Intricate 3-D Christmas Tree

Another old post from my old blog. I wanted to share the tree again because I wanted to show you first how beautiful it was.  Second, I wanted to show you that you can find designs and patterns to use with your electronic cutters from many places. Just keep your eyes open!

I just had to share a picture of this beautiful christmas tree!  I originally got the pattern from the 2010 Holiday, Issue 41 of Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts magazine. It has several more patterns of things I plan to use with my Make The Cut Software (Hmm, I think I need to go and find that magazine and see what those were!  I don't think I ever got around to doing more from that magazine!)  I have previously noted that Scrollsaw patterns are a great source for things to cut with an electronic die cut machine.  This pattern was created by Gloria Cosgrove. (She was also the creator of the "Treasures of the Sea" seashell patterns that I previously made into cutting files and shared on my blog. You can find that post here: Treasures of the Sea.)

You can find more of her work at http://www.papercuttingsbyalison.com/.)

Unfortunately, I can't share the pattern with you do to the magazine's copyright permissions.  : (  

I must also say that I cut this using "tagboard" that I found at Hobby Lobby.  It is a little thicker then cardstock.  I tried cutting with regular cardstock.  It is a little too flimsy.   If anyone knows where I can get a little thicker paper like tagboard in colors please let me know.  Or if you have suggestions of something even a little thicker then the tagboard, I would like to try it. The tagboard works, but I would like something a little more sturdy I think.

I tried cutting it on my Cricut Expression - didn't cut so well - either tore up the paper or left all the little pieces still inside and I was having to try and finish punching them out.  I have a Black Cat Cougar 18" die cutter.  It cut it out beautifully and I didn't have to finish punching out lots of little pieces!! I bought my Black Cat Cougar a couple of years ago from Sherri at thatscrapinc.com. I had a great experience and excellent customer service both before and after the sale. So, if you are interested in finding a good quality cutter, be sure to check with Sherri and check out their new line, The Silver Bullet Professional series. I haven't upgraded to it but I hear it's even better!

If you aren't familiar with Make the Cut software, I would highly recommend that you go to their website to learn more about it.   You can find it at http://www.make-the-cut.com/.  It allows you to do so much more with your die cutter. You will be amazed. You are limited only by your imagination!! You can check out their forums for more great ideas.  You can also use SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot), the Silhouette Software, and other software packages to cut to a variety of different and excellent die cutting machines in a variety of price ranges so be sure to check out all your options and find a cutter and the software package that works best for you and your needs! I am always happy to answer questions on what I have and why.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  Hope everyone has a blessed holiday season!

Rudolph Treat Box

This is another older post from my old blog from one of the 2010 Christmas Challenges on the MTC forum.  A MTC file was shared in the Challenge thread at that time for a piece of cake or pie box.  The challenge was then to make it into an ornament or something else.

I made them to be filled with treats that could also be hung on the Christmas tree.  My favorite one I made was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  This is not my original idea.  I have seen it done several times before.  I just think he is cute!!

I used google eyes and a red pom pom nose. The antlers are pipe cleaners and can be used to hang it on the tree.  Filled with small treats, it would make any child or adult very happy!! I don't have a cut file to share because I used one shared on the MTC forum but I am sure you would have no problems finding a similar file to use for your cutter and software.  I just wanted to "share" my photos to inspire you!

As always, thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season no matter what holidays you may celebrate.

Gift Card Holders (With MTC files shared)

This is another old post from my old blog that was seasonal that I wanted to share here.

One of the challenges on the MTC forum Christmas Challenges (back in 2010) was to create some gift card holders.  Well, I had quite a few different gift card holders already on my old blog at that time.  However, when I started looking, it didn't look like I had any or very few using MTC so I decided to take on that Challenge.

The Challenge was to make 3 different gift card holders.  I did the traditonal standby Christmas Stocking, a "gift bag" that I turned into a "santa bag" and a simple tri-fold gift card holder.  The "bag" or "Santa belly bag" can be used as a simple shopping bag.  It is also big enough to hold the bigger Itunes gift cards - especially if you use something like the fur that I used at the top of the bag. I shared the files I created on the MTC forums before Christmas 2010 so, if you are a member there, you may have already downloaded my files.  If you aren't a member or were not back then you may not have gotten these files so I am putting them here for your use.

They are .mtc files only as I haven't converted them into any other format.  So little time and so much to do!!  LOL  Hopefully, someone can find a use for some of them.  As always, I would love to see what you do with them should you choose to use them for a gift!  Thanks for stopping by!!

If you have a 4shared account than you can access the original files I shared here:

You can download the Stocking Gift card holder here.

You can download the Santa Belly Bag gift card holder here.

You can download the tri-fold gift card holder here.

If you don't have a 4shared account, I have now uploaded them to my dropbox account and you can download them from there right here:

You can download the Stocking Gift card holder from dropbox here.

You can download the Santa Belly Bag gift card holder from dropbox here.

You can download the tri-fold-gift card holder from dropbox here.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  I would love to see anything that you create with my files.