I'm running my Craft Robo and KNK Studio GE on my iMAC!

I did it!!!

 I've got my iMAC, with my Parallels Program which allows you to run Microsoft windows within a window of the MAC machine. I've installed my Silhouette/Craft Robo and it works - and I've installed my KNK Studio GE 8 and it also works with my cute little dongle!

This is pretty revolutionary - the fact that I can create and cut on my iMAC instead of a PC is pretty darned awesome!  Especially with this huuuge beautiful screen ;)  I've attached some pics and encourage anyone who has any questions to give me a shout!

and my cut flowers ...

I did it, I did it..... IIIIIIIIIII did it!!!  

I'm doin' the happy dance - thank youu Sandy :)

Have a wonnnnderful day!

· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

http://prettylittlethingstocut.blogspot.com

3D Paper Flowers

OOOhhhh Bonnie has done it again!! I honestly wish I could see past the obvious and think like this awesome paper crafter. Look what she's created on this blog post - awesome!

· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

Beautiful Exploding Boxes

Well now I've gone and taken this post to the next level with an even easier do-it-yourself tutorial I found over at DieCutsRUs :) Enjoy!!

Check out more box ideas at http://magic-boxes.blogspot.com/

· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

Homemade Christmas idea

How fun would this (or a cooler customized version of it) be as a hand-made gift?

Thanks to Vanilla Joy for the idea

· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

Vinyl Cutting Ideas for your DigitalCraft Cutter

Wow! I know my digital craft cutter can cut vinyl, and I know that Quickutz sells cutter files for this purpose, but my imagination was seriously stretched when I began realizing the limitless possibilities of what (if I had the time) I could create. I found myself on the http://www.rightonthewalls.com website and it blew my mind! Check them out for some awesome products to purchase or ideas for your own inspiration.

For example, this rightonthewalls quote uses the Aquarelle FREE font that I first discovered when I did my daughter's first birthday thank you cards, how simple and stunning. You have to check them out and see what absolutely adorable things they have... especially the one for twins under the home and then nursery link - how awesome!!



· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

This tutorial deserves an honourable mention!!

I love cutting and creating my own die cuts and this Auto-Tracing for KNK Studio is Sandy's BEST tutorial yet :) Check out the awesome KNK Studio GE package deal & tutorials by Sandy at http://www.iloveknk.com/

New free dingbat font for die cutters

Clever Someday has some gret tips for digital cutting.

The 09KutUps is a shapes font made especially for SCAL and other cutting machines that can cut truetype fonts. Every shape has been optimized for cutting. CLICK HERE and in the middle of the second paragraph it says "download font here" with the "here" in green

Just awesome!

Wedding invitations

Now that the wedding is over and the couple on their honeymoon, I can finally share some of my creations. Here is the wedding invitation I designed alongside the bride. I am so proud of her, she'd make a suggestion, I'd make a mock-up and finally we reached a consensus of what I "could" do and what I believed *SHE* could do and we then we firmed up our design and she got to creating the content, and ordering paper, envelopes and tha card base. So, I got out my handy Silhouette and logged into my KNK Studio GE software and designed the monogram with the font we agreed on that would be completely versatile, then out came the CM straight cutter and I made a very realistic mock-up in full colour - she LOVED IT! 150 invitations later, she did most of the straight cutting, all of the assembling and I fiddled with monograms and helped her with formatting what would be printed to maximize paper and gave her some coaching on the cutting, etc. Many hours later - the final product was done :) Isn't it sexy !! I'm so proud of her and so is she!!

(Next time, she'll remember to center everything before printing though!!)

a digi cutter for CAKE DECORATING??!! OMG!

I never in a million years would have thought of using my digi cutter like this!!

Check out these cakes!!

Thanks Kbon for sharing this and the information the cake artist posted on another group:

"I use a Cricut to cut gum paste. First of all, you have to remove all of the tackiness from the cutting mat, otherwise you can't get the paste off after it's cut. (I literally rub it all off with my fingers then wash the mat in hot water.) To hold the paste in place, I apply a thin smear of Crisco to the mat. I roll the paste thin, to a #7 on my pasta machine, and let it dry slightly. It works best with old gum paste actually. I trim the paste so that it does not extend beyond the area that paper would normally be on the mat. I set the blade depth to a 4. I get very clean, precise cuts except when the blade needs to be cleaned (after about 24 uses). I just remove the blade holder and use a straight pin to flick out the build up of paste. It comes right out, and I'm up and running again."

Juuust awesome!!

Paper Lanterns

These stunning lanters can be found at

http://www.earth-friendly.net/

Me and my big brain could imagine how they would look unassembled and flat but do I have the time/bandwidth to play and experiment?? NOOOOO!!!! LOL These are beautiful, I'd love if someone could come up with a mini-version template that we could resize and add the decorative cut-outs on - any designers up for the task?

You can find their catalogues here for even more pics of how they assemble them, etc.

UPDATES:
And a special thank you to Bonnie from the KNK Studio GE Yahoo group for finding these stunning inspirations ...and Meadelie thank you for finding this HOW TO !! ...and Marg for finding this video - just awesome!!

Anyone going to try making these??

FREE FILES - got your attention didn't I :)

CHEERS! If you are a new cutter owner and I really hope my blog is useful to you :)

When I first got my Cutter, I scoured the web for free files that I could play with and soon got frustrated because whatever project I was working on would take forever becasue I knew *exaclty what I wanted* and either had to buy it or find it for free online. Well, when searching for just the right cutter file, I encountered version issues, file type issues and incredulously I found a lot of great files and ideas and collected what I thought was a lot of free files - yippieee!! Like candy to a craft-addict!!!

Then, I had to figure out a filing system, and then I just got frustrated when the file I wanted to use needed just a little tweek here or there and one that could not be accomplished after I cut it. I was ready to cry at my Valntines Day attempt, I swear I wanted to throw my machine out the window!

I realized my creative brain was much too big for the software that came with the Silhouette. I broke down soon after and collected my pennies and invested in the greatest program - the KNK Studie GE software and WOW! Once I started playing with it and going over the tutorials that came with the purchase, and those free on iloveKNK.com and the fantastic user manual that came with - my juices were flowing.

So I was recently cleaning up a bit of old stuff because I am so loving my program that I dont really use GSD files anymore... I came accross my list of gold - which I have included below. I hope it helps some of you newbies, it sure helped me at the time but WOW... now, I don't BUY files - I create them in a blink of an eye!!

I'll even admit, I own a QuicKutz Silhouette and spent some money buying GSD Files and NOW... HA! I coudl create and cut those same files in just a few minutes - thanks to the KNK Studio GE Software.

Good luck, and happy cutting!!!


Tutorials and Tools
http://02af4c4.netsolstores.com/MachinecomparisonsTSI.htm
http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/
http://www.iloveknk.com/
http://scrapbooking.arnolds.net.au/forum/viewforum.phpf=4&sid=f43ec12b09c3248c2c091352550ffa09 (tutorials)
http://www.scrapbook.com/forums/showforum.php?fid/50/
http://www.batchconverter.com/image-converter.html (change file types by group)
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F2Fcrafty.actifforum.com%2F&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Free GSD & KNK Files & For files sale
http://www.4shared.com/dir/15995478/45b64a0a/KNK_Files_by_Nikki.html
http://www.4shared.com/dir/12150434/f3b662f5/GSD_Files_by_Nikki.html
http://www.fam-bjork.se/monicas-hobbysida/
http://www.quillingpatch.com/category/freebie-friday/
http://02af4c4.netsolstores.com/index.asp?ageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=7
http://www.littlebit.com/cutter/cutter_files_index.html
http://02af4c4.netsolstores.com/index.aspPageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=7 http://creations.110mb.com/whatsnew.htm
http://www.timeforcrafting.co.uk/templates.html
http://www.collectedmemories.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/cmStore.woa/wa/page?key=morefreediecuts
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/k_5/shapebook/toc.html
http://www.bosskutdesigns.com/
http://www.letsbescrappy.com/cutter_files/cutter_files.htm
I know there are more out there, you might also look for websites that have pdf files you can convert, or jpgs too.

A resource for GSD Junkies
CRAFTY, le Craft Robo
Davesangel
Dianas Designs
Great Scrappin Designs
Hinkeltje fotografie & scrapbooking
I Love Craft Robo
Jayrewcraft - GSD Downloads
JennieBean Crafts
Kreations By Katie
Looking Out
Monique
MyDieCuts.com
Mydiecuts
Paperthreads
Serialpurrs
Signmax.us
Sussann's Blog - Cutter Files
The latest by Mary
The Scrapbook Lady - GSD Downloads
Time for crafting
Ukscrappers - Craft Robo
Visual Designs By Chris
Wishblade Files
Wishblade GSD Files
Wishblade
http://www.scrapmag.info/crafty/index.php (French site - all free)
http://www.duckysdesigns.com/KNK/Freebies/freebies.html
http://wordpress.com/tag/free-gsd/
http://papercuttingfun.com/wishblade/
http://www.paperthreads.com/forum/index.php
http://aussiescrapsource.typepad.com/aussie_scrap_source/quickutz/index.html (Free .GSD)
http://www.paperthreads.com/ (mostly for sale) (message board for sharing)
http://scrapbooking.arnolds.net.au/forum/index.php
http://ukscrappers.co.uk/ (go to the Craft Robo part of the Forum)
http://www.designsbyduchess.com/dsphotography/wishblade/wishblade.htm http://www.thewishbladingwell.com/
http://greatscrappindesigns.com/store/Default.asp
http://www.thescrapbooklady.co.uk/catalog/gsddownload.php
http://www.jersgirl.com/temps.html (jpg templates) Matching QK &

TTF Fonts:
http://www.scrapbook.com/blogs/19078/view/3115.html
http://www.publicfont.com/category/quickutz.php
http://mamawslegacy.wordpress.com/ (blog; free files almost daily)
http://mamawslegacy.com/cut/cut.html (free cutting files)
http://mamwawslegacy.cuttersmarket.com/ (cutting files; files in gallery)
http://www.letsbescrappy.blogspot.com/ (inexpensive for sale)
http://www.visualdesignsbychris.com/store/home.php
http://www.digitalcraftcutters.com/id67.html

Ideas for creating:
http://www.letteringdelights.com/
http://www.deltaphiscrappa.com/DayCrop28.html
http://www.estiloweddings.com/CUPCAKE-WRAPPERS/cart.php?m=product_list&c=97

A fun Silhouette of girlfriends shopping from Sh*ppers Drug Mart :)

Wouldn't this make the coolest girlfriends card? I am imagining layering the women in different colours, but my big brain is usually wayyy ahead of my creating-ability ;) Anyone interested in taking the leap and creating a cutting file from it? Please send me a copy when you're done, I'd love you forever becasue although I am really good at manual tracing, I still have to fiddle a whole lot with auto tracing and these lines need to be clean!

Click on the pic to get the jpg file and ENJOY!!

1st Communion Card

Wow, looovin' how this looks with the gold ;) I manually traced a photograph using my KNK Studio GE program and had this cut in 15 minutes, start to picture! I will be using it to decorate a patent black gift bag for my husband's Goddaughter's 1st holy communion gift... which is no doubt - GOLD and beautiful ;)

Click on the pic for the knk file, sorry, didn't have time to convert it to GSD.

From panic to passion!!

Okay I must be loosing it! I tried cutting something simple the other day (3 letters for a monogram) and had to change the blade cap for the paper - I did. Then I went to cut and it started making this horrible sound and since the whole house was asleep I couldn't investigate, I powered off. Finally I now have a moment to try again and the noise is still there. Note, there are no pending print/cut jobs and I powered down and unplugged all cables before restarting, and my Silhouette is only 4 mos old! When I power up... the "carriage" (to use the old typewriter-term) wants to move left but it's as far left as it can go so the terrible sound is the motor trying to move it left. ACK! Whaaa'doo'eye'dooo? HELP!

You know, I really have to hand it to my Yahoo Group friends, they just make life so very much easier! And Sandy McCauley simply makes me want to HUG my machine!! They confirmed I am not losing it!! (and also that it's not human error, my baby is BROKEN!!

PANIC!!!

Holey smokes! I am about to cut 145 monograms for wedding invitations - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

... and that I should contact the QuickKutz Customer Support, so I did, through their website and in less than 24 hours The Silhouette Support Team said: "Thank you for alerting us to your concern. It sounds as though the Silhouette's blade holder is off track. To get the tool back on track you can manually move the device back and forth several times. This should cause the belt to get back on track. Please try this and let us know if you have any problems. "

... and it worked!

So, off I went to use the Passions Conflict Rob font I fell in love with thanks to Nancy which is no longer a free font, so for those of you who want it, try Aquarelle.

So with a PASSION font, I created these thank yous for each and every one of you who always see to it that I loooove my cutter (especially Sandy!)!!

Tip & Tricks: Colour Detector

This is a neat program that allows you to find an exact colour match, not only using Craft Robo type software but ANY software! This is great when editing photographs even :)

Download it HERE

Tips & Tricks: Vinyl Cutting

I haven't tried this yet but my friend Sandy gives a tutorial :)

My pretty baby

Hi again,

I've been slowly but surely getting our vacation pics into my daughter's scrapbook album and thought I'd share this cute google find that I actually traced myself. Unfortunately though, my tired 3AM eyes and brain saved over my original file and I only have a block of "all black" and "all reds" saved that I put together to cut to save on paper and of course, sorry but I saved over the original traced file (and knowing me may never need or use it again so sorry) but I traced it in no time at all so feel free to try your hand!!

I actually gave her hairstyle piggy tails instead and added a feathery thingy on the scrapbook page it's on so she'd look more like my daughter ;)

If you're my facebook friend, shes wearing the outfit in my profile pic... and as of today you can take a peek on my very first post to see my profile pic ;)

The font I used for the layout was Chinese Takeaway and I think the page turned out quite cute!

LittleChineseGirl.GSD (This one was retraced in RoboMaster just for you Lisa)

LittleChineseGirl.JPG

Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks: Converting KNK to GSD Files

Thanks Edita :)

My first manual tracing file!!

I did it!! I viewed Sandy McCauley's manual tracing video tutorial and in about 4 minutes no-word-of-a-lie this came out of my Silhouette!!!

On our recent vacation, we insisted my 11 month old wear a hat so after "Hi" then "Up" and "Dada", her next word was "hat" which we thought was hilarious because it quickly became an incessant peek-a-boo tool, but at least she wore it!! The pic is of her wearing my hemp Tilley Hat to give her more UV coverage in the hot Mexico sun! I couldn't resist creating this cut-out for her scrapbook.

Enjoy it - summer's coming!! Use different colours for dimension or simply chalk the edges as I have. THANKS SANDY!!!

As an aside, my apologies to my GSD friends, I will figure out how to convert the KNK files from my KNK Studio GE program to GSD files, please bear with me on my learning curve... in the meantime I encourage you to get the program cause I am having a BLAST!!!

TilleyHat.jpg & TilleyHat.knk

~Nikki ;)

iloveknk.com

YAYYY!! Sandy's got a new tutorial on how to make hearts and shamrocks and I did it, I made a 4 leaf clover and it's cute ;) I'm still a perfectionist so before posting, I'd still like to play a bit but it's so awesome how the smart bar changes to reflect what edit mode you are in - just awesome!!! Check out the free video and see how easy-peasy it is to do! Thanks Sandy!!!

On a sad note, I am going to have to figure out how to convert a KNK file to a GSD file for my fellow scrapaholics, any advice?? I was thining of uninstalling the Craft Robo 5.1 version and putting a much lower version on my machine to see if converting from KNK to that version of GSD would work - who knows?? I'll figure it out one day - right :)