When Cutting...

One of the main reasons why I love my Silhouette Portrait is because of its ability to not only cut purchased/cartridge images, but also free random ones. For example, if  you wanted a flat tree to cut for a project, all you would have to do is go to Google Images, type up (preferably clip art trees, so that ts easier for the software to recognize the borderlines, save image as, open (in the software), trace image in whatever way you want, and then you're done! Here's a link to a website that offers trillions of free downloadable fonts you can use to cut from your slhouette: http://www.dafont.com/ !

Silhouette Arrival

Yay! My Slhouette Portrait came on Wednesday- five days earlier than I thought it would. When I came home, I saw to my delight that a Silhouette-sized cardboard box was stading in the doorway. Before dong anything else, I seized the box and tumbled into the living room to open the box's contents- careful to leave everything in order in case the need of a return should arrive. Anyways, the Sihouette is so much smaller and lighter than I thught it was- even with the specific measurements they gave o ther website. In cmparison, it's as wide as an average MSI laptop, as wide as an iphone, and when you close the lid, almost as tall  as a laptop. So, I read and reread and reread the owner's manual before taking off the machine's tape, putting on the blade, and connecting the wires. I was scared that the Silhouette Studio software might not work b/c I was downloading it onto the laptop, but everything was great (downloading took only  minutes in total). I registered my portrait, but when I opened the Studio, I dismally found out that the fifty free shapes that said were "preloaded into the machine" was nowhere to be found in my Library! I spent three hours trying to figure that out! (You just have to cut an image so that the softare recognizes your machine and downloads the shapes down. ) The first cut  made were from Google Images- pillow box templates. I'm excited to make some perfectly cut cards! Bye, and thanks for reading!

P.S. From now on. you can all rest assured that the cards created on this blog will be prettier and more fabulous than before- thanks to my new best friend.

Silhouette Portrait!!!!!!!!

The

Silhouette America store is having amazing sales! During Black Friday, with the help of some select promo codes, you could get 40% off almost all of its products. Well, unforetunately, that didn't apply to the very awesome cutting machines. However, with Linda Kaiser's code, I got $20 off my Silhouette Portrait (190$ total )- a deal's a deal. I BOUGHT A SILHOUETTE! Anyway, it said that it would take about 2 weeks for the shipment to arrive (just in time to do Christmas cards:). and I'm just sitting here anxiously waiting! To pass some portrait-less time, I spent a few timeless hours planning out what 10 shapes to buy with my 10$ gift card that the machine comes with. There are so many jaw-dropping shapes and patterns to choose from! Did you know that their store carries 3-D crafts? Well, the new Christmas-themed ones are fantabulous! There's these pretty ornaments, words in frames, a merry-go-round, pillow boxes, shadow boxes, frame arts, plus thousands more! I think the Silhouette artists really outdid themselves designing this branch of shapes! If you hurry, you can still purchase all your shapes for 50% off, 20$ off the Portrait, around 220$ for the Cameo plus the design studio software. Great sales await- of course, now I have to cut back  bit on additional craft shopping, but it sure is worth it! I can't wait to post all the fun I have with this new machine!

P.S. Silhouettes are perfect for crafting because, you  don't have to buy any cartridges- you can cut anything you can paste into teh Silhouette software- which is virtually everything!

Image above is credited to Silhouette America.

Have a yummy day everyone (I/m eating noodles. SLURRP!)

A Bowl of Ice Cream

Winter's coming, and its time to start making gifts for eeryone! This year, I'm giving everyone a dessert-realated gift- who doesn't like sweets? Here are the first three charms I've created...

A Bowl of Ice Cream!

A Honeybun!

And, a Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Don't they look yummy enough to eat?  These, by the way, were made with colored Play Dough and will soon be glazed with glossy clear glue. I'll keep you guys posted on more of my dessert charms. Until then...
Have a sweet day, and see everyone next post!

Paint Markers? From Elmars

Yes, there are such things. I was at Walmart looking for more of those amazing journalism pens from Elmars, but apparantly, Walmart doesn't carry them. However, I stumbled across these markers that look similar and decided to buy the prettiest pack (they are also sold individually at the sam unit price)- the Sherbet Swirl pack (I know I spelled the title wrong in my last card post guys...:) plus a gold paint marker. Apparantly, these markers are filled with real acrylic paint, yet works just like a marker. Confirmed! The paint in these arkers are just like regular acrylic- they are a bit thicker than water- based markers, so you have to make several layers for full coverage, dry quickly, and don't let you see your streaks. That's good. The sad thing is they do bleed on copy paper after about 2 layers. They don't bleed if you let the first 2 layers dry, then add your other layers accordingly. And like paint, the paint does occaisionally pick up, but not much. Now for the gold...

• Bleeds slightly and strangely evenly after one layer of color
• Great, solid coverage-like a journalism pen
• Semi-shiny aka does imitate gold lining
• You have to shake and press down often!

Caution: The tips of these markers are pretty soft, so if you poke like a needle on it, there will be a hole!

They work lightly on wood, ceramic, pottery, metal. paper, plstic, fabrics, and glass?
Hmm, I wonder how well they work on glass... be back in a moment to test this out...
Verdict: They do work! However, the coverage is semi-solid, and easily removable.

All in all, pretty great buy!

Hope this helps with any qualms you have against purchasing paint markers- oh, and they're $2.50 each.

Have a good day, and see everyone next post!

Changing With the Season

I'm pleased to announce that Go Brushes has just undergo a fabulous make-over...

Well, actually, it has only changed wallpaper, but I like to think of it as mood-altering. Now, this blogpage has more of a warm, wintery feeling to it. I think I might change this blog's skins every season for fun from now on. What do you think? Leave a comment on my blog! Thanks and see everyone next post!

Just A Note Card

Here's an adorable adaptation of a card I found on Scrapbook.com's card gallery (so much inspiration there!) I cut out a 4.5" by 5" rectangle out, and folded it horizontally. Setting up the pre-card up long ways, i cut out a sky blue cardstock square (2.5" by 3.3") and pasted it onto the top half of the card. Next, I cut a 4" by .4" tan construction paper strip with  Xacto 's tiara-edge scissors. I creased every centimetre to create ruffles on the strip before liquid-gluing it (glue stick won't work). With an Elmar's acrylic paint marker (spring green in the Sherbert Swirl pack), I wrote the word "Hi" in large print on the card, and with a blue acrylic marker, I drew blue flowers on the bottom half of the card. The last step was to use a smooth shading technique to add hints of dark brown and finish off the flowers and the card.

This is a great card for a "Just Because" messege you want to give to the wonderful people in your life! Have an marvelific day, and see everyone next post!