by Sandy McCauley | Sep 23, 2011 | Free Videos, Hot Keys, Layers Menu, Make The Cut, MTC, Rhinestones, Shortcuts, Thin Paths, Uncategorized
Oops! Been a while since I posted about Make-The-Cut! Now that the Denver Retreat is complete and I’ve had a chance to catch up on the umpteen To Do items that were postponed because of the retreat, I can now get back to this site and the 25 reasons to check out MTC! Now that Andy has released a new beta 4.0 of MTC, the list is growing, so expect it to be at least 30 reasons by the time I have the MTC User Manual completed and our new Zing is released!
But first… I have a hot key list for MTC now ready to share. This will go into the user manual, but since it’s mostly complete, I wanted to go ahead and make it available to all of my readers. Here’s the link:
MTC Shortcut Keys
And now for three more reasons to check out MTC:
Reason #10 Rhinestone Feature
MTC’s Rhinestone window provides an automatic way to outline your vector shapes or do a horizontal fill using the circle size you choose, along with the spacing. Additionally you can preview the results before accepting and also see the circle count in this same window:
Video of Rhinestone Feature in MTC
Regarding the tweaking of the designs, MTC has short cut keys set up for top (T), bottom (B), right (R) and left (L) alignment, as well as equal vertical ([) and equal horizontal (]) spacing. I also really like the new Esc hotkey to unselect all images.
Reason #11 Path Thinning
Path thinning is the same thing as Center Line Tracing in KNK Studio and other vector programs. It converts a thick line shape into a single line, such as shown above in the image of the glasses. This can greatly simplify some rhinestone designs, especially lettering, as shown in the video below. It can also be handy when pens or markers are going to be used for drawing images and/or lettering.
Thin Paths Feature in MTC
Reason #12 The Font Name Is Automatically Listed in the Layers List
How many times do we forget the name of the font we used in a design? Well, MTC has a solution for that! When you type new text, the name of the font will be assigned as the name of the layer! This was a brilliant feature to include in a program that is used by those who love to collect the thousands of free fonts available on the Internet!
Click on the image to see the fonts names that were assigned for each text I typed:
Speaking of collecting fonts, here are some of my favorite sites to grab free fonts:
http://www.dafont.com/
http://dingbatdepot.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/
http://www.acidfonts.com/
If you’re ready to take the plunge to Make-The-Cut, here’s the link to MTC in my own store:
https://www.iloveknk.com/products-page-2/make-the-cut/
You will receive an activation pin for registering MTC and your registration number will work for all of your computers. Other videos for MTC are now available at this link:
MTC Support
And the first detailed on-line User Manual will be available within about 3 – 4 weeks!
by Sandy McCauley | Jan 8, 2011 | Events and Retreats, Retreats, Uncategorized
It’s official! We’re having a KNK Retreat in Florida!
If you plan to attend, please make a $100 deposit to hold a spot:
A maximum of 25 people can attend!
Come join us in Tampa for a weekend of rockin’ Klic-N-Kut classes, demo’s, and loads of fun! Julie, Barbie, and I can’t wait to meet you!
Event: “Klic-N-Kut Spring Forward Retreat!”
Date: Friday, March 18 3:00 pm – Sunday, March 20, 2011 1:00 pm
Location: Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore
The cost of the retreat, excluding hotel, is $395. For this price, you receive 5 excellent meals, free goodies, 6 – 7 classes, 3 – 4 demos, class notes and files, dozens of free videos to take home, cutting materials and prizes! The room will open at 3:00 pm with the Meet and Greet starting at 4:00 pm. Dinner will be served at 6 pm, followed by a class, demo and workshop. Saturday the 19th will be action packed with classes, demos, challenges, games, and 3 full meals. On Sunday the 20th, after breakfast, we’ll have one more class and workshop or demo. Participation in all classes and demos is optional, so you can head out, at any time, to enjoy some local Tampa attractions. We also 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 have a wonderful deal with the Hilton of $109.00 per night single or double occupancy. If you live locally, you are not required to stay at the hotel. If you want a roommate, please note it in the form below and return to Barbie and she will help match up attendees. Rooms must be reserved no later than March 1 to lock in this rate. You must mention the “KNK11” when you call the Hilton directly at 813-877-6688 (our reservation contact is Nan Graves). If your spouse would like to join us at mealtime, let us know as soon as possible, and we’ll find out the cost for that.
This weekend retreat is available for up to 25 attendees and we’ll have a waiting list in case of cancellations.
So reserve your spot by:
(1) Emailing me at smccauley45@cox.net to let me know you want to attend. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, then please post a message at the bottom of this post and I’ll email you directly. Sometimes emails get lost! I’ll then send you a short form to complete.
(2) Sending a $100 check or money order to our event organizer, Barbie Creech. I will send you Barbie’s address privately after you let me know you plan to attend. : ) If you prefer, we also accept Paypal payments.
The deadline for making the deposit is January 20th and the $295 balance will be due by February 20. If you need to pay the balance in installments, then two $100 payments may be made by the end of January and the end of February, and then a final $95 payment made at the retreat..
Details on classes and demos will be provided after I have gathered information about all of you and what you want to learn! : )
Can’t wait to see you in Tampa!
Sandy
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
Number 6 Poster… Colleen Peace!!!
We had 63 entries before I submitted the names to Chris this morning. While only 50 comments will show up for any given post, I had all 63 in the control panel of my blog and I numbered them 1 – 63 based on when the posts came in and had Chris draw a number between 1 and 63.
Congratulations, Colleen! Chris will email you the Gift Certificate number for ordering from www.knkusa.com.
Thanks everyone for participating! Be sure to check out other celebrations today at Visual Designs By Chris.
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
Wow… I can’t believe it’s been 2 years now since Chris started her own Internet store selling adorable cutting files and building a team of talented designers! From the first day, I knew she would be successful because Chris is smart, creative, motivated, and VERY warm and personable! I had the great pleasure of meeting her last February at the KNK Retreat in Scottsdale and everyone there loved her!
So, to celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of www.visualdesignsbychris.com, I am offering a $25 gift certificate to www.knkusa.com! The winner will be selected randomly from those who post a comment to THIS post today. I will draw the name of the winner sometime after midnight tonight and announce the winner tomorrow!
Thus, post your message to Chris and her team here! 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!
And one more thing… Click on the TITLE of this post above to view all comments posted so far! : )
by Sandy McCauley | Jun 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
I am SO very proud to announce that Kitty Finn is now selling cutting files at Visual Designs by Chris.
In February, I taught a KNK retreat in Scottsdale and Kitty was one of my attendees. After the retreat, Kitty told me she felt so overwhelmed the first night that she had to make a decision… drive back to LA or head to the bar and drink a couple of martinis! Fortunately, she chose the martinis! 😛 The next day, she faced more classes and more design challenges, but at some point, she got hooked and suddenly what seemed so overwhelming the first day turned into fun and excitement the second day. By the end of the weekend, she was ready to go home and start designing her own files. And now, several months later, I am SO thrilled to announce that Kitty is now a member of Chris Durnan’s team of designers and has her first files ready to sell. Here is a link to see her files:
Kitty’s Cuttings
Also, Kitty is looking for some volunteers to test cut other formats of her files. Specifically she would like to have someone who owns a Silhouette cut her GSD versions and someone who owns a Cricut (along with SCAL or MTC) to cut her SVG versions. You can reach her at Scvfinn@aol.com. if you are interested in helping.
Kitty, I wish you great success at Visual Designs by Chris! And I look forward to seeing you again at the San Diego retreat in October. 🙂
by Sandy McCauley | Jan 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
Chad has been unable to get this site’s FeedBurner account to cease sending those regular emails saying “this site has been changed.” Thus we will be switching to RSS as a subscription service. Please sign up with the RSS once you see it appear on this home page and unsubscribe from the other service IF you continue to receive emails. It’s kind of ridiculous to assume that you’ll get more emails once we delete my FeedBurner account, but I’ve seen stranger things happen! lol
Again, I’m sorry for the inconvenience! But I hope to make it up to you in new videos, handy tips, and other useful information.
