document in the Robo Master software, it will display—in color—with a red cutting line around it. You’ll simply add registration marks to your document, print the document, place it onto the cutting mat, and Silhouette will read the registration marks and know where it needs to be cut.

 

To add registration marks, select Edit/Registration Mark Settings (or you can choose File/Document Settings and check Use Registration Marks).

Next, you’ll get this screen. Just click on the Use Registration Marks and you’ll see the little sample document on that screen change to include registration mark placement markers. Just leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.

Once you click on OK, your document will now look like this:

Select File/Print and send your document to the printer. Here’s how it looks all printed and fancy (I sized it down first).

Note: For my printer I needed to change my document size to 8.26 x 11 because if it was set to the default of 8.26 x 12.5, my printer treated it like a legal size document and printed too close and off the end of the page. I should have gone into my printer controls and created/selected a page size that would accommodate that, but I was too lazy. ;)

You’ll notice on the end that it says “Feed this side first.” That’s the end you put into the Silhouette and then press Enter to load it. Or, if you’re using the original machine, roll your paper. At this point you can go ahead and cut your image like you normally would—making sure Search Registration Marks is checked on this screen:

A couple things to note at this step here. First, if you are using the SD machine, make sure your LCD display says Load w/Carrier and not Load Media. I was unaware of this the first time I used it (I'd accidentally changed it) and of course I had a hard time getting it to work right. If you need to change that setting, just press the right arrow key on the machine until you see that option.

Second, if, by chance, the optic eye is having a hard time finding the registration marks, try positioning the blade so that it is over a registration mark (the corner lines). If that doesn’t work, there may be other factors why it might not be reading it and you can find more information about that here.

Sometimes it may take a few tries and a little patience to make sure it’s all working right for you. But I guarantee, you will LOVE it when you use it!

Once it’s cut, it’ll look just like this:

* You can find another couple great links for using Print & Cut here and here.

Georgia

When you add the Print & Cut image into your document in the Robo Master software, it will display—in color—with a red cutting line around it. You’ll simply add registration marks to your document, print the document, place it onto the cutting mat, and Silhouette will read the registration marks and know where it needs to be cut.

 

To add registration marks, select Edit/Registration Mark Settings (or you can choose File/Document Settings and check Use Registration Marks).

Next, you’ll get this screen. Just click on the Use Registration Marks and you’ll see the little sample document on that screen change to include registration mark placement markers. Just leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.

Once you click on OK, your document will now look like this:

Select File/Print and send your document to the printer. Here’s how it looks all printed and fancy (I sized it down first).

Note: For my printer I needed to change my document size to 8.26 x 11 because if it was set to the default of 8.26 x 12.5, my printer treated it like a legal size document and printed too close and off the end of the page. I should have gone into my printer controls and created/selected a page size that would accommodate that, but I was too lazy. ;)

You’ll notice on the end that it says “Feed this side first.” That’s the end you put into the Silhouette and then press Enter to load it. Or, if you’re using the original machine, roll your paper. At this point you can go ahead and cut your image like you normally would—making sure Search Registration Marks is checked on this screen:

A couple things to note at this step here. First, if you are using the SD machine, make sure your LCD display says Load w/Carrier and not Load Media. I was unaware of this the first time I used it (I'd accidentally changed it) and of course I had a hard time getting it to work right. If you need to change that setting, just press the right arrow key on the machine until you see that option.

Second, if, by chance, the optic eye is having a hard time finding the registration marks, try positioning the blade so that it is over a registration mark (the corner lines). If that doesn’t work, there may be other factors why it might not be reading it and you can find more information about that here.

Sometimes it may take a few tries and a little patience to make sure it’s all working right for you. But I guarantee, you will LOVE it when you use it!

Once it’s cut, it’ll look just like this:

* You can find another couple great links for using Print & Cut here and here.

Georgia

When you add the Print & Cut image into your document in the Robo Master software, it will display—in color—with a red cutting line around it. You’ll simply add registration marks to your document, print the document, place it onto the cutting mat, and Silhouette will read the registration marks and know where it needs to be cut.

 

To add registration marks, select Edit/Registration Mark Settings (or you can choose File/Document Settings and check Use Registration Marks).

Next, you’ll get this screen. Just click on the Use Registration Marks and you’ll see the little sample document on that screen change to include registration mark placement markers. Just leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.

Once you click on OK, your document will now look like this:

Select File/Print and send your document to the printer. Here’s how it looks all printed and fancy (I sized it down first).

Note: For my printer I needed to change my document size to 8.26 x 11 because if it was set to the default of 8.26 x 12.5, my printer treated it like a legal size document and printed too close and off the end of the page. I should have gone into my printer controls and created/selected a page size that would accommodate that, but I was too lazy. ;)

You’ll notice on the end that it says “Feed this side first.” That’s the end you put into the Silhouette and then press Enter to load it. Or, if you’re using the original machine, roll your paper. At this point you can go ahead and cut your image like you normally would—making sure Search Registration Marks is checked on this screen:

A couple things to note at this step here. First, if you are using the SD machine, make sure your LCD display says Load w/Carrier and not Load Media. I was unaware of this the first time I used it (I'd accidentally changed it) and of course I had a hard time getting it to work right. If you need to change that setting, just press the right arrow key on the machine until you see that option.

Second, if, by chance, the optic eye is having a hard time finding the registration marks, try positioning the blade so that it is over a registration mark (the corner lines). If that doesn’t work, there may be other factors why it might not be reading it and you can find more information about that here.

Sometimes it may take a few tries and a little patience to make sure it’s all working right for you. But I guarantee, you will LOVE it when you use it!

Once it’s cut, it’ll look just like this:

* You can find another couple great links for using Print & Cut here and here.

Georgia

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!

I found a wonderful resource for ideas for cutting vinyl on my Silhouette! There are tons of companies popping up on the internet selling vinyl cut-outs for your wall. I thought, why not make my own? Recently, I made this piece for Father's Day-Dad really loved it!

I got the phrase idea from an online vinyl company, changed the font, downloaded the notes from Quikutz, and used a $1.79 charger from Hobby Lobby (thanks, Joyce!) to place it on.  Here's a couple of other ideas you could create using Quickutz downloads!                             If you have any trouble cutting out your vinyl, call us at SBFTH, or consider joining us at Silhouette 101 and 102 classes. Its ok to take the classes over since there is sooo much information to take in! We have a terrific selection of vinyl, too!

Here's some links to help you get started on vinyl ideas!

 

http://www.wallies.com/
http://www.customwallphrases.com/
http://www.vinylinspirations.com/
http://www.wordtothewall.com/
http://www.vinylinnovation.com/
http://www.wallsneedlove.com/
http://www.wallphrases.com/
http://www.bloomingwords.com/
http://www.expressivewalls.com/
http://www.art-a-peel.com/
http://www.signsandwondersdecor.com/
http://www.uppercaseliving.com/http://www.wallies.com/
http://www.customwallphrases.com/
http://www.vinylinspirations.com/
http://www.wordtothewall.com/
http://www.vinylinnovation.com/
http://www.wallsneedlove.com/
http://www.wallphrases.com/
http://www.bloomingwords.com/
http://www.expressivewalls.com/
http://www.art-a-peel.com/
http://www.signsandwondersdecor.com/
http://www.uppercaseliving.com/

Happy cutting!

Georgia

Technique Tuesday-Silhouette

To SD or not to SD, that is the question......

Hi Bloggers!

Since the new Silhouette was delivered, many customers have asked whether they should upgrade to the new SD or look for the older original Silhouette. Let me share some of the differences today.

Both machines are Quikutz, so they are quailty products with absolutely the best customer service-ever!

Both machines have the ability to cut .gsd and .gst files, plus weld, and shadow titles and images. You can also sketch, do print and cuts, design your own files, and use any true type font or dinglebat already installed on your computer.

SD offers an SD card reader built in. Just use the included software to save your favorite Designs onto a standard SD card, plug the card into your Silhouette and use the built-in LCD screen to find and cut designs without your computer. Great for crops!

SD is also quieter. Orignial Silhouette sometimes sounds like a Moose looking for a mate!

SD has an auto-loading feature whereby materials can be loaded with the push of a button rather than with a manual feed-knob (as the original Silhouette has).

SD has blade cap holders (located under the machine's lid) to safely store your additional blade caps when not in use.

SD comes with a $25 gift card to the online shop, a special 1/2 off download offer for a year, a scraper, glass etching creme, and a piece of vinyl and transfer paper.

So, if you are considering a move to Silhouette, come by the store and try out our SD! We also offer Silhouette 101 and 102 classes to teach you the tips and tricks of your fabulous new machine.

Georgia

Technique Tuesday for Silhouette

Hi Bloggers!

Our question today is about the mats for Silhouette.  "When I start to make a cut, the mat doesn't hold the paper down well. What can I do? "

There are several possible fixes for this situation:

Clean the mat. You can use a lint roller or wash the mat with a bit of dishwashing soap and air dry. This removes the bits of paper and lint left behind during cuttings.
In addition to cleaning the mat, it is vital to replace the cutting mat's liner on top of the sticky surface when not in use. If left uncovered while not in use, the mat's adhesive surface may collect dust or other particles.

In addition to cleaning and covering your mat, I also would recommend using a scraper (like the flat edge of a credit card) or a brayer tool to press your material onto the cutting mat rather than pressing them onto the mat by hand. This is especially helpful with smaller sizes of material. We sell a scraper at SBFTH that is very useful for cleaning the mat and pressing paper on.

Mats do lose their adhesive quality over time, so you may want to purchase a new one. We now have the new, heavier mats with grids in stock at the store. They are great and have been reformulated to have the adhesive last longer!

Do you ever have problems getting items off your mat?  I found that I was tearing several of my newly-cut pieces while trying to remove them from the mat. I have 3 tools now that work awesome! One is the scraper that we just talked about and second is the hook tool. It picks up even the smallest pieces from the mat and works well for "weeding" vinyl. The third tool is the QuickStik. It is amazing! I use it to pick up anykind of small paper or even bling from any surface.  it also has a small spatula to help pry things up from a sticky surface.

Drop by the store and give the tools a test drive to see if they would be useful for you, too! And, don't forget to leave comment and questions for next week's Technique Tuesday!

Georgia