Chicken Scratch Embroidery

Nothing to do with the ScanNCut at all today. I am however feeling an enormous sense of achievement. I have today finished making an embroidered 3" square lavender bag. Not too exciting true, however it is the FIRST embroidery 'thing' I have actually made and finished since I got unwell in 2013. And back in 2013 -2015 I used to look at the 'things' I used to make and couldn't believe it was made by me nor that I would ever be able to do such things again. So an enormous milestone!

And here it is in all it's slightly dishevelled glory! it's two sided with slightly different stitching on each side, mostly because I didn't plan it very well. oops.

Side One

Side Two

A small thing but mine own!

SNC Basics - A step by step guide to Test Cuts

Draft post - quick and dirty for an fb group where a poor user has cut a ginormous hole in their mat (hopefully now taped up from the back and useable again).

Oh dear! you've cut a big hole in your mat, or your cuts aren't clean and messing up the surface of your material. arghhhh you are so frustrated, the machine looked so easy on the TV! and you can't get it to work and want to throw it out of the window for all the wasted time and money.
Is it your fault? why won't it work?

Well, have you done proper test cuts, do you understand the relationship between speed, blade depth and pressure? Because yes, some materials are just horrible and won't cut well, but usually cutting problems can be solved by using the right settings. The settings are NOT arbitrary, it's NOT an arcane mystery. The settings are logical and can be created to be pretty much exactly right if you know how and why they behave how they do.

I did a post on test cuts ages ago. This is complimentary to that and is a step by step 'how to do test cuts' the long way round.
Let's learn to do test cuts!

Designing from Scratch - Stage 2 - Deciding what stitches I want to use for my mobile phone sleeve

Morning. Yesterday I was outside actually embroidering the phone case (I'm a bit behind on blogging about this project) and now all my muscles hurt, I really need to find a way to support my body whilst embroidering, so today, I'm catching up on the project blogging as I can do this from bed.

This post is about me making my Chain Stitch Samples to work out what sort of stitches I might want to use to create the Paisley motifs on the phone sleeve.

6 inch square stitch sampler

SNC Basics - Exploring using the Machine as an X-Acto Knife or Guillotine Part One

As you may be aware I have severe ME/CFS which leaves me pretty much housebound and mostly bedbound. What this illness does, is stops my body providing me with the energy and strength that normal healthy people have, as well as giving me a lot of pain and nausea and other symptoms that are exacerbated when I do too much. And for me, doing too much is basically anything over and above eating, going to the loo and telling my carers what to do every day. And that's why I bought this Scan and Cut Machine, because I wanted to try and get back to doing some crafting using modern technology to reduce the amount of energy and movement needed.

This Month's CnC Member Gift (In the Garden Kit by HunkyDory Crafts)  HERE

SNC Basics - Tracing a computer image into Canvas - jpeg/jpg, gif, png, bmp - bitmap files

DRAFT POST _ SUBJECT TO REVISION

Evening agan. So yesterday's blog was about the different file types and their characteristics and finding out why some files are traced using the Trace Icon function and some are just imported using the SVG Import icon in Canvas. You can read it HERE

I'm also just at the beginning of a personal project to make a hand embroidered sleeve cover for my smart phone. And I'm going to be using Canvas and the ScanNCut to do as much of it as I can. I have no idea how much that will be as I've not consciously taken this approach before. I blogged about how I was starting this from scratch, working out my design constraints and finding a suitable pattern online HERE

Pattern from Cliparts.co that I shall be using in this post to take into Canvas

SNC Basics - Overview - All about file types that can be used by Canvas and the two methods of importing them

This post is an overview of  common computer file types and the two methods to import the differences between jpeg, gif, png, bmp, svg, fcm and dxf file types and when to use Trace (free) or Enhanced Tracing icons (additional purchase) and when to use SVG Import icon (free).

From Wikipedia

The short answer to this is that you use Tracing Icon for jpeg, gif, png and bmp files as these are Raster files, and the SVG icon for svg, fcm and dxf files as these are Vector files in Canvas Workspace. However what the blog post covers is characteristics of those file formats and WHY you use one or the other for a particular file and also what the likely outcome will be - this enables you to make an informed decision as to whether a file is likely to acheive the desired result or not. Thus saving you time, energy and a LOT of grumpiness.

I have to say that doing the research to enable me to write this post, as I was seeking to understand what the different file formats are and how they behave has really provided several light bulb moments! It has also prompted an increase in respect for Brother and how they've chosen to develop and provide Canvas to us for free. It is pretty simple to use (compared to full featured graphics packages) but once you get to know how to use it, it really can do some very sophisticated things!

NB: This post DOES NOT cover how to get hardcopy images into the machine - that's the scanning function and will be written in due course and be found in the Index Section about the Machine itself

Designing from Scratch - Stage 1 - Finding inspiration - personal project hand embroidered mobile phone sleeve

Evening. I'm just about to embark on a proper project from scratch to make myself a hand embroidered mobile phone sleeve. So I thought it may be interesting to blog about the design decisions I have to make starting with a blank sheet of paper right through to the final finished item.

ScanNCut Project - How to design a Charley Harper style papercut Cardinal Bird in Canvas

Evening. I originally designed this bird shape as a papercut within the machine itself. However, as it turns out, I've not actually seen my camera since Christmas Day so I assume it's still at the parentals' house. So this project has been done using the Free Brother Canvas software to then be transferred to the machine for cutting. Eventually if I ever remember to ask the parentals, I may well have my camera back. But for now, Canvas all the way!

This Project uses basic shapes in Canvas to create a 3 colour papercraft Cardinal Bird in the style of Charley Harper, a mid 20th century American designer. If all goes well, it will look like this:

Charley Harper style Cardinal papercraft bird

Design Your Own 1 - Papercuts - Designing Bridges, or, how to avoid confetti and unresolved designs!

One thing I've noticed from being in a variety of Facebook Groups to do with papercraft and the Brother Scan N Cut machine, is how many people are a bit flummoxed about designing their own images and cutting files. One of the key reasons for me choosing to buy the SNC was because, for the first time, I would be able to easily make my own designs and not be tied into buying someone else's.

So, this part of the series is to give some basic techniques and pointers on how to design your own images and cut files so that they
a. look 'resolved' - are pleasing to the eye, the design flows well and feels cohesive and finished, and also
b. work in technical terms - they don't fall apart into confetti or have layers that are impossible to match.

Here's the first one - this falls into the TECHNICAL side of designing your own images for the SNC - all about Building Bridges or Connections between the elements that make up a finished design.

White Rabbit by EmbellishCuts (currently available as a free pdf download HERE February 2018)

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

Canvas - Manipulating Basic Shapes - Process Functions Explained - Weld, Divide, Remove Overlap, Subtract - and how to use them

Manipulating Basic Shapes - Process Functions Explained - Weld, Divide, Remove Overlap, Subtract - and how to use them

One of the trickiest things in Canvas is to get to grips with how the Process Functions work, particularly working out which ones I need to achieve my desired result. At least for me....

This blog post covers Process Overlap (the bottom section) and the Order section (above Process Overlap on the right)

Canvas - Manipulating Shapes - Aspect Ratio

Oh hai. I'm on a roll, nothing for a whole year, then like buses, three posts come along at once! Why? Well because I want to make a paper bauble garland for my mantelpiece and I need to create the shapes in Canvas, so I thought I might as well do a tutorial at the same time, as it's not hard to do screenshots and explaining as I go along.

Complex Bauble made from basic Circle using Aspect Ratio, Order, Weld and Subtract

In this post we are going to play with basic shapes and aspect ratio to make more complex bauble shapes.

Canvas - Manipulating Basic Shapes - Resize, Weld and Subtract

As it's December, I thought it'd be a fun introduction to Canvas to learn how to make a basic flat bauble shape with a hanging hole. This creates a simple shape that is one single pattern. Once made it can be resized, and the hanging hole is an integral part of the pattern.

We cover - choosing basic shape, duplicate, weld, subtract and resize with this one.

The end result - a bauble shape with hanging hole

Canvas - What is it and what can it do?

Hi. It's a very very long time since i've blogged! Sorry about that. I was getting ready to move and then actually moving house and then unpacking, and being disabled with the main issue being lack of energy,  absolutely nothing craftwise has happened for ages!

I'm now on a few facebook groups, and I keep seeing the same sort of questions over and over again, but as I don't have a clear table surface for my machine, and I can't find my SD card reader for the laptop post move (I know I've seen it since, just can't remember where), I can't do more blogging about working with the machine.  So I decided that I can do blog posts entirely on the laptop using LightShot for screen grabs, so I should start the series on the Canvas software.

Operation Musical Chairs 3: More flat surfaces

Another unexpected visit from mum (yes they happen on Saturdays lol so aren't really unexpected, except I forget and have a lovely surprise) led to the tidying up of the multiple piles of paperwork in the Living Room this weekend. And a great deal of hilarity, so I had a lovely day yesterday despite feeling somewhat unwell.

So this is what it looked like last week: total chaos everywhere except the Hall Desk (confusingly I don't have a Hall, but it's retained the name in our family) which astonishingly remained an empty flat surface hurrah!

Hall Table Tidied Last Week