Weddingbee Blog

Yeah, I have it. When I first started planning our wedding I was fascinated with the Cricut (which I mispronounced for almost 4 months) although I wasn’t really sure exactly what it did or how it worked. I was disappointed to learn that the machine operated off cartridges that were pricey and that you needed to purchase special software to design your own cuts. I decided it was more trouble (read money) than it was worth and tucked away any hopes of fancy shaped signs and programs.

My second crafting love was the Gocco—and well, we know that I didn’t deny myself this great little machine. We’ve been so pleased with our purchase and I know we will continue to use it in the future. Check out the beer themed Christmas cards that we made this year.

The desire to cut cute shapes and letters out of paper and cardstock hasn’t escaped me—I just didn’t want a Cricut—so I had pretty much let it go… until I met the Silhouette.

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Hive meet Silhouette, Silhouette meet the hive. I am not sure if anyone else has seen this machine in action. It’s been around for a couple years but doesn’t have the visibility that the Cricut does. I guess that means it hasn’t hit the late night infomercial circuit yet. How did we meet the Silhouette? Mr P’s friend J used her Silhouette to turn a flat piece of paper into this petal topped favor box and we were hooked.

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Bye-bye cartridges, It’s all driven off your PC or laptop. You can cut any TrueType font that is loaded on your computer for free. Designs are purchased a la carte and are less than $1 per design. The Silhouette blog offers a free design every week and you can even design your own shapes in the software, upload a bitmap or even cut directly from Illustrator. *Swoon* This is a cutting machine that I can get behind.

And it doesn’t cut paper only! I didn’t realize that I could make my own vinyl wall decals, or glass etching templates. The Pretzels will definitely be etching our names in the bottom of glass baking dishes and maybe even customizing a few pub glasses.

Mr Pretzel was as amazed as I was. The next day I Googleed Silhouette and researched the original model that J had. I found the old model on ebay, new in the box, at a deep discount. I asked Mr Pretzel if he really wanted one and was answered with a “Heck yes! I’d vote for you.” Click, click, click and it was on its way to my house.

I didn’t have the Silhouette out of the box 24 hours before we made our first project. Behold the cutest birthday card ever! OK, OK… the cutest card that Pretzel has made from scratch… ever.

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A cute little present

Seems to be hiding something inside

I love the unique envelope and card

I’m giddy with excitement over the projects I can make. Fancy shaped signs and programs are back on the docket. Let me leave you with some non-wedding project ideas.

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What crafting machines/tools are you pining for?