Blog post part 2

Recently I got introduced to the concept of Skype, by FG. I was not at all sure about this, but as I have recently spent 3 hrs giving her a phone lesson on how to use a graphics program, I thought it might be a good way to reduce the phone bill! and stop having to send her pics over the internet as she can then shout at me in real time........erm hold on.............maybe it wasnt such a good idea after all!!
Anyway. I digress as per usual. I have spoken to her at length about an electronic cutting machine, as I have the Craft Robo 330-20 and it does come out to play sometimes. I have been considering getting an e-crafter to run alongside the CR, instead of upgrading to the cameo. The reason being, I have the version which has the SD card slot, the print and cut feature, and since the upgrades recently is cutting slightly heavier card stock. If I upgraded to the Cameo, all I would gain is 4 inches of cutting area, so spending £300 seems a bit daft for only 4 Inches! However, if I got an e-crafter instead to work alongside, I would gain the heavier weight card stock, stackability of media, mattless cutting and a 12x12 inch cutting surface, and it uses the same files that the CR does, SVG's. Which seems more of the sensible option.
Oh and just for any WOYWW'ers popping in, see I do clean my desk, just not on the day you all come to play!! See a clean top, my Photo box, my ATG and some inserts for some slider cards I plan to make later, if I ever finish blogging today, and you can just see the mats I was making as an example, part of the reason for this post so continue reading once you've had a good nosey around.

See!!! So I had this Skype thing on and was explaining to FG the difference between a die cutting machine, and an electronic cutting machine, as I had managed to find, fit and install a Usb web cam and a mic! So I had various projects on the go, showing the noise and delicacy of the machine, in real time.
I cut the mats you can see resting on my portable mat supports, (okay okay empty video boxes are just the right height!) and then made a little basket, in real time, with Butterflies on it.........

Pretty isnt it, would be better bigger and on a heavier weight card stock, but it was just an example. And then I proceeded to cut out some ..................Vellum. Hmmn, this does actually show how good the Silhouette/ Craft Robo is, I turned the settings right down, and cut out 5 double layered butterflies from Vellum, in different sizes. I probably shouldn't have turned it down to such a low pressure (5), as there were a couple of areas that hadn't cut properly, but they were easily released with a knife, and no damage to the butterflies. Which brings me FINALLY to the reason for this post........

5 Double layered Butterfiles, the top layer is filigree, and you can see the sizes, of the 5, as they are on an A5 card.
I tore a remaining strip of the K&Co paper I had used as the base for the Mats, but I had to trim it from 12x12 to A4 to fit in the CR, and stuck it to some Pearlised peach card stock, leaving the fibres showing, to tie the colour of the parchment in better. then I layered the butterflies up with some silicon, and added some purple gems to each to highlight the body, and tie in with the pinky purple of the pattern on the parchment. I used the remains of the layered matt I had cut, the inside bits and roughly added some purple ink to the edges of the mats, as they have sharp pointy bits on them, which catch on everything, and stamped Get well in purple ink, and embossed it with some purple detail powder.
Back to the question of the e-crafter, I am waiting for a response from Crafters companion, as to wether it will be able to utilize the 1000+ SVG files hidden in my system within the Silhouette program, which I have paid for from the silhouette online store. This has been a while, as Leann was in the States at the show, and is now at the Trafford centre, so I will have to wait a week or so more before anyone can give me an answer. If anyone does know how to access the SVG files on my PC I would appreciate knowing, as having so many in the library does slow the program down, and I would like to put them somewhere else on my pc!!! Please dont suggest saving each one elsewhere, as that will take forever and has to be done individually, and it only saves them as .studio files, which I doubt will work with the e-crafter!! And no you cant browse direct to the library of files, as I suspect its written in the DOS program, and I am NOT messing with my directories thank you!!!