Silhouette 4.0

Change is a good thing! Change is a good thing... Change is a good thing?

Maybe you're like me:

When I see a new software version update on my phone, I put it off a long as possible. I mean, like, a long time. Weeks, months...

I am so afraid that doing the update will stop other important things I use every day from working properly if they haven't been modified for the update.

Most recently, the on-screen keyboard on my android phone just plain quit after an update. I couldn't type anything at all on my phone or bring up the keyboard for voice-to-text.

I was finally able to get a supplemental keyboard installed and finally got my phone up and running again but it was a frustrating experience to say the least.

So, you'll understand my hesitation:

Silhouette America released the newest version of their software suite recently and today is the day I plan on switching over.  I have been following along with a few of my acquaintances on Facebook who were helping to beta test and a lot of the early adopters who have already started making tutorials to get the good, the bad, and the ugly about the upgrade.  Sometimes the easiest way to learn is to watch someone else do it, right?

The Good:

So Many New Features! The tutorials I am watching have excited me.

• With new features like text warping, you won't have to create your design in another program and import it. 
• A glyphs panel should make it a little easier I currently use Nexus Font) to take advantage of all of the extra swashes in some of the more decorative fonts a little more easily. 
• There is finally a cut-progress bar in some of the videos I have seen. 
• And, as I am starting to get into HTV a little more, a pop-up reminder before cutting to mirror your image so you don't end up wasting material.

The Bad (and why it's not so bad):

The number one horror story I am seeing regarding the software upgrade is people loosing their designs that are stored by silhouette. A more recent update introduced cloud storage and operation and many people lost their designs during that too. Thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars can be lost if someone has spend enough time designing and/or purchasing designs. I believe there there have been a number of successful recovery stories but I don't have any personal experience with those.

Fortunately for me, since day one with Silhouette, I have kept all of my fonts and designs in a DropBox folder. This means that no matter what the update throws at me, my designs, my fonts, and my files will still be there.

The Ugly:

Knowing that all of my previous work is not at risk of being lost forever is a huge confidence boost to push me to start trying to take advantage of all the new features. Unfortunately though, even that won't solve the #1 issue.
 

This is a pretty big change. The layout is similar but the buttons have all been shifted. Some icons are slightly different, and they've introduced separate panels that pop out instead of everything being controlled by fixed menus at the top and side.

The process of getting re-acquainted with how to do some of the more basic things that are so quick for me to do now is what has held me back so far. I hate the feeling of starting over.

*goes back to re-read the good things about the upgrade again*

But, today is the day. I am going to install. I am going to learn. I am going to create cool things. And, I am going to teach you to do it too! 

Going Forward:

Lunch is here. Time to install and re-start fresh :-) I'll put up a new post in a day or so to track progress. Feel free to follow along. It should be fun!

What about you guys?:

Have you had an experience (good or bad) with an update that you want to share?

If you're already working in 4.0, do you have any quick tips that could help me get up and running a little faster?

I look forward to hearing from you!

I look forward to hearing from you! Happy Crafting!

Product Application & Care Instructions

In this list, I will compile all of the application and care instructions for anything I make or share. I will sort by category and update as often as necessary. 

Whoops, I did it again!

Being consistently inconsistent is still consistency, right? 

So, January of 2016:

January of 2016 was my last post. I was excited to share the news of my new machine. I was excited to do more nail art. I was excited to start blogging again. I really was excited to start teaching and sharing again. But,I'm lazy I couldn't find the time. We DID end up moving, halfway across the country in fact. A one bedroom apartment in Florida was my new home. There wasn't a lot of room to really focus on some of the things I wanted to do. And, I worked in car sales and that can be a little time consuming too.

Car sales profile pic!

In January of this year, we moved to Texas. This has been a turning point in my crafting. I finally have a room (A whole room!) set up to work in. A place I can keep organized and have easy access to the things I need to get things done. And boy, have I done some things.

Stuff & Things:

That Silhouette machine and I have come a long long way since that January 2016 post. I had originally gotten it hoping to make some nail decals and stencils to bring you some more nail art tutorials but once I got into the software and started learning about the possibilities of the machine, I got into so much more.

At current count, I have a sandblasting rig, a heat press, and I even bought a tiny little sewing machine to play with. The best part is, I'm going to share it all with you. Everything is linked together and it all ties back to that little Silhouette machine. Even though I haven't been posting everything, I have been taking pictures all along the way so I can share it all with you.

The software is the easier part since it doesn't require any "real world" setup. I started a series of YouTube videos called DIY On Demand where I address common questions I see in the Facebook groups. My goal with these videos is to directly answer the question while providing helpful tips along the way without all the extra story-telling fluff. I like direct and to-the-point when I am trying to get something done so all of my videos are less than 5 minutes long. Take a minute to check them out. I'll wait.

Where do we go from here:

This proves to be the hardest part. As I mentioned above, all of the pieces are linked to each other so it's kind of difficult to get into one without also having covered the other. There is some great news though:

1) Just about everything I am doing has already been done by somewhere sometime. Most of what I do is not 100% original. I just try my best to condense all of that information down into one easy to understand, 5 minute chunk.

2) Sometimes, people don't want to watch a video and would rather have written directions. That's what this blog is intended to do. This will be the text-heavy portion of my projects and I'll direct you here whenever you want more information on something if I have made a partner post to a video.

3) I am working on setting up shop! If you like what I do and don't want to do it yourself, I am working on opening a small store for simple orders. As of right now, I am only making any of my work available locally. This is the part of the whole process I am still learning about. Eventually, I will offer affiliate links in my videos and here and I would appreciate any feedback or advise you guys may have for me in this realm as it's all new to me.

What about you guys?:

I've mentioned sandblasting, my heat press, and my teeny tiny sewing machine. Are there any projects you guys are interested in learning more about first? Anything you want me to place a priority on?

How often would you be interested in seeing new posts? Would you like longer, more detailed posts a few times a month, or shorter posts with more variety a little more often?

I am excited to get started! Looking forward to hearing from you guys soon!

Happy Crafting!