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Monday, September 30, 2013

Friends {Japanese Yorokobi}


I learned something new this weekend and I'm excited to tell you about it but first, let me show you something that I found out about the LD Japanese Yorokobi cutting file (SVG).


That there are some crazy intricate cuts in the files! I mean, they are seriously puny. I had imported the dolls at the original size (4" height), and noticed the fan and the mini slippers. They are super intricate! These dolls would look very cool when they are all layered and framed up as wall art but probably only when they are cut out in a reasonably large size. I can't imagine cutting them at a smaller size as the slippers would be challenging to cut with a personal cutting machine like the Silhouette Cameo. I had increased the size of the dolls as large as possible to fit within the registration marks for my hybrid (i.e. print-and-cut combined with traditional paper layering) card, and it was still impossible to cut the slippers out with my Cameo. Trust me, I tried. (UPDATE: I managed to cut the tiny slipper! See update at the end of the post).


The height of my dolls were 4.565" and 4.245" tall and all that I got from trying to cut the slippers out with my machine were shreds. Perhaps I could have had more success cutting them out with vinyl but at the time all that I wanted to do was to cut them out with the same papers as the outfit. If you  have tried cutting the tiny slippers out with vinyl, can you let me know if they worked? Anywayz...

...while I was picking at the tiny piece of what-should-have-been-a shoe-but-is-now-just-shredded- paper, it dawned upon me - why stop at a print-and-cut card base? I could print-and-cut a doll base!

And that was exactly what I did.

Click on picture to enlarge

The picture above show the layers that I cut out for traditional paper-piecing and those that I print-and-cut. Here are the dolls that I ended up with after putting the layers together:


Aren't they the cutest? Never mind the impossible (to cut) slippers, the printed faces looked so much better than if I had layered them. I was so happy that they turned out even better than I had imagined!


I assembled the dolls with foam tape and adhered to the card, a button that I made with my button machine. (More info on that is HERE in case you missed my post). Here are a couple of other buttons that I made with the same Japanese Yorokobi set ...


..and here's the finished card:


I took longer than usual to make this card because I was stumped by the tiny cuts but I am so glad that it all worked out in the end. In fact, I like the idea of a print-and-cut doll base so much, I'll be making cuttable dolls this way more often. Not only does a Hybrid Doll solves the issue of tiny cuts, it also makes it faster to put the doll together since there are less layers to assemble. On top of that, it saves me from using the skin-tone paper that may be hard-to-find. Sometimes a print-and-cut really works better than paper-piecing and if combining both would give a better end result, then why not? If you can't cut it, just print it, and chances are, it'll turn out to be quite alright. :-)

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Files used:
Japanese Yorokobi Cut It (SVG)
Japanese Yorokobi Paper Pack
patterned papers used for the dolls' kimonos are from My Mind's Eye- Stella&Rose "Hazel" 6"x6" paper pad.

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UPDATE: (10:18am pst, 9/30/2013)


I tried to cut the slipper again and I did it this time! It's really small but the Cameo did a nice job. Frankly, I'd still print-and-cut the doll base as I think it looks much better.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Friday Freebies! LD Japanese Fan, sNf free font, Silhouette pop up card


Lettering Delights has a great freebie for us today!

Click HERE or the image below to go to the LD site. Add the Japanese Yorokobi Uchiwa cutting file (cut its/svg) to your cart and check out. You pay $0! The link to download the file will show up after the "purchase" is completed.


scrapNfonts is sister site of LD and they too are giving out an awesome freebie today. Click HERE to go to the scrapNfonts store to get your free SNF Study Hall font!


Silhouette users, don't forget your free weekly shape from the Silhouette Online (Shapes) Store.

Have a great weekend!



NEW from LD! Japanese Yorokobi


There are new releases on the Lettering Delights site! Check out the new Japanese Yorokobi cuttables (svg), graphics, papers and alphabet. Don't forget to use your coupons if you are buying something. At the time of this post, the code UNBELEAFABLE will take 30% off a purchase of $10 or more, and the code NOBEETERPRICE will take 50% off a purchase of $40 or more.

Click HERE to go to LD to see the latest sets.






Jin's Button Machine


After my last post, some of you wrote to ask about the machine that I used to make the Halloween buttons. Today I'll share with you the info that you are looking for. Please note that this is not a review but rather, a info-sharing opportunity. :-)

Using LD's Growing Up graphics set.

About 14 months ago, I bought a button machine. My friend, Candi Daitch helped me in the research and we found that button machines were available on many sites, including this site. I ended up buying one from AmericanButtonMachines.com.


There are several models of button machines sold on their site but each model can only make ONE specific size of buttons. I settled on the smallest size - the 1" Professional Button System.

This model only makes 1" buttons and it was exactly what I was looking for. Besides pinback buttons and magnets, I had also wanted to make embellishments for cards and hair bows/pony tail holders. The 1" buttons was perfect for those purposes! With the right button parts, you can even make zipper pulls, key chains, and more!


The bundle that I bought from American Button Machines (ABM) was shipped and delivered promptly. As soon as the box got here, we tore into it and wasted no time to play with our new toy. Right off the bat, we made 200 pins for my Hubby to give away at a company product launch and after that, we made another 100 pins for the kids' to give away to their classmates.


My box from ABM included a hole puncher but only 250 button parts so I was really happy that I had also ordered and received 1000 parts from eBay. We were on a roll and it would have been disappointing to run out of button parts. We were having too much fun!

Calendar buttons! (using the LDJ Happy Trails font)

It has been a little over a year since we bought our button machine and we are still happily making pinback buttons, flatback buttons, and magnets with it today. I enjoy making and giving away our buttons but I really love that I have found another way to use my Lettering Delights files. The LD graphics and papers make super cute buttons!


Before you decide to buy a button machine, here are a few things to think about:

- 1 - The machine is costly. On the ABM site, a stand-alone (i.e. not in a bundle) button maker costs almost $200 and it doesn't even come with many button parts (only 15 parts!). In my opinion, don't buy it if you are just using it for your own crafting needs. Even though buttons have been around forever, it is only fairly recently that folks started using them in paper-crafting. What are you going to use your machine for, after the fad passes? However, if you are considering to use it with the kids (think: craft fairs, fund-raising maybe?, school events, etc.), it may be a worthwhile investment.

- 2 - The machine only makes a single size buttons. For example, you can only make 1" buttons with the 1" button maker. Consider carefully the size of buttons that you want to make before deciding on a machine.

- 3 - Do your research. There are many places that sell this machine (manufactured by Tecre) but the prices vary. Check with the difference sites and compare prices to get the best deal. Don't forget to consider the prices of extra button parts (if included) and the shipping fees.

- 4 - HERE is a video that shows you how to make a button with the 1" button maker.

- 5 - I am not affiliated with the American Button Machines company but I'm happy to share today's info with you because we are super happy with our button machine. :)

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That's all that I have for you. Hope that answer some of your questions you have regarding my button machine. -)


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Font used: LDJ Happy Trails



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

New LD coupon! 30% off $10!

There's a new Lettering Delights coupon out:


Use the code UNBELEAFABLE to take 30% off a $10 purchase! Use it on two Cut Its (SVG) sets (reg $5) and bring the price down to $3.50 each or better still, use it to get the LD alphabets at a low low price. The LD Alphabets are usually priced at $4 but are currently on sale for $1 a set. If you add ten Alphabet sets to your cart and apply the coupon, the price for each will go down to only $0.70! That's like almost 83% off their regular price! That's a crazy good deal!

Click HERE to go to LD and use your coupon now.


Meow! It's Halloween!


Hybrid cards combine print-and-cut with traditional paper-piecing (paper-layering). Not only do they look great, they are easy and fast to make. For today's project, I applied the hybrid method to a shaped card.


Using the Lettering Delights' Zander Plays Cut Its (SVG) and Paper Pack, I came up with the template for the card in mere minutes. I changed the color of the kitty from pink to black to make it more Halloween-like, and I added the sentiment by using the LDJ Hen Hand font .


For some embellishment, I added flatback buttons that I made with my button machine.


I've had my button maker for over a year now and some of you may have seen, from my Facebook page, the buttons that I've made. Thanks go out to my friend, Candi Daitch, for helping me with the research and enabling. :) I bought my button machine from HERE and my kids and I have been playing with it since the day it arrived. I have no affiliation with the company but I do like this machine a lot. The kids and I have made buttons, magnets and various project embellishments with it. I will share more projects and info about it in another post. For now, let's get back to today's card...

Here are some screenshots to give you a better idea of how I made this card.



The picture below shows the entire finished card. Note that the whole card base is in one piece. Only the main image (cat girl) was layered.


I used Stickles to add some glitter to the card, and adhered the buttons with foam tape, and the card is done!


So what do you think of today's project?  I think that it looks really good for a card that was put together fairly quickly. If you don't have a button machine, you can always use regular buttons to embellish the card. You could even replace it with a cutout or two. How about a little bat or spider? I think that'll look great too! Regardless of what you use to embellish the card, I hope that you'll use today's project idea to make your own card. Halloween will be here in 5 weeks. It's time get busy!

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Files used:
Zander Plays cut its (SVG)
Zander Plays paper pack
LDJ Hen Hand font
Spooktacular graphic set (for buttons)

Monday, September 23, 2013

Jin's Halloween (Popcorn) Treat Boxes


Fall is here and Halloween is but a few weeks away. Lettering Delights has the tendency to release their seasonal products a little bit late but not this time. Have you seen their new Zander Plays collection? At first sight, it looks just like another girly set but click HERE and take a closer look. See the images of the little girl (Zander) in different costumes? What's more Halloween than that? :)


With Halloween comes the trick or treaters and thanks to Zander Plays, I'm getting a head start with my treats this year. For today's project, I made some Halloween treat boxes out of.......LD's Popcorn Box! Boy, are they ever so fun to make!


Want to know how to transform a popcorn box into a treat box fit for the little one? Just follow these few simple steps:

1. Using Silhouette Studio Designer Edition, import the LD Popcorn Box SVG onto the virtual mat. Right-click and Ungroup to separate the layers.

Click on the image to enlarge.


Click on the image to enlarge.

2. Selecting only the top (red) layer, right-click and Release Compound Path.

Click on the image to enlarge.

3. At this point, it may be a good idea to change the Line Color from transparent to a color that contrasts with red so that the cutting lines are visible. In the screenshot below, you'll notice that I chose to have the cutting lines show up in grey.

Click on the image to enlarge.

4. In order to remove the internal cutting lines, first right-click and Ungroup the lines from the red layer.

Click on the image to enlarge.

5. Holding down the SHIFT key, click on a corner of the red layer to unselect it. Now you should see that only the internal cutting lines are selected. Just hit the Delete key on your keyboard to delete those lines away.

Click on the image to enlarge.

At this point the popcorn box template should look like this:

Click on the image to enlarge.

6. You can now replace the red color by a different color or a patterned paper. I used a patterned paper from LD's Boo-ligans paper pack.

The popcorn box is made up of 3 layers: one for the score lines, one for the pattern, and one for the base. As the base layer is filled with a light color, I set the Fill Color to transparent to conserve my printer ink. I also set the cut lines of that base layer to red so that I can see that layer.

Click on the image to enlarge.

7. Don't forget to use the Cut Style to turn off the cutting line for the patterned layer as you only need the base to be cut out.

8. Lastly, group the layers so that they move together. Just select them, right-click and Group.

Click on the image to enlarge.

To decorate the boxes, I also print-and-cut several other elements from the Zander Plays sets. Here are their measurements:

Click on the image to enlarge.

I rotated and reduced the size of the box to fit in the printable and cuttable area of a letter-size page. Each of my finished boxes is roughly about 3.5" tall and 2.5" wide on top and 2" wide on the bottom. They are super cute!


Also, to further "cute-tify" the boxes, I adhered the costumed kids with Action Wobbles!





Seriously, are they the cutest or what?! I love these treat boxes so much! My girls have already claimed these boxes for themselves but I'm ready to get busy. Can't wait to make more!




Files:
Zander Plays cut its (SVG)
Popcorn Box cut it (SVG)
LDJ Zoodle font
Little Boo-ligans Paper Pack

plus
Action Wobbles