Free File for Silhouette Users

I've been doing quite a few files for my classes and for my own personal use and decided I would see if I could share one of them. This is a snowman card that hinges at the top. The inside message is printed on the snowman card itself and can easily be changed to whatever you want. The pieces can be used as a print and cut or could be separated and cut from different colors of card stock. Hope you enjoy! Hoping to post a Zing/MTC version in the next day or so. This file is a Silhouette Studio file. The snowman card on the right is the size of the file and the one on the left I just reduced all the parts to make it fit in a 3" square envelope.

Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Knife Tools

My friend, Sharry, just upgraded her Silhouette Studio to the Designer Edition and asked me about how the knife tool worked. The Designer Edition has a lot of options and is one of the things I use quite a bit. Some of the tools work just the same in the regular edition so this is relevant to how it works even if you don't have all the oddball cutting path options. Hope you learn something...

Adding Decorative Elements to a Border

Had another person on the Silhouette Yahoo Group with a new Cameo that needed some help in making borders for a tile. Decided it was video time again. I ended up making two videos because I talked too long. The "screenr" program I use is limited to five minutes and I had more to say so made a Part 2 video about adding things to borders. To do successful things with borders it is really important to grasp the concept of compound paths. My YouTube Video, Silhouette Studio SD 19, has a detailed explanation of how compound paths work. In the case of welding the decorative elements and/or dividers or lines to a border you have to be sure that all of the elements you are working with are compound paths. Anyway, here are two videos where I go on and on about it.

New Cutter...Zing Joins my Cutter Family

Just got my Zing a few days ago and since this is  card class week I haven't had a chance to do much of anything but hook it up. Could be some Zing videos in my future but I am much more familiar with Silhouette Studio so don't hold your breath. There are so many Make-The-Cut experts that I would hesitate to offer much advice but you never know.

Several people asked why I didn't buy the new Silhouette Cameo with the wider cutting area instead of buying the Zing. Well, the Silhouette does remarkably well at PNC (Print And Cut) and I can't imagine needing to print and cut anything larger than the Silhouette SD does. I am primarily a card maker but I do dabble with other things, especially vinyl, and have occasional had just "cut" files that were too large for the Silhouette SD. The Zing has a 14" wide cutting area and a LOT more cutting force. I will be able to cut fabric, felt, stencils, chipboard, etc. I'm looking forward to having more choices and options.

The other thing is that I can use Silhouette Studio on my Mac and Make-the-Cut, the software for the Zing, is not Mac-compatible. I would always prefer working on my Mac. I might install Parallels so I can run Windows on my Mac but haven't decided yet. First I need to get more memory for the Mac and my pocketbook is empty at the moment since I just had to buy a new Mac, the Zing and the new Kindle Fire.

More reports on the Zing in the future and possibly more Silhouette videos to come.

Fixing Awkward or Weird Joins When Welding Letters

Know I haven't posted in a while but been busy and no one had a question I could answer. Today someone posted on the Silhouette Yahoo Group about fixing some bad spots when welding some letters. It was specifically about welding Edwardian Script letters. The way to fix them is usually using node editing. The thought of the words "node editing" scares people off. You don't have to know tons about it to do these simple fixes to letter joins. A video will show how easy it can be. Video below...to see it bigger watch directly on YouTube.

Borders, Replicating and the Pesky X and Y Axis Questions

Yesterday someone on the Silhouette group posted a question about making a border from a graphic. I posted a rather simplistic answer saying to replicate and weld.  A very knowledgeable and talented lady, Meadelie, posted a much more detailed answer referencing replicating using the x and y axis tools to control the objects. I got two emails from people saying they didn't understand that and wanted me to make a video explaining it...so that is what I did this morning. Oh and I also removed the Cricut "Expression" as one of the things represented on my blog header and replaced it with the word "Zing" which is a new cutter I hope to get soon.

Anyway, here is a short video on how to replicate and control it using the x and y axis choices. A quick way to get a border from almost anything (in this case it is a pumpkin from Lettering Delights).

Welding Purchased Graphic Files

Yes, more on welding. I had tried to explain this in a Yahoo group post but it is so hard to explain things and SO much easier to just show them. This is how you incorporate purchased graphic files into your own print and cut projects quickly and easily.