by Sandy McCauley | Apr 29, 2013 | Events and Retreats, Retreats, Uncategorized
It’s official! Team KNK is bringing you a new Klic-N-Kut Retreat over the weekend of August 9 – 11 and will be held in Chandler, Arizona. It will provide you with a variety of learning activities led by 4 members of our Team KNK Design Team (including me) and a special guest instructor. We will share techniques, knowledge, and experience to Light your Fire with your KNK!
We are planning an action-packed weekend for those who wish to:
- Master their Klic-N-Kut
- Explore KNK Studio
- Learn more about Make-the-Cut
- Try new applications
- Try new materials
- Make complete projects you can take home
- Have fun… and more…
The cost of the retreat is $395. For this price, you will receive 2 excellent meals, refreshments throughout the weekend, 6-7 classes, 3-4 demonstrations and Make-n-Takes, lots of time for one-on-one assistance, class notes and files, dozens of free videos to take home, free goodies, cutting materials and prizes! We will be requesting topics and will also be featuring your favorite projects from Team KNK (www.TeamKNK.com).
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, a buffet lunch and an open workshop in the evening. For dinner, we encourage you to stretch your legs and visit one of the local eateries, and while you’re out and about you have the opportunity to stop in at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby to do some shopping. On Sunday, we’ll have one more class followed by some final Q&A, farewells, and then parting gifts/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 Windmill Inns & Suites of $89.00 per night plus tax, single or double occupancy (kids stay free). A hot breakfast at the hotel for up to two people is included in the $89.00 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 receive after notifying us of your intent to participate. You must mention Klic-N-Kut when you call the Windmill Inns & Suites directly at (800) 547-4747.
Windmill Inns & Suites
3535 West Chandler Blvd
Chandler, AZ 85226
The deadline for room reservations is August 2.
If you would like to have your spouse join us for either of the meals, please include the request in your application. We will give you pricing after we have a final count (approx $20/lunch and $35/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. Emailing cuttinwithknk@gmail.com. to let us know you wish to attend. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please contact Michele at michele@cuttinupdesigns.com. Sometimes emails get lost! After receiving the email, I will send you a short application form to complete.
2. Sending $145 deposit by check, money order, or PayPal to Michele, our event organizer. You will receive Michele’s address privately after submitting your application.
The deadline for making a deposit is May 29, 2013. The balance of $250 will be due by June 26, 2013. If you prefer to make three payments, arrangements can be made.
Bringing a spouse or family? Several restaurants and a shopping mall are within walking distance. There are thousands of options for you and your families to enjoy the local area – for example, here are the home game listings for the Arizona Diamondbacks:
- Tuesday, August 6 vs. Rays (6:40 p.m.) Sunday, August 11 vs. Mets (1:10 p.m.)
- Wednesday, August 7 vs. Rays (6:40 p.m.) Monday, August 12 vs. Orioles (6:40 p.m.)
- Friday, August 9 vs. Mets (6:40 p.m.) Tuesday, August 13 vs. Orioles (6:40 p.m.)
- Saturday, August 10 vs. Mets (5:10 p.m.) Wednesday, August 14 vs. Orioles (12:40 p.m.)
Buy your tickets ahead of time!
Looking for other ideas? Try these websites:
http://phoenix.about.com/od/events/a/festivals08.htm
http://www.10best.com/destinations/arizona/phoenix/
http://www.downtownphoenix.com/what-to-do
http://www.thehotsheetblog.com/2011/08/10/free-things-to-do-in-greater-phoenix/
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/101-Things-To-Do-Phoenix/166425053369357
by Sandy McCauley | Dec 4, 2012 | Editing, Erase, Eraser, Free Videos, Make The Cut, MTC
Reason #20: Erase Tool
Reason #21: Inverse Erase Tool
These are two more reasons to check out Make The Cut software! The ability to simply drag the mouse to erase parts of a vector image and, equally handy, to add to a vector image provide easy modifications to your cutting files. The eraser size can be anything from 0.03 mm thick (we’re talking eyelash on a ladybug thin!) to, basically, unlimited.
And not only can the Erase tool be used to erase or add to images, but the 0.03 mm provides a great tool for slicing and dicing shapes. While there is a Knife tool available for this purpose, I personally prefer using the Erase tool in most cases, because it results in a closed shape, rather than leaving it open. Here’s the difference:
The Knife tool always does a straight line cut. The Erase function has the option of a freehand movement or you can hold the Ctrl key while using and achieve a straight line erase, as show in the right heart above. Of course there are situations where the open path resulting from the Knife tool could be exactly what is needed. The nice thing is that you have a choice!
As always, videos are the best way to show you how these cool tools work! So, have a look at how the Erase tool was put to use in several different ways in these two demonstrations:
Erase and Inverse Erase
Using the Inverse Eraser to Edit a PNC Trace
If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment here. As always, MTC is available for sale in my online store here. Also, be sure to check out other free MTC videos available at this link, as well as the downloadable user manuals for MTC, which have been recently updated!
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 28, 2012 | Uncategorized
Andrea!!!
Congratulations, Andrea! My random number generator picked Lucky 13 and you were the 13th poster! You have won the $25 gift certificate to KNK USA and VDBC’s quarterly membership!
Thanks to everyone who posted comments yesterday! And thanks to Chris for asking me to do this again! It’s always fun! 🙂
Andrea, Chris and I’ll be contacting you by email with your prizes!
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 27, 2012 | Uncategorized
To celebrate this 4th Anniversary of www.visualdesignsbychris.com, Chris is offering a membership to her current Quarterly Membership Club and I’m offering a $25 Gift Certificate to KNK USA! For more information about the QMC you can see some details here.
The winner will be selected randomly from those who post a comment HERE to THIS post today. Note that I will need to approve the posts and will do so as quickly as I see them. As long as your post makes it to my approval section by midnight PDT, it will qualify. I will then draw the name of the winner Sunday and announce in a new post! Good luck to all!
And don’t forget to then head over to VDBC to see the adorable cutting files available by Chris and her designers. Also, click on the Forum there to join in on more celebrations this weekend!
Happy Anniversary, VDBC!
by Sandy McCauley | Sep 14, 2012 | Bluetooth, KNK, MAXX, Maxx Air, Reviews
A big announcement came from KNK USA today! At the end of October, the first Bluetooth KNK’s will begin shipping!
I cannot count the number of times customers have asked me if there would ever be a wireless Klic-N-Kut and I always responded, “I doubt it.” Alas, I was wrong! The time has arrived and I’ve been told that it is working flawlessly. I cannot wait to get one!
Going wireless means that owners can set up their KNK Maxx Air anywhere within ~ 30 feet of their computer and not be burdened with the USB or serial cable previously needed. This will certainly lead to an entirely new arrangement within my own office/craftroom and I can’t wait to do that. For anyone preferring to stick with the old school connection, no problem! A USB cable and serial cable will both continue to be provided with every Maxx Air shipped. For those who do not have Bluetooth already available in their computer, an adaptor will be provided for free by KNK USA.
Bluetooth technology is not the only enhancement to the latest Maxx product line. The Maxx Air will also feature:
A more powerful motor for faster and quieter cutting.
The maximum cutting speed will now be 800 mm/sec compared to our previous 600 mm/sec.
There will be 168 cutting speeds, which will be more than sufficient for any application, from cutting very thick dense materials to drawing or engraving at super fast, time-saving speeds.
The maximum cutting force is now at 1500g with more settings (255 versus the previous 160).This will keep me busy for the first few months, as I will need to retest the wide range of materials capable of being cut on our machines. Just as with the previous KNK’s, I want to provide a detailed table of recommended cut settings so that new owners have a good starting point for their test cuts.
The control panel on the new Maxx Air will feature a few other changes:
Pressing the Origin button while online will toggle the laser on and off. This will make it much faster than the previous method of needing to go Offline and pressing the Menu button before pressing Origin.
A menu setting called Dwell which will delay the start of a cut. This function will be used with the future rotary tool where a delay is needed so that the tool has a chance to drill down to the depth needed for the engraving of metal or wood.
A menu setting called Soft Landing which will change the force used when the blade is first dropped to penetrate the material.
These new models will come with the same outstanding features as our prior models, including:
Bolt-on flatbed tables
A fully-adjustable blade holder seat (which permit a wide use of pens, markers, and other accessory tools)
Adjustable pinch rollers
A large (13″ x 22″) extra-thick long-lasting cutting mat
A built-in laser for spot-on print and cut applications
The $300 bonus package of free blades, crafting tools, and miscellaneous cutting materials will also continue to be shipped with every Maxx Air NOTE: the $300 bonus was discontinued when the price of the 15″ Maxx Air was decreased from $950 to $799.
Superb technical support, customer service, and educational resources: I will be writing the user manual for the new Maxx Air and providing tutorial videos, as needed. 😛
To further compare how the new Maxx Air compares to the prior Maxx models and to the amaZing Zing, view the comparison table updates also available here at this site. Be sure to also check out the opportunity to save $50 on the new Maxx Air by putting down a $100 deposit in advance of shipping. Go to KNK USA and then click on Maxx Air, in the left column, to learn more.
