"Why Buy It"

My friend Anita sent this image to me a few weeks ago...kind of funny....kind of true.

And it's the perfect segue to talk about my  new craft toy tool. With some of the proceeds from my art sale...I bought a Cameo Silhouette cutting machine. You use it along with your computer to create and cut intricate patterns, letters, shapes....and things I haven't even thought of yet. It can cut paper, card stock, vinyl, and from what I understand even fabric.  I have some ideas...there are endless possibilities.

I took it out of the box today and did a test run....now all I need are some online tutorials, time to play and practice...and some good old fashion creative thinking.

After a little research....I landed on one with features that seemed best for me...portability, user friendly, and good enough for a paper crafter. 

My test project was the word "JOY"....surprise surprise.  I typed the text on my computer in the software program in a font size that would end up about 3 x 5. There are dozens of buttons and tools...and I don't have a clue what they do....but this is just a simple test....reading only a minimum of directions.

Next I placed a small piece of card stock onto a sticky cutting matt and loaded it into the cutter. I made sure it was on the right setting for card stock (very user friendly)...and the machine did the rest. The design mat on the screen is the same as the cutting mat so you know exactly where to put the paper...and you don't need to use a whole sheet.  Of course you could make lots of images on on the same screen and cut a whole 12 x 12 page of shapes and letters at the same time if you wanted to.  

 Ta Da!  A perfect polka dotted "joy" for some little project or journal.

We hired someone to make these vinyl cling letters for our welcome wall at church.....now I can do it right here at home.  We have a few ideas for some other lettering around the church.  The nice thing about these vinyl letters is they peel right off when you want to change them.