Man, I'd jump on the starter kit, that's a great price. I wouldn't be one to actually switch, I'd keep them both.
There are no cartridges with the Silhouette, everything is done via the computer. You make your design on the computer, then send it to the cutter. I've had my Silhouette for years and am still finding things it does to make the work easier (like with the Tinkerbell decal, I can choose which sections to cut).
If you decide to get it, I've found cheaper ways for some of the consumables. I have a blade holder and I buy the individual blades on eBay (not the Silhouette blades). I got my pen holder from a seller on Etsy (it holds many different sizes of pen). Cheapest mats are Walmart online. Stuff like that.
Here's the Tigger decal. The first one is on the car, the one I want to replace. I downloaded a coloring page Tigger to make a new decal. The second is the end result.
Pen holder in action
I'm not familiar with the Cricut, but I know that people love theirs. I wouldn't mind having the latest model Cricut, just to have one, but I'm happy with my Silhouette.
Here's one of the first things I made for Brian with the Silhoutte (I also cut out the vinyl for his shirts using the Silhouette). A new instruction decal for his tractor. Left is original, right is my work.
Like I said, that's a great price for the starter kit. If you go for it, hold off on using the download card just yet. At least twice a year they have 50% off of all designs. Throughout the year they have discounts, but it's usually 25%. I just put the designs I want on my wishlist, then buy then when they're half price.
May I ask.. how did you transfer all of those letters neatly? I am afraid to cut letters that aren't already combined, because I have terrible eyesight for lining things up again.
You'll need a weeding hook (my dental hygienist gave me some of the picks she uses to clean teeth - autoclaved and destined for the trash) and tweezers and patience. Once you've done the weeding, you'll need transfer paper that goes over the saved vinyl.
Make sure you've got your blade set to just cut the vinyl (see the Tigger above). I've "weeded" all of the unneeded vinyl. If you do it correctly, there's no need to line up the letters if you cut them out as you wanted them.
My Tink and Tigger are both on the car. They turned out nicely, Tink looks really cool.
@lisaviolet I have those stabby things from Harbor Freight that my husband thinks he keeps losing ;)
I did signs for our Boy Scout troop, on the cricut, and it was a nightmare to pick out all the cutaways. Mostly, I lined them up straight. :)
So far, vinyl and foam are my most used materials. I am hoping to get taxes done this weekend, so I can take a few hours to open the Silhouette and play. Work before play is no fun!!
@mikibell Of the branded weeding hooks I have, I like the Cricut best of all.
Taxes. Bleh. We're supposed to do quarterly estimated, but we never have the money. And we always have to pay, so we take a huge hit in April (he goes to his mom for help). I put the taxes off as long as I can. lol
I started out with vinyl and now do both. I did more shirts for my husband (vinyl design on back and pocket). Didn't have the blade set right on the machine and spent a lot more time than I should have using a handheld blade going over the Silhouette cuts so I didn't rip the vinyl. A truly meh week.
Ok, bought it.. darn that husband.. He asked if I was waiting for it to sell out .. which I was, then I wouldn't be worried about spending the money :) I have been picking up the weekly free cuts for a while now, in case I purchased one.. My main hesitation was the investment in the cricut stuff. I think his expectation is that I will now free up some space in our house -- NOT going to happen. Thank you for the advice and I will certainly ask for more in the future!!
@mikibell Free up space? I didn't know you were married to a comedian!
Now that you've got it, sign up at the online store http://beta.silhouettedesignstore.com/. They have a free design each week. My favorite site for kits is http://www.svgcuts.com. When a new one comes out, it's free with the purchase of $9.98 of other kits. Which makes it nice to have a wishlist there.
I purchased the Silhouette Cameo starter bundle from Amazon as a Christmas present for my wife. It was a deal of the day 12/1. We have done a few projects together. We used adhesive vinyl to mask letters on canvas paintings, lettered a sign for the house, and a car decal so far. We also made invitations for our daughter's birthday on card stock shaped like an artist's palette. This past weekend we made shirts with heat transfer vinyl. All of the artwork we have made has come from Google image search and using the trace function.
The lettered canvases were painted white first. The letters were cut and placed one by one (before we had transfer tape), the canvases were painted gray, then we removed the letter stickers.
The dotted canvases were painted pink, then we applies a sheet with all of the circles, painted gray, then removed the vinyl.
Man, I'd jump on the starter kit, that's a great price. I wouldn't be one to actually switch, I'd keep them both.
There are no cartridges with the Silhouette, everything is done via the computer. You make your design on the computer, then send it to the cutter. I've had my Silhouette for years and am still finding things it does to make the work easier (like with the Tinkerbell decal, I can choose which sections to cut).
If you decide to get it, I've found cheaper ways for some of the consumables. I have a blade holder and I buy the individual blades on eBay (not the Silhouette blades). I got my pen holder from a seller on Etsy (it holds many different sizes of pen). Cheapest mats are Walmart online. Stuff like that.
Here's the Tigger decal. The first one is on the car, the one I want to replace. I downloaded a coloring page Tigger to make a new decal. The second is the end result.
Pen holder in action
I'm not familiar with the Cricut, but I know that people love theirs. I wouldn't mind having the latest model Cricut, just to have one, but I'm happy with my Silhouette.
Here's one of the first things I made for Brian with the Silhoutte (I also cut out the vinyl for his shirts using the Silhouette). A new instruction decal for his tractor. Left is original, right is my work.
Like I said, that's a great price for the starter kit. If you go for it, hold off on using the download card just yet. At least twice a year they have 50% off of all designs. Throughout the year they have discounts, but it's usually 25%. I just put the designs I want on my wishlist, then buy then when they're half price.
@lisaviolet So.. I haven't taken the darn machine out of the box yet, but I just bought one of these thingymabobbers..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MG8GSLE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
May I ask.. how did you transfer all of those letters neatly? I am afraid to cut letters that aren't already combined, because I have terrible eyesight for lining things up again.
@mikibell @mikibell
You'll need a weeding hook (my dental hygienist gave me some of the picks she uses to clean teeth - autoclaved and destined for the trash) and tweezers and patience. Once you've done the weeding, you'll need transfer paper that goes over the saved vinyl.
Make sure you've got your blade set to just cut the vinyl (see the Tigger above). I've "weeded" all of the unneeded vinyl. If you do it correctly, there's no need to line up the letters if you cut them out as you wanted them.
My Tink and Tigger are both on the car. They turned out nicely, Tink looks really cool.
Check out this video.
In my kitchen:
@lisaviolet I have those stabby things from Harbor Freight that my husband thinks he keeps losing ;)
I did signs for our Boy Scout troop, on the cricut, and it was a nightmare to pick out all the cutaways. Mostly, I lined them up straight. :)
So far, vinyl and foam are my most used materials. I am hoping to get taxes done this weekend, so I can take a few hours to open the Silhouette and play. Work before play is no fun!!
@lisaviolet Thank you!
@mikibell Of the branded weeding hooks I have, I like the Cricut best of all.
Taxes. Bleh. We're supposed to do quarterly estimated, but we never have the money. And we always have to pay, so we take a huge hit in April (he goes to his mom for help). I put the taxes off as long as I can. lol
I started out with vinyl and now do both. I did more shirts for my husband (vinyl design on back and pocket). Didn't have the blade set right on the machine and spent a lot more time than I should have using a handheld blade going over the Silhouette cuts so I didn't rip the vinyl. A truly meh week.
Ok, bought it.. darn that husband.. He asked if I was waiting for it to sell out .. which I was, then I wouldn't be worried about spending the money :) I have been picking up the weekly free cuts for a while now, in case I purchased one.. My main hesitation was the investment in the cricut stuff. I think his expectation is that I will now free up some space in our house -- NOT going to happen. Thank you for the advice and I will certainly ask for more in the future!!
@mikibell Free up space? I didn't know you were married to a comedian!
Now that you've got it, sign up at the online store http://beta.silhouettedesignstore.com/. They have a free design each week. My favorite site for kits is http://www.svgcuts.com. When a new one comes out, it's free with the purchase of $9.98 of other kits. Which makes it nice to have a wishlist there.
Users share their SVGCuts crafts on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/svgcuts?fref=ts
Off of the top of my head:
http://www.birdscards.com/ <----free
http://svgattic.com/
I don't have a place just for crafts (stupid cats would ruin everything), so I have a cart I use.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000063SI0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
Here is my online gallery of some of the things I've made. The paper crafts were ALL made with the Silhoutte.
http://www.lisaviolet.net/gallery/index.php?/category/107
I purchased the Silhouette Cameo starter bundle from Amazon as a Christmas present for my wife. It was a deal of the day 12/1.
We have done a few projects together. We used adhesive vinyl to mask letters on canvas paintings, lettered a sign for the house, and a car decal so far. We also made invitations for our daughter's birthday on card stock shaped like an artist's palette. This past weekend we made shirts with heat transfer vinyl.
All of the artwork we have made has come from Google image search and using the trace function.
@ilovecincinnati Photos?
This was our first project.
The lettered canvases were painted white first. The letters were cut and placed one by one (before we had transfer tape), the canvases were painted gray, then we removed the letter stickers.
The dotted canvases were painted pink, then we applies a sheet with all of the circles, painted gray, then removed the vinyl.
This is another project for the house.
The staggered boards came from Hobby Lobby and then were painted. The letters are cut from adhesive vinyl and applied with transfer tape.
Here is the big pack of adhesive vinyl we bought from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LUTYP8S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_2zAXwb0VGBWH4
40 sheets/20 colors, of 12x24". We feed them in without the cutting mat.
Here is the transfer tape:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017US1GU2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_1CAXwbYHBH3QQ
@Lisaviolet our local Michaels has curio and mint stuff on clearance…ink for 1.99, curio mats 3.99 to 4.99, metal for stippling for 3.99…fyi
@mikibell thanks!