I breezed through the first few units as she starts with the basics (choosing your vector editor, installing it, and making basic shapes) and I’d already figured that out myself. Trying to learn the tool myself and through YouTube videos and help pages was driving me crazy! Then Jennifer’s CUT ABOVE class opened, and I decided to take the plunge. I had so many design ideas in my head, and was able to translate many of them using a raster (jpg) editor like Photoshop or Affinity Photo and Cricut Design Space.
I got my first Cricut (a Maker) in January. After years of working at Eastman Kodak, I was an experience user of photo editing software, however, I’ve never used a vector graphics editor. In fact, she designed this 3D cat papercraft!
I did, and now I've taught HER to design own patterns. "Can you make me a pattern on the Cricut, mom?" I can. When my daughter comes to me and says, "I really like this stuffed animal and I want to make one like it.
It’s that now, because I learned how to make my own designs for my cutting machine, I can MAKE ANYTHING. I still am pinching myself, all these years later.īut the real joy here for me, is not a book or a check. But, sure enough, I turned in my book draft and received a check in the mail.Īmazing.
How can being able to design cut files translate into a book deal. So I said yes, I’ll write a book and tell everyone what I know about making paper flowers.Ī part of me thought it was just a dream. And I’ve authored 60 books already over the course of my career, so I’m experienced at writing and teaching others how to do what I’ve learned. Thanks to my ability to design them and cut them out quickly right away, so that I could tweak and refine them, I was actually well along at this point. But the truth is, that by this time, I was feeling pretty good about making paper flowers. I almost just said no, I can’t do that - I’m not experienced enough. They asked if I would write a book about paper flowers. Then, about two months after I began my paper flower design extravaganza, I was contacted by a book publisher. I was getting more creative and more adventurous as I went along, because I was learning by doing. I began designing LOTS of paper flowers - roses, magnolias, tulips, daisies, sunflowers - you name it, I was tracing petals and creating 3D paper flowers that were AH-mazing, if I do say so myself. That day, I designed my first paper flower - a peony with petals based on real peony petals from my garden. I had the POWER to make precisely what I wanted. And I quickly realized how easily it was to modify and create designs. I opened the SVG in my illustration program - which I already had installed because I am a graphic designer. So after I made my first paper flower from an SVG, I started to play around.
I wasn’t content to just download what other people had designed - I had ideas, and I wanted to see them come to life. I got a Cricut cutting machine, I made a few projects, and then I quickly decided I wanted to create my OWN designs. I began the CUT ABOVE program in October 2017 because I’ve been where you are. My crafting projects, my blog, and my entire life, have been forever changed by my ability to design SVG cut files. My files even got the attention of a book publisher, who just two months after I learned to do this, offered me a book deal.
I cracked the code on creating SVG cut files to make gorgeous projects that have been shared over 35 million times. all committed to designing beautiful things that they can upload, share with others, and even sell. Imagine being connected to others who are on the same journey as you. Imagine having the know-how to impress everyone, even yourself, with what you can create. Imagine how it will feel to finally make precisely what you envision, just the way you want, without compromise. What if, instead, you could design whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted? Do you spend too much time searching for just the right design or cut file for your project? Do you have to compromise on what you want just to make something? Or, worse yet, do you refuse to settle and never finish that project?