It's Time For Another Video

As a quilter, I have been interested in making stencils for quite a while. When I originally tried to make one about a year ago, I couldn't figure out how to do it. Since then I have figured out the way to get a good stencil to cut. Several inquiries on Silhouette groups made me decide I should make a video to share the information. This is it. Remember you can watch them in a larger format if you go to YouTube to watch.

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A Good Day For a Video

Yes, here in the alleged "south" it is once again nasty. Started with rain, changed to sleet and now it's snowing. This winter has been incredible and not in a good way. Had several requests to do a video on kerning. I think I thought people knew what it was but the newest Silhouette Studio update has the option to turn kerning on or off. I vote for leaving it on. As a former typesetter, many years ago, kerning was something we did often. So here's all I could figure out to show or tell about kerning.

Another YouTube Video

Had a question from someone about making a cut file from a graphic. It was a graphic with very poor resolution and she wanted to trace it but make the parts separate. I kept thinking about how to explain it in an email but ended up figuring out I needed to do a video. I often see people wanting to turn graphics into cut files so thought it might be of interest to others. This is one you need to watch in full screen mode because of some of the detail working with nodes that you won't see with the regular size YouTube screen.

Videos, Videos

For a while I quit doing videos on the Silhouette/Cameo because the screen recording software I was using conflicted with a Mac OS update and every time I moved the mouse, the screen flashed. I checked a few months ago and it had been fixed…don't know if it was a Mac fix or a software fix. Now, I've found another screen recorder I really like. The one I was using had a maximum of five minutes and sometimes I just needed a few more seconds. The new one I'm using does not have a limit. I will admit there is a limit to how long I should be talking though!!!

When I first started doing YouTube instructional videos, no one else was doing them and there was a need for information. Now there are so many excellent YouTube tutorials I usually see no reason to do a video…but someone posted on YouTube asking me to do one on filling letters with patterns and making another color of border or outline…so I did that video tonight. I also did one last week on something but I am linking to the newest video here. If there is something specific you are having trouble with, post a comment and I'll see if I can figure it out and make a video.

Vinyl

Another great thing to cut on any cutter is vinyl. There are tons of kinds but I sort of think of them as indoor vinyl (removable), outdoor vinyl (permanent) and heat transfer vinyl. There are tons of special kinds of vinyl too but mainly I use the three basic kinds. You can decorate  clothing, walls and just about anything. You can cut incredibly detailed designs in vinyl which makes it so versatile. I am showing an example of a very reasonably priced note holder that I purchased to make gifts last year. The outside was plastic but I still used heat transfer vinyl on it. I just couldn't linger when pressing it (learned that on the first one). A little vinyl, a little time, and a great inexpensive gift.

Little Gifts

The Silhouette/Cameo has been an absolutely great way to make boxes and containers for little gifts and treats. Here is one I made for some seam rippers that were token gifts to the Renegade art quilt group at our Christmas party. Basically it was a little box that opened at the top and bottom. I cut the halo, face, hair, arms/hands and wings on the Silhouette. The wings were embossed with an embossing folder. The hair was colored with a light brown marker. Eyes are black marker dots and cheeks are pink chalk. The halo was painted with gold paint and the edges antiqued with brown ink. It was a lot of fun to put together and it brought back memories of my folk art painting days. It is true that I drew the parts but you could easily find files online that you could use to cut parts to decorate a simple box. Make a small gift extra special for someone.

New Year's Resolution - 2014

I have two blogs and my resolution is to post to them and share what is going on. I was pretty embarrassed to see that I last posted on this blog in January of last year. It's not that I haven't been going crazy with my cutters...just seemed have too many things to do with my card classes and starting my new machine quilting business.

I had been regularly posting YouTube videos about using the Silhouette but a MAC operating system update came along and it conflicted with the program I used to record the videos. I could record them but every move of the mouse caused a flash on the screen...really not fun to watch. Decided to find another program, which I never did, or see if a new update to the operating system of the Mac or to the program would happen. Finally in June I discovered I could do videos without the flashing and ended up doing two videos that friends requested. Haven't done any more videos because it seems like now there are so many people out there doing great tutorials that there isn't a real need for anything. If someone can't figure something out and asks, I am always glad to make a video on the subject.

I have made some changes. I finally bought myself a Silhouette Cameo (Merry Christmas to me) and have been using it for a few days. The first thing I did was make a "belated" Christmas card to send out. I ran out of handmade cards before Christmas so needed a little stack of these. My favorite thing to do is find images and make them into cutting files. I don't do a lot of other things but print and cut is my main use of my Silhouette.  Made this card from an image I found and had used it for a belated birthday card.

Rearranged my cutters and decided to sell my Zing and keep my old Pazzles Pro for cutting heavy duty things and engraving, etc. Hope if you have a cutter, you are using it to it's full potential. If you need help, post a message and I'll see what I can do.