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!

Treasures of the Sea

I have previously posted about getting patterns to cut from Scroll Saw magazines and websites that you can use to create cut files for use with your cutters.  Obviously, to do this you would need to have a 3rd party software like Make the Cut (MTC) or Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) or another program that lets you bring in your own designs. So I always take a quick look at scrollsaw magazines whenever I see them to see if there are patterns I would like to use to make a cut file. As a result, I quickly purchased a news stand copy of Issue 39, Summer 2010 ScrollSaw Woodworking & Crafts magazine when I saw these "Treasures of the Sea" items.  Interestingly, it wasn't until after I bought the magazine and had created the .mtc cut files that I actually read the full article and saw where it noted that these patterns were orignally designed as paper cuttings and that many paper cutting patterns are easily cut on a scroll saw! LOL

The website for ScrollSaw Woodworking & Crafts magazine is http://www.scrollsawer.com/. This site has lots of information including various patterns you can download directly from their website. Many of them can easily be used to create and cut with paper on your electronic cutters.

The particular article that drew my attention in the Summer 2010 edition was entitled Treasures of the Sea. The article and the patterns used were created by Gloria Cosgrove (the actual cuts shown were done by Linda Heigerson.) Gloria and her daughter, Alison, specialize in "scherenschnitte" (paper cutting) patterns.  These patterns would have originally been designed to be cut by hand.  They have a mail-order business selling original art work and paper cutting patterns.  Their website can be found by visiting http://www.papercuttingsbyallison.com/. Be sure to check it out for some beautiful artwork that coud be made into files to cut with an electronic cutter that can use software like MTC or SCAL.

For these items, there were 6 patterns provided for different seashells and a sea horse in the magazine. I took the patterns and scanned them into my computer and used Make The Cut (MTC) to create cut files to cut.t.  As you can see, there is a lot of delicate detail in the cuts. However, they pulled in quite well into MTC.  I did end up pulling a couple of them over into Inkscape to do some node modifications in a few spots. They cut just fine with MTC.  I used the items I cut to make cards.  I think the cards could be used for a variety of needs such as sympathy, thanks, or any other need.  They could also be used to create home decor items like framed art (this is what they were in the scroll saw magazine for) or even vinyl on a wall or used on a scrapbook page. 

I really would love to share these files with you BUT unfortunately I don't think that I can! Since the patterns appear in the Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine, it indicates that the copyright belongs to them.  The pattern pullout sheet then indicates that you can make up to 10 copies for personal use "for the buyer of the magazine".  However, I hope by posting them here for you to see, that you will also see that there are other places to look for patterns and ideas of items to cut with your electronic cutters.  In addition, scroll sawers may see a new way to get their patterns ready to adhere to their wood to cut with.  Thanks for stopping by!