I got the .svg files from http://bit.ly/13tNclY. I had to clean up the Darth Vader, after running the trace command in the Cameo’s software. Naturally I forgot to take a picture of it before I mailed them all out. This was the only one left and the top is a bit manky.

One cool thing about the Cameo is you can print on the paper first, using your printer, and it will include registration marks so the Cameo can cut in the right places. Unfortunately the marks eat into some of the layout space so I ended up not being as efficient as I would have liked. Lesson learned… Especially when printing, 12×12 paper is probably better than 8.5×11. Also of note, while a lower blade setting, like 2, will work on the card stock for a basic cut, if it’s something more intricate, like the black part of this invitation, turn it up to 3.

Yay! My new toy is here!!

It all started as an idea to make merit badges for the kids… How to cut out lots of nice fabric circles easily. I tried a few of my hand punches but they didn’t work very well on fabric. So naturally I had to get something over the top.

From there I re-discovered the Cricut (pronounced Cricket, who knew?) which takes very expensive cartridges. I remember when it first showed up. Seemed super pricey, and I remember Joann’s coupons didn’t apply. They still don’t. Ok, maybe that would work. I could make invitations and party favors and thank you notes too and the kids’ birthdays are coming up soon. And i can get cartridges on eBay; there’s even a Hello Kitty cartridge… Bonus! But then I discovered the Hello Kitty cartridge is discontinued and going for over $100-150 a pop on eBay. Boo! But I started to feel like I Must Have It.

Luckily, I came across a reference to this guy, the Silhouette Cameo. It’s like an Open Source Cricut… No cartridges, you can buy individual patterns, or even totally design your own. You can give it a file you printed and it will cut it out for you.
I have some plans that I don’t want to go into now. Hopefully they’ll work! I might even try to design some patterns of my own to sell. Lots of people on Etsy seem to be doing…silhouettes. Ironic and not very outside the box, considering the name.