I joined Close to My Heart

Hey Crafters,

I know that there was no Silhouette Thursday or 2nd Wednesday Cricut Cartridge feature.  But I am working on getting some out for August.  A friend of mine is having a party and I've been busy making the save the date cards, and starting on the invitations.  Also, I haven't played with the Silhouette as much, because I've been playing with the Cricut Explore. Hopefully I will be able to even out the love between the two soon.  But as I recall, my E2 got neglected when I first got the Silhouette, soooo that's just how it goes.

However, the big news is that I am now a Close to My Heart (CTMH) Independent Consultant.  Now before signing up with CTMH I heard a lot about the products, but had not used one thing.  Well that's all changed now!

I joined at the end of April, when they had a great promotion to join the company.  But I still had a lot of questions: Would I even like the products?  Would there be real support from the company?  Could I deal with the delay satisfaction of ordering products and then waiting to get them (this was probably the biggest problem)? Those were just a few of my questions.  Well the answers are (drum roll please) YES, YES and YES.

I do think that the CTMH product line will add that extra something to my projects. Especially with the inks, that coordinate with the paper, along with those stamps.  Let's not forget about those Workshop on the Go kits, home decor items, and so much more.  I can't wait to share all of the information about the Close to My Heart products.  

So you will start seeing mixed among the other things that I talk about, projects done solely with CTMH products, as well as all the other stuff I've collected.  I will still be doing my Cricut cartridge reviews (2nd Wednesday), let's face it I got a lot of cartridges and have not even dented in reviewing them all.  I will also still be doing video's about using my Silhouette and other random products, that I use to complete my crafts projects.

If any of you are already familiar with Close to My Heart and need to order something (2014-2015 Annual Inspiration Idea Book is now live) or if you are just curious about what it has to offer, you can click the Shop with me badge, and it will take you to my page. If you are interested in joining my team, let me know by sending me an email.  If you have any questions let me know.  

Happy Crafting!

Legalbeaglepanda Creations

Cricut Wednesday & Silhouette Thursday -- All at once

Hello fellow Crafter's!

Yes, Cricut Wednesday & the Silhouette Thursday video and blog post are being posted on the same day. 

 Let's start with the Silhouette.

Did you all see that Silhouette has come out with a new version and boy or boy does it have a different look. I went to the Silhouette Plus Forum and saw people talking about having the ability to run the newer version and still retain your older (legacy) version on your machine.  However, there appears to be a kink and it will not let you run designer edition on both versions at the same time.  Some have found a way to work around it and others have just removed the new version.  If you haven't checked out the forum you should, sign-up is free and you will get a lot of tips from the people on the board.

Well the video for this month talks about some of the other window you will find in the Silhouette Studio Software V2.  The video contains a brief overview of what I currently understand of the Move, Rotate, Scale, Shear, Align and Replicate windows.  It may serve as a refresher for some and new information for others. Either way I hope it's helpful.
I've read that Silhouette is working on doing some fixes to the new version, and are hoping to have the new and improved V3 out soon.  For those of you who have downloaded and started using V3 let me know what you think.

Now for the Cricut Feature Cartridge.  This month the Cartridge is All Sports.  When I originally got this cartridge I thought it would be good for doing memory books of all those sporting events my nephews attended.  But instead I did some sports inspired cards.  Click Here to check out the video showing a brief overview of the content of the cartridge, and some of the cards I made.  All of the cuts were made with the new Cricut Explore.  Hopefully this coming weekend I will have a little bit more time to play with the new machine and it's software. If I really get to play then be on the look-out for a more detailed review of what I think of the machine. 

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLEPANDA

Silhouette Thursday #6: Looking at the option in the Modify Window

This month I decided to do a video on the Modify Window, specifically the first box that includes, weld, intersect, crop, subtract, subtract all and divide. The video runs through just the basics of what I know of the buttons and how they function. 

Happy Crafting,

LegalBeaglePanda

Silhouette Thursday #5: Rhinestone: using them in the Silhouette Design Studio

It's that time again.  Silhouette Thursday.  This month I wanted to try my hand at how rhinestones patterns can be made and used in the Silhouette software.  I put in a little bit of both regarding the Studio edition and the Studio Designer Edition.  I will probably have another video up showing the project that I'm making using rhinestones later this month.
Click Here to see the video.

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLEPANDA

Silhoutte Thursday #4: From Page to Cutfile

Hello fellow Crafty people!  I hope your New Years has started off great.

I'm sure your wondering what does from page to cut file mean.  Well, I like to look at craft magazines, books and sometime participate in sketch challenges.  Sometimes I come across a instructions that have a lot of steps and proceed to get out my ruler, paper trimmer, score board and pencil to create the project.  The end result (after some trial and error) is great, but I have to look up those instructions each and every time.  Well with your Silhouette Studio software, you can take those instructions from the page and translate it into a Silhouette Studio file.  Now you are measuring just once, leaving you with a quick and easy way to recreate that project. The video this month takes you through the steps of creating a file, for a slider card that I found in the Summer 2013 edition of Card Maker Magazine .  CLICK HERE  to see the video.  There will be another video up this Saturday, showing you how I put a card the card together.

I finally got the video done, so if you click here you will see the how to put the slider card together.

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLEPANDA

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hey Crafty friends,

I hope everyone enjoyed this holiday season, and got at least one thing that was on your craft wish list. Since I'm still away visiting family for the holiday season, the Silhouette Thursday video/blog post is going to be delayed.  I expect the video and blog post will be up by next Thursday.  

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Day, and wish that you have a crafty and creative year.  

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLEPANDA

Silhouette Thursday #3: Using My Sketch Pens

Hey Crafty People!  Can you believe that it's DECEMBER already?  Yikes!!!  I have to finish up my Christmas Cards.  Good thing I started a little earlier this year.  Since it's the first Thursday in December it's time for my Silhouette Thursday video.  I am trying to keep my self organized (okay, okay, I'm trying to organize . . .it's a never ending process) so I decided that I needed to do some labels for my craft bins, boxes and baskets.  Instead of writing out the labels by hand I figured that I would use my sketch pens to make them all pretty. CLICK HERE to see the video. 

Remember there are specific sketch design in the silhouette store, but you an pretty much sketch whatever you can cut.  If you don't already  know Silhouette is having a sale on their designs in the online store.  50% percent off, it ends on the 8th of this month.  You still have a few days to pick up the designs and fonts that have been on your wish list.

HAPPY CRAFTING

LegalbeaglePanda

Silhouette Thursday #2 : Using your Silhouette to Fussy Cut around your Clear Acrylic Stamps

It's the first Thursday in November, so you know it's time for the Silhouette Thursday video.  Well for this months video, we looked at the trace and offset feature of the Silhouette Studio Design Software.  The video does an overview, of how you can use those features with the acrylic stamps you have in your collection.  CLICK HERE to see the video.

No time for the video right now, let me give you a written rundown.

There are times when you decide that you want to cut close around a stamped image (fussy cutting) you are using in your project.  How about we avoid using our scissors, and bust out our Silhouette machine. Pick your stamp, fire up your scanner and let's get started.

The first thing you want to do is stamp your image, and then scan it into your computer.  I saved my scanned file in as a .jpeg.  Now open up Silhouette Studio application and open your scanned file onto the mat.  Next your going to select the trace feature, and trace around your image.  Get as close to the image as possible.  Select the trace edge option, and you can now pull away the outline of your stamped image. Your almost done, but now you need to select the offset option, and create the amount of distance your want to be around your image.  When you get the distance that suits you, select apply, now you can pull away the offset outline away from your trace image.  Now copy that offset image as many times as you want and cut the image out as you would normally.  

What you now have is a perfectly die-cut shape, take your stamp, and stamp away.

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLEPANDA

SVG Instruction Sheets

Since getting the Silhouette Cameo, I have found myself bouncing around different sites, that say free SVG files.  There are a lot of people out there that are willing to share what they have designed.  I thought today I would talk briefly about one site in particular which is Miss Kate Cuttables . Now the name may seem familiar to you since their designs are also for sale at the Silhouette Store.  Now I've bought their designs from both the Silhouette Store and directly from the website.  However, there is a difference in what you receive when buying the files from one or the other.

At the Silhouette Store you get the cut already in the studio format, which means that you don't need to upgrade to the Designer Edition in order to use the file.  Upon purchase it will automatically be loaded in to you image library within the Design Studio Software.

  

When you buy the design from the website, you get the file in a couple of different formats to use (SVG, JPG & PNG).  Plus you get a PDF file that gives you instructions on how to layer the image once cut.  I absolutely love the instruction sheet.  This might be because I'm use to looking at the image in color and broken in to sections from using my Cricut handbooks.  As you saw from the video posted last time.  In order not to loss my way with the piece I try to color code them so I figure out what goes where and not to waste paper.  The files bought from the website are already colored filled matching the colors on the instruction sheet. You can of course change the colors if you are utilizing the print and cut feature with the machine.  

Some things to remember when using SVG files.  You'll need to upgrade to the Designer Edition in order to use them.  Your file will be stored on your hard drive so make a folder so they are easier to find, but know that you can also import the file to your Design Studio library.  Also, you will need to switch the lines to cut lines since when you open them in the software the lines are set at no cut.

I'm know that there are a bunch of sites that have cutfiles for free and purchase.  I haven't stumbled into one that has an instruction sheet attached, otherwise I would be talking about them too.  So if you know of other sites that include instruction sheets with their downloads, leave me a comment telling me where, I would love to check it out.

HAPPY CRAFTING

LEGALBEAGLE

Silhouette Thursday Episode 1: Quick Tip

Welcome to the first Silhouette Thursday.  I decided to start off with a video, which you will find below or on our YouTube channel.  I'm going to apologize for the sound of the video.  I tried out  new software and didn't realize that I needed to speak a little bit louder.

Anyway, this quick tip is just something that I find helps me organize the pieces of my cut file on my mat, and helps me not to waste paper.  I know your thinking well what's the tip.  I'll give you a hint, you'll be using the spilled paint bucket icon to help sort out the pieces of your cut file.  Click on the video below to see what I mean.

If you have any questions, comments or thoughts we'd love to hear from you so leave us a comment.

Happy Crafting 

LegalBeagle