Canvas - Altering Shapes - removing holes in shapes with Path Tool.

This has come out of a question the group was asked on Margret Teta Singleton's awesome Facebook Group called Brother Scan'n'Cut Users - find it here https://www.facebook.com/groups/scanncutusers/

So the person in question had this image:

I have no idea if this has copyright etc. I'm using it solely to show you an example of what I'm talking about. If anyone knows who owns the copyright, tell me and I'll credit them here.

So. the question was, what if you have holes in an image, and you want to keep some of them, say the eyes, but not others (apparently this is the islands of Hawaii across the abdomen).

I had a think. And a play in Canvas. And finally worked out why it was such a simple answer...

Canvas - Draw your own shapes - Path Tool for straight lines and geometric shapes

Path Tool for drawing straight lines and geometric shapes

I started writing this post thinking the Path Tool would be quite limited, then by accident (mostly by failing to repeat the same actions and trying to do the same thing differently by mistake) found out that it isn't at all! So this post is going to have far more in it than I imagined, and it's sparking off all sorts of new ideas in my head!

Canvas - Draw your own shapes - Path and FreeHand Tools and Node Editing Overview

Ok this is going to be a sub series of posts initially.  Based on what I know and am finding out as I go along, this post is a basic overview - here is the plan:

1. This one , in three parts, about the Path (drawing straight lines) and Freehand (drawing freehand) Tools in Canvas. I do own a Graphics Tablet but it's upstairs, I've no stairlift yet and also, I've never used it, so all this is going to be on a laptop using the touch pad.

2. The Node Editing functions - these allow you to change the shape of a preinstalled pattern or one you've drawn with Path or Freehand Tools.

3. Using the Path Tool to make curved lines (you need to know about node editing to do this effectively, hence the order).

4. A quick and dirty way of getting your scanned in file to cut reasonably well using the Path tool and then a bit of node editing if the new line needs to be curved.

5. My current best effort on how to change the shape so that lines that joined up before, don't now. The example for this one is the pre installed NOEL word (Logo section in Canvas) where I wanted to work out how to stop the centre of the E falling out (it's in lower case...)  If I find a better way in Canvas I'll do another post but for now, this is the sum total of my knowledge!

January Cure 2018 - Set up an OutBox

Day 3 - Set up an Outbox

An OutBox? What's an OutBox?

Physically it's a box or a bag somewhere in your house that's not in the way. That is a half way station for items you are deciding whether or not to get rid of.

Items that go in the OutBox stay in there for a while, until a decision is made, and can be pulled out and kept, OR disposed of.

It's a HalfWay House for clutter that's on probation! Or as the Apartment Therapy site calls it - a clutter pergatory HERE

There's just ONE rule - anything that goes into the OutBox has to stay there for a week, before it can be taken out and a decision made of whether it's a stay or a go.

This is my OutBox - today. Poor thing, it's being misused! Not only that it's inaccessible!

My full OutBox

 Hmmm misused? Yup. I LOVE the idea of an OutBox, but it's easy to misuse.

January Cure 2018 - Make a List and my Utility Area Project

Day 2 - Make a list.
The idea is to wander around your house noting all the things that need something doing to them. And then pick just a few as priorities. You can find it on the Apartment Therapy website HERE

This is the newly installed utility area. Very cluttered. I need some quick wins.

This is my quick win! Two wire suction caddies - one rectangular one corner and ta da!
Far less cluttered and easier to keep clean

 Given this house is brand new to me, and I've not really unpacked, frankly my list could in one word be:

EVERYTHING!

January Cure 2018 - Clear a Drawer

You ever heard of the January Cure? It's a series of tasks in January that the website Apartment Therapy does. Takes just under a month and is designed to help you get a grip of your house and things that need changing, sorting or decluttering.

The first day HERE - yesterday - was to tidy out a drawer.

Because I thought it started on January 1, and I was just missing an email, I cleared out my adult colouring felt tips drawer on New Year's Day.

So yesterday, I thought I'd clear the top of the bedside drawers instead of an actual drawer, mostly because since the move, the bedside drawers are actually empty and I need to think about what goes where and then find where I last put them temporarily....

All well and good, except the unfinished christmas cards are on there.

Stained Glass window type colour your own hanging paper ornament production line