As you probably already know we are in the process of getting ready to release our Wall Décor CD along with our new line of vinyl. If you haven’t checked out our awesome array of new colors, you’re missing out! Alynne, was just as excited as we are about the new vinyl and is already getting started with her 12x24 mat to sweeten up the walls in her home and office.
Here is a beautiful box pattern with a gorgeous rose on the top that really “pops” on the black and white design. Includes a card with "mom" title. Perfect for her birthday or for Mother's day!
There are a number of different designing programs out there. Many of you, like Norma, are using some of these programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw and are excited to see if these files are compatible with your Inspiration Studio software.
I’ve saved almost every paper that I have cut at one time or another in my media settings. Saving these settings takes the guess work out of which pressure and blade length you need to use so that next time you cut that paper, the settings are already configured for you. With time you will probably find that you don’t need certain settings anymore or have found better settings to use. You may find that your situation is a lot like Angie’s and you just needed to eliminate some of those saved media selections.
Nothing can be more frustrating than having a computer crash. We keep so much on our computers from treasured pictures, to personal and financial information. It can be a pretty overwhelming situation to lose all of your saved data. If you’re like Julie, than a lot of you are questioning how to even back up your cutting files. A lot of time and effort goes in to creating those images and it’s important that all that hard work doesn’t go down the drain in the event of a computer failure.
Scraps, scraps and more scraps!! That’s what we all have in our drawers and boxes throughout our craftrooms, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if those boxes are even in the living room and dining room too! If you’re like me, you can’t bear to throw those scraps away because you know that you might need that smallest piece of paper for a later project. Alison has the right idea here when it comes to scraps. Paper can get pretty expensive and with times like this we want to really make our dollars stretch.
Getting your pressure settings just right is a trial and error process until you become better acquainted with your Inspiration. I remember when I started out; it just seemed that I couldn’t master the settings that would work best to cut through my favorite papers. Too much pressure was making my paper lift and throw in to the mix that my blade was extended out too far—the result was disastrous. My cardstock would be ruined and on top of that working on a deadline for a project can be pretty frustrating. I can really relate to Jenny and the problem that she describes because I too have experienced the same issue.
Fabric, like a lot of different materials out there has found a small place in the paper crafting industry. Fabrics can add a really nice touch to your favorite cards, layouts and dimensional projects. We love anything we can cut with our Inspiration. It’s all about ease of use and the ability to create custom designs using our favorite materials and textures. Crafting really is all about freedom of expression and like I’ve seen with many of your projects, it’s not just limited to the paper world. There are a lot of really neat projects created using fabrics, acrylic, vinyl and even wood veneer. I can tell from Loris question that she is like a lot of you out there, and ready to take on the next project using a different kind of medium.
The Inspiration Studio software makes the process of viewing saved cutting files a lot easier with the ability to download those images directly to the image gallery. I love the fact that I can view my images through the gallery and then simply click on the image to import it to my page. Since it’s so easy to view CDs you’ve saved to the gallery, a lot of you want to know what other ways the gallery can benefit you—mostly with the thought of being able to save your own designs. I’ve put together some helpful suggestions here to help answer Alisha’s questions as well as a lot of others here in the Craftroom.
I didn’t think it would hurt to touch on a topic that we’ve visited about in the past. The gang here at Pazzles has been getting lots of questions in the last two weeks in regards to Windows 7. Tax season is here so a lot of you are like me, buying something you’ve been waiting for all year with your tax returns. So many of you are excited about purchasing new computers with Windows 7. I’ve been fortunate enough to upgrade my computer here at work to Windows 7. With anything there are adjustments, but the benefits are fabulous! Here’s a question Jean had when upgrading her computer:
I love making images that have a lot of layers. I’m huge on silhouettes and the look that those images give my projects, but dimension is fun too. I’m big into chalking all those pieces so that when I finally put my project together, everything really pops. In fact, a lot of the images in our Image Library have multiple layers. As you can see Mindy has a great question for cutting paper piecing images.
Even though I’m a part of the designing team for our images, I still get excited every week to see what the group members have created for the image library. We all have our own individual style so it’s nice to be inspired by someone else’s creative process. I know that sometimes those images can come with a lot of little pieces. Cindy had a great question about what the group and ungroup function does in the software.
I’m always happy to hear from craftroom members who let me know how thrilled they are with the wonderful tutorials that we offer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a mastered Creative Cutter user. There is always something new to learn! I’ve been watching a few of them myself and I’m always excited when I find something new that I didn’t know about before. I’ve gotten a lot of thank you emails letting us know what a great job we are doing and to keep up the good work. I tell everyone that Chris is a natural born teacher so she does an excellent job at putting those together. A few of you have asked the same question that Jill has so this was a great topic for the week.
There are so many factors that can affect the Inspirations performance. They can range from your computing environment, the amount of programs installed on your computer, and what kinds of programs you have running in the background of your computer. When I received this email last week I thought it was perfect, and hopefully can explain some of the reasons that you will experience problems with the software shutting down while you’re creating your project.
I wanted to thank everyone who responded to my email at whatsup@pazzles.com. I received some really great questions that I’m eager to get to in the weeks ahead. However, I promised to respond to Vickie Kee’s question below since this was not only a great topic, but something I’ve been asked about in the past. This just goes to show that there’s a lot of people out there with the same question, so don’t be afraid to ask!! Keep the emails coming, I look forward reading all of them!
I love hearing from all of our Inspiration users with questions, and comments about our products, images and tutorials. Your feedback always means the most to us, because everything we do is for you! It is always great when you can read a post or a blog that answers some of the questions that you may have had. I decided to change some things up with the What’s Up Wednesdays and make this blog all about you and your questions. Every WednesdayI will post a question that I’ve been asked and then respond to the question right here. This is a great opportunity for you to submit some of the questions you may have.
I liked Chris’s breakfast topic last week. It really made me start to think about all the communities I am part of. It’s amazing how technology can link so many lives together. It’s nice to think that because of the Inspiration we have a community of users here that inspire, share and help stimulate creativity in all of us.
The set of tools that I tend to use the most are the Zoom Advanced Tools. While they don’t play a huge role in creating the project, they help while you’re making changes or need to zoom in and out of your image. Here is a run down of what those tools do.
Regardless of your skill level when it comes to working with your Inspiration, there is always something new to learn. Like I mentioned last week, it’s easy to get used to doing something one way, even if it is the long way. I think regardless of what we’re talking about in our lives that can happen. Thank goodness for the GPS getting me to my destination and calculating a shortcut to get there. I still take the long way, even when I know it may not be the fastest way. The GPS is helping me with that though, and now I’m not so afraid to find a new route. Like most people I guess, once I find something that works, I just stick with it. I’ve gotten pretty good about knowing what pressures work well with different papers. I have a bit of an advantage here at Pazzles, because we tend to purchase the same papers (we love Worldwin Colormates paper). I always know what pressure will work best with our paper supply. However, it would be nice to remember, and save those cutting calculations as far as pressure, speed and blade length go, just like my GPS!
I love shortcuts, and when it comes to the features in your Cutting Control Panel the software gives you a lot of great shortcuts. It’s easy to get caught up in doing things the long way, because you become accustomed to the process. I’m definitely guilty of this. So I am going to give you a quick run through of some of the things you see in the Cutting Control Panel under the Advanced Options.
There are some pretty neat little Netbooks out on the market right now. One of the great advantages to one of these small computers is the ability to have a light weight, compact, computer that slips easily into small bags, purses and drawers. The biggest downfall to a Netbook is not having the ability to have a CD drive. That’s where those handy little jump drives come into play. Not only is a jump drive - also known as a memory stick - an awesome little tool to save your WPC files and pictures, but it can also help transfer your Inspiration Studio software to your Netbook. To follow these instructions you will need to know how to create folders on your computer, how to copy files, and have some knowledge of how to use Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer!).
Coming into the New Year it’s out with the old and in with the new. Which leads me to my next thought…what is new? There’s got to be some new products out there that you are all using. What are they?
Your color pallet can be an amazing tool to help create your projects. To use the Kiss Cut feature to its fullest potential and really maximize the use of your color pallet, I thought I would introduce some of the features you see there. This function can be used for so much more than just creating simply perforated fold lines for cards. Since we are creating images from a one dimension piece of paper, it’s sometimes hard to incorporate extra details. With the Kiss Cut feature you can create the illusion of ruffles in shirts, button holes, stitch marks and details in faces and animal images too.
I love hearing from new Inspiration users as well as our older customers too, telling me that with the New Year they are going to tackle new projects with their Inspirations and attempt to learn some new skills too! I can’t think of a better way to do this then with the help of our awesome community of Inspiration users here in the Craft Room. I’m always excited to hear from all of you, and even more excited to hear what’s on your agenda for 2010! The one task that many Inspiration users want to try out right away is the vectorization capabilities in the software. Believe me when I say that nothing is better in the Inspiration Studio software than vectorization!! To me, and I know to a lot of others out there too, it’s the most valuable tool in the software. The ability to take your favorite photographs or clipart and turn it into a cutting file is amazing. Whether you are doing this for your own projects, or gifts for friends and family, nothing can add a personal touch like a custom image or title can. We are the master creators when it comes to custom projects. With the Inspiration, anything is possible!!