IPad video of HotPaws Pen Tool in the Pazzles Inspiration

Just playing with my iPad and it's video capabilities!

HotPaws Pen Tool Video!!

I finally made a video about my pen tool and how easy it is to use! I just learned Adobe Premiere this semester and it was my final project!

HotPaws Pen Tool

Silhouette Cameo Pen Tool!

I finally updated my Pen Tool page with a

button for the Silhouette Cameo™...no more having to email me! This Pen Tool will work in the Silhouette Cameo™, Silhouette SD™, Craft Robo™ and the Wishblade™. The HotPaws© Pen Tool is molded by me out of a lightweight plastic instead of a heavier aluminium. The Silhouette™ machines are a very detail oriented machine and the heavier the tool you put into the clamp holder the more stress you can put on the clamp mechanism every time it raises and lowers for pen work. This Pen Tool will hold the same size pens as my original Pen Tool. The only difference is the outer diameter has been lathed down to fit these new machines perfectly! Some examples of the pens you can use are:
Stampin' Up© Pens, Uniball Signo™, Close To My Heart™, Zig™ Pens and Sharpie® Ultra Fine Tip Pens (Only Ultra Fine Tip).  And of course my newest favorite metallic pen the Pentel®  Slicci. Here is an example of the Slicci using The HotPaws© Pen Tool in the new Silhouette Cameo™.

Now the Slicci is a very tiny/skinny pen so I had to use one of the foamy pen grips I send with the Pen Tool for just these types of pens so it is centered in the holder. The writing in the center is a regular font. If you look really carefully you can see the gold pen outline I created just inside my cutting line. I created this medallion in Adobe Illustrator then saved it as an SVG file to import into my software. Speaking of software!!! Make The Cut now has a plug-in for the Cameo. I really like like the fact that Make The Cut can be used with so many different cutting machines...of which I have many..... Cutting machines are like Potato Chips.....You can't have just one!!

Halloween Pumpkin Stampin' Up Style!!

 Did you know that a rubber stamp can be used in Polymer clay work? Well I did not until I made my first polymer clay creation. I was playing with some white polymer clay and decided to make a pumpkin, the the light bulb went on in my head and I found one of my retired Stampin' Up Halloween sets. The new set on pg. 26 of the SU catalog has a great new face that will work great for a this #122622 Jack Of All Trades. I then coated him with some Shimmer Paint and Smooch tinted orange and green. Some black Staz On in the mouth and eyes...then bake according to manufacturer's directions. For my first polymer clay creation I thought her came out really cute!

Another Halloween House Created with Chipboard

This cute little leaning house was created using my Pazzles Pro  machine. It was spray painted with orange & black spray paint with glitter sprinkled all over it. On the roof I glued a bunch of buttons like a gingerbread house would have. The "spider web" was created using  Beacon Advanced Craft Glue. I would slowly drizzle out the glue and pull on it to make a "string" across the front of the  house. The spider and bats were stamped on with Staz On ink using Stampin' Up rubber stamps.

Lets get into the Halloween Spirit....Boooooooooo!

Ok Lets get in the Halloween Spirit..Shall we!! Here is a Haunted House I did last year. Stampin' Up came up with this great house but did not release it time for my upline's meeting. So I just designed one myself with my Pazzles Pro in chipboard, almost identical to theirs so I could demonstrate the house to customers. For the shingles I did use the Sizzix Bigz Die #120893, with the Scallop portion. I used black spray paint with lots of black glitter. The bats were punched and glued to a wire I wrapped around the house and put in the chimney. Have fun and enjoy!

Node Editing: A quick overview video

 Now that I have my Camtasia set up on this computer, I decided to do a little video on editing nodes with the arc replace tool. Enjoy!

Cutting files for free ...not always a good quality = frustration and blame in the wrong place

I have been using cutting machines for many years now. I now have quite a few of these electronic monsters...yes I am addicted. Certain machines will cut certain files differently, some with better accuracy than others. Software has to do with this also because software is what is giving the machine the commands to cut. I started with a version from Signmax and have used Funtime/Pazzles, SCAL, &  MTC to name a few. I am now designing mostly in Adobe Illustrator and sending these files to my various cutting softwares. Klo can attest to the fact I am PICKY about my files!
Just a thought for newer people to ponder...
Are you getting your cutting files from websites for free? If you are getting these free files, look at them closely. These files may look pretty at first but once you magnify up on them...they are not such pretty files. Look closely and you will find loop-backs/switch-backs, points and corners too tight for the blade to make a good cut. Sometimes there will be double cutting lines or even an invisible cut line way out of your image that you do not even know is there. Also look at the amount of nodes. The more nodes, the more time it takes the software to calculate the cut. Then the machine will cut very slowly depending on the software you are using with what machine. I have included 2 pictures from a "FREE" download site and 2 random files I picked. Both of these free files had some major issues that I was able to see. After downloading many of this sites files, I found each one to have many problems that a newer user would not identify easily.  These issues would make a newer user frustrated with the quality of the piece that they cut... not the machine's fault but the file. I made sure that my images are not identifiable as to what "free" site they came from. I am not here to bash the person that creates them, only to make people aware that not all files are created equal. I look back at some of my files that I produced in my first year or two and I cringe at some of them and the problems I now see with them.
My point is that if you are new to this, use files from a well known source either purchased or designed by someone that knows what they are doing. LEARN your software and how to spot these "not so user-friendly" files. Start with simple images and learn your particular machine's cutting ability. Do not start with a complicated file that you downloaded for free. Free is just that, no guarantee unless you really like to be frustrated. Yes these free files cause lots of frustration. But then the blame gets shifted to the machine and the company that produced the machine...and then people write their frustration out bashing the machine or software...when all along it was that one free file you tried to cut...... Complicated intricate files should be cut with good quality paper and a sharp blade set "just right". Test cut an area first before you ruin that whole piece of nice paper. Do you live in a damp 40% plus humidity area? Then your paper may be harder to cut. I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator and our paper can be very temperamental to cut with humidity. Ok back to my point of free files....start with files from ex: Pazzles Craft Room or Scrap-Savvy or My Time Made Easy or many other trusted sites. Look close at their files, most of these files are excellent cutting files and will show you what a good file should be. Do not make a complicated file smaller to fit a small card if it was made for a bigger card or 12 x 12 layout.
Oh yes above all!!!! Do not wait till the last minute to learn your machine when you have to get something done... this will always end up in disaster and frustration...you know Murphy's law. Watch Klo's videos, Use Julie F.'s tutorials, go to You Tube and watch.
Disclaimer: No particular incident, person or site sparked this email, well Ok maybe one...hehe.  HAVE FUN!

Yes I am back posting again!

 Ok well I am back after 2 years of not posting. I have been crafting in many other areas as well as papercrafting, for example polymer clay, knitting, crocheting, digital arts. 2 years ago Stampin' Up made us sign this agreement not to promote/advertise other "Papercrafting" companies within our blogs. I do understand but.... I was not happy about this and neither were quite a few other demonstrators. Many, many wonderfully talented demonstrators quit. I almost did also because there are so many products out there to use and explore that sometimes putting them up on your blog is a must! I will be careful not to put names down of competitive products that we (SU) sell but if it something we do not direct market sell than I will be putting the name down of the product and where I got it. I do not use just one company's product, that would be very narrow minded in my mind since so many of Stampin' Up's products can be used in various other fields of crafting also. This being said if I use any product that I do not mention in my post; please post a comment or private email me and I will gladly tell you exactly where I purchased the product or who is the maker of the product.

My First Video Tutorial Yahoo! Funtime/Pazzles Software layers and cutting

I have always learned things better by seeing it done, not by reading about it. Someone asked a question on one of the Yahoo groups the other day about the Funtime/Pazzles Software and changing the layer order for cutting. I bit the bullet and downloaded Camtasia 30 day free trial. Great program! A bit pricey for some but I will be buying it! I made my first video last night to show a simple way of changing layers to get the layers in order for better cutting on the page. It is my first video so be kindd and excuse the abrupt ending. I had to cut the vdeo into two because You Tube only will take 10 minute videos....Bahhhh... I was 12 minutes and 31MB..Ok that was a big file.

So here is the link:

Down the line I hope to do other videos on Stampin' Up's new "My Digital Studio" and various other crafting endevours.

Cherry Cake Box

Another "Cake Box" But this one is one of my favorite retired Stampin Up papers of last year. One thing about dark papers when you use a "kiss cut" fold line your paper will show through it's core color. I am not too keen on that but.....

Cake Box with Stampin' Up Bride Speciality Paper

Here is a photo of my most recent project that I did for myself. Using Stampin' Up's newest Specialty Paper Bride. You can get templates all over the internet for a "Cake Box" so I am not posting one here. I did create a WPC file for my Pazzles to cut the multiple "Cake Boxes" that fit into an octagon.The rhinestones are heat set using a heat setting tool. The ribbon (5/8 Whisper White Organza) and flowers (Pretties kit) and glitter (Dazzling Diamonds) are all Stampin' Up products. You can do multiple tiers but on this one I only did one tier as an example. This would make a great bridal shower center piece then give every one a "piece" with little goodies in the boxes. If you find any typos that I did not catch....so sorry, I really did a good job busting my left ring finger Saturday night and typing with a finger brace really stinks! I even chipped the bone...it was that hard! Ouch!

Stampin' Up' software: MY DIGITAL STUDIO®

Well the new Stampin'Up digital software is finally out. It's called My Digital Studio®. If you have never used a digital scrapbooking program before, this will be a good beginning program for you. With a little help from the manual you will be producing your own printable scrapbook pieces in a matter of minutes with the included templates. Or put them together, upload and have a real book made through the Stampin' Up website. Here are a couple of pages I produced within a short period of time. This one I added 3 pictures that were automatically sized for me when I dragged and dropped them into the picture squares. I was able to use a bit of ribbon and added stitches to it.
This next one is a card size one that I was just playing around with. trying to blend different backgrounds. I used the scallop punch and filled it with color to put behind the little scrap of paper. I put a tag punch on it with another tag punch over it with a brad. Add some ribbon and your done with your digital card!

INSPIRE, CREATE, SHARE... Stampin' Up Convention 09

Stampin' Up Convention 09!! Ok I miss my 2 furbabies!! Soo...I start off with a picture of everyone's favorite Stampin' Up Assistant Companion MAX!! He belongs to "InkieBunnie" Lisa Marie. As usual the line started before 7:00am for Momento Mall!! And there was still a line after 10:00am to get in!!

Here are some pictures of some of the fun things you can get this year in limited quantities.
How about a really pretty ornament...Only one per cutstomer.

Everybody on the run grabbing all the goodies!

Environmentally friendly water bottles...one per customer.

Rubics cubes in the new In Colors....Ok I think this idea was a flop. I did not see anyone buy one of these.


Cute little make-up bags with separates to buy for it like a nail kit, lotion, a compact mirror, nail files....Very cute!


And here we are in our fun new SWAP aprons. Eva made her aprons with her group name of Bee Breative" and I stenciled my HotPaws Creations on my apron along with putting vinyl pockets with buttons all over and embroidery in selected areas.

Some of my swaps for convention

Here are 3 of my swaps for convention. The little gift bag is a 2-5-7-10 gift bag made on my Scor-Pal. The Haunted Step card has 3 steps and a tall one on the side (I used my Pazzles Inspiration to cut these out). The snowflake card is a Sizzix Bigz Die creation. All stamps and colors are Stampin' Up. I am getting ready to leave for convention on Sunday. This year I am driving the car and boarding my 2 poodles. I am really going to miss my little furry girls. Ok ......See some of you at Convention '09!!

Pen Tool Announcement!! It's done!!

It's done! For all of you that have Stampin' Up Pens©...You can now use them with your Pazzles™ Inspiration Creative Cutter. Other pens that will work in the pen holder tool are Close To My Heart™, Zig™, Uniball Signo™ and Sharpie® Fine Tip Pens. I wanted to use my SU pens in my machine so I called upon my best friend....the "nutty professor" aka the prototype engineer to help me! After he made a couple of prototypes that worked, he was able to design a 2 piece mold out of aluminum for me. This part was not free but I did get the "cousin" discount on his work for me! He has a Prototype Injection Molding machine in his garage. (That's really cool!!) So I now know how to make my own injection molded parts! With his help of course! So I essentially "rented" his molding machine and injected my own parts one at a time. Unfortunatly his machine only does one at a time so that was my option!! Started out with basic black and white ABS plastic and then mixed them to get a "zebra" effect. Then added another color to the white and created a purple zebra tool and a turquoise marble one too. My whole intent with this was to create an affordable tool in this tough economy. I am proud to say it's "Made in the USA" by me!! So the introductory price is US$ 15.00 plus $4.95 S &H = US$ 19.95. I have put a PayPal button on the right side of my blog close to the top. I will be accepting PayPal and of course checks and cash! I will be including a second screw in case anyone strips their first screw by tightening down too hard. I am also including a foam pencil grip to help with alignment of smaller barrel pens in this pen holder. Have a great weekend!

I am back after a six month hiatus!

Well time does fly when your busy. The last six months has been a bit of a rollarcoaster for me. January was my birthday month and my sweet adopted Husky Doe became very sick. So at the beginning of February I had to say goodbye to her... She was about 14 years old. Then in March I received the news that my adopted poodle furbaby Muffin had kidney disease. So I started giving her an injection of fluids everyday. But it was not helping like it had in the past with other pets I have owned. So again I had to say goodbye to another beloved pet...Muffin....she was about 13 1/2 years old. Wow losing 2 pets within 4 months is a bit hard on one's heart! Needless to say my mojo flew out of the window for a while. So my mojo is coming back slowly but surely. I still have my 17 1/2 year old poodle Monique and yes I did adopt another furbaby. But that will be another post coming up. I have been working on updating my blog all day and getting ready for the debut of my new Pen Tool for the Pazzles ™ Inspiration Creative Cutter that will be using Stampin' Up Pens!!

Christmas Goody Bags

Last night my friend Deb and I made all her gift bags for her work people. Since she has such a stash of paper we used a lot of her papers adding my Stampin' Up Real Red to compliment the bags. In her bags were a coffee mug with some hot chocolate tins so the outside cello bag was filled with Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips and mini marshmallows and teeny tiny little peppermint pillows. Using the Top Note Sizzix die for the bag topper. I printed off all her work buddies names on to Confetti white cardstock in red using a font called "Santa's Big Secret". Then using the Curly Label punch we punched out the names for the cello bags. The top layers of the paper bags were edged with the scallop punch for a fun effect. The two special bags received some bling in the form of heat set pearls and rhinestones, using the Bejeweler heat setter. I get all my heat set stones and pearls from "Sue's Sparklers" in Escondido CA. The pretty snowflake blue bag used Stampin' Up DSP Ski Slope paper. Now to get my stuff done... All my friends stuff is done. I haven't even decorated the tree yet....Whoa am I behind.....

More of my busy work from last night!

More of my glue gun magic! These large plastic ornaments were purchased from Michaels. A few craft picks and ribbon and glue!

Viola!! Beautiful..... Originally I had bought a decorated ornament for $26.00 at the local holiday craft show (Sugar Plum Festival). Using that as my inspiration, I created these ornaments of my own for 1/4 of the price!
You can see my reflection in one of them as I took the picture. I think I will be selling some of these next year at craft boutiques. Ho Ho Ho of the Holidays!!

Decor Elements Christmas Shadow Box

I was busy last night! I had bought this shadow box over a month ago to use with this Santa Decor Element from Stampin' Up. Talk about last minute.....jeez! Glue gun in hand, ready to attack... Here is the final product. Using Stampin' Up' s Ski Slope DSP I covered the back with the pretty snowflake paper. I had purchased some craft picks at Michaels and cut them all up.

The Decor Element was looking kind of plain with all the glittery things inside so I outlined him with Stickles glitter glue. Putting a big red blorp of red for "Rudolph's" nose.
The Santa sleigh needed some definition so I outlined some packages in the back and put some Frost White Stickles on his hair, hat and cuffs. before shutting up the shadow box I dumped some glitter and flaky glitter inside to make it look snowy if you shake it up!

Shut everything up and added some string pearls to the outside of the box with Crystal Effects as the glue for the pearls.

I think it came out very nice...a little late but nice!! On Dasher...On Dasher....

You go Rudolph!!