Good intentions...

is what I had to make test cuts this weekend. I seem to have gotten side tracked.  This past week there were a couple of threads on the Cricut message board about wide format printers on sale.  I have been wanting a wide format for sometime now but could never justify the expense of adding yet another printer to my scraproom.  Well I checked them out and caved.  I brought home the HP Photosmart B8555 for only 149.00 with 50.00 bonus Officemax points. It even has reasonably priced replacement ink with individual color cartridges around 10.00 each. It is a bit noisier than my other HP but the prints are clear and true color (up to 13x19 if you choose). I really was more interested in using the printer for background papers so the great photo quality is a bonus.  I did a test digital stamp on print paper and I think I am really going to use this more than I thought. It is however a large printer so I ended up moving my entire scraproom around trying to find the right spot for it.  I guess you never realize how much stuff you have until you try to rearrange it. Long story short I only got one of my test cuts done but he is a real cuttie.  Someone off the MB ask if I had this image and I did so I converted it.  I made the passy a separate piece so you can add it or leave it off.  This is Alvin should you care to try him.

This is the 12x12 with the digital stamps added with the wide format printer.

My first Tilda comes to life...

and I must say I really adore this little girls.  They have so much character for someone with only eyes and eyebrows.  The first one I tried was at 5 inches and she is small so it was harder to get alot of extra details on her.  The next try I cut her at 7 1/4 inches and she was so much easier to add detail to.  I like both sizes and anything in between would work great for a scrapbook page.  So far I have about 24 of them in cut files but only these 2 have been tested.  My goal for this coming weekend is try to test cut  at least 10 more.  I get so wrapped up in converting files that I haven't been doing much cutting, LOL.  If you would care to try these files here is the link for Tilda Fall and Tilda Stylish.

On another great note today I was lucky enough to be chosen to win a Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge for week #4.  I'm so glad I didn't buy it at M's last sale.  Don't forget to go to the Message Board and put your name in there is still one more week to win.

Don't You Just Love Tilda...

I have been playing with Inkscape again this past weekend.  I find late at night when I'm watching movies I love to sit and play with Inkscape.  I have four granddaughters and two daughters so I have plenty of little girl pictures to work with.  Looking for some images to convert I came upon a large selection of Tilda images that were perfect for what I was looking for.  Well one image led to two to ten and so on.  Now I have a whole collection of Tilda's to cut.  I think she is adorable.  These are some of the ones I've finished so far.  I've yet to test cut them because I'm not sure what pic's I am using and need to color coordinate them.  Detailing them will almost be like playing with paper dolls. I will try to get the cuts made and some of the files posted this week.  I still have another bench, a window and awning etc... and more Tilda's.  I will try to post them as well.

Still sorting out cut files...

and it seems to be a never ending process. I am finding so many files I had forgotten about and a lot of them I want to tweak now that I've become more proficient with Inkscape (and still learning everyday). For those of you learning Inkscape might want to check out Mary's tutorials over at Mardenz blogspot. Her tutorials are great and her cut files are never ending. You will be like a kid in a candy store there are so many to check out, LOL. I really do need to stop playing with cut files and get back to working on my scrapbook pages. I'd like to share a couple simple files of mine I found. I love to read and just love the look of books on a shelf. They are a window to the world and imagination without ever leaving the cozy comfort of comfy chair on a rainy day. I always encouraged my kids to read for enjoyment starting when they were small and we bought endless shelves of books. With today's technology it seems so many kids rather put in a DVD. But in doing that they lose the unique feeling of getting lost in a tale that comes alive in their minds eye.

Girl With Book and Comfy Chair links should you care to use them.

Faeries, Pixies and little enchanted creatures...

are such a favorite of mine. I have always been enchanted by mystical creatures. I always loved to loose myself in books like Lord of the Rings when I was younger and let my visual imagination run. Now you can watch all the creatures you imagined come to life via DVDs. Isn't technology grand? The people who create the costumes and makeup leave me in awe. You can almost feel like you are there. Then there are the ageless gems like Tink who is loved by all generations. Faeries seem to hold the ability to bring enchantment and lightness of the heart to anyone who can let them into their imagination. With four granddaughters imagination is never in short supply at my house. The grandsons seem to lean more toward the trolls, go figure. All this being said I'd like to share these files from my fairy collection with everyone.
















These were done with Inkscape and imported at 12x12 into SCAL. There are a lot of pieces and I cut my shadow in black and all the rest in white card stock and used Cats Eye chalks to color them. They were cut about six inches high. The wings with highlighted with matching glitter. Every fairy needs fairy dust. Click here for the file.


Here is the file for the Reading fairy as well from July 21st post as well.

Organization can lead to obsession...

well I seem to have gotten lost in organizing my cut files as of late. About five weeks as of late LOL. It seems to have all started when I couldn't find a cut file on my laptop and from there I was knee deep in virtual files. I decided to add a jpeg file to match all my saved Inkscape files so I didn't have to open them to see what the were. At least with Design Studio files if you open them up in DS you can look at the file. So I was on a mission and have yet to complete it all. I think I'm at somewhere around 1500 files and counting between all the programs. I have been trying to tag the ones I have gotten from other people so when I use them I can give them credit due for their hard work. I will say one thing I have gotten from this is I have become much more proficient in Inkscape and that in itself has been worth it. So today I decided to test cut 5 of the files I had made and I will try to post all this week along with the file should anyone care to try them. Well here is my first cut file and it's done with SCAL. I love vintage and this reminds me of warm memories of my girls when they were small with books and stuffies and wonderful imaginations. It is set for 12x12 to be imported to SCAL. Here is the link to the cut file if you care to use it.