[Bride]

I am thinking I REALLY want a silhouette cameo machine for Christmas, so before I ask DH to spend his hard earned cash on me, I want to make sure it is what I really want and that it does what I am thinking I want it to do. I am loving combining the digital designs here with hybrid card/crafting but finding some of the things I want to use designing a card can be a pain to cut out. Especially when doing the ATC hybrid where we are making a dozen or so cards of same design. So, can it cut, for example, these Gift Card Holders ? How does that work - does it recognize a "colored" shape and just cut it? Does it work on something more intricate such as the flourish or frame or flower cluster in this Super 7 Spread ?

All thoughts appreciated!!

[teecee]

Sorry I can't help you with info about the Silhouette Lei. I have an older model Cricut which I seldom use and I do use my Quick Kutz Revolution sometimes. You've asked some good questions though and I'll be watching to see what others have to say about the Silhouette.

[NanaB99]

I bought a silhouette machine about 3 years or so ago and have hardly used it because I got frustrated with trying to get the blade to cut all the way through the card stock. I went over the few instructions several times trying to make it work and used the assortment of blades but had no luck. I don't have much patience so off to a corner it went. I may have to dig it out again and try... have others had this problem? I was using bazzill card stock. It would cut through paper fine but I like heavier embellishments.

[ArizonaAngel]

I will be watching this thread because I've been looking at getting this machine too. Like you Lei, I don't want to spend the $ unless I get some good feedback from people who own them.

[SandiC.]

The reviews on amazon are mostly good. That is a bit pricey though. But if you would use it a lot it might be worth the investment. Hope you get more feedback soon.

[tiza126]

Talk to Cherise about her Silhouette - I know she loves it and uses it for all varieties of projects.

[CRS]

Melissa Renfro is another one to ask. I have an older Silhoutte, but haven't used it all that much yet.

[cherise]

I have the Silhouette SD (model before the Cameo) and I love it! The Silhouette software has a trace feature, which you can use to open jpgs (or pngs, I think) and then trace them to get the outline. As long as there is high contrast on the edge, it does a really good job of tracing the edges and you will get a nice cut. The only problem I have run into is when my image is a very light color and the trace feature can't really find the edge easily. There is probably something you could do to work around that issue like trace the image with a black line in Photoshop and then import it into Silhouette software and have it do an inner offset cut by a few pixels (so it didn't actually show the black line). I haven't done a *ton* with my Silhouette, but what I *have* done, I love. I just helped a friend cut out a bunch of little nativity scenes out of construction paper to do one of the those glass ball ornaments that appears to have a scene floating inside. It was amazing to me the detail that the cutter was able to cut ... the entire nativity (Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus - all in a stable) was only about 1.5 inches big and it cut beautifully.

Good luck with your decision!

[cherise]

And specifically answering your questions about those 2 products, I think it would do a great job on the flourish since it's a high contrast edge. And the gift card holder would probably do a great job, as long as the paper you chose to use was in contrast to the white background. One more thing to note, when you are doing a "print and cut" (meaning that you print it first in your printer, then you feed it through the Silhouette to cut), you do not have the entire 8.5 x 11 size to print (or 12x12 if you have the Cameo and a wide format printer). To do the print and cut, the machine needs to print registration marks in the corners of the page and your cutting image cannot be too close to those registration marks in order to the Silhouette to detect them properly. When I look at the gift card holders, at least 2 of the holders look like they would be fine in that regard. The cup one *may* be too close to the edges. If I get a chance, I can check it out specifically for you if you want to know about that one specifically. But if you just wanted to know *generally speaking*, then that's something to be aware of. When you are doing print and cut, you need to have some space all around the outside. Hope that helps!

[Bride]

Yes, great help Cherise! Thank you!! It was an "in general" question and examples I had given because that is what I happened to have open veiwing. I think I'm sold on this - especially after your sharing about the 1.5 detailed nativity!

[Smiles]

I've been drooling over one for years and have been wondering if they are as good as they seem as well. My DH was going to surprise me with a Cricut a few years ago, until I explained that you had to buy their cartridges.

[Bride]

Smiles, on 17 December 2011 - 03:14 PM, said:

I've been drooling over one for years and have been wondering if they are as good as they seem as well. My DH was going to surprise me with a Cricut a few years ago, until I explained that you had to buy their cartridges.

Many of my friends at church have cricuts and they love them, but they are paper scrappers all the way. I was so excited when I learned that silhouette worked with digital. If it does what I'm believing it will, I think I would get a lot of use out of it.

[Sara Arell]

Oh, what a fabulous Christmas gift for you, Lei! (Guessing you're going to be a very busy girl after Christmas Day playing with your new Silhouette!) It's not just the kids who need the new toys at all! Super excited for you!

[Bride]

Sara Arell, on 17 December 2011 - 06:38 PM, said:

Oh, what a fabulous Christmas gift for you, Lei! (Guessing you're going to be a very busy girl after Christmas Day playing with your new Silhouette!) It's not just the kids who need the new toys at all! Super excited for you!

I may tell him to wait until after Christmas - there might be a sale somewhere then ... and he can couple it with my bday gift ... it is expensive. But I will be anxious to get and try out!!

[Syndee]

I have a really old model - I totally forgot I even had it! LOL I bought it because I could cut my own designs out - so funny that it took this thread to remind me I had one! LOL
I also have a Cricut which I love because it is sooo easy to use but you can't cut our your own stuff. It's great for kids though

[tinkerbell11]

I will be anxious to see what you get it to do Lei, I have the very first Cricut and am annoyed that I can't cut jpegs etc... Maybe someday I will switch!

[JoannB]

I am totally wanting a Silhouette -- I've asked DH for one (hoping! hoping!), and I was super interested in seeing this thread! Cherise, thanks for the input! I'm really excited about the digital possibilities! I HATE the thought of tons of cartridges that you have to have w/ a Cricut (ridiculous!).

[Sara Arell]

Lei, even if I could afford a silhouette, there's no room on my dining room table for it! LOL LOL LOL Groan! When I got started on doing hybrids, somehow I moved all of my stash from my office into the dining room so I could sit and work while Rich watched tv - it's still there!

As creative and talented as you are with the hybrids, I definitely think you simply must have one of these! I can't wait to see what wonderful things you make using it!