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Sunday, April 29, 2012

A ladybug from Doug


Doug has a present for y'all! In case you missed this, Doug posted this in his Suggest-A-Sketch Giveaway yesterday:


Here is his colored boot sample. Super cool! Use your pastels, watercolors, or markers to color your Rustic Sketches!


If you have not already downloaded your Ladybug Sketch (SVG), get it before it's gone. Click HERE to download.


There is still plenty of time to enter Doug's Suggest-a-Sketch Giveaway. It will end on Tuesday, May 1st. Click HERE to enter now!



Saturday, April 28, 2012

Doug's Suggest-A-Sketch Giveaway!



Calling for sketch suggestions! Did you enjoy the Rustic Sketches SVGs by Doug Larson? Doug is working on the next set of sketches and he is looking for ideas! Comment below with a suggestion for a sketch and you will be entered in this very special giveaway:

One random winner will be picked to win an original, colored sketch drawn by Doug Larson, himself!

This giveaway will begin immediately and will end on Tuesday, May 1 at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be posted on Wednesday, May 2. Hurry and enter by suggesting a sketch now!



Friday, April 27, 2012

WINNERS: Jin's 2000 LIKES Giveaway!

Thanks everyone, for participating in my 2000 Facebook LIKES giveaway. Thanks so much for all your kind words. Your support means a lot to me and it is very encouraging to know that many of you have found my tutorials useful. You are the reason that I make tutorials! Please keep the feedback coming as that is the only way I know where I should improve.

Here are the 10 winners of the giveaway:


1. Michelle Meyer McDonald
2. Pamela Ohsan
3. Sharon Verostko-Miller
4.. Michelle Clark
5. Lisa Bolwin
6. Chattyana Ana T
7. Erin Everitt-Boynton
8. Vicki Evans 
9. Erica Prosser
10.Therese Aragona

CONGRATULATIONS, Ladies! Please send an email to jin@underacherrytree.com to claim your $10 Lettering Delights Gift Certificate. Thank you for playing!




Friday Freebie: DB Mom's Hearts




Click HERE and add the freebie to your cart. Check out and pay $0!



Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sketching with the Silhouette Cameo and SSDE

So my Cameo has been drawing the Rustic Sketches with Make-the-Cut (see this post) but what about the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition? Can it do the same with SSDE? Some of you wanted to know and I was curious so I gave it a try. I imported the SVG into SSDE, loaded the cardstock into the cutter, hit "CUT", and held my breath. 

The Cameo started moving and....


... can it be that it is actually sketching?


It is! IT IS SKETCHING!


Check out that wheelbarrow, bay-beeeee! Woo hoo!


The Rustic Sketches are SVGs so when using SSDE to draw them, treat them as you would any Lettering Delights SVG. In other words, before hitting the "Cut" button,

 1. Import image onto the Virtual Mat
 2: Right-click and UNGROUP.
 3: Open Cut Style window and set the cut lines to "CUT"

Similar to my previous project, I used the Chomas Marker holder with a modified Sharpie Liquid Pencil to make this sketch. For the blade and speed settings, I selected what was preset for the Silhouette Sketch Pen, or Speed 10, Thickness 10.


It was interesting but I did notice that the Cameo made a couple of short pauses as it drew. That didn't affect the end result at all and the sketch looked as good as the one I made with Make-the-Cut.


So what do you think? Isn't it beautiful? Get your own Rustic Sketches now!


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

WINNER! Chomas Pen Holder + Gel Pens Giveaway

The Chomas Creations Pen Holder Giveaway has ended and it is time to announce the winner! There were 116 comments and the winning entry is.....



Congratulations, Jennifer! Please send your mailing address to jin@underacherrytree.com and I will forward it to Amy so that she can send the prize your way.

Thanks, everyone for playing! Don't forget that the coupon "jinyong10" takes 10% off entire purchase at the Chomas Creations store. The code will expires on April 30, 2012.






Tuesday, April 24, 2012

LD $2 Tuesday: Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy Cut It and Party Cut It (reg. $5)



Click HERE or the image above to get your LD $2 Tuesday deal. 

While you're there, check out the Annual Clearance where graphic sets, paper packs, fonts, and alphabets can be had for only $0.50 each! Here are some of the clearanced paper packs. There are many more on the LD site. Click HERE to start shopping.












My Facebook 2000 Likes Giveaways


I've reached 2000 Likes on Facebook and we're having a celebration!

If you have a Facebook account, be sure to stop by my page. I am giving away TEN $10 Lettering Delights gift certificates over two days. To enter, all you have to do is make a comment on the Giveaway Posts on my Facebook page. 5 threads have already been posted on Monday but there is still plenty of time to enter. Just click here to go to my wall, look for the giveaway posts from Monday and put in your comment. Another 5 giveaway posts will be made today so keep your eyes peeled.

I had originally mentioned on Facebook that the winners will be announced on Wednesday but since I forgot to make this post on the blog, I am extending the giveaways so that the winners will be announced on Friday instead. 

These giveaways are only for the Facebook fans. To enter, you must post on the giveaway threads on my Facebook page. Click here to go there. :)


p.s. If you do not have a Facebook account, there will be another opportunity for you to win on the blog another time. I have a special giveaway for here and it is coming soon.




The Cameo, my ARTist : How to draw sketches with the Silhouette Cameo


A sketch "is a rapidly executed freehand drawing", according to Wikipedia. It is "not usually intended as a finished work". I suppose that whoever wrote that definition has never seen the work of Douglas J. Larson. Mr. Larson, or Doug, as he is more commonly known, is the owner of Inspire Graphics. Most of us know that he is the founder of Lettering Delights but few are aware that he is also a multi-talented artist.

A few weeks ago, Doug told me about his new Thin Fonts. I have always thought of Doug as a font designer and so I was not surprised at all by his new idea. Then he showed me his sketch. I wondered if I should ask if he drew it but I was afraid of sounding stupid. Yet I managed to come up with something even dumber. 

"Was that drawn with a pen?"

OMG! As soon as I said that I wished I didn't! How stupid did I sound?!

"It was drawn with a Zing and a sketch I made....."

It took me a full minute to process those 11 words because it just didn't make any sense to me. An electronic cutter sketched that? Wait, but you said you did it. With what? A cutter? What pen? HOW??!!

I had nothing to lose. I already sounded so dumb I just continued asking. Doug not only answered every question, he gave me all the information that I needed to extend the capabilities of my Cameo beyond cutting. And I am going to tell you all about it.....

---

To bring out "the artist" in the Cameo (or any other electronic cutter), you have to first replace the blade with a pen holder attachment. Doug uses the Zing with the Zing pen attachment but I use a Silhouette Cameo. I was hoping to use the Chomas pen holder for my first sketch but it was too small to fit the pencil I was using . I ended up using the marker holder instead.

The secret to sketching with your electronic cutter lies in the type of pen or pencil. I was told that a new and juicy Micron pen will do well but I was more intrigued by the pencil that Doug had mentioned.

The Sharpie Liquid Pencil really is a pen with a liquid graphite "ink" (By the way, I did it again. I asked Doug where I can buy lead for the "mechanical pencil". What's wrong with me?! It's a P-E-N with a graphite "ink". DOH!). While this "pencil" doesn't work well when held by hand, it works beautifully when held upright. Perfect for "drawing" with the electronic cutter! The barrel of the pencil is too big to fit in the Chomas pen holder, so I made a slight modification with masking tape and used the Chomas MARKER holder instead.


Attaching the modified pencil and marker holder to the Cameo is similar to what I had described in THIS POST except for one important note: you have to hold down the pencil as you tighten the black screw or else the pencil will ride up and that will cause it to sit too high to draw on the paper.


There are 5 sketches in the Rustic Sketches Set and but I really wanted to draw the barn as it was the first that Doug had showed me. Since all the files in the Rustic Sketches Set are SVGs, I imported the barn onto the Make-the-Cut virtual mat. I positioned the sketch onto the center of the paper, and hit "CUT" to get the Cameo to start drawing on the preloaded cardstock.


By the way, to draw Doug's sketches, I used the preset Force and Speed settings for the Silhouette Sketch pens. The Sharpie Liquid Pencil worked great at Force 10, and Speed 10.


It took the Cameo less than 20 minutes to get from this:


to this:


I took many pictures of the Cameo sketching but I realize that there is nothing like watching the Cameo in action and so here's a video for you:


It took the Cameo 18mins to sketch out the barn (imported at actual size) but I was so fascinated that I got the cutter to sketch out all 5 of the Rustic Sketches


The time that it takes to finish a sketch may vary from one cutter to another, and may also depend on the software, and the processor speed of the computer. I used Make-the-Cut with my laptop (Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM) and this is how long it took my Cameo to sketch each design in the Rustic Sketches Set:

(Sketches were imported onto the Make-the-Cut virtual mat at actual size and 72 dpi)

Barn: 18 mins
Boots: 23 mins
Cow Skull: 8 mins
Rooster: 15 mins
Wheelbarrow: 15 mins
 

Some people may say that a sketch is an unfinished work but to me these are little masterpieces. I would be happy to put each one of these in a frame and display in my house! My Cameo has done the sketches and now I just need some frames. Any idea where I can get frames for these? :-)

Click HERE to get your Rustic Sketches Set.


UPDATE:
You can draw the sketches with Silhouette Studio Designer Edition, click on the following link for more info:

http://underacherrytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/sketching-with-silhouette-cameo-and.html

Monday, April 23, 2012

Manic Monday: LD CLEARANCE SALE! 50 cents only + coupon!

It's a Lettering Delights clearance sale! Get your clearanced LD graphic sets, fonts, paper packs, or alphabet at only 50 cents each.

Seven super bundles are prices at a low, low price of $10 only.

Use the coupon STEPANDSAVE to save $25 on a $60 purchase.

Click HERE to start shopping!


Saturday, April 21, 2012

GIVEAWAY! Chomas Creations Adjustable Pen Holder + 1 set of gel pens


So I have been using the new Lettering Delights Thin Fonts with the Chomas adjustable pen holder to write with my Silhouette Cameo. How would you like to win a pen holder for yourself? Amy Chomas of Chomas Creations is giving away one adjustable pen holder for the Silhouette and a set of 10 gel pens to one lucky reader of this blog!

Chomas Creations is a small family-owned business and their adjustable pen holders are made in the USA. To learn more about the adjustable pen and marker holders for the Silhouette Cameo, please click HERE.  If you would like to see sample projects made with these adjustable pen holders, please click HERE.


To enter in this giveaway, just

1.  Like Chomas Creations on Facebook, and leave a comment to tell her that Jin sent you.
     (NOTE: if you do not Facebook, just Follow the Amy Chomas blog HERE)

2. Come back and leave a comment in this post, and tell me what are your favorite pens (e.g. brand of gel pens, glue pens, markers, etc.) If you can't think of any favorites, just say "I don't know but I want to win anyway."

This giveaway will start immediately and end at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday, April 24 and the winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 25.

Amy Chomas has also given me a coupon code to share with everyone. Use "jinyong10" to take 10% off entire purchase at her Chomas Creations store HERE.  Coupon expires April 30, 2012.

Good Luck!





Friday, April 20, 2012

Friday Freebie: Sweet Travels Bon Voyage Pinwheels



To grab the freebie, just click HERE and add it to your cart. Check out and pay $0!




Dream Big, Aim High - a Thin Font card


Thin Fonts!! Single-strokes fonts are what we have been asking for a long time and I was super excited to see their release on the LD site yesterday! So many things that I can do with these but I started my first project with a card. In fact, today's card will show you how you can combine a Thin Font with a regular True Type Font to bring a different look to your project.


Using Make-the-Cut, I designed the card around an A2 size (4.25" x 5.5") rectangle. I imported the hot air balloon and the cloud and created a shadow layer of the two images. The words "Big" and "High" are from a True Type Font and you can see how it differs from the Thin Fonts because the words are outlined and can be cut out.


I used a Sakura Souffle pen with a Chomas Pen Holder to write the Thin Fonts ("Dream", "Aim") with my Silhouette Cameo. Using both types of fonts on the same layer not only give a different look to the sentiment, the technique also brings a new dimension to the entire card.


To read more about the Thin Fonts and how to use them with Make-the-Cut and the Chomas pen holder, please refer to my earlier post HERE.


Files used:
LDT Buttercream (Thin Fonts, .opf)
LD This and That (Regular True Type Font)
Jolly Good Times Cut Its (SVG)  (hot air balloon)