Friday 9 September 2011

Two Christmas cards

Hello everyone,

I've had a busy couple of days, and although I made a card yesterday I can't post it yet.  In fact I might be a little bit scarce for the next couple of weeks, depends on how good the internet access is, and whether or not I get a chance to play - practising some more colouring.  I won't be able to make any cards anyway.

This morning I took myself off upstairs to finish off a box I started last week but kinda got sidetracked and ended up playing with my Robo again.  Last night I had a good idea and couldn't wait to see if it would work.  I remembered a cd I have called Sillhouette Sensations by Gwyneth Windsor and thought that some of the images on the cd would be just ideal for converting to Robo files.  I chose two files to start with, converted them to GSD files and then cut the images.

This is the first card I made.  I cut the main image and the star from Stardream paper in a Christmassy green rather than the standard black usually associated with sillhouettes.  I stuck this to a piece of Crafters Companion light printeable card I had left over from another project, using Stick and Stay by Crafters Companion.  I used Encore ultimate metallic ink and a Clarity stamp for the sentiment.  The topper was mounted onto more stardream paper in the same colour and the base card is Centura Pearl snow white.  I wanted a completely clean and uncluttered look for this card and I am happy with the result.

The second card is 15cm square and the base is also Centura Pearl.  The images and mat of the same colour are made from stardream paper.  Although it looks quite brown in this photograph it is actually a very unusual shade of browny red.  I had to have two attempts at cutting this image on my Robo.  The manger and the star cut perfectly but I had problems with the stable as the paper tore in places on my first attempt.  I tried the stable again and it cut much better the second time, although it did actually tear in one place - I have simply glued it back into place when I adhered it to the backing card (if you look closely you will be able to see it!)  I also cut out the sentiment, which, surpringly, didn't tear!  I must work out how to weld the letters together though because they are really fidly to work with like this.

If there are any experienced Robo users out there, I would be pleased to hear any hints and tips you could offer.  I would really like to know what difference the speed makes when cutting (apart from the obvious!)  Whenever I try to do anything intricate and quite small the paper/card tends to tear rather than cut, even though larger areas and straight lines/curves cut beautifully.

Thank you for dropping in.

Catherine x

7 comments:

  1. Catherine,

    I don't think you need much help, they look great.

    I don't have the robo lite, but when I use the silhouette software and send it to cut it automatically selects the cut settings and the speed when you tell it which card you are using.

    If you get stuck with speed etc just let me know and I'll tell you the settings.

    Jackie x

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  2. Hi Jackie. I think I have worked out what pressure setting to use for Stardream paper but wondered if the speed would make a difference to the tearing or not. I have been using speed 5 and weight 20. When I used the setting stated on Graphtec's own card I was ending up with torn card. I have left it set at card without backing paper because I have no idea what weight my cardstock would be in lbs to change it. I bought some sticky backed card from Graphtec but haven't had the courage to try it yet - it's too expensive to waste! Thank you so much for your advice - I really appreciate it.

    Catherine x

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  3. I've had a look at the settings I use, for medium weight paper the settings are:
    Speed 10
    Thickness 25
    Yellow nib
    For Card stock (220) the settings are:
    Speed 5
    Thickness 30
    Yellow nib
    For the sticky backed card I use the the same as above but with no carrier sheet and it cuts beautifully.
    Also if your carrier sheet wears out someone gave me the tip of using a laminated sheet of card sprayed with stick and spray. I've tried it and it works much more cost effective than buying new ones!

    Hope this helps

    Jackie x

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  4. Thank you for that information Jackie. Interestingly I changed the thickness to 25 for the Graphtec card and it cut much better than the 27 they recommended! I also sprayed stick and spray onto the back of the paper when I had to recut the stable and it cut much better so I think that possibly the lack of stickiness on the mat could well be an issue. My mats have never been very sticky and I've always had problems getting the paper to stick whilst the machine was cutting. I've also just checked out the cut setting on Shillhouette Studio and there is far more choice of cardstock and it even has some weights in gms! The settings seem to be different to those in Robomaster. I really appreciate your help but unfortunately I am unlikely to get to try it again tomorrow and after that it will be two weeks before I get to play again. (How frustrating is that!)

    Many thanks

    Catherine x

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  5. firstly lovely cards they are both fab but think the first one is my fav.
    I have a robo and I usually just guess at my settings but ive had mine approx 3 1/2 yrs now though.
    I will lower the speed and that does help with the tearing though, someone mentioned above about the laminated sheets and makiing ur own mats me and a friend have done this for ages and they do work great but one day I cudnt find my mat anywhere and i just sprayed a peice of card and stuck the card I wanted to cut to it like it was a mat and that works too so to b honst I just do that now saves money and it lasts longer than you would think just a peice of card does but the stickiness definately affects the cuts HTH xx

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  6. Thank you Melanie and Mazza. I have to say that the first card is also my favourite of the two. And thank you too Mazza for the tips - I appreciate all advice. Will definitely have to try making my own cutting mats!

    Catherine x

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