Birdhouse Birthday Card

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Birdhouse Birthday card front

The summer is my busiest time of year with birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and the occasional birth. My sister-in -law celebrated her 60th birthday last weekend so I created this card featuring my current fascination with birdhouses and my ever popular butterflies. I created the house file in a drawing progam and cut it with my KNK Zing Air electronic cutter. The grass border was a little piece left over from a previous project. The verse in the center of the birdhouse, a free cutting file I downloaded, appropriately enough, from birdscards.com, as well as the inside verse and image, were drawn with the Zing Air.


Drawn, you say? On a cutting machine? Yes! The Zing Air has an optional pen accessory tool that allows you to insert pens or slim markers in place of the cutting blade. This allows you to draw an image instead of cutting it. (
(I have also used a glue pen in the past and added glitter afterwards...great effect.) Because the Zing Air does not have a fill function, it only draws contours and lines, leaving the centers blank. With the verse on the front of the card, I had to manually fill in the letters with a fine tip marker. The inner verse was done using a hairline font, meaning that the contours of the font are very, very slim so the letters appear to be comprised of simple strokes. After trying out several different hairline fonts that I downloaded free from 1001Fonts.com, I chose the one  you see here. The image is one I composed using graphic files I have had on discs for years. I tweaked the elements a bit until I got something I liked and sent it to cut...err... I mean draw. I used a dark grey gel pen for drawing the poppy and hummingbird and a black one for the verse. I wanted a subtle difference between those two elements so they wouldn't visually compete with one another. My sister-in-law loved her card and showed it off to all her friends at her party.

I definitely see more birdhouses in my future.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

The New Kid in Town

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The Zing Air arrives.

In my last post I mentioned that after four years of using the CraftWell eCraft I was upgrading to a new electronic cutting machine. My KNK Zing Air arrived sooner than anticipated and I didn't get around to opening it for a couple of days. It appeared unassuming enough and I didn't expect that I would have a difficult time learning the nuances of this new system. Well, this only turned out to be partially true. It was easy enough to hook up but I had a devil of a time getting my computer to recognize and connect to it. After turning everything off and restarting, propitiating gods and sacrificing chickens it connected and I was able to run the machine.

I am happy to report that the Zing Air is far superior to my old eCraft cutter in many ways and offers creative options I could only wish for. I won't go into all of the bells and whistles.  There are many YouTube videos that can walk you through those details. I will say that my favorite tool is the pen holder that allows me to draw images from my computer with almost any pen or marker at my disposal. I even used a glue pen to draw a delicate flourish image which I then covered in glitter. Oh, I'm going to have fun exploring the possibilities.

My one disappointment is that the machine was advertised as including a special blade for cutting fabric but it did not arrive in the box. I purchased the machine from Amazon but was unable to find a Contact Us link with a telephone number or an email address. I tried contacting the Amazon vendor who responded that I had to handle the issue through Amazon. The only option I found to deal with missing parts was to get a full refund. Thankfully I can get a fabric blade from the manufacturer for less than $10 so I'm not going to waste further time and energy over this but I can tell you I will definitely think twice or more before buying anything else from Amazon that has more moving parts than a book.

Okay, rant over. I'm off to my new machine to see what goodies I can conjure up. I'll be sure to post them here.  Stay tuned.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

A Fond Farewell To An Old Friend

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The eCraft  -  November 2010

I've just taken a leap and invested in a new electronic cutting machine as a combination Christmas/birthday gift to myself. My trusty eCraft cutter, which I won in a contest over four years ago, has served me well but its limitations are many. The machine is just not as good as some others in creating cleanly cut detailed designs. Craftwell, the eCraft's manufacturer, is no longer making the machine although I was told by a representative that they will continue to support it and carry the accessories. Nevertheless, I can see the writing on the wall. The eCraft is not long for this world.

I'm ready to move on to a more reliable machine that will make the intricate and detailed cuts that I long for. My new KNK Zing Air will arrive sometime next week and I'm greatly looking forward to it but I will always fondly remember my first machine. Once I have mastered the learning curve of the Zing Air, I have no doubt I will be whipping up some amazing projects which I will post here and link to my Facebook page. Here's to a new year, a new machine and some new creative adventures.


Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva