candaCraft.com : SCAL2

Featured SCAL Blogger – Jamie Lane Designs

Canda — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:11:00 GMT

Jamie began scrapbooking when her daughter was born 10 years ago, but it wasn't until her first Disney vacation in 2006 that she became obsessed. She began card making just over a year ago, which is where she found my true passion. Jamie loves creating cards! She is currently designing for Scrap Within Reach, P K Glitz, Sharing Memories Scrapbooking as well as for the Practical Scrappers and Frosted Designs challenge blogs!

Jamie has shared an adorable project that can be adapted for any occasion or season. She is even so generous as to make the cut files available on her blog. Make sure to visit her blog and leave her a comment when you download the cut file.

Featured SCAL Blogger – My Time Made Easy Edition

Canda — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:33:00 GMT

Since the eve of the MTME release falls on a Wednesday, I thought I’d feature a few of the sneak peeks from the Design Team.

Lauren, Tracey and newcomer Stephanie have each shared some amazing projects. I’m so looking forward to the MTME release tonight, especially the new Pretty Pieces cut files and the Pretty Packaging templates. These files are available for all cutting machines including the Cricut using Sure Cuts A Lot!

Here’s Lauren’s sample using the new Slip Cover Template. Make sure to visit her blog to see tons of more samples!

Tracey has created an adorable “Pamper Yourself” gift set:

Stephanie has created a striking card box using the slip cover template.

Make sure to visit Lauren, Tracey and Stephanie’s blog and let them know how much you liked their projects. Don’t forget about the My Time Made Easy release tonight at midnight EST.

Featured SCAL Blogger – Cards by Kerri

Canda — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:29:00 GMT

This week’s featured blogger is Kerri from Cards by Kerri. Kerri is a stay at home mom to 3 children ages 7, 5, and 2. She designs for Your Next Stamp, Wild Flower Patch’s Perfect Presentation Templates, and Divine Diva Inspiration Challenges. Kerri also has an Etsy shop where you can purchase her coordinating gifts! Please check out her blog to see more of her creations.

Featured SCAL Blogger – Denise Levy

Canda — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:18:00 GMT

This weeks featured blogger is Denise Levy from Mothball Charlie and Lovely Cruise.

Denise Levy is the artist behind Mothball Charlie, an online shop selling original and custom paintings, paper products featuring prints of her work, and acrylic stamps. Mothball Charlie was the name of her first dog that her grandfather named because he looked like a little mothball, (he actually was a Maltese rescued from the pound). Denise has a BFA in Art History and has been painting with watercolors and acrylics for over 20 years. Denise’s style is whimsical with touches of realism. As her sister puts it, “Mothball Charlie specializes in whimsy.”

I first found the Lovely Cruise blog through this post where Denise took her drawings (which are also available as stamps) and created a SCAL file out of them! Here are two cards featuring her drawings which were converted into cutting files.

Denise has more recently shared a wonderful tutorial explaining the process of turning your drawings or doodles into die cuts. Here is a beautiful layered flower tag that she created from her drawings.

I hope that you will check out this awesome tutorial and create your own files. If you do, make sure to leave a link in the comments.

New Update for Sure Cuts A Lot 2

Canda — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:09:00 GMT

A new update for SCAL2 has just been released today for both the Windows and Mac versions. You can download both versions HERE.

Windows Update:

Added Text on Path tool under Type Tool
Added Line Style option in the Appearance properties
Added option to change the shapes color in the Appearance properties
Added Text menu to change fonts from the menu bar
Style menu changed in the Appearance properties
Added USB Driver install option under the Help menu
Added Winter, Spring , Summer, Fall shapes to the Library
You can import scut2 or SVG files by choose Import from the File Menu
Added Personal Library under the Window menu so you can store your SVG, SCUT files in a single folder. Folder location can be changed in the Preferences
Preferences has option to choose a folder where you should store your lcut2 library files. You should not store your own lcut2 files in the Sure Cuts A Lot 2 application folder anymore
Various bug fixes

Mac Update:

Added Text on Path tool under Type Tool
Added Line Style option in the Appearance properties
Added option to change the shapes color in the Appearance properties
Added Text menu to change fonts from the menu bar
Style menu changed in the Appearance properties
Added Winter, Spring , Summer, Fall shapes to the Library
You can import scut2 or SVG files by choose Import from the File Menu
Preferences has option to choose a folder where you should store your lcut2 library files. You should not store your own lcut2 files in the Sure Cuts A Lot 2 application folder anymore
Added Node Editing Tool to edit the nodes/points in the outlines
Added Drawing tool to draw lines and curves, add and remove points
Added Pause button to pause in the middle of cutting your projects
Added Boolean operations under the Path menu for doing Union, Intersection, Exclusion, Minus Front from Back, Minus Back from Fonts between two objects
Added option to convert text to outlines under the Text menu
Various bug fixes

Featured SCAL Blogger - Tracey Mason

Canda — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:01:00 GMT

Welcome to a new feature on the candaCraft Blog! Every Wednesday we will be featuring a different blogger who is creating gorgeous projects using the Sure Cuts A Lot software. I hope that you will enjoy the creations and visit each blog to tell them how much you like their work.

This week’s blogger is Tracey Mason. Tracey lives in Maine with her husband and two children. Her oldest daughter is attending college in San Francisco studying Animation. She is often found with her camera attached to her face or making something crafty with paper. Tracey is going on 8 years as a CTMH consultant, is a Stamping Royalty Contest Winner and has been published many times in Papercrafts, Stamp It & Memory Makers. She says there is a special place in her heart for the Cricut and she has a new found love of SCAL.

I first found the card above in her post HERE. I was immediately struck by the beautiful color combo and the striking chair image. That image came from SCAL designer, Paulo. Tracey added to the file by creating her own cushion, making it even more detailed.

Please make sure to visit Tracey’s blog: http://tmasonstudio.blogspot.com to see her other beautiful creations!