Poke out the Owls Eyes? NOT!

I have been missing in action!  Good News!  I am now retired, which should give me more time to craft and blog!  Todays blog is about a problem I had….it was solved so simply….

Here was my problem. I downloaded this Free to Craft Room Members, darling Owl, in the Pazzles Craft Room.

Then, I took all the pieces I wanted to make a 1 layer Owl.

I wanted to use only one color. The white parts, I wanted to weed out, so that the cup color would show through.

This part was simple enough….

 

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Until I looked at WireFrame View.

From Menu Bar Select:

View | Wireframe

Notice how I had a hard time lining up all the cuts?

Hint, look at the ears for example…well, I knew that would be a mess when it cut…

Look at the eyes, I did NOT want three cuts…

So off to welding I went

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From Menu Bar Select:

Tools | Welding

Well, it fixed the extra lines around the ears and other places…

But the eyes! YOUR KIDDING ME!

I Lost my wings! LOL In more ways than one! LOL

That just WOULD NOT work!

Thank goodness for UnDO!

I took his eyes out and welded them separately…

I was ready to poke his eyes out…

Really needed this Owl…

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So, I sent the file to Klo and she demonstrated how to fix this

Happy Dance!

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She really is the MASTER of KISS (Keep it Simple Sweetie)

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Select the owl

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Choose W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.

Otherwise known as

What You See Is What You Get

(That is for those that are my age)

Or from Menu Bar Select:

Shape | WYSiWYG Cutting Transformation

Your mouse pointer will turn into a little "clog"

Click on the Owl

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Well, I have no idea…but, this is just me, High must be better, so I choose High…

Have no idea what the bottom check mark is for, however Klo did not choose it, so neither did I

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Hum, for a week, many hours I fiddled with this owl….Klo showed me how to make the dern COMPUTER do the work, instead of me…

I swear, the computer only took a minute to do, what I could not do in oddles of hours!

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Then two of these birds showed up.

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This is what they look like in WireView

That’s that "W" Icon at the bottom of your screen, or

From Menu Bar Select:

View | Wireframe

Yep, I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO Happy to delete the one on the left, with glee!

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I gathered up all the feathers and grouped them

Hold down your shift key and select each feather one at a time…

Drawing a box around them did not work for me . . because the outside of the owl got in the way..

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Then after you have all of them selected move them somewhere outside of the owl

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While they are still selected, choose

Shape | Group

Now that is out of the way, time to put the name of the person receiving the cup!

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Choose Type

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I choose a Pazzles font.

You don't have to…

But, I wanted simple and easy. Pazzle fonts cut WAY easier and I wanted something quick and easy as I was worn out working on his eyes!

Not wanting to poke his eyes out any more…

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Sized the name to fit into the Owl

Selected the Owl

Control G to group

Or from Menu Bar Select:

Shape | Group

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Size the Image

Select the image

Right click

Choose Height

Or….

Just select the image and type an H

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For my water cups, I know the image can't be higher than 4" and I know the width can't be more than 3.5

So, I type in a 4 and choose apply

Perfect. This made my Width go to 3.157 :)

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Ready to Cut!

Oh, I have a yellow stick up on my monitor that says "Do not cut until you check these things"

1 - Check Wireframe - Make sure those are the lines you want to cut…see, this is where I got caught in step number 2 (thank you post-it note) Did not waste any vinyl on a bad cut.

2 - Do I need to weld? Yeppers. I am an expert on welding now, I welded this Owl every way you can imagine.

Welding did not work in this situation.

WYSIWYG is a better choice in this situation.

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3 - Any Sharp Points? If so, I round them up. In this event they were all good. I turn on Construction Points and make sure I don't have millions of nodes. If I do I remove them.

That’s the C Icon right next to the W icon on the bottom of your screen

Ok, right here, let's talk about this. Construction points, are those little white boxes all over the place.

For right now, I want to tell you, I about ruined my pazzles when I first got it. Turned it on copied clip art off the internet and sent it to cut. Machine started up and just cut in one place…

Wonder it did not blow up

Years later (a few weeks ago) I decided that since I was retiring, that was one thing, I wanted to learn how to do well. Operate my Pazzles and my Software. Well, it would not cut good. I opened a new mat and prepared it. (had to review the video on http://www.pazzles.net/wordpress/videos/fundamentals)

I put in a brand new blade (again referring to videos above)

I updated my machine and my software and tried again (yeppers videos for that to)

Double checked my blade length and pressure…

Nothing worked….

Then I seen this video and thought, what the heck

http://www.pazzles.net/wordpress/2013/06/25/maintain-your-creative-cutter-for-best-performance

My gosh! My machine worked perfectly! When I cleaned the blade..I was shocked…there was paper shoved up in that hole! I mean, it was packed in that hole! Under the rollers I had had enough paper to make a card…well not really, but WOW!

While I was removing this dirt, grime, paper, glue from my machine that was HARDLY USED, I thought back, about cutting that thing that made my machine cut in one place….I bet, I did that when I first got it..I just bet that is when it happened…I am sure that the few times I used it I messed it up…you see, I just have a habit of jumping in and read later.

Really did not like the machine, no really. Liked it WAY better than the cricut, like way better. But, would rather, get out my punches and dies than to mess with the time it took me to cut one thing. Because it would usually mean I would have to fiddle with it and cut it over and over, just to get the paper up, cut crisp lines and then, usually have to finish the cut with scissors.

And NOW! It cuts like butter! Who would have thought? Eh?

Love it so much, ordered the VUE!

Sorry rambling..

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4 - Paper size - Yep, this will save your vinyl or paper…

Verify that you have the correct paper size prior to cutting

I like to work, without the page showing or the Mat.

Here is where you turn them on or off from showing up on your screen

View | Page

Photo to the right shows the page turned on.

As you can see, I don't even have my image on the paper….

I only need a 4.5 square piece of outdoor vinyl for this cut

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Ok, now let's check to see if the page size is correct

Setting | Page

Nope

I am not using my 12 X 24 mat, so I fixed that

I like to see my cutting mat, so I checked that.

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This defiantly will cut on a 4.5 X 4.5 square piece of outdoor vinyl.

I purposely placed in in the lower left hand corner, because I alternate where I cut on my mat, so it lasts longer…

When I place my vinyl on the sheet, I made sure I put the paper side down to the mat and the vinyl side up.

Make sure NO bubbles exist. I use a credit card sort of thing and smooth out the vinyl making sure all winkles, bubbles are gone.

Make sure the vinyl piece is stuck down real good. If it is not stuck down real good, I use painters tape around the edges so it won't slip.

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Last but not least TEST!

I added guide lines, since I was using a scrap, to made sure I knew where the vinyl was on the sheet

To add guidelines, you just double click on the ruler when they appear, you just select it and move it to where you want it to go

Then add your test circle

Draw | Circle

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Choose Cut Project

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This setting works for me and my machine and the vinyl I use.

(now I don't know how to make that picture show a 1 1/2 blade, so I added it in the description)

Select just the circle

Choose cut project

Here is what you are checking for:

Did it cut the circle correctly?

When you cut vinyl, you cut ONLY the vinyl. Lift up the corner and verify that the paper is NOT cut! You should not see a circle on the back side of the "vinyl" (Vinyl is on the top, and a paper is on the bottom closest to the mat)

I repeat this process until I find the correct setting. Now, I only do it once, because I know my vinyl is the same and it works every time so far. When I find the correct setting, I choose "Add Media" and I add it, so next time I do Vinyl (outdoor) I know to set my blade at 1.5 with this "saved setting"

That’s all there is to it.

There are lots of video's on how to weed vinyl and use transfer tape to place your "sticker" on the cup, or where ever you choose.

Please take the time and leave me a comment!  I love  your comments and read each and every one of them!

Love my Pazzles!

Stand UP and SHOW yourself!

Stickle, Viva Pearl Pen, bottle -  Organization

I seem to use my products, when I can see them.  If they are in a drawer….for me, it’s like out of sight, out of mind…must be my age…

Today, I was working with my Viva Pearl Pens and went to put them back in the drawer…and a light went off…I wondered, would the magnets hold that big pen…

Yes!  SCORE!

I found this idea on Pinterest, but changed it up a bit.  They took a cookie sheet and store the pens upside down.  Well…for me, I tried that, and could not see my colors…so I thought, how about a vertical mount…

As you can see in the side view photo above, you can easily see your colors!  The photo below, is a shot from right in front, and again, I can see my colors!  Whoopee, from two angles, I can easily see what colors I have.

So easy to do thisl  First find something that is metal, like a old cookie sheet or use a magnetic board.

Hot glue a magnet to the bottom.

Stick it on your board!  DONE!!!!!

Boy am I messy!  I found it took the larger magnetics to hold my bottles in this position.  When I empty a bottle, the magnetics pop off, so you can glue it to it’s replacement.  Easy Peasy!

This is how I use to store my bottles:

Velcro’ed to the bottom of my shelf…problem is they fell off from time to time…grrrrrrrr.  I did try the magnet underneath, but I could not see anything but the front row…grrrrrrrr

I spend more time organizing than I do, using this marvelous stuff!

If you enjoyed this post, please comment below.  I love to read your comments, and it also let’s me know that someone read’s these!

What’s on your work desk – Wednesday 234

Well….Believe it or not, this gal did all digital this past week…so, this is my work desk, this week!  Wayyyyyyyy cleaner, of course, unless you look at my hard drive…humm.

This was created for a co-workers new grandbaby.  She will be putting it into a frame to display at the shower and hang in the nursery.
I can also see this in a shadow box, pop up the blue dots, pop up the tag, pop up the hat and kit….
Well, if you are wondering why I am telling you all this, Crafting folks from all over the world share what they have been doing the the past week and what is on there work desk each Wednesday….Pop over to Julia’s site Stamping Ground for the low down.

Tip of the week - Thursdays

How to make your own Dimensionals or Pop Dot’sSupplies:Xyron 1.5’ Create a StickerFun FoamScissor'sBrayerTake your fun foam and put it in your paper cutter. I cut mine in 1 1/4” strips.

• Your cutter will probably not cut all the way through the fun foam, but it will score it. You can take your scissors and complete the cut.
• You can use any color of foam! I use a lot of black and brown card’s so I love to use fun foam in colors, however you can take a marker and color the edges of the foam to match your card base, if you use white. I really think white is more versatile.
• Need circle dimensional’s? Use your circle punches!
• Sometimes I need a 1/4” strip! ah, you got the idea!
• Run these through your Xyron
• I mush this down real good with a rollie thing…now what is that called? Just looked it up and added it to the supply list…brayer…humm. You don’t need a brayer, you can just use your hands or something else…this is just what I reach for when I need to mush things.
• Take off the cellophane
• Trim the waxy paper
• Run through the Xyron again the opposite way. Foam side down and waxy paper side up
• Squish down again with rollie thing
• Take the cellophane off
• Trim again
• Don't go to work with one of these stuck to your butt

The best thing about these, is you can make your own sizes, colors etc.

 

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What’s on your work desk – Wednesday 233

Hello from Central California!  I have been trying to figure out how to get in craft time while working, helping my son in his new home, making curtains…just seem to run out of steam.  Currently I am am taking the Holiday Card Workshop 2013 over at http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/.  These projects are from day 2.

The above technique was a challenge for me.  I did not have any die cut’s that would work this way…Most of the die cut’s I have are borders, or frames.  So, I did dig up the die cut’s in the above card.  Looking back, I should have used a solid card stock to create this in-laid look.

Yep, the greeting, and the flower and leaf are inlaid.  I had never seen that technique before, so was excited to try it….

Not happy with the result..however, I can’t wait to try it again with a solid paper.  Funny, though, you could hardly make out the flower and leaf so I decided to use my stickles over it.  Not sure if you can tell by the photo, but it really looks like an old fashion appliqué.

Ever have one of those days?  Where nothing works?  This technique was another, where I did not have good die cuts for the technique.  We were to use the positive and the negative cuts and embossing paste.  I used the embossing paste, which I had not used in years.  I used the embossing paste on the blue background with a stencil.  Loved that effect. Was very impressed with the product, it had not dried out.  I think, this is going to be a fun thing to use in my future projects.

Well, that’s all for now, was not going to post these, then decided, heck, I bet we all have off days!

Each Wednesday, crafters from all over the world post what’s on there desk on Wednesdays.  Well, this is all that’s on my desk today!  If you would like to see VERY Interesting desks, go visit Julia and enjoy the fun!  Julia’s blog is named the Stamping Ground.  I really look forward to Wednesdays to visit some wonderful desks from around the globe!

Tip of the Week Thursdays!

Make your own Glue Dots!

I don’t know where I learned this!  But it works!

All you need is some wax paper and some Aleene’s Tack it Over and Over glue.

• Just drop some blobs (yes!  any size you want, including lines!) of Aleene’s Tack It Over and Over glue on the waxed paper.
• Once “dry”, cover with wax paper
• Store in Zip Lock Bag.
• BONUS – before they setup, you can move them!  Way to cool. 

Please feel free to share your own tips in the comment area below. Hope you have a wonderful week!  Until next Thursday!

Hugs, Robin

What’s On Your Work Desk–Wednesday 232

I don't pop and I'm not fresh – especially after gluing these all together, late at night!

Last year, a dear friend of my Aunt Cathy, Joy, shared her die and we cut all these. The Gingerbread man is cut out of chipboard and covered front and back with Designer Paper. I did nothing with them last year, at least I have glued them all together this year!

It’s going to be a short one today, as it’s late!

Wondering what WOYWW is? Just Click here and you will find out all about it!

 

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Holiday Card Workshop 2013–Day 1

Today, we are focusing on the inside’s of cards.  Love this design, it is thin enough you can put it in the mail without paying extra!  That is a vellum pocket for a gift card….To cute! 

Can you tell I am loving my Envelope Board Punch?  I did not have a gift card handy, so in when a Casino Card!

This was a fun Zig-Zag Card.  One Sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 made two cards.  The banner was interesting to work with….Woops, you can’t see what it looks like closed up…

I had to clamp it to keep it shut, so you could see it closed up!  I love how this card turned out.

We focused on using the negative from the die cut.  Looks like I need to focus on focusing!  Looks pretty blurry to me!  I smudged the inside of this card .

Any one have and idea to remove VersaMark Black Permanent Ink?

 

Well, day one helped me complete 5 more cards for Christmas!

Snowmen Tea Light Magnets

 

These were so fun to make!  My inspiration came from Becky Roberts. 

Tea Light

• Colored up the sides of the tea light
• Color flame

Base

• 4 each 2 1/2” circles of designer paper – Card Stock Weight.  I used my circle scissor because I did not have this punch…it’s on order!  I prefer punches, because they are faster and easier for me to use.  If you don’t want to invest in punches, the circle scissor is just awesome!
• Glued these to each other to make the base stronger
• Smudge ink around the sides and edges of base
• Punch out opening for switch (I used a crop-a-dial)  you could use a 1/2 circle punch, again I did not have a 1/2 circle punch and my circle scissor does not make anything smaller than 1 inch…so, you guessed it, it’s on order.
• Used  1/2” circle dimensional to adhere base to bottom of tea light

Face

• 4 each 1 1/2” Circles of designer paper – Card Stock Weight
• Center punch an opening for the flame (nose) using the small circle in the punch pack.  I again, did not have this punch.  I used my crop-a-dial to create the opening. 
• Glue together to make “face” stronger.
• Smudge ink around sides and edges of “face”
• Using a  black permanent marker, color two larger pearls and 5 smaller pearls.
• Position Eyes and Mouth
• Adhere Face to top of tea light.

Hat

• 4 each 1” Square
• Glue together to make hat stronger
• Snip top of hat as shown below
• Smudge ink around sides and edges of hat
• Adhere burlap on bottom of hat
• 4 each Brim of Hat.  I used the technique that Becky Roberts used by taking the large oval punch and punching just the edge of your paper, then move the punch up how thick you want the brim and punch again.
• Smudge ink around sides and edges of brim
• Adhere to Hat
• Adhere Hat to Face with Red Sticky Tape

Bow

• Attach twine and ribbon to side of tea light with glue gun

I think they look cute on my refrigerator.  I am thinking of making some for gifts and place into homemade boxes.  They would also be cute on top of a Christmas Present!

I love my Vinyl Calendar on my fridge!  You can find the directions here.

Easy Peasy!

I will be submitting my Snowmen Tea Lights on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge have a real simple challenge for you, USE INK! Whether it is an ink spray or an inkpad, any ink, we would love to see how you use ink this week in your crafting project.

Ranch Dressing Anyone?

I love Ranch Dressing, my family loves Ranch…heck I think we drink it here!  I have tried and tried many different “copy cat” recipes, this one is the winner!  I love food.com.  I keep all my recipes there.  You can find me as Big Sis. I love Chef Spice Guru’s Hidden Valley Ranch Salad & Seasoning (CopyCat) Recipe.

I needed a label for my jar, so fired up Creative Memories Storybook program and came up with this.  If you would like to use the same label, you can find a PDF Version of my file here.

I love Creative Memories StoryBook!  The company is reorganizing at the time of this post, so I can’t link you back to the software.  I found it very easy to use.  I work with computers all day long and when I come home, I don’t want to put anytime into learning a program.  I craft for fun and relaxation and physical therapy for my hands….most of all, it’s relaxing for me.  To use a computer to craft….does not work for me, but when I need to, I do fire up my Storybook program (did I say how EASY it was to learn?)  and I will fire up my pazzles die cutter, also under protest.  Both of these products are excellent…that is why I purchased them….but…I would rather use a punch, sissors or my craft knife than sit in front of the computer …….unless of course, I am surfing the net looking at what you did!

Weekly Sale! Ends November 11, 2013

Friday, November 08, 2013

Deal of the week will end Monday!

Remember, you can order anytime you want, for any amount you want!  And shop Anytime you want!

I love that!

Thank you for your support!

Robin Spitzer

Shopping 24 X 7

My Blog

My Facebook Group

Best Tip of the Week–Thursdays!

Each Thursday, I am going to post some kind of tip I have learned along my crafting journey

Join me and post what you learned!

My Tip of the week is about your craft knife. and the cutting surface you can use.

I was having a hard time cutting with my craft knife on my cutting mat.  Started researching on the web and found that others were recommending glass cutting boards.  So I went shopping, I found the craft boards pricy. 

One night, as I was cleaning up after dinner, I was wiping down my glass cutting board…..and….found that it was slick on one side, and textured on the other side.  Even more to my delight was the size!  it was 12 X 15!  Make sure if you choose to use one, that one side is slick.  You will need to work on the slick side.

Please share your tips in the comment area below.  Have the very best week! 

Hugs, Robin

WOYWW What’s on your Workdesk? Wednesday 231

Wondering what WOYWW is?  Just Click here and you will find out all about it!

I am sooooooooooooooo excited!  See that poor old craft mat, you are always hearing me complain about!  My new one just came in!  I won’t know how to act!  Except…..to keep my circle scissors and craft knife away from it….Yep, I must learn to do that!

You can see my pop-up gift card…yes, I have not forgotten that I was going to make a video on how to accomplish this!  Hopefully I will get that done this week.  My problem with making the video is that, I really like making my own backgrounds, not so comfortable with patterned paper, and I need to be prepped with decorating the card before making the video….just decided that, heck, you know how to decorate in your own style.  I think I will make the video on just plain cardstock, so you can see how to make this with your envelope boards….Maybe I should blog more, it seems to help me figure out my obstacles.

Let’s see what do you see on my desk…and floor…well, you can see my storage solution for rubber stamps.  I place my rubber stamps in large zip lock bags and number the bags, which then go into a box, of course in numerical order.  The description of each of the stamps is in an access data-base I created, so, all I have to do is search, Christmas for example…which is what I did and those bags are under my desk…I can also with one click, print out photos of each stamp, which I house in a binder.

See that stinken mess of distress inks?  I have got to find a better way to house theses.  If you have any ideas….Please comment below!

On last thing, I dragged out my Distrezz-it-all from Zutter, I am leaving that dern thing on my desk!  I use it all the time, when I can see it!

Have a wonderful week!  Remember to check back here on Thursdays, where you can share your tip of the week!