MeFlick's Various Forms of Cut Files

2012-05-09T12:27:00.001-04:00

Having to post picture here to post it to the Cricut MB! : (

New Features in Make the Cut and a New Lettering Delights Card Using them

2011-12-04T11:18:00.002-05:00

Wow, can't believe it's been more than 2 months since I posted anything here on my blog! End of Sept., really?! Guess there was too much volleyball and football going on in my life the last few months!

I have actually been doing some crafting and playing with the new features that have recently been added to the Make the Cut software. However, I just haven't had time to sit down and take pictures, write the info. up and get it posted on my blog. Too little time and I'd rather spend it crafting I guess! It does take a LOT of time to keep up a blog and to all of those who manage to do it EVERY DAY or several times a week, I salute you, your hard work and dedication!

Here is the project card that I wanted to share with you. One of the newer features in the Make the Cut software (MTC) is the ability to access Lettering Delights cutting files (LD) directly from within your MTC software! One of LD's more recent files set is called "All Season's Pop-up Cards". Well, there is some "cute" stuff there but the pop-up cards themselves are a little plain and boring without any "color" to them (at least to me!). Here's a picture of what the plain card looks like:

Cute little snowman with a friend and the snowflakes yes? However, what if you could make the snowman and the bird really "pop" off the page - that would be better don't you think? I did! So this is what I made using several of the new features in MTC version 4.0.+!

Now, which card would you rather send out or receive in the mail? I know I'd rather have the "color"!

So now, you probably want to know how I did that! It's actually a lot easier then it's going to sound! I'm not going to give a full tutorial or step by step, nor do I feel that I can share photos or screen shots of the process because the file is a purchased one from Lettering Delights. However, if you are comfortable with MTC and some of its newer features you should be able to follow along with the "concept" as I do my best to "explain" what I did. It would be helpful if you have some basic knowledge of MTC and its newest features in order to fully understand what I have done.

First, you would need to purchase and download one of the Lettering Delight's Popup files like this one or find another one from somewhere else (there are some out there for free as well!). This snowman card came from LD's "All Season's Pop-up Cards" and is "Card 2" in that collection.

Once I had the base card downloaded onto my MTC mat, I created a new page in that same MTC file and copied and pasted in place the card base to the new page to work with that copy. (Simply redownloading to that page would work also.) I kept the first page to cut "as is" for my card base to which to adhere my "Print and Cut" file once it was completed. (Note: This card base is actually the "insert" that you would need to add to the inside of a card base you create.) Now you are ready to "break the file" to create your "Print and Cut".

Select the card base, go to Edit-->--->Shape Magic---->Break

This will break the card into different "parts and pieces". One of the first things I did was to select the snowflakes and snow "dots" all together, and "join" them back together as a group (edit ---> shape magic ----> join) so they are treated as "one" object, take them to their own layer, and then hide that layer so that they are out of the way. (One reason I "join" them back together is so that when I want to work with them, move them around, etc. I only have to click on one and it selects the entire group!)

I then took the other different "parts and pieces" of the snowman to their own layers and colored them. I selected the snowman's eyes and mouth (again, did a "join" so they stay together as one "object") - took them to their own layer ('selection to new layer") and made their color "black" (I took them together because I was coloring both the eyes and mouth black. If I wanted them different colors, I would have take the eyes to one layer and the mouth to its own layer). I then selected the nose, took it to its own layer, and made it orange. Finally, I "joined" the buttons to keep them together, took them to their own layer and colored them red. Once I had all of these objects moved to their own layers and colored as desired, I hid those layers to keep them out of the way while I worked on the remaining parts I needed.

Next I did a little work on the bird. I will be bringing the entire (already) colored bird back in from the Lettering Delight's file a little later (No need to reinvent the wheel!) so I just need to get rid of the bird's eye and wing. There are two ways I could do that. I selected the bird's wing and eye along with the body and "welded" (edit---->shape magic ----> weld) the bird's eye and wing to the base so that those "holes" are gone and it is one solid piece for cutting later. I could also have deleted the wing and the eye from this part of the card but it would have and left the "holes" in the base and these would have still been cut out. The way I did it with the welding, it is one solid piece now.

Now to complete the work, we need to do some "node editing." To do "node editing" you have to be using the newest version of MTC, version 4.0.+. We need to use MTC's new node editing features to get the Snowman recognized as a "whole" snowman and to remove his stick arms from the body and make them into separate parts. Right now he has "pieces" (cut lines) missing from his head and side where he is "attached" to the card base. We want to be able to cut the snowman out on his own and to color his stick arms brown.

Open the Node editing menu in MTC 4.0.+ (found on the left top corner of your MTC mat). Click on the Bezier Curve tool, notice that you can now see the "nodes" blue dots at the end of lines (you may need to zoom in to see better). Left click on the top node on the left top side of the snowman's head, then go down to the bottom left side node and right click on the node there. This will add a line to the snowman and close off the left side of his head. Repeat this on the right side of the Snowman's head. This will make his head "whole" and ready to cut all the way around.

Now, before we do the same thing to the sides of his body, we need to cut off his stick arms and close the finger tips and end of the arms so that we can take them to their own layer and color them brown. Using the knife slicing tool (probably a really good idea to zoom in closer here), go just above the top of the left stick arm where it joins the body, click, hold and drag it down to below where the bottom part of the stick joins the body and then release, this will cut the arm away from the body. It is probably in two pieces, the top and bottom parts of the stick, select both pieces, move them a little way away from the body to help with the node work. (If you don't, you may end up rejoining them to the body accidentially!) Again select the Bezier Curve tool and use it to close the "gap" or "missing line" on his middle finger tip and at the end of the stick (see instructions above on using this tool to close the sides of the head). If done correctly, the "stick" will become whole and change color. Now do the same to the stick arm on the right side. Use the Knife/slicing tool to cut the stick off the body and then use the Bezier Curve tool to close the lines on the finger and at the end of the stick. You know have to "closed" stick arms!

Now use the Bezier Curve tool to close the "gaps" or add the "missing line" to the left and right sides of the snowman's body the same way you did the head and the stick arms. Take the snowman's body to it's own layer and color it "white". Move the stick arms back into place next to the snowman's body, take them to their own layer and color them brown. You will also then need to "copy" and then "paste in place" the snowman's arms onto the same layer with the snowman's body and then "weld" them to the body so that you have the correct shape to "cut" once you have him printed. Welding should make them one piece with the body and make sure it is all still white.

At this point you can open and close layers as needed and use the node editing tools as desired to modify, correct lines as needed (making sure finger tip or head is more "curved" for example).

At this point, it's a good idea to make sure that all the different "layers" or "parts and pieces" are in the correct order for the best print and cut and make sure that they are not closed or hidden if needed for the print and cut.. (For example, the eyes, nose, mouth, and button layers should all be "above" the snowman's body layer so that they are "on top" and showing properly when printing.)

Once that is all done, you can then go back to the Lettering Delight's Files and download the "bird" from the "All Season's Pop-up Cards" collection. Put it on its own layer, place it and size it correctly so that it is sitting on top of the snowman's head as needed. You are now ready to do your printing. (If you are just printing, the different parts and pieces of the bird do not have to be on their own layers since they are already colored differently and stay that way when you bring them in from LD's file.)

Couple of notes regarding printing. First, you need to make sure that you only have the layers showing that you want included in the printing (in this instance, the bird and the snowman along with his eyes, nose, mouth, buttons and arms). Be sure you have closed any other layers not needed for printing. Second, you need to decide if you just want the "fill" only or the "fill and outline" to show when you print and make any changes needed there. On mine, both were showing so I have the lines around his nose, etc. You can also use the "print preview" to see what is going to print. Since the snowman himself is "white" with no outline showing, you won't see his body since "white" does not show on print preview. (If you feel the need to verify that he's really there you can change his body to another color besides white before doing the preview - just remember to change it back to white if you want a white snowman!)

To print a file for a "Print and Cut" - first make sure that you have checked your printing options needed from within the MTC software. Go to File ---->print options and select or deselect options as needed. For example you will need to make sure that "print registration marks are checked" but the "use silhouette sd" is marked only if you are using that cutter. Decide on printer outlines or not, etc. Once done, click ok and print.

Once you have your printed page, follow the proper method needed to do a "print and cut" for your cutter of choice. I have both a Silhouette SD and an 18" Cougar machine so how I do a print and cut with each of those machines varies. (Note: If you have never done a 'print and cut" with your cutter before, you may need to first calibrate your machine before doing a "print and cut" to ensure your cutting is aligned properly with your image.)

One important step to remember at this point is to CLOSE any and all LAYERS that you DO NOT WANT TO CUT! For example, we only want to cut the "outline" of the snowman with the bird on his head so that is the only layer we would have showing. We would close the colored bird, along with the snowman's eyes, nose, mouth, buttons, and arms along with the card base. (If we forget to close those layers, they will "cut" and you will not have an orange nose, red buttons, etc!)

Once you have your "print and cut" printed and cut out, you are ready to adhere it to your inside "pop-up base". Cut out the original "card base" from the Lettering Delights file. Adhere your "print and cut" to the Snowman and then apply the entire base to a base card being careful not to adhere the parts of the snowman that "pop-up". (Note: I always remove or hide the layer with the scored/fold lines because I don't like the little "slits" it puts in the card. This is a personal preference.)

Now you have a cute "colored" pop-up to send out to your family and friends!

Couple of other quick notes, if you want to vary the card size, you need to put the card base on the same page on its own layer - have ALL layers showing, "select all" and resize so that you resize all together and in proportion!You can also now use this file to "paper piece" the snowman if desired as well. You would just cut out the different parts and pieces as needed. This would be great or adding a little "dimension" to a project. You could also use the "print and cut" as a stand alone object (like on the front of the card) and can resize him as needed, etc. Use your imagination and have fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope my basic "instructions" are helpful to you in making other simple files have a little more "pop". Please feel free to leave a message should you have any questions or comments. I tried to make sure I covered all the steps but I may have missed something or not explained it well enough! I hope to share some more projects with you soon that I have been working on. In the meantime, if I don't get back soon - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and a Happy New Year too! LOL!!

Beach Babe "Print and Cut" Cards

2011-09-29T14:10:00.001-04:00

Wow - time sure does fly doesn't it! Almost 2 months since I've posted to my blog. I'm sorry but between recovering from my cervical fusion, school starting, sports and other things - well that hasn't left much time to update my blog. I have been doing some crafting recently, I just need to find time to sit down write them up, take photos and get everything posted to share. All that takes time which I don't have much of - when I do, I'd rather be actually crafting then posting about it I guess! I'm going to make an effort to start to share some more soon. In that regard, I wanted to share two cards I made today from some new "Print and Cut" files I found on the "All that Jazz" site. They are designed as Print and Cut files for 2 page scrapbook layouts. The files are from "Scrapbook Circus" and can be found on Tyler's site (along with a video and a free sample file to try!) :

Scrapbook Cricus Print and Cut Files at All that Jazz.

Well, I'm not a scrapbooker (yet) but I do make cards on occasion so I thought I'd try the "Beach Babes" collection and see if I could take "scrapbooking" files and make cards with them! I was able to make 2 different cards and used a number of the embellishments from the files. The files are available in several formats that should work for almost anyone no matter what cutter and software you use (.mtc, .svg, and .jpeg files).

Here are the two cards I made from the files. I did have to resize them some to fit on "cards". Not to difficult to do with MTC and the new features offered in the new Beta Version 4.*. Shift and hold while clicking and dragging to resize outline and texture at the same time for example.

One Card (the blue base) is 5x7 and the other is 4x6. The "mat" on the smaller one is also from the file.

Best thing (besides the cute files) was this project forced me to sit down and actually calibrate my Cougar machine so I could do the Print and Cuts of these files! I have tried a few times but never gotten it nailed down - close but not right on (more a problem with me and my brain - not the fault of the cutter or the software - strictly a user error - My brain fogs when it sees X/Y and +/- numbers I am afraid!). I'm happy to report that with the help of Tyler and Rob (ScrappyDew) and their latest work to continue to find tools to help us use our machines and software, I was finally able to get my machine calibrated!

You can find this latest help file on Tyler's website:

Print and Cut Calibration Help at All that Jazz

I used this and then used MTC's Black Cat Plugin and the Laser option and found great success in doing these Print and Cuts so thanks Tyler and Rob! Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. If you have the ability to do Print and Cuts I would highly recommend checking out these files on Tyler's site and downloading the free "Hammock" file! Thanks for stopping by! Hope to share more soon!

Tom Cruise by paperkutz

2011-07-31T21:15:00.000-04:00

Good evening. My cervical disc fusion went well and I am on the mend. It has been a month now and I have finally felt up to spending some time in my craft room. Still some time required on the mending so things around here will still be slow for a while.

While I haven't recently created any files personally to share, I did want to share this with all of you that use MTC, SCAL or other software with your electronic cutters. If you have ever been on the MTC forums you may have seen paperkutz share some celebrity "portraits" cut from layered paper. They are truly awesome works of art. Many people on that forum had asked for him to share his methodology and experience so they could learn how to do such projects (most want to do family members). I am happy to say that he has finally found the time to sit down and work on sharing that information. He has started a blog where he will be posting files to try and then tutorials on how he does it so we can all learn how to do it too! He shared a 6 layer cut file of Tom Cruise that he created to show us how it works. It is actually fairly easy to cut this file as it does not have many small intricate pieces and therefore goes together fairly easily. I didn't have the correct 6 colors of paper he recommended (you really can use 6 any monochromatic shades of any color) but thought it was a decent job for a novice. Here is the "portrait" I cut and assembled using paperkutz' file and instructions:

You can find out more about paperkutz and his technique and tutorials (and get this cut file of Tom) by visiting his blog here: http://paperkutzstudio.wordpress.com/

His plan is to post another cut file of a different celebrity by the end of this week and then in the following weeks go through how to pick your own photo, how to posterize it and turn it into a cut file. After his tutorials are done, he is going to have a mini-contest for you to create your own files based on his tutorials that you have completed! So be sure and stop by his site for all the details. I'm very excited that he will be sharing his knowledge and expertise as I would love to use this process to create portraits of my family.

I'm so excited about this that I wanted you to see more of his actual work (its not all on his blog at the moment) so here are links to his other celebrity portraits that he has done and shared on the MTC forum: (There are no cut files shared for these - just his awesome end products to inspire you and show you why I am so excited to learn his techniques!)

Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain

Edward and Jacob from Twilight

Michael Jackson and Bob Marley

John Lennon and Steven Tyler

Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia

Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn

Kurt Cobain and Robert Plant

True Blood: Jason, Eric, Sookie, and Jason Stackhouse

Prince and Elvis

Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix

Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones

Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.

I hope to have some more things I have actually done to share soon. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about a new blog. I need to do a new one and drop the "cricut" name from it as I don't want to get in any trouble by using it. As always, thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

Happy Summer!

2011-07-11T12:39:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten my blog. Life gets in the way sometimes. LOL Family comes first and then I had to have a cervical fusion at the end of June. This wasn't unexpected - had been fighting it for more than 2 years now. Finally gave in and took care of it. I am on the mend now and hope to be crafting again more regularly soon. One of my fist orders of business is probably to redo or start a new blog for sharing. I will update here if and when that happens. Have a great summer and as always, thanks for stopping by and for understanding.

Disney Album Cover - Engraving with My Cougar

2011-05-29T08:42:00.002-04:00

Well, I guess almost posting everyday for an entire month really threw me off! LOL - Seems that I haven't been able to find the time to do much crafting of late, much less all the extra time to sit down and create cuttable files, take pictures, and then writeup blog posts. Summer has now arrived in my household so I will MAYBE have a little more time to create and craft with. I have all the supplies - just need the time and some creativity to hit! LOL

One of the reasons I got a new cutting machine, an 18" Cougar from That's Scraps, (the North American Dealer; see Dawn at Thyme Graphics regarding international orders) is so that I could do many more really cute things that I couldn't do with my Cricut machines like engraving and embossing as well as much larger items and some awesome print and cuts or using free graphic images and fonts from the internet or things I create myself from scratch. The problem though has been first time and second "bravery". LOL Now, I know many of you can relate to that statement. How many of you get some really cool new tool, a gypsy, an imagine, a gazzelle, silhouette, or better yet, a Lynx or a Cougar and then sit there and look at it for days, weeks or even months before FINALLY pulling it out of its box and turning it on?! Well, I'm not that bad, I do usually pull it out of the box immediately and then get it all set up but then stare at it for a while! LOL

Actually, I have had my Cougar out of the box for many months and have used it for quite a bit of regular cutting and it cuts really great. (It is easily setup out of the box but it does take some getting use to how to load and where it will cut, etc. especially if coming from the land of Cricuts). However, I hadn't been brave enough to try the engraving on plastics and metal, or the embossing. A lot of the time - my excuse was I didn't have enough time to devote to figuring it all out. However, I finally decided to give it a try yesterday and I must say once I started the engraving I thought, "Wow, that was EASY!" and wondered why I had waited so long! LOL Now that I have done it, there may be no stopping me! Still have some other tools to try as well as some really neat crafting supplies that I just bought from Tyler over at a new online store called "All that Jazz". He has some neat textured papers that look like animal skins and other things, velvet paper, thin and thicker sheets of acrylics, metal, and so much more. Now, just to get brave and try some of that as well! LOL

Anyway, here's the project that I wanted you to see. I had found a couple of sets of 6"x6" Clear Acrylic Covers by Zutter for use in the Bind It All marked down to $1.79 at HL the other day and figured that was a great, inexpensive way to give my engraving tool and my Cougar a try! I decided to create a mini album for our Disney Trip coming up later this summer. I have some free Disney Fonts and dingbats I found by googling for free Disney Fonts and used them to engrave the cover of my album. Now, to actually finish off the album and put pictures inside when we return! LOL That will be a first too - actually puting pics into an album! LOL Not really a scrapbooker here!

Now that summer is here, I hope to have some more time to create and share here on my blog. I have been doing some vinyl crafting of late, making tumblers and ice tubs for gifts, as well as some cards and other "gifts" that I will try to share in the next little bit. Some will only be for inspiration and some will have some cut files to share if you use MTC, SCAL or SVG files with other programs and machines other than Cricuts.

If you would like some real inspiration of some things to do checkout
Thyme's galleries, PennyDuncan's Blog, as well as Rachell's Blog to name but a few! If you go to Christy's blog, you will get links to LOTS more blogs with projects. First, Christy has several projects of her own but she also hosted a month long blog hop during the month of May showcasing projects from lots of other wonderful crafters. Once you have gotten your fill on those, you will see why I am so excited about all that my Cougar will let me do with software like MTC and SCAL. Don't worry though, I still have my Cricut machines and way too many cartridges so I am sure that you will still see some projects made with those again as well. In the interim, please feel free to leave me a comment if you have something specfic you would like to have done and I will give it a try.

As always - Thanks for stopping by!

Praying Hands Silhouette - MTC and SVG Files

2011-03-25T13:24:00.001-04:00

I had a request for the famous "Praying Hands". Here it is available for both MTC and SVG file users. Whew - thought I was going to miss posting today!!! LOL Have some work to do this weekend if I am going to be able to cover the remaining 4 days next week of March. If I do, I will have posted each weekday in March! That's a record. Sorry but don't think I will carry that into April! LOL

Really, I am trying to find how often I can comfortably post items. I think I am going to shoot for once a week. However, my problem is that once I create something I want to go ahead and share it! LOL But sometimes I have days and days where I can't sit down at my computer or in my craft room! Thanks for stopping by!

Download the Praying Hands MTC file here.

Download the Praying Hands SVG file here.

Bunny Painting Eggs (MTC and SVG files available)

2011-03-24T05:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning. Here is another bunny with his paint bucket and some Easter eggs. I found this bunny a couple of weeks ago as a free online coloring page back when I found the other bunnies I already shared. However, this one had several open lines, and double cuts, and other issues when trying to convert it so I had to take it into Inkscape and do some node editing and clean-up in order to create a cut file from it. I finally got that finished up and working so I thought I would go ahead and share it here with everyone just in case you hadn't found enough bunnies to work with! LOL I cut it fairly small, about 3 1/2" high by 2 1/2" wide. That small, some of the little pieces are extremely tiny (tongue, brush handle, flowers, ribbon, etc) and difficult to work with and may not cut well at all depending on your cutter. I would suggest a larger size if you hate working with teeny tiny pieces especially if your cutter doesn't cut well. I put googly eyes on this one and simply chalked the edges for some dimension.

Interestingly, I find that this is what I enjoy doing the most - the challenge of creating the cut file from something - figuring out HOW to make it work so that it can cut. That might explain why I have so many of these items still laying around on my craft table put together but not made into a card or anything!! LOL

Anyway - if you are interested in having this file to add to your collection feel free to download it below!

Download the Bunny with Paint Bucket Make the Cut (MTC) file here.

Download the Bunny with Paint Bucket SVG file here.

As always - let me see if you actually do something with my file! Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Chick Cracking through Egg - MTC and SVG Files Available

2011-03-23T05:00:00.018-04:00

Here is a baby chick or duck cracking through his egg. I created the file from a free coloring book page I found on-line. I am sharing both the Make the Cut (MTC) and SVG Files here for you. I created the file in Make the Cut (MTC) and then exported out as a SVG file. I did not break the SVG file into its separate pieces and parts. As a result, you will need to "break" the image into its parts and pieces when importing it to separate it out for its different colors. There are 6 layers to it. I would love to see what you do with the file. Thanks for stopping by.

Download the Baby Chick cracking through his egg Make the Cut file here.

Download the Baby Chick cracking through his egg SVG file here.

Pile of Easter Eggs (Make the Cut and SVG files available)

2011-03-22T05:00:00.011-04:00

Sorry - but I've been on a bit of sports roll looks like. Probably because more often then not, I am at some sort of game or another! Thought that all of the bunnies that I did needed some Easter Eggs to go with them! I found this pile on a free coloring book page on on-line and converted them into cut files for our use. The Make the Cut (MTC) file contains the pile of eggs as shown here. Then it has a page with the pile of separate eggs on it (not the little pieces just the base eggs) and then a third page with a single egg on it. The SVG file just has the pile of eggs. You will need to break the svg file into its separate pieces once imported into the software of your choice. I just did some quick chalking of the edges once I had it all glued down to give it some added depth and demension. (I always forget to chalk, ink, texture, etc. when putting my prototypes together!!) More texture and dimension could be added by using embossing tools of your choice. Please feel free to leave a comment below. Would love to see what you do with the file. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Download the Pile of Easter Eggs Make the Cut file here.

Download the Pile of Easter Eggs SVG file here.

Silhouette Volleyball Player getting a Dig - Make the Cut and SVG files

2011-03-21T05:00:00.002-04:00

Staying with my sports theme today but taking it back to DD's volleyball. Here is a file of a VB player getting that all important "Dig" on the court. My DD plays Libero on her school and club team so this is a move I often see her making! LOL She has lots of bruises and scabs from digging that ball! Good thing she loves playing. LOL This file too was a free clipart file I found and converted to a Make the Cut and then SVG files. Would love to see anything that you do with this or any of my other files. As always, thanks for stopping by. Let me know if there is anything you need help with converting. Would be happy to help if I can. Just leave me a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Have a great week.

Download the Make the Cut Volleyball Player getting the Dig file here.

Download the SVG Volleyball Player getting the Dig file here.

Tennis Ball - Make the Cut and SVG files Available

2011-03-18T05:00:00.009-04:00

While I was on a "sports roll" I thought I'd throw out a simple tennis ball file. Neither of my children play tennis anymore but I play a little. Plus, a friend of mine's daughter plays and I thought she might like the file. It's simply the circle with the "lines". Again, this was taken from free clipart.

Download the Make the Cut tennis ball file here.

Download the SVG tennis ball file here.

Make the Cut Still Available for Many Cutter Machines NOT Cricuts

2011-03-17T09:34:00.000-04:00

PLEASE NOTE: As of March 16, 2011 - Make The Cut (MTC) NO LONGER SUPPORTS WORKING WITH CRICUT MACHINES. HOWEVER, If you have the last version of MTC (3.2.1 that was available through March 15, 2011), and firmware of 1.34 on Baby Bug and 2.34 on an Expression it will still work until you update to a newer release of MTC when it is released and/or possibly do a firmware update to your Machines. (I'm not sure of correct firmware on Creates or Cake machines - sorry! If anyone does, please leave me a comment and I will update this!). For Specific questions or concerns you can contact MTC at support@make-the-cut.com.

HOWEVER - MTC is NOT GOING ANY WHERE! It still works with a large variety of different cutters and that list is growing all the time. If you don't see your cutter on the list, send a note to Andy at support@make-the-cut.com and ask for him to add it. Machines Supported now include: Black Cat Cougar, Black Cat Lynx, Gazelle, Craft Robo, Silhouette, ECraft, US Cutter MH Series and Laser Cutter, and any other cutter using a HPGL Printing Support. These machines come in a variety of sizes, capabilities and costs. Do your research and find one that works best for you.

See post on Make the Cut Forum here:

http://forum.make-the-cut.com/discussion/13597/effective-immediately.../p1

Basketball - Make the Cut and SVG files available

2011-03-17T05:00:00.006-04:00

March Madness is here. My DS just finished his MS basketball season. Maybe his last time to play organized basketball. Will have to see if he will even try out for the High School teams next year. Only time will tell. That's a few months away for now! Anyway - thought I'd share this basketball file I created from some simply free clipart that I found online. I have both the Make the Cut and SVG files to share. Thanks for stopping by.

I was thinking that you could use the swiss dots embossing folder to add the "texture" on a basketball.

Download the Make the Cut basketball file here.

Download the SVG basketball file here.

Volleyball or Sports Photo Frame Overlay

2011-03-16T05:00:00.007-04:00

Sorry - No actual cut file to share with you today (sorry!) as it is something that I created that was very "specific" to a small group of girls. However, I wanted to show you what you can do for those special people in your lives when you have an electronic die cut machine with an awesome program like Make The Cut.

As I have mentioned several times on the blog, My children both play sports. This year, my DD's high school varsity volleyball team won our Regional Championship and qualified to go to the State Tournament in their division. (This was the 2nd year in a row, but she wasn't on the team last year as she is a Freshman this year.) For Christmas, I made her a framed photo of the group with the Regional Championship Plaque. I created this mat or overlay to frame the photo with. It cuts as one piece with the wording and the spartan heads all cut out of the Mat. My DD loved it.

I got the idea from Julie and her awesome tutorials that she creates and shares for free on the MTC_Tuts Yahoo group. If you have MTC and don't belong to Julie's MTC_Tuts Yahoo group I would highly recommend joining. If you don't have MTC yet but are thinking about getting it, I would also highly recommend Julie's Yahoo group as well. It is a moderated group and Julie does a great job of keeping people on task and shares a wealth of knowledge and information in the large quantity of FREE tutorials that she shares with the group. In addition, lots of people regularly share their knowledge and experience in using this great program. If you buy MTC through Julie's link she will also send you some free files. (You don't have to have purchased MTC through Julie to join the group however and other people also share free files if you purchase through them. No matter who or where you purchase MTC from - it should always be the same price). The group just recently added its 3,000+ member and Julie shared some Irish cut files. It is a great place for newbies and not so newbies to keep expanding their knowledge of the program. Julie has a ton of tutorials for beginners to advanced users and that list is growing regularly. There is a lot of email that passes through the group so I have it on digest so that I get just a few emails a day with a compilation of messages that have passed through the group. You can also set it to receive no emails and just go to the yahoo group to view the messages and tutorials.

You can find Julie's MTC_Tuts Yahoo group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MTC_Tuts/
(She will have to approve you for membership but that shouldn't take long).

If you are a member, or once you join, you can find the tutorial on how to create a Sports Frame Overlay like this one here in the Intermediate Lessons Folder and it is entitled: III.12_SportsFrameOverlay.

PLEASE NOTE: As of March 16, 2011 - Make The Cut (MTC) NO LONGER SUPPORTS WORKING WITH CRICUT MACHINES. HOWEVER, If you have the last version of MTC (3.2.1 that was available through March 15, 2011, and firmware of 1.34 on Baby Bug and 2.34 on an Expression it will still work until you update to a newer release of MTC when it is released and/or possibly do a firmware update to your Machines. (I'm not sure of correct firmware on Creates or Cake machines - sorry! If anyone does, please leave me a comment and I will update this!). For Specific questions or concerns you can contact MTC at support@make-the-cut.com.

HOWEVER - MTC is NOT GOING ANY WHERE! It still works with a large variety of different cutters and that list is growing all the time. If you don't see your cutter on the list, send a note to Andy at support@make-the-cut.com and ask for him to add it. Machines Supported now include: Black Cat Cougar, Black Cat Lynx, Gazelle, Craft Robo, Silhouette, ECraft, US Cutter MH Series and Laser Cutter, and any other cutter using a HPGL Printing Support.

As always, thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave me any questions or comments by clicking on the comments area below any post.

Another Porky the Pig - Make the Cut and SVG files Available

2011-03-15T05:00:00.003-04:00

Here is the second Porky the Pig file that I created last summer. I am again sharing the file in both Make the Cut (MTC) and SVG formats. This file also has lots of bits and pieces to it and you might want to grab a copy of my picture if you need it to help you put it together if you take the svg file format. The file contains the black base of Porky, the pink pig skin, his nose (no additional base on nose on this one), his tongue and the whites of his eyes, and then the pieces to the red hat, red bowtie and his (very small) red sleeve cuff on the extended hand.

As previously noted, these were taken from free coloring pages that I found online and then converted into Make the Cut Files. I then export the MTC files into svg files to share with those who don't yet own MTC. I share these files here for free for your own personal use. Please do not share or sell the files individually or in a group.

Download the Porky Pig2 Make the Cut file here.

Download the Porky Pig2 SVG file here.

Porky Pig - Make the Cut and SVG Files Available

2011-03-14T05:00:00.008-04:00

Good morning. Last summer when I was trying to show some friends what Make The Cut could do, I went and downloaded some free coloring pages of Porky the Pig, downloaded them to my computer, and made them into cut files that could be used with Make the Cut. I realized recently that I had not shared those files here on the blog.

I have also gone ahead and converted them to svg files as well although I think it may be difficult to know what the different pieces and parts are when opening those files as opposed to the MTC files. This file should have a black base, his pink pig skin, blue jacket, red bow tie, pink tongue, whites of eyes, and then 2 parts to his nose, a black shadow base and then the pink nose. Hopefully you will be able to tell from the pictures that I post here. I would suggest that you might take a copy of the pictures as well if you take the svg files. Simply right click on my picture and save to your computer. I am going to share 1 Porky Pig file today and another one tomorrow.

As always, the files that I share here are shared for free for your personal use only and are not to be sold. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you have any questions.

Download the Porky Pig1 Make the Cut file here.

Download the Porky Pig1 SVG file here.

Rain Boots - Make the Cut and SVG Files Available to Download

2011-03-11T05:00:00.015-05:00

We had a big rain storm the first of last week that caused a lot of localized flash flooding in a number of areas. So when I was looking for bunnies last week during all that rain, I ran across these rain boots and thought that they were cute and would make a great file to share. After all, April Showers are just around the corner!! LOL

There are several layers to this file. One is the base puddle that outlines all around the boots, then there is another top puddle layer that adds dimension to the puddle. You will want to cut each of those layers out in two different shades of blue. Then there is a shadow layer of the boots themselves that I cut out in black and the top layer of the boots with different pieces and parts to them. I choose to make them yellow! You can of course make your boots any color that you choose. Since there are several pieces and parts to them, you may want to consider using transfer tape of some kind to keep them all lined up and together properly for placement on the black shadow. You could do the same for the puddle pieces. This is one of the reasons I prefer to share the MTC files as oppose to the svg files. In MTC, you can see the layers in color but if I export it out to an SVG file all the layers are exported and then imported all in one color making it more difficult on the end user to know how the pieces and parts go together.

Hope someone can find a use for these boots. If you do, I would love to see what you did with them. As always, thanks for stopping by. By the way, did anyone notice that I have now posed something on my blog EVERY DAY for TWO WEEKS (well business weeks at least)!! That is a record for me!!! LOL I'm not sure I can keep up with this break neck speed of sharing!! It's wearing me out!! LOL I've still got almost 3 full weeks left in March before I could claim a whole month of posts. Doubt I'll get there - but hey, I won't say never just yet!! Have a great weekend!

Download the Rain Boots and Puddle Make the Cut file here.

Download the Rain Boots and Puddle SVG file here.

Baseball Mom - Make the Cut and SVG Files available

2011-03-10T05:00:00.014-05:00

Well, since I got my baseball file ready I've been trying to come up with my T-shirt design. The obvious one is "MOM" with the baseball serving as the "O" in Mom. I've tried a couple of different configurations. Since our school is Spartans, I tried a Spartan head in the middle of the baseball. Problem is, to get it small enough you lose the teeny tiny little pieces of the helmet and I didn't like that. Then I tried the player's number on the baseball. I think I like that BUT - I don't know yet what number my DS is so I can't make my shirt until I know that! However, I wanted to go ahead and share my Make the Cut and SVG files for the "Baseball Mom" here on the blog. I am going to post only the file without a number added. However, I am showing it to you both with and without the number added to the file. It is very simple to add your number to the baseball if you want it there. I used the font "Freshman" that I have on my computer. It is an athletic style block lettering that I use a lot for sports stuff. This is also what I used for the Ms in "MOM". In Make the Cut, go to your Text tab, select the Font you wish to use and then click the add Text Buton to to add your text. Once it is on your mat, resize as needed and place where you desire. I would suggest keeping it on its own layer if cutting it separately. However, if you want it to "cut out" of the white part of the middle of the ball, you would "join" the number to that part. I plan to use mine with Heat Set Vinyl to make a T-shirt for me to wear to games. I may add the school name above the Mom and may add a baseball bat between the school name and the Mom or lean it up against the school name. Once I get my final design figured out (once I know my DS's jersey number) and my shirt made I will share it here on the blog.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer them as quickly as possible but know that I am not always able to check the blog everyday so it may be several days before I answer. Thanks for stopping by.

Download the Baseball MOM Make the Cut file here.

Download the Baseball MOM SVG file here.

Baseball - Make the Cut and SVG Files Available

2011-03-09T05:00:00.022-05:00

Spring is arriving shortly which means my DS has moved on from basketball to baseball. With that thought in mind, I knew that I needed to create some baseball items to make myself some T-shirts to wear to the school baseball games since I didn't have any yet. Obviously, the main thing a girl needs is the baseball its self. I found this free baseball clipart at http://www.iloveclipart.com/ and converted it into a cut file for use with Make the Cut. I then exported it out from my Make the Cut file and saved it to an .svg file to share for those who have not yet moved to Make the Cut.

The file has 2 parts. The first part really has 3 pieces - this would be the "white" portions of the baseball with the "seams" cut away. The second part is the red for the seams. Cut out the red circle then ovelay the 3 white pieces on top of the red to show the red "seams". It is probably easiest to do this by using transfer tape of some kind to transfer the white pieces off your mat and to lay it on top of the red. I did it this way because I think it is easier to cut it this way then to try and cut those little red seams.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with this or any other of my files. I always test cut everything before I share so you shouldn't have any problems. I'd love to see anything you create with one of my files. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Download the Baseball Make the Cut file here.

Download the Baseball SVG file here.

Volleyball Club "TEAM" T-shirts

2011-03-08T05:00:00.010-05:00

Front of Shirts

Hello again. I also wanted to share with you all some TEAM t-shirts that I made for DD's Volleyball Club Team. I made about 13-14 of these shirts. They all loved them as did their parents. I'm glad, as they did take some time because of all the weeding that had to be done. What I learned from this shirt design is that sometimes it is better to use the old KISS concept (Keep It Simple Stupid!) LOL. We all loved the shirts BUT they are a little labor intensive for a couple of reasons. First, I added all the girls names to the volleyball on the front of the shirt along with the year, age group, and club name. This means that all of that had to be weeded out! It was pretty small and thin to fit on the ball! Then, we did 2 colors on the front and 2 colors on the back so you have to apply each of those separately. Then finally, we added each girls number to the sleeve of her shirt. This means you need to keep track of sizes and who needs what! In the end, I think that they were quite worth the effort and DD and her teammates really liked them and that is what I was hoping for!

Back of Shirts

I don't recall where I saw this "TEAM" saying but I thought it would be great on their shirts. It says TEAM on the front with the volleyball with all their names on it. Then on the back it says Together Everyone Achieves More. I am going to share with you my file that I used to create the shirts. It has the word TEAM with the saying on the back going in two different directions. One goes down, one goes across. We chose to use the one with the Word TEAM going down and the rest going across. I have removed the girls names from the volleyball. To add something to the volleyball like names you will want to add the text as desired and then "join" it to each volleyball piece as needed once properly placed. This will allow it to be "cutout". I have also included a shadow layer to the volleyball. This isn't really needed to make the t-shirts the way I did. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about my files or anything that I did. I got my heat set vinyl from H&H Sign Supply. You can find them here on the web:

http://www.hhsignsupply.com/productcart/pc/home.asp

Not affiliated and may not be the best price out there (I did a little looking around but not a lot but they were recommended by others) but they did have good prices and were always very efficient in getting my orders out and I have had no problems. I used the Siser Easy Weed vinyl. I also ordered a Teflon Sheet cover to help but you could get by without it. I think some people use parchment paper.

Right now I am only offering this file in the MTC format as this is what I created it in. Since it has several layers and colors to it, I don't have time right now to do the work necessary to get it into a SVG file and test cut it all out. However, The file would be fairly easy to recreate with another package. I do have a volleyball I previously shared in the svg format and just use your software and font of your choice to do all the text. Thanks for your understanding.

Download my TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More file for Make The Cut here.

Using Heat Set Vinyl to Create my Volleyball Mom Wardrobe

2011-03-07T05:00:00.010-05:00

Large Logo on Sweatshirt

Hello. My DD plays on a competitive travel volleyball club in the winter and spring. Since she was new to this particular club this season, I didn't have a "team wardrobe" to wear to the tournaments so I decided to create my own! I have put that logo on many things in a variety of sizes!! I have been the vinyl queen lately it seems. I have created a logo with her name for my car, I have created it large and put it on a sweatshirt, I have created it small and put in on a pocket of a tee and on a hat. I have added it to a scarf and a sailor shirt. I then created my own design using the club's name, a volleyball for the O in MOM and her number and added it to some t-shirts and a backpack! Of course, everyone wanted to know where I had gotten it all! Then I told them I had made it myself and how little it cost me!! They couldn't believe it and it was so easy!!! I have the logo broken based on colors. However, depending upon what color shirt or item you put them on, you wouldn't always need vinyl for that color. If I put on a navy shirt, the shirt serves as the navy background. If I put on an orange shirt, the orange part does not need to be added. ( To do this, you have to modify and join and weld different parts depending upon where you need to allow a color to "show" through.)

Small Logo on Sailor Shirt

Since then, one of the ladies who works at the club had a baby shower there. I created a onsie, a baby towel, a blanket, a bib, and a burp cloth all with the club's logo on them as her gift. The "wrapping" was a plush toy dump truck Easter Basket that I put the club logo on the side of! Everyone thought I was so clever - and I am - with my scanner, my die cut machine, some heat set vinyl and my Make the Cut software!! Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the baby stuff!! But here are some pictures of some of my "wardrobe"! Remember when working with Heat Set Vinyl that you want to put on clothing - you must MIRROR the image before cutting it out!! Plus, the heat set vinyl goes "SHINY SIDE" DOWN on your mat before you cut it all out! Ask me how I know you want to remember these 2 important items! LOL!

Logo on Backpack Pocket

I doubt that too many of you have the need for the K2 Logo unless your child plays for them as well! LOL but I will share my volleyball mom cut file here with you. I put this on some t-shirts and a backpack.

Download the Volleyball Mom Make the Cut file here.

Download the Volleyball Mom SVG file here.

This is what the "MOM" with Volleyball for the O looks like from a screen shot. You would need to add the number of your player where my DD's number 14 is shown here. (It is not in the svg file, it is in the MTC for visual aid only on another layer).

Another Bunny - Make the Cut and SVG Files Available

2011-03-04T05:00:00.002-05:00

Okay - I couldn't help myself. Had to make it a full week of bunnies! LOL Plus, I wanted to make it a full week of posts! (Okay a business week but STILL a week! That's a record for me!!)

I promise - here's my last bunny (at least for now!). This is another free coloring page that I found online.

You can download the Make the Cut Bunny File here.

You can download the SVG Bunny File here.

As always, thanks for stopping by. If you make something with this file I would love to see it.

Bunny With Egg - Make the Cut and SVG Files Available

2011-03-03T05:00:00.010-05:00

Well, I guess I should have designated this Bunny week! LOL When I went searching for free bunny clip art I obviously found a couple of cute ones that I thought would make quick and easy cut files to share here on my blog. I guess I need to see if I can find one more to finish out the week tomorrow! LOL Or maybe I will just use one of these other ones on something new! We shall see! I actually can't believe I got several posts done all in a single week so we will see if I can get one more done to make it a full week! That would be a first! LOL

I thought this bunny was too cute! I have cut the base out of a light blue and then cut the body pieces out of white, the eyes and mouth and nose line out of black and his nose out of pink. I then cut the egg decorations out of a darker royal blue. Once I had him put together, I chalked him a little with a light blue chalk on the edges and a little pink on his cheeks. Depending on the size you wanted to cut, you might have some pretty small pieces. If they are too small, just skip trying to get those glued down. The file is about 3 1/2" W x 4" H.

I hope some of you can find some cute uses for him. Please let me see what you do with him. He could also easily be made into a shaped card if you desired. Just size all the pieces together to the size that you want the card then copy and flip the base shadow and weld those two base pieces together to form a card.

As always - thanks for stopping by.

Download the Make The Cut Bunny with Egg file here.

Download the SVG Bunny with Egg file here.

Basic Bunny Shape - Make the Cut or SVG File to Share

2011-03-02T05:00:00.002-05:00

I found this basic bunny shape when I googled for free bunny clipart and decided to make it into a simple cut file. I am providing it both in the Make The Cut (.mtc) as well as an SVG file format. I hope someone can find some use for it. Would love to see whatever you might do with it. Thanks for stopping by!

Download the Make The Cut Bunny File here.

Download the SVG Bunny File here.