by Sandy McCauley | Jan 26, 2015 | Boolean Join, Eraser, Free Files, Free Videos, Hearts - Designing, Jigsaw Puzzle Generator, MTC, Shadow
Long time, no post! Hopefully today’s topic on designing a custom shaped jigsaw puzzle will help make up for my absence!
There are a number of different methods for combining a puzzle from MTC’s Puzzle Generator with any shape to create a custom-shaped puzzle like the one shown above. Other MTC owners have posted their methods, including Bryan Williams in one of MTC’s Tuesday night webinars. His method and mine are virtually identical other than how we edit the puzzle to remove extra lines. Anyhow, here’s a link to the new video I made:
Designing a Heart Shaped Puzzle
This is a great exercise in learning two of MTC’s most valuable functions: Boolean Join and the Inverse Eraser.
Then, if you haven’t used the Puzzle Generator, then you might also need this video:
MTC Puzzle Generator
Finally, the heart I created is also available in case it’s something you can use in one of your upcoming Valentine’s projects:
Free Puzzle Heart Files:
KNK Format
MTC Format
PDF Format
Finally, if you do not yet own MTC, it can be purchased for only $57.99 at this link. Let me know if you have any questions!
by Sandy McCauley | Apr 11, 2014 | Events and Retreats, Retreats, Uncategorized
Come join Michele Harvey and Sandy McCauley in St. Louis!!!! Master your Klic-N-Kut and Make The Cut software!
The cost of the retreat is $395. For this price, you will receive 6-7 classes, 3-4 demonstrations and Make-n-Takes, 3 excellent meals, refreshments throughout the weekend, lots of time for one-on-one assistance, class notes and files, free goodies, cutting materials and prizes! We will request topics of interest and will also feature favorite projects from Team KNK.
The room will open at 2:00 pm on Friday with the Meet and Greet starting at 3:00 pm. Dinner will be served at 6:00 pm, followed by classes, demos, and an evening workshop. Saturday will be packed with classes, demos, challenges, games, lunch, and an open workshop in the evening. On Sunday, we’ll have one more class followed by some final Q&A, farewells, and then parting gifts and prizes.
Participation in all classes and demos is optional, so you can head out at any time to enjoy the local attractions. We encourage you to bring your laptop and/or cutter, but it’s not a requirement to join us as we will have extras available and will seat everyone for sharing, as needed.
Your hotel room and travel expenses are separate. We bring you a wonderful deal with The Embassy Suites of $119 per night plus tax for a King room or $129 per night plus tax for a double Queen room. A hot breakfast at the hotel is included in the room rate. If you live locally, you are not required to stay at the hotel. If you would like to be paired with a roommate, please note it in the application. You must mention KNK USA when you call the Embassy Suites St. Louis Airport directly at (314) 739-8929.
The deadline for room reservations is May 31, 2014.
If you would like to have your spouse join us for any of the meals, please include the request in your application. We will give you pricing after we have a final count (approximately $30/lunch and $40/dinner). This weekend retreat is available for up to 25 attendees and we’ll have a waiting list in case of cancellations.
Reserve your spot today by:
1. Completing the application online. Or, if you prefer, email cuttinwithknk@gmail.com to let us know you wish to attend. After receiving the email, I will send you a short application form to complete, scan and return. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please contact Michele at cuttinwithknk@gmail.com. Sometimes emails get lost!
2. Sending $145 deposit by check, money order, or PayPal to Michele Harvey, the event organizer. You will receive Michele’s address privately after submitting your application.
The deadline for making a deposit is May 2, 2014. The balance of $250 will be due by May 30, 2014. If you prefer to make three payments, arrangements can be made.
The Embassy Suites St. Louis Airport is conveniently located. Its amenities include:
• Complimentary High Speed Internet throughout the Hotel
• Complimentary Cooked to Order Breakfast
• 24 Hour Business Link Center
• Indoor Pool & Hot Tub
• Fitness Center
• Complimentary Airport Shuttle
• Complimentary Parking
You can take the shuttle to the airport and then take the Metro to some favorite places, such as the FREE zoo or the Cardinals-Phillies game. The room rate is good for 3 days before and 3 days after our event for anyone wanting to spend some time in St. Louis. There is a great scrapbooking store about 30-40 minutes from the hotel (during non-peak traffic times). Don’t forget things like the arch or the amazing botanical gardens! Oh, and the summer-only Muny theater which is held outside. Lots to do in St. Louis!
Hope to see you there!
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 29, 2013 | Free Videos, MTC
Two of the common questions I get from new owners of Make The Cut are, “Where do I start?” and “Which videos should I watch?” So, today’s post is directed at those learning MTC and needing some guidance.
First of all, always make sure you’re using the latest version so that the screenshots and instructions in the user manual match what you see in the software. To check which version you’re using, watch this video, as it will also show you where to find the KNK plugin version as well. To update to the latest versions, you can use the link I have here or Make The Cut’s download page.
Next, the MTC user manuals are Chapters 3 – 8 in any KNK with MTC user manuals available here at my site. The Zing with MTC user manual is also accessible from the File>Help page from within MTC and that will probably be a quicker access unless you bookmark one of the user manual links here. Note that the various versions I list (Interactive, PDF, and Downloadable EXE) are always the same version and allow you to click on sections from the table of contents, search on any particular word or words, and directly go to videos by clicking on green Video icons.
The KNK USA vimeo channel has about 90 or so MTC videos I’ve made so far. These are mostly the ones I’ve linked within the user manual, plus a few extras that were specific to questions asked by my customers and might be of interest to others. But there’s no organization available at Vimeo, so anyone new to MTC wouldn’t really know where to start. The same is mostly true in the user manual. So, for those who want a viewing order for basic MTC videos, here’s my recommendation, although this isn’t the easiest thing to provide since users’ needs and interests vary. But certainly the first nine or ten videos make sense for all owners of MTC to understand.
Importing from Basic Shapes
Resizing Shapes
Rotating Shapes
Copying and Duplicating Shapes
Layer Bar: Part 1
Layer Bar: Part 2
Layer Bar: Part 3
Virtual Mat Settings
Entering Text and Welding Letters
Importing from the MTC Gallery
Opening Font Files
Using Dingbat Fonts
Shadow Function
Creating a Custom Mat
Dashed Lines
Demo of Pixel Tracing Features
Pixel Trace 1
Tracing for a Print and Cut
Converting KNK to MTC Part 1
Converting KNK to MTC Part 2
As always, I’m here to help! So, feel free to ask questions and I’ll respond. For those who enjoy user forums and Yahoo groups, then head on over to either or both of these and sign up! These are also excellent places to ask questions and pick up tips, free files, and new ideas!
Make The Cut Yahoo Group
Make The Cut Forum
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 14, 2013 | Craft Plastic, Engraving, PETG, Zing
For those of you who’ve been waiting for the KNK Zings and 24″ Maxx Airs to be back in stock, they finally are! This also applies to the UK web site. For those living in Canada, we expect them to be available some time next week. If you’re interested, in purchasing, I’m an affiliate seller with KNK USA and this is the link to use: http://knkusa.com/?ap_id=skhaley
Now for the engraving project:
Last Friday, I made a video for a KNK Zing owner who needed to engrave a sheet of dog tags on her Zing. And then repeat and repeat. So, I knew she needed some kind of template set up so that she could position the dog tags on the template and then be able to engrave all them at one time with perfect alignment. I didn’t have any metal dog tags, so I used some stars cut out of craft plastic. It turned out really well and so did her dog tags, apparently. So here’s the video if you’re interested in how this works:
Engraving on the KNK Zing
And here’s a closeup of the engraving done with the KNK engraver:
To check out the engraver, use the this link and then click on Accessories at the top. The engraver can be found under under any of the top three Accessories links.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
by Sandy McCauley | Aug 28, 2013 | Free Files, Free Videos, Make The Cut, Measure Tools, Metric, MTC
Make The Cut wasn’t originally targeted for anyone living outside the United States. It was a basic vector program written by a brilliant guy for his wife who owned a Cricut and happened to scrapbook! Fast forward a few years and now Make The Cut is owned and used by thousands of customers around the world who are still attracted to its simplicity but also hooked on its functionality. Not only does it have easy-to-learn auto-tracing functions which rival those of far more expensive programs, but some of its other features are just plain COOL to use! I’ve covered a lot of these in other prior posts here. Just look up MTC in the Category feature on the left column here.
The main problem for the non-US owners is the inability to easily work in metric. The main display for shape dimensions and location remain in inches. It’s my understanding that adding a metric version would require a huge re-write and that’s not on the table right now. So, last spring a member of the MTC forum (Lesly Holliday) came out with a handy template file that had ruler shapes and a grid drawn to metric dimensions. For the past few months, I thought about what if anything might still pose a problem when using this file. I came up with some modifications and decided to start from scratch by designing longer rulers to reach the full 12″ boundaries of the KNK Zing mat and also put the rulers and the grid on their own page for several reasons which I’ve covered in detail in a video linked below.
Before we get to the metric mat template and video, note that there are several existing metric workarounds already present in MTC:
(1) The dimensions of a shape can be entered in either cm or mm in the W: and H: fields by simply adding the units after the values. For example to re-size a shape to be 15 mm wide, enter the value like this:
(2) While the display will convert the sizing to inches, the dimension can be verified by using the Measure tool under the Node Edit menu. I’ve previously made a video on using this feature after being contacted by someone cutting rhinestone templates which are, traditionally, designed in metric:
Determining shape dimensions in metric units
(3) Newer features in MTC have metric options already. For example, if you are shadowing a shape, doing nested duplication, drawing with the Fat Path opton, or using the Erase Tool. All of these will either require values to be entered in mm or give you the option of in, cm, or mm.
Now, back to the metric template, download the file from here and open it in Make The Cut. You’ll see that metric rulers and a metric grid have been set up on their own page and the file is ready to use. You might want to immediately save under a new name so that you can preserve the original. Now you’re ready to watch the video where I explain how best to use this file:
Using the Metric Mat Template File
Be sure to note how you can switch between Portrait and Landscape, why you might want to set up a Tiny Mat, and why it’s important to leave the metric rulers and grid on their own separate page. Most importantly, please provide suggestions using the Comments section below for any enhancements which might make this metric template more usable for your needs! 🙂
