Faux Laser Cut Monogram (Part 2)

(Click here for Part 1)

And the "Wonder Can I" continues...

This time I wondered if I could print a frame and add the font to the inside of the frame.... and I did!   

But I have to tell you, it was not NEARLY as easy as not dealing with the frame!  For some reason my cutter was off by 1/8" and that makes a world of difference when you are trying to stay in a confined area.  But, I was determined and kept adjusting numbers until I came up with some that worked.  


I don't know that cutting with an xacto knife might not have been quicker this time!  BUT, I'm hoping if I try it again I can go with only 1 or 2 tries and not 6 or 7!!!


I got the beautiful frame from "The Graphics Fairy" and I am linking there for Brag Monday. You'll notice my version is much pinker...I think my ink cartridge is about out of yellow...oops.


OH!  And the font I used this time was "Manoir Monogram".

Every Weekend....

Skillet is a 3 year old German Shepherd in need of a home.  Yesterday he lived in Kentucky, tonight he will call Florida home...for a while anyway, until someone adopts him...he is headed for his foster home tonight.  It has taken 4 cars of volunteer drivers to get him down to Florida.  


My friend Andrea does this all the time, it was my first trip...I was just curious.  We left Atlanta at Noon on our way to the Tennessee Welcome Center in Chattanooga, TN. where we would meet up with the 2nd car (we were the 3rd) and take him back to Atlanta to meet the 4th car.  I took pictures of our little portion:

 Getting out of car #2

Now he is with us, in #3

BIG FEET: 

 STINKY breath!  He stood in the middle the whole trip so I got a good, loooong smell of that breath!

 Here at last, back in Atlanta, the round trip took 3.5 hours and a tank of gas... time to get OUT of the car!

And into the 4th car....

Awwwww... its a cage this time... don't love that....

And this happens every weekend all over the country!  Volunteers meeting up and driving for hours to take animals to their next home.  Seems like a really nice thing to do to save an animal...but I don't understand why someone if Florida is saving a Kentucky dog when I'm sure Florida has PLENTY to save ????   That part really confuses me, but there must be a good reason so many folks are willing to help in the effort!... I'm just not "in the know" ... ??? 

 BUT, here's hoping that Skillet finds a good family to love him and treat him well!

Spring in Atlanta! Never Be Without A Camera...

I was out and about today...THIS is why you should always have your camera in the car with you!  I took all of these from my car (except the white flower close up)

Ya know, I've never been a bird watcher...or especially loved pictures of birds but since I got my new camera and can zoom in like this!  I LOVE PICTURES OF BIRDS! They don't get spooked because I'm so far away that they don't know I'm there...LOVE IT!  I'm afraid you will probably be seeing more :-)  

Heck!  You can even read the text on the side of the bird bath and I was at least 75 feet away!  

Can you tell I've never had a really good camera before?!  Now I WANT to take pictures!

All the flowers you see above are all gone now...it doesn't take long! ....but, here are some that are blooming this week.  I have NO CLUE what any of them are, except the dogwood...but aren't they beautiful!  This is the second round of all white, yellow and pink/purple flowers!

 Up Close

Up Close:

And Dogwood!!  My Favorite!  This is just from one single tree in my yard...I need to go to West Paces Ferry where it always looks like all the trees are covered with snow there are so many!

Faux Laser Cut Monogram

I Wonder If ??? ... That really should be the name of my blog because that's what I am forever doing!  I wake up in the morning with that thought... "I wonder if..... this or that will work".... and then I give it a try.  I did that with two different things today (yesterday now, its after midnight here) I'll show you one now and the other one when I get some pictures taken... 


"I wonder if..... I can make a cardstock monogram using my cutter?
 Hummmmm.... sure I can! Add a frame,  move a few nodes,  break the right ones apart and join them to different ones, then cut!... and here you have it! ... My very own faux laser cut monogram

Hummmmm?????  Now what???!  Really, what is it good for?  Pretty, but fragile... hummmmm...


So, I tried hanging it....

OK... but not too exciting.... but ya know.... if I hadn't made it myself, it would probably make a nice something for someone.

The only other thing I came up with, was a card....naturally.... but, again, pretty fragile for a card.  I could sandwich it in acrylic but I could have saved the effort of the frame and just cut the vinyl and stuck it to the acrylic...that would actually make a beautiful card...but there's zero thinking required... boring....

ANYWAY, here is the card, but I'm gonna be thinkin' on what else???  Ideas???  OU!  How pretty would it be for place cards at a wedding!...smaller of course!

Just had a thought... wouldn't a whole name cut with an open pattern inside the letters be pretty?!  That may have to be my next...wonder it?


This blogging thing is really funny... you get to read what is going off in my brain as you read!


OK, well, have a great day/night, all... I'm off!


There is now a "Part Two" Click HERE to see that.

Did YOU Know About This?!?!

Tonight I was shopping online for a new die ... after I had found the one I wanted...and then some... I ran across a die that cut out the strangest shape...--> --> -->


I had to figure that one out!  WHAT the heck was it for?!  

Glued shut

Basically it was for stands...or "feet" for flat objects, like a flat cut out of a person or something.  When I saw that I had a "EUREKA!" moment.  These "feet" would be PERFECT for taking pictures of a card!  It is almost comical to see how some folks stand their cards up to take a picture.  Not to mention the expense they go to!  


ANYWAY!!!  I wanted to see how they work before I spent the money for the die...I came up with the following... WHO NEEDS A DIE?!   "I don't need no stinking die!" (WHEW! just dated myself there!)

What you will need:  

• Large hole punch (mine was 1.25", but I think anything bigger than 1" will do)
• Scrap Cardstock
• Glue (optional) ... if you notice on the card to the right I opened them up...but you can glue them together

Spread open

STEP: 
1. Punch circle
2. Fold circle in half
3. Cut circle TO about 1/4" TOWARDS the fold
4. Glue together (or not)
5. Put card or sign in the slit
... I used two so repeat steps

Not only would they be good for picture taking, its a great way to display your cards at demos!  (If you are a SU! demonstrator)...


And, its a great, CHEAP way to display Christmas cards every year.


There are lots of cool uses...

Pin It

Faux Japanese Tape

(this is a copy of something I wrote last year on a different blog...so the pictures of samples are PRE-new camera...sorry!)


Yesterday I woke up to an email from my sweet niece, Mattie, introducing me to Japanese Masking Tape.  OMG!!!  I fell in love instantly so I spent the next two hours shopping the internet for different colors and things to do with it.  I "spent" almost $200 and didn't have all I wanted....and thankfully, I never pushed the final "pay" button!!!  That's a LOT of masking tape... and I was having a hard time thinking about what *I* would do with it.  There were some cute things but... $200!!!

This time...one of the RARE times, I waited a while before actually buying anything.  Later in the day I thought that printing on clear label paper may work.  It is sticky on one side and I can do ANY color almost instantly.  There are pros and cons but... $200!!!

So, here you go...here are some pictures of actual tape and some of the patterns I came up with...I didn't try to match but they are in the same color families so I'm showing them together...

To get your FREEBIE you can click on my version to enlarge it then right click/save.

Here is an example of one of the problems with the clear label sheet...(sorry for the HORRIBLE picture!)  Below you can see by the bottom grid, it is see thru...so white isn't white unless you put it on white.  So, I put it onto white tape for the top version... fixes the problem, but adds a step.  I kinda like the two together.

One cool thing about the way I laid it out on the paper is that I can cut a strip across the "grain" and get multiple patterns or up and down to get a single pattern.  Examples of both below:

What I did with it: (again, sorry for the bad picture, it's getting dark here)

This is a VERY EASY way to match my envelopes and cards without having to print directly to the envelope!  I probably couldn't do that as easily with tape because the colors wouldn't be exact.  BUT, I will be buying some that I "just HAVE TO HAVE"! :-)

OH! and FYI, I had to eat vegetable soup for lunch so I would have a can to make the pencil holder! ... the sacrifices we make for our art...

Thanks  for the inspiration  Mattie!  I LOVE YOU!

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