Calibrating a Scan N Cut - and a GIVEAWAY

I have had a couple of emails from people wanting to know how I calibrated my machine. For some reason it doesn't make this clear in the instruction book. You need to do this if your cuts are even a tiny bit 'off'. I had a tiny white border on one side when I scanned an image and cut, doing this has sorted it

1. Turn on your machine, touch the screen with your finger, keep your finger in place and turn off the machine. Turn on again

Okay, you can put your finger away now - here's the screen you will see. You need to very carefully touch the center of each + with your stylus. Do it in order, start with number one, then two, ending with the middle one labelled 5.
You need to be precise, if your hand wobbles and you don't hit the center, just do it over again.....

This success message will show when you have completed the calibration. Switch the machine off, then back on and it's ready to use again

I promised you a giveaway. I brought some stuff back with me from the USA, this is set one, and will go to someone living in Europe - which includes us here in the UK of course!

The winner will get a flower shaped chipboard mini album, a set of Martha Stewart stamp around the page clear stamps - these have borders and corners, so you can stamp frames around your cards, some Recollections (exclusive to Michaels stores) fibers and flowers. Not in the photo is some gorgeous coloured burlap that I found which I will share with the winner

SET ONE

Here is set two, which will be sent to someone from North or South America - read on if your country hasn't been mentioned yet....

The winner will get a fantastic double CD called BonBon Belles from Polkadoodles, this CD has got hundreds of papers, embellishments and images for you to print and play. I will throw in some Craftwork Cards Candi,, and some of their paper bows as well....

SET TWO

Now if you fall into the category 'rest of the world' - if I was you I would be feeling a bit irritated at having a whole continent or two lumped together into a generic 'rest of the world',  so to make up for that, you can choose which prize you would opt for if you win. 

So, all you have to do is leave your name and country under this post. It would be nice if you could share on your blogs or Facebook if you do that stuff, I will draw a winner next Sunday 20th April and let you know who won on the 21st. Good luck and I'll see you tomorrow x

Scan N Cut Paper Patchwork......

It's my turn to post over on the Craftwork Cards blog today, pop over there to see what I've been up to....

I was intrigued by the quilting patterns on the Scan N Cut machine, and wanted to see how they would translate into backgrounds for cards, so out came my trusty sewing machine.........

I used the Kitsch collection, my other cards use my favourite colourway, the red and blue, for some reason I adore this.....

Call back tomorrow when I have a little giveaway for you - well, I couldn't bring all that craft stuff back and forget about you, could I? See you then x

I'm back!

Here's one I made for this month's Papercraft Inspirations magazine - my commission was for four shoe cards and I really enjoyed doing this one. This was made with Vogue papers from Craftwork Cards

I cut away the front of the card to follow the shape of the shoe, these elegant papers were just right for the job....

I seem to have been missing from blogland for the longest time, when I got home I struggled a bit with the time difference, then we had friends staying for a few days, now it's the dreaded plane bug that has me sniffling and feeling a bit pants

About the only crafting I have done is to make sure that the precious Scan N Cut machine survived the journey, which it did. I had bought a travel bag from Walmart especially for it (hoping that my dear husband was going to be so delighted to see me that he wouldn't notice an extra suitcase or two - he didn't!). So in went the new machine, wrapped in bubble wrap, but no packing stuff, I was going to be putting it in the overhead bin, nothing much could happen to it there......except the new bag didn't suit one of those irritating airport people who seem to delight in telling people that their luggage is 1 inch too long and must be checked into the hold. So I spent the journey agonizing about the fate of my poor little machine down below in the hold, waiting to be hurled onto another conveyor belt in the UK. Honestly, it's a miracle, but it works a bit better than it did before, I think it likes the UK.

Apart from that, the journey was uneventful, quite enjoyable in fact. I was sitting next to a couple, the plane was full apart from some 'premium' seats. The woman's screen wouldn't turn on. She was obviously dismayed at the prospect of a seven and a half hours with no flight entertainment. 'complain' I urged her. So they did, no joy. By this time I was quite excited about the thought of them being moved and being able to stretch out across three seats. 'Complain again........ask for the cabin manager......
It worked. Off they went into their premium seats, they had barely got up when the arm rests were flipped up and my feet were up on the seats. Not exactly bliss, but as close to it as you can hope for when you are travelling in economy.

See you tomorrow when it's my turn to post over on the Craftwork Cards blog x   

Using Craft CD's and the Scan N Cut...

I couldn't wait to see how the Scan N Cut dealt with really delicate images, so I printed out from the Fabulous Shoes and Fabulous Fashion CD's from

Katy Sue Designs, these have decoupage sheets, toppers etc all ready for printing, how about this for an impressive cut - I should have put a ruler next to it, this shoe is only 2 1/2" long! 

One of the decoupage outfits made up and ready to go, each layer cut out perfectly

and all the cuts in the next photo are less than two inches!

Look at the antennae on the butterflies!

As you read this I will probably be sitting in an airport in Tampa or New York, or on a plane, winging my way home. I have had a lovely time, caught up with all my friends here which was the purpose of my visit. Huge thanks to Ray and Linda our lovely friends who made me so welcome and gave me the run of the house to come and go as I pleased. So until the next time, bye bye America x

More Scan N Cut...

Just a few photos of some of the stamped images I have cut out with the scan n cut. I have been limited in what I can do because of not having much stuff with me, but I have been astonished at the delicate cuts this machine can make. Like     Most people, I have been most intrigued by the machines ability to scan and cut, the prospect of a pair of electronic scissors to do all that fussy cutting was enticing. There is a bit of a learning curve - the machine totally refused to recognize a couple of images for instance, but after playing around for a while, and picking up some handy tips and tricks,  I am getting something like a 95% success rate with cutting out images now, and I'm sure I can improve on that when I play with it some more at home. 

Just look at the stems on those leaves, it even cut out the tiny thorns! 

There was a tiny tiny border on the right  hand side of the images I cut out for these photos, but I have sorted that now by re-calibrating the machine, which is quick and easy to do...... 

I hadn't mastered cutting out enclosed areas in the following photo, I managed it on the wine bottle and glass in the first photo....




You can see the border I wanted to eliminate on this Polkadoodles stamp, she had little bobbles on the end of her hat that cut beautifully, but I tore them getting the shape off the mat....

Now I am no expert on this machine, yet! But a couple of points have been raised that I can answer.

 You can quickly and easily make shadows for cuts by using the seam allowance option

 You can import SVG files and convert them in the Canvas software

I have also purchased a lot of Silhouette files, I wanted to know if I could cut these on my SNC and the easiest way seemed to be printing them out, then scanning in to the machine and saving

I love being free of the computer!

Expect a lot more detail when I am back home and unpacked. I'll be back tomorrow with some amazing digi cuts to show you. See you then x

Learning Curve.....scan n cut machine

There's a new cutter in my hands - the Brother Scan N Cut. Now as I am on holiday, I really haven't had a lot of time, or the supplies to really give this a workout, but over the next couple of days I will share some of the results I have had.

Firstly, this is a nicely designed machine and is very lightweight - just as well as I have to carry it back in my hand luggage on the plane. You see the little screen on the top? That flips up. I found the screen size perfectly workable, I think having an iphone helps adjust to that..

I took a couple of photos of the shapes that are available, this is just a snapshot, giving you an idea of the available shapes. These basic shapes are great - I will probably use these more than any other patterns....

Some of the shapes...

more shapes and some tags and frames......

There are ready designed words and phrases, and some borders....

You get four built in alphabets, and of course you can import fonts....

I am intrigued by the quilting patterns, I won't be quilting, but I reckon some of these would make great cards....

I'll be back tomorrow when I will show you some of the cuts I have made. If you want to know more about the machine, there are loads of YouTube videos to show it in action. See you tomorrow x 

Florida 2

Well I really have left you to your own devices over the past week, I hope you have taken advantage of the break from my ramblings to do a lot of crafting/knitting/sewing/painting/whatever floats your boat. Me? I have actually done very little, the weather has been disappointingly cool so my dreams of long lazy days by the pool with a good book have been scuppered. In fact it poured with rain one day, (I vowed to myself at one stage on this particular day that if one more person told me that they needed the rain, I was going to slap them, dampness and irritation beginning to show...... ) I have seen nothing but rain for the past six months, wouldn't you think it could have held off until I left. But no, temperatures remain stubbornly below normal - meanwhile, back in rainy old Britain, they are enjoying a heat wave - it was hotter in my hometown yesterday than here. 

What I have enjoyed is renewing my love of Florida's bird life. This cardinal comes for his breakfast every morning......

and some tiny little goldfinches too.......

and my new best friend and constant companion is my hosts adorable nine month old Havanese puppy, Lola......

I wanted to show you this gorgeous gift I got from Carol, one of the friends I met in Orlando, I have been online friends with her for years, and she is a very faithful visitor to my blog, never failing to leave me a lovely comment, just look at the gorgeous parcel of goodies she bought for me. Thank you so much Carol, I'll be posting the projects I make with them when I get back home xxx

and of course, when the weather is irritatingly cool, and to stop myself from slapping innocent strangers, what was I to do? Go shopping of course.....
I LOVE these new stacks from DCWV, the one on the top left is real burlap which is backed with paper, the blue one is a stack called gauze, and the front one is a stack of different earthy colours of corrugated card....... 

Here's a close up of the gauze, I don't know how they did it, but it really is a gauzy mesh that has been adhered to the cardstock. 

Some more stencils jumped into my cart when I wasn't paying attention, all by Heidi Swapp, my haul also included some 12 x 12 stencils that I forgot to photograph....

and a few Tim Holtz bits and pieces - well, they were on sale....

My biggest purchase by far is the Scan N Cut by Brother, which I have been playing around with a little. I'll be doing a couple of posts later this week on that. 
In the meantime, the weather forecast is looking good for today, tomorrow and Wednesday. The day I fly home is going to be the hottest day of the year so far......predictable don't you think. But suntan cream at the ready, book under my arm, if you need me I'll be by the pool.....

Florida......

I've been a busy bee since I last posted on the blog, last Thursday saw me heading straight for my old crafty haunt to meet up with all my pals. They are now into making jewellery, so there is a lot less paper about than there used to be in my day! It was really great to catch up with them again....

and of course there have been a few visits to places like this....

where I have bought many objects that I never knew I needed. See the little blue round moulds? They are by Martha Stewart and I will use them with air dry clay to make some more embellishments. I rather liked the background stamps by Recollections (Michaels own brand), the two layer stencil is by Heidi Swapp, and the cute blue flowers were in the dollar bin, and cried out my name as I passed by. Be warned, this is just the first of a zillion photos of stuff that jumped into my basket......

Then on Friday, I headed to Orlando, more about the 'heading to' part later, to have lunch with a crowd of online crafting friends - we all go way way back, to the days when the Cricut forum was the hottest place in town to hang out, and we all keep in touch to this day on Facebook. I was especially delighted to finally meet Shirley aka Okieladybug, we have emailed, chatted on Facebook and telephone for years and never actually met in person, but when we did, it was just like saying hello to an old friend...... 

and here is the gang. We had a great afternoon, and please note at this stage that in the photos, I look cool, calm and collected.........I am on the left of the photo in the brown top for those of you who wouldn't know me from a bale of hay.......

So I set off bright and early on Friday morning, ready to make a two hour journey to Orlando, and armed with a friends Sat Nav (GPS). For some reason it took me along an isolated country road, where I came across a truck that had shed it's load of boxes all over the road, the driver and a cop trying to sort out the mess.

'You can't come through here' said the cop 'you have to take a right, then a left, then carry on through the woods until you get to the garage on the corner.....

'The woods!' I squeaked 'You are sending me through the woods? I can barely work out how to drive on the right side of the road, and you are sending me into the woods.......'

On and on I went, rabbiting on about how there may be a international incident involving Presidents, Prime Ministers and even, possibly a Queen, when it became known that a loyal British citizen had been sent into the woods and was never seen again.....

"I'm asking you to drive through, I'm not sending you on a hike' said the bemused cop

In the end, his buddy turned up in another car, and he kindly led the way through the woods, flashing his lights to send me on my merry way. So I had a police escort for that bit of the journey.....

Then I hit a nasty traffic jam and sat for an hour and moving about ten feet closer to Orlando in that time. Then it cleared a bit and I bowled happily along, still about 50 miles from my goal, but confident that I was on the right road and dreaming of coconut shrimp for lunch. Then another jam, this time it was a super humungous jam, people were practically setting up camps on the side of the road and having a party. Almost weeping by this time, I crawled off at the next exit and had a fabulous lunch of a burger with no pickle and a small fries (I thought I'd put in the tiny details just to check if you are still awake...)

So, after five tedious hours of this, I finally made it to Orlando. "Your destination is on the right' announced the GPS, so I swung into a Marriott hotel complex. No sign of Bahama Breeze where we were meeting for lunch. I spotted a passing hotel worker 'Are you checking in?' he asked
'Possibly' I replied in an exhausted voice 'I may be here for a while.........'

You'll be astonished to read that the journey back was a doddle, no problems at all!

Guess where I am.....

I'm really sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days, I had a bit of a health problem to deal with prior to a mad dash with last minute packing and errands, not a lot of time for crafting - yes, I have crossed the Atlantic for a flying (solo) visit to see all my friends in Florida. So we won't talk about boring health stuff, let's chat about flying, airports, and Dunkin Donuts instead

When you book tickets, an hour and a half to change flights always seems quite reasonable, that is until you are standing in terminal B at Newark, New Jersey, knowing that you have to clear immigration and customs, get across to Terminal C and get to the furthest gate, and the hour and a half has dwindled by a half because of the apparent inability of the airline to find a parking spot for their plane. So clutching the bottle of the finest Scotch Whisky I bought as a gift for my lovely friends and hosts, Ray and Linda, I made it through immigration, customs and rechecked my case for the next flight. Then I had to go through security again, by this time with only a few minutes until my next flight took off. Oops. Blunder alert. Major mistake - in my moment of hot and bothered flusteredness (there is no such word, but I like it), I totally forgot to switch on my commonsense gene and stow away bottle of Scotch into checked case. So of course, as I was fumbling to put on my shoes after they had been examined for the zillionth time that day, it was announced by a child masquerading as a security officer that my precious bottle would be confiscated. Which it was.......

So now I had less than five minutes to dash to the far corner of the terminal for the plane. I flagged down one of those buggy things, and begged the driver to get me there quick...he took me at my word, yelling BEEP BEEP at the top of his voice, and swerving around innocent passengers at breakneck speed. "Have you ever killed anyone with this thing?" I asked, hanging on for dear life. "Not yet. BEEP BEEP< BEEP BEEP"

So when I eventually arrived in Tampa, rather tired and spaced out, I set out in my unfamiliar rental car, and decided to stop at a Dunkin Donuts for a much longed for large iced caramel latte. Honestly, I had been sitting there for less than three minutes when a guy walked up and made a very eloquent (and probably much practiced) speech asking for gas money. He was desperate.....
HE was desperate? I had just survived two airports, two planes, risk of death by a BEEP BEEP airport golf cart, and had precious amber liquid whisked from my hands -  I was desperate too, but in the spirit of one survivor to another, and with the surrender that total exhaustion brings, I gave him money for a couple of gallons of gas. Yes, I know, SUCKER.....

See you tomorrow x 

Little pots - and a winner

Remember my lovely little pots? Made with moulds available from Katy Sue Designs (available in the USA and Canada as well as Europe). I dug out some papers by Authentique and made a couple of cards.......

I used a clear stamp for the sentiment, so I was able to curve it on the block to follow the line of the circle......

the little flowers and leaves were done with Martha Stewart hydrangea and fern punches out of the papers in the pack.....

Once I have dug out a paper pack, I can't leave it alone so made another quick card, this time using the memory box window die.... 

all this stuff in the bottom corner was printed onto the cardstock, but it looked dimensional so I quite liked it - apart from the printed label which was one of those encouraging little sayings that I hate so much, I think it said 'live each day to the fullest' - well, that had to go, there is no way I am telling someone how to spend their days, especially as most days are spent with me drifting around quite happily achieving sweet nothing, so who am I to talk? So I stamped another saying (so much more reasonable, enjoy your special day, no philosophical tracts exhorting them to spend each day dashing around living life to the fullest......) which covered up the original......

Look what's arrived, the latest collection from Craftwork Cards, this one is RIGHT up my street, I love the colours and can't wait to start using it....

When we were looking after the boys, we took them to Pizza Express where they were given a sticker book and stickers. Milo decided they were more fun on his face than in the book - I am not showing you the photo of me sporting a sticker moustache that makes me look a bit like photos I have seen of Mussolini. Milo looks cute, I look ridiculous!  

The winner of the two sets of Flexmarkers is Crafty Jo


who said:

 CraftyJo said...

Your post at Letraset is fascinating, I do appreciate the way you experiment so that the rest of us don't have to!!! :)

Congrats, email me with your address and I will get them in the post to you 

Floral Thank You......

Here's one of four floral cards I made for this month's edition of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. I'm not sure what you call this fold, but it's easy to do and looks effective...the papers and flowers are by Craftwork Cards

Thank you for all the good wishes, there have been a few issues to deal with this week, I don't think I have ever left my blog so neglected for such a long time before. Lidia's mum is out of hospital now, and again, we appreciate all your kind thoughts

Talking to four year old Milo:

What would you like to drink with your tea Milo?

I'll have a woktail please Ma

A woktail? Do you mean a cocktail? (said with an incredulous laugh from me)

Yes, I like woktails

Apparently his dad mixes different juices for him, and calls it a cocktail - that was comforting to know!

I'll sort out the winner of the ProMarkers tomorrow, sorry for the delay, see you then, it's good to be back x 

A quick post.....

No card from me today, we are doing an emergency child sitting session - our daughter in law's mum has been taken ill and we are keeping the home fires burning for a couple of days. I have my iPad with me, but all my work is on my laptop, so I won't be posting for a couple of days.....see you later in the week x