BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP - Winner

Congratulations CeCe!  You are the winner for my blog hop prize.  Watch for a PM from me.

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP - Day 3

Sorry about the late post for today!  I had hoped to make a new creation, but didn't get to it.  I decided instead to share a file I created for the Relay for Life event that our local high school had in June.  This was the first year for the event, but definitely won't be the last!   I can't remember the exact total raised, but it was upwards of $50,000.

I've attached the cutting files that you can use if you wish.

MTC file
SVG file

Don't forget to be a follower and to leave a comment for a chance to win a goodie pack.  I'll be drawing a winner tomorrow.  Everyone who has commented by noon EST will be included.

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP - Day 2

I hope everyone is enjoying all the great projects being shared!  I know I'm enjoying seeing what everyone has come up with.

Today I wanted to share a gift idea for a teacher.

I purchased a whiteboard from the dollar store and added some vinyl to it.  Although this could be done on a tile, I liked the idea of a whiteboard since it is more of a teaching tool.  A small blackboard would also work well for this project

I found a quote that I really liked and using MTC, shifted it around until it was balanced in the frame.  I then found the logo for our school board and using the trace feature, brought it into MTC to cut.  This was a simple project, but unique for the recipient.

Don't forget if you want to be included in my draw for blog candy, make sure to become a follower if you aren't one yet and to leave a comment on the blog hop posts.  You can get up to three chances in the draw if you comment on each day of the blog hop.

I hope you enjoyed today's post.      Jeannette

The next stop on your hop, is Zenita's blog at http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP

Welcome to my blog.  If you are following the Back to School Blog Hop, you should be coming from Suzan's blog.  If you aren't yet following, click on the link at the side and join in on the fun!

As I thought about what I wanted to share, it started me thinking about how quickly the years pass.  This year marks a milestone, as both my children will be in high school!   The last few days of school left me torn as I realised I too was 'graduating' from 12 years of involvement with the elementary school.  It was bittersweet leaving that last day.  Being the procrastinator that I am, I was finishing up some tumblers to give to my son's teachers.  I dropped by the school with them and had the chance to say goodbye.  Tumblers made a nice personalized gift for the teachers, unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them, so I can't share.

When I got my cutter, I had no idea how often it would come into play for school things.  From school projects, to teachers gifts, to school council displays, to relay for life decals, to posters for the play, to decorations for graduation, having a cutter has, and will continue to be a great tool for school.

My first school related project I want to share is a large project (for me, lol) I undertook for graduation.  I wanted to create a banner that would serve the school for many years to come.  Using the graduation graphics that Dana shared,  and Greenstar vinyl, I tackled a 3' x 6' banner.  The school colours are green, black and white.  In addition to those, I also used some silver to give a little extra contrast.

 I volunteered to help with graduations decorating, and somehow ended up the one in charge!  Yikes!  Thankfully, I had four other moms who really gave their all to help pull it all together.   In addition to the banner, if you look around the wall of the stage area, you can see the many silver stars and grades that I cut out of vinyl.

My son looked quite handsome all dressed up!  The tuxedo jacket is his father's from our wedding day back in 1993!  Although it's a bit roomy, our son is quickly filling his dad's shoes and is now looking me eye to eye. 

School doesn't resume here until the Tuesday after Labour day.  It should be an interesting year with brother and sister back together again!

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I'm putting together a package of goodies for one lucky blog follower.  To qualify, you must be a follower of my blog. Each day I will be posting a new school related project.  A comment on the posts will give you a chance at the draw.  If you comment all three days, you will get three chances. 

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I hope you enjoyed my post.    Jeannette

The next stop on your hop, is Zenita's blog at  http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
 

Back to school blog hop

The blog hop is happening this weekend!  Check back on Friday to see lots of great ideas for school projects!

Conical warp feature

With the new release of MTC, a lot of questions have surfaced about the new tumbler feature.  Specifically, the need for designing in multiple colours has come up several times.  I've created a word document tutorial that shows how easy this is to accomplish.  I've also included some other design information to help make the new feature easier to use.

Download tutorial here

Saved as older doc version

Black Cat forum - Christmas in July Crop

What a great time!  Over two weeks of crop time resulted in lots of fun and an amazing number of  fantastic projects! 
With a family gathering at our place half way through the crop, I wasn't able to complete as many as I would have liked, but did manage to get 14 done. 

Here's a sampling of some of what I created.

If you would like to see many more projects, check out the challenges that were posted.  http://www.blackcatus.com/viewforum.php?f=36





Tumblers, Cupcakes and more

Has the newest craze of tumblers got you in it's hold?  I've created a new tutorial using my Cupcake Calculator to show you how to enter the basic dimensions of the tumbler and guide you through a couple settings in MTC so that you get that perfect warp.

Here's a design that I quickly threw together with the help of Dana's Day 4 graduation file and the settings from the calculator.  The calculator is very easy to use and there are only a few settings in MTC that you need to do to achieve your own great results!  Give it a try.  I did the math, so you don't have to!

Download Tumbler Tutorial
Download Cupcake Calculator

Although the Tumbler Tutorial was made specifically to help with this newest craze, the techniques can be used for cupcake wrappers, wrappers for paper coffee cups, ice cream cone wrappers, or any other object that takes on a cone like shape, without the tip. 

I've learned a lot along the way of trying to explain how to design with this tool, and I believe that this latest tutorial demonstrates the cleanest way to design while offering the most flexibility.

If you prefer to watch a video that guides you through the steps, I have created a two part video.  This was created in November 2010, so you may notice some slight differences, but the content is still worth watching if you prefer videos over word tutorials or as an introduction to them.

Video Tutorial - part 1    http:/screenr.com/a3c
Video Tutorial - part 2    http:/screenr.com/TPc

Day 11 MTC Blog Hop
Welcome to my day for the MTC Blog Hop!  I'm excited to be participating in my first blog hop as a Hostess!

I've been incredibly busy lately, so I didn't have a chance to create anything new, but I hope you enjoy what I have to share.

My creations were all created with my Gazelle and MTC as well as some purchased SVG files from My Vinyl Designer.  I love the flexibility MTC has given to my creativity.  I never would have imagined 18 months ago when I purchased my first cutter how things would evolve in such a short time. 
With the inspiration from my friends on the MTC forum, I have tried many new techniques and know I have barely scratched the surface of what we can do with these tools.

What I would like to share today is some vinyl I cut for my mother and adhered to her walls.  The vinyl is the Greenstar brand and was purchased from US Cutter.

      

  All three files I used are files that I purchased from My Vinyl Designer.  They all cut great from MTC on the Gazelle!

The first image is the file exactly as it came from
My Vinyl Designer.

In this second image, I wanted the saying, but the entire saying was too long for the space I was working with.  I decided that the three lines of the full verse would work nicely alongside the crucifix.






                                                                                          
In this final one, the original file came with stars to separate the lines.  I prefered the idea of hearts, so with the tools in MTC, it was very quick and easy to switch out the stars for the hearts.

The next couple pictures are some paper piecing that I created from some free colouring pages. 
Once you get the hang of tracing colouring pages into MTC, it can really become addictive!  I don't have a tutorial on doing this, but I know that there are several out there as well as information given on how to do this on multiple MTC webinars that are posted on the forum.  If you are looking for more information on doing this, check out the MTC forum.

I've attached the MTC files for the images below.  I hope you enjoy using them.

Download Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm

Download Baseball girl

As I mentioned, I've been really busy lately.  One of the main reasons is that I've decided that I want to add a Black Cat Cougar to my craftroom.   The Gazelle has done some great things for me, but I want the added functionality that I know the Cougar can deliver.  To reach my goal, has meant a lot of supply teaching.  This is something I've done for 6 years now and quite enjoy.  I take pride in what I do and enjoy working with both the staff and students at the schools that I get called to. 

Last night, I was busy attending our annual general meeting for our local teacher's union where I was honoured to be recognized for my efforts with an award for daily occasional teacher!  When I'm pulling my hair out on some of those challenging days, it's nice to know that my efforts are appreciated.

Last but not least, some blog candy!  I will be awarding one person a gift certificate to My Vinyl Designer.  To qualify, please
   1.  become a follower of my blog if you are not one already
   2.  leave me a comment on this post
Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you.  I will draw for a winner at the end of the month.

I hope you enjoyed sharing with me on my blog. 
To learn more about MTC and the many cutters that work with it, make sure to check out the information in the link that follows.

There is still lots happening for the entire month of May.  The link provided will allow you to visit everyone who is participating in this blog.

Special thanks to Christy for organizing this blog!

Lacy Frames

Wow, has it been that long that I've been MIA!  I've been keeping busy with work and with following the news with Make the Cut.  It's really sad that Provocraft, the makers of Cricut, could not see the advantages of MTC to the crafter and required Andy to remove the interface to their machines.  On the positive front though, many people are discovering that there are a lot more cutters available to them that not only work better, but also embrace creativity and third party software.

If you haven't been following what's happening in the crafting world, check out the Boycott Provocraft facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/BoycottProvoCraft

Today's Share:

I have a new file share for you.  I was playing around in MTC and made these lacy frames and borders.  The photo shows a sample of what's on the file.  Make sure to check out all the tabs in the file.  Hope you enjoy!

Click here to download file

Valentine's Envelopes

I need to apologize for taking so long to get back to my blog.  I designed these envelopes a few weeks ago, but then I was without my laptop and it threw my crafting routine totally off.  I'm finally getting back on track and have a few things to share.

I just test cut a few of the envelopes to ensure they cut and fold properly before sharing. 

I wanted a contrast of colour, so I printed a textured rectangle and cut the one envelope so the design would stand out in the splash of colour. 

The envelope is a simple design that can easily be resized.  The shared file has them all set to hold a 4.25 x 5.5 card, but the instructions to adjust the sizing can be found in the notes section.

There are lots of tabs in the project file with a variety of designs to choose from.

Download MTC file

I hope you enjoy these and find a use for them.  I would love to hear from you in the comments if you get a chance.

Cake treat boxes

Diana on the MTC forum was looking for a cake piece shaped box where the lid lifted off.  I created this file first as a full size cake (10"), but then decided to shrink it to form mini wedges for Valentine's treats for my son's class. 
The file could easily be modified for different seasons to be a Christmas tree, a mouse, a Halloween candy,...
I embossed the plain white paper on the bottoms with a small rose pattern.

Download MTC file

I hope you enjoy the file!

Valentine's card

Download MTC file

I hope you enjoy this first share on my blog.  I designed the card to be able to be oriented to open sideways or to the top. It can be cut as a card front or on the second page of the file is the full card cut. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!