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Monday, January 31, 2011

Mail Time!



Who likes mail? I do! I like mail even better when they are treats. Just like those that are contained in these Lettering Delights Mailboxes.


I thought that the Valentine Mail Drop Box and the Valentine Mail Box SVG sets were really fun to put together but it took me two tries at making the Drop Box before I realize that the best way to stick the sides together was to use the Terrifically Tacky Tape (or red-lined tape). I found mine on clearance (50% off!) at Michaels but be warned that they really are very very sticky so be careful when you are using them. You don't want to stick them on the wrong side of the cardstock because there is no way to correct that mistake. You'll have to re-cut the two pieces. Ask me how I know that.


The tape was so strong that I could put a whole bunch of chocolates in the Drop Box and the bottom would hold and not give way. I was pretty impressed.

For the Mailbox, I decided to use my ATG gun instead because it was just easier especially when I was putting together the front and back of the mailbox. I had to be really careful when I was taping down the curved part and if I had used the red-lined tape, I would not have been able to separate the cardstock to fix any errors. Besides, unlike the Drop Box, the bottom of the mailbox sits flat on the surface and I didn't need to worry if the weight of the contents inside would break through the base.



I also used the Lettering Delights Love is Sweet Background Paper to make these boxes. I printed them out on my letter-sized cardstock and Cri-cut out the SVGs with Make-the-Cut. It is so convenient to use papers that already co-ordinate with the set! For the templates to fit on the letter-sized cardstock, I did reduced the size of the SVG by 10%. I do this by typing "90%" in the Width (W) box in MTC while keeping the Lock Aspect Ratio on. The Height(H) will automatically reduce itself. I reduce the size of every file that I used in the same SVG set the same way.


I thought that these boxes make darling centerpieces but my 2nd Graders would rather that I make them for their classmates to keep their Valentines in. Since these templates are in SVG format, I can easily make them smaller. I like these boxes big but they are so fun to make, I just might make a whole bunch of smaller ones for the kiddos. :-)

Click here or the image above to get your Valentine Mail Drop Box or Valentine Mailbox SVGs.




Friday, January 28, 2011

Animal Valentines!


"Hoo.. really wanted a treat?"

"Let me give you something fun to eat!"

"We are the Cutest Valentines EVER!"


"The people at Lettering Delights are just too clever!"

Click HERE or the image below to get your Animal Valentine Bags.



Edit to add a Tip:
To get the correct size, always Import your Lettering Delights SVGs at Actual Size and 72 DPI as shown in this tutorial.



His and Hers cards? TOADally!


Have you seen the Lettering Delights Frogs and Kisses SVG set? If you have not, you TOADally should! 


When I first saw this set, it reminded me of the Frog and Toadstools card that I had made with the DB Forest Friends doodlebat font last year. Even though that card didn't take me long to make, I sure had way more fun with this SVG set. 


Seriously, how could I not have fun with a set that have sayings like "unFROGettable" or "you make me HOPPY"? TOADally funny!


If you are thinking or have already bought this set, here's a tip for you in case you have trouble cutting out the eyes for a small-sized frog. The frogs on my cards measure at approximately 3" in width. If I had sized them bigger (say 4" and up), I probably wouldn't have any troubles with the eyes, but because my Cricut machine can't seem to cut small circles correctly, I had to figure out a way to make the eyes of the frogs look right. I used a 1/16" and a 1/8" hole punch to "cut out" the eyes instead. If you don't have these hole punches, don't panic. Just stick a pair of googly eyes on the frog and call it a day. The frog will look super cute with googly eyes too.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

More NEW Lettering Delights' SVG sets for Valentine's Day!


Who wanted more SVG sets from Lettering Delights? Well, the people at LD heard you because there are even more new sets added today! There's even a new paper pack that coordinates with some of the new SVG sets! 


Just click here or on the image below to take a closer look at what's new on the Lettering Delights' website.



Rain or Shine


Okay, I'll admit it. Even though I love all the new Lettering Delight's SVG sets, their Weather Girl has got to be my favorite set to date. I adore that set! I love the weather wheel and I love the girls (and boys from Weather Boy) images but if I have to pick a favorite, it will probably be the Umbrella Girl or the RainCoat Girl. In fact, I like the Umbrella Girl so much, I was inspired to come up with the sentiment that I used for today's card. Why say "Thinking of You" when you can say "You're always on my mind"? ;-)


I love that LD Buttercream font that I used for the printed sentiment. If you had missed my tutorial on how to print text with Make-the-Cut, you can read all about it by clicking here.

Love Ewe!

It's Thursday again and that's SuperJoy Day! :-)

I had my kids in mind when I made this little notecard. The 7 year-olds have been asking when they can start making Valentines for their friends and I thought that the sheep from Lettering Delights' Love Pets SVG set will be simple enough for them to work with. 


The card base was made by welding 2 shadow layers of the sheep with a rectangle. I combined two of Joy’s stamps to make the sentiment. I masked the “Thank” from “Thank Ewe” (Lots of Pun) and the “You” from “Love You” (All Around Sentiments) to get “Love Ewe”.

As simple as the card is, I actually enjoyed putting this one together. Something tells me that my two 2nd-Graders will have fun assembling these too. :-)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

LD Freebie BUNDLE! Monster Love

Hey everyone, say "Thank you, Lettering Delights!" because here's another fantastic FREEBIE BUNDLE for you. Just click here or the image below to go to the Lettering Delights site, add your freebie bundle to your cart and check out!



I got to use Make-the-Cut on the Slate!

I'm so excited! I got to use Make-the-Cut on the ASUS Eee Slate Tablet PC!!The touch-screen tablet comes with a pen and 2 USB ports. Here are two short videos to show you what the hype is all about:

Part 1: Intro



Part 2: Using Pixel Trace on the Slate


The ASUS Slate is currently on pre-order but it will be released in Feburary. You can read more about the features here:
ASUS Eee Slate EP121-1A010M 12.1-Inch Tablet PC

Get ready for Valentine's Day! New LD SVGs!

Woo Hoo! Just in time for Valentine's Day, check out the SIX new SVG sets from Lettering Delights


To go to the Lettering Delights' website, just click here or on the image above.


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Gale's Penguin Card

Wow! Look what my friend, Gale has made! Check out the penguin card she put together after following my MTC note-card tutorial.


Isn't that the cutest penguin ever? I thought that it was super clever to chalk in the cheeks instead of gluing down the pink layers. You're so Smarty Pants, Gale! :-D

You have to see how she placed the paper on the mat so that she could get ALL the cuts in one pass. ONE Pass! For the whole card! How cool is that? Now go check out Gale's blog at: Stamps-and-Stitches.com and come back to my tutorial so you can make a note card too. :-)


Monday, January 24, 2011

LD Sneak Peek: Yours Truly



Look what's coming soon from Lettering Delights!





Tickled Pink!

Happy New Week, everyone! Here's a quick card to start your week:


Who said that a penguin has to be black and white? I've never heard of anyone tickling a penguin but I wonder if it'll turn pink when it gets tickled? 

Something to think about, eh? ;-)


P.S. The penguin is from the Eskimo Kisses SVG set while the font is LDJ Keep Me Posted. And yes, I did print the sentiment out. To learn how to print text from Make-the-Cut, just click here.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

It all started with a bear...

It's January 22 again...

A year ago, Make-the-Cut was still a baby (v.1.0?)

A year ago, Lettering Delights did not sell SVGs.

A year ago on January 22, I used Make-the-Cut to cut out a Lettering Delights dingbat with my Cricut machine.


I had tried to cricut out the bear from DB Chill Out and when I couldn't, I realized that I had to "clean" it up in Photoshop. I took a whole morning to cut out one bear but I was hooked and the very next day, I cricut out the girl from Eskimo Kisses

As I look at my earlier cards on my Lettering Delights Gallery, I can't help but think about all the time I had spent to convert some of the images into Cricut-cuttable files. Time that we all no longer have to lose because Lettering Delights now has SVGs that we can cut right away. Instead of spending time converting images, we have more time to cut and make something with the cutouts! 

It's been a year since I cricut out the bear and Make-the-Cut is now v3.2.1. The program has become so much more powerful than I ever imagined that it would be. Lettering Delights now has 71 SVG files on their site, including Eskimo Kisses, and they will be releasing even more in the coming weeks.

Crafting with the Cricut has never been more fun. I can't wait to see what else Make-the-Cut can do and I can't wait to see what other SVGs Lettering Delights will be releasing. 

I really can't wait to play.


Friday, January 21, 2011

LD Friday Freebie: Be My Baby Miniature Candy Bar Wrapper

Yeah, Baby! It's Friday and here's this week's freebie from Lettering Delights:

 

Click here or on the picture above to grab your freebie. Just add it to your cart and check out. You pay $0! 



Thursday, January 20, 2011

My Rainy Day Fun Box



It's raining outside and you are tired of the kids coming up to tell you that they're bored? Time to whip out the Rainy Day Fun Box!

Using the new LD Weather Girl SVG set, I cut out the doll at approximately 6" x 8.75". The box is actually a 12"x12" scrapbook case that I had just bought from Michael's this week (On sale! 2 for $9!). Using Make-the-Cut and the LD Whale Tail font, I cut out the words in 2 sizes (1" and 1.5") with vinyl

Using transparent contact paper, I easily transferred and stuck the words onto the box and I used red-lined tape to stick the girl down. To hide the contents of the box, I stuck a piece of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper on the inside of the box so that the patterned side of the paper shows through the front of the box. 


Next, I filled up the box with all kinds of goodies....craft sticks, glue sticks, markers, crayons, tape, scissors, stickers, buttons, googly eyes, white paper, patterned paper, etc.,.....basically, all kinds of fun stuff. :-)


Now that you've made your Rainy Day Fun Box, all that's left to do is wait for the rain!


Weather Wheel!


I have twin girls who are in 2nd grade this year and even though they have watched me cut out so many Lettering Delights graphics and SVGs, they have never been more excited about what I cut than the weather wheel from the Weather Girls SVG set.

"Mom! MOM! Can you make more? We are learning about the weather in class! We can use this!" 

"Mom! Can I pleassssseee have this one? PLEEEAAASSSSEEEE??"

:-)

Making this weather wheel was super fun but I do have a few tips to share with you in case you are thinking of making one too.


1. To get the weather symbols in the correct position (so that they show in the window), I used the top window layer as a guide. Like that:


2. To get the raindrops in the correct position under the rain cloud, I used the negative of the cutout as a guide. Like that:


3. I wanted to make a big weather wheel and mine ended up being 10.5" x 10.5". To make the wheel more sturdy, I thought of cutting out a cereal box to use as the base layer but I was not able to find a cereal box that big. What worked for me, was a piece of the backing from a DCVW paper stack. I had to do a multi-cut of 2 in Make-the-Cut but it was perfect for the base.


Of course I couldn't just stop at the weather wheel. I had to cut out the weather girls too. 


Aren't they sweet? I *heart* this set. You can get yours by clicking here.

Yummy Yummy Sweet Treats


Woohoo! It's Thursday! And that means that I get to share a card with you that I've made for my friend, Joy of Joyslife.com

Joy and I got to know one another over at a shopping board about 7 years ago and even though we've never met in real life, I feel like I've known her forever. :-) Last November, Joy sent me some stamps to play with and I loved these stamps. When she asked me if I would join her Design Team, I was gamed. :-)


As last week was LD-MTC Beginners' Tutorial week, I didn't get to show you the card I made for her. I used her Lots of Pun stamp with a shaped card that I made with LD's Ark Alphabet hippo. This week, I used the DB Hello Cupcake doodlebat font and her All Around Sentiment stamps to make this card:


The card base was made by welding 2 shadow layers with a rectangle and measures approximately 6.5″x5.5″. The cupcake measures approximately 6″x4.75″ and is the perfect size for Joy’s All Around Sentiments Stamp to be used as the cherry on top! In fact, any of the stamps from that set would work well with this card. Just change the color of the cupcake liner to reflect the theme of the stamp.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

New LD SVGs! Weather Girl and Weather Boy!

OMG! We've all been looking so forward to these sets since the sneak peak back in early Dec. So happy that they're finally out! 



Together with Weather Girl and Weather Boy, the Sweet Birthday SVG set was also released today. Check out the new SVG sets here.


No more rectangle cards! LD's Card B and Envelope B SVGs.

So you've seen these Cards and Envelopes on the Lettering Delights website:


Ever wonder how they really look like all cut out? Well, wonder no more because I have just done it for you! :-)


What's that? Did you just gasp? Yeah...I did that too. Aren't they preettty? ;-)

If you import the files at 72 DPI and with the box next to "Actual" checked, you will find that each one of these cards will measure about 4.25" x 5.5" when cut and folded. Envelopes B SVG set was made to match with the Card B SVG set. I just love the decorative trim on the envelopes.

On the website, you can't tell that Card no.9 has little scallop edges while Card no. 10 is a tri-fold card. Envelope 5 is supposed to be a wrap and you can hold the ends together with a sticker or ribbon while Envelope 9 is really a sleeve.



By the way, there are two things that you need to take note of when you are cutting envelopes 1, 8, 9, and 10. When you import the SVGs onto the mat, you might notice that the image goes beyond the cutting zone of the mat. Let me show you how to work around that:


envelope_1 and envelope_10: 

After importing the svg, rotate the image so that all the lines cut within the cutting zone on the mat.





envelope_8 and envelope_9:

If you are a Make-the-Cut user, you are probably aware that there is a no cut zone on the cutting mat. Basically, it means that the Cricut is unable to cut outside that boundary. However, MTC can make the Cricut cut beyond the border on the right side of the mat.

You can cut envelopes no.8 or no.9 on a 12" x 12" cutting mat with a 12" x 12" sheet of paper if you manipulate where the paper goes on the mat.

For envelope _8, just move the image as close to the left side of the cut zone as possible. Place the paper on the cutting mat so that it is offset to the right of the cutting mat. Like that:


When you click on the Cut button (blue scissors button), a box will pop up with the message that there is something beyond the cut zone and if you want to continue with the cut. Just click yes and the Cricut WILL CUT the whole envelope out even though a bit of it is in the no-cut zone.



You can use the same method to cut out envelope 9 although you might like to rotate it 90 degrees first.


Here is an additional note about the score lines on the envelopes. Personally I don't like the score lines to show so I just delete them off. I will show you how to do this in 2 steps in a different tutorial.