Happy Birthday with MDS and Silhouette Cameo

I received a special gift in the mail this weekend.  It wasn’t a gift from someone else – just a little something special I ordered for myself.  After an online search, I clicked “add to cart” on a Silhouette Cameo, a digital die cut machine that works with My Digital Studio to recreate some of our favorite Stampin’ Up! images.  There’s even a section of MDS downloads that are perfect for e-cutters. I’ve seen many projects lately that use MDS and die cutting machines, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I completed my order and didn’t look back.  I was excited to hook it all up (I can’t act like I hooked it up without assistance from a very patient Justin) and play with my new card making tool.

What’s the first project I made with my new toy?  A birthday card for a very special friend.  Here’s my card:

Fantabulous You (My Digital Studio), Stampin' Up!, Brian King

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Holding out.  I’ve been holding out on embracing e-cutters.  From the moment Sheila showed me her e-cutter, I wanted to separate e-cutters from the art of creating beautiful cards.  I must admit, though, that I really enjoyed using my new toy, and I love what I was able to create with it.  This still allowed me to touch and feel the paper and create a beautiful card.  I’m glad I decided to not hold out any longer.  I now see how this amazing tool can be used to enhance paper crafting.
  • Color Combinations.  This project started with the cutout on a piece of Coastal Cabana – it just happened to be a piece of paper in my reach.  The Coastal Cabana was stuck to the e-cutter cutting mat and then run through the machine.  I had to carefully peal off the pieces from the mat, and I had to make sure I kept all of the pieces, including the insides of the letters that were cut out.  The bright and cheery Coastal Cabana is grounded a bit by the deeper Island Indigo.  The base is a paler, warmer shade of Coastal Cabana from Retro Fresh Designer Series paper.  So Saffron adds a nice balance to the blues in this card.Fantabulous You (My Digital Studio), Stampin' Up!, Brian King
  • My Digital Studio.  If you have an e-cutter and My Digital Studio, you might be able to import Stampin’ Up!’s MDS graphics into the program (I had to download Silhouette Designer Studio to pull in the MDS graphics).  This image is from Fantabulous You.Papers:  Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, So Saffron, Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper  Accessories:  Fantabulous You (My Digital Studio download), Circles Collection Framelits, Starburst Framelits, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Fantabulous You (My Digital Studio), Stampin' Up!, Brian King Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Brian

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39 Comments

  1. Welcome to the e-cutter world! I am very much a novice but it is an amazing tool. I want you to know that you enabled a purchase today. Yes, this MDS collection. I have never seen it before and I love it. Thanks for inspiring me again.

    • Michelle – I think this is one of the sets that comes standard with the MDS download. I think. If so, no additional purchase necessary. Woo hoo!

  2. Congrats! I love my Silhouette! I have to get the MDS now! Love the colors on this card.

  3. Brian, “You are Crazy Awesome”. Great card. I’m so excited for you to have a new toy. Looking forward to hearing all about it! Good Luck. 🙂

  4. O.k. my friend…this has gone from the “back of my head” to the “front” and I have not hit that BUY ME NOW…..button! I have been having a blast with MDS lately and I know that this goodie will make me say – “why did I not do it earlier”!!!! There are SOOOOO many great downloads on MDS now…..I need a push….Brian….push me or I won’t pick you up at the airport next Friday!!!! Great card!

  5. i have the silhouette but have been holding out on MDS because I have so many downloads already and not enough time to spend…you have enabled me to bite the bullet. love the card!

  6. Yeah! The next big thing in crafting I believe! Pretty darn cool Brian!

  7. Great. Thanks for enabling Brian. Awesome describes it well. And you well! Love love love it!

  8. What a crazy awesome card. I’m sure you can do amazing things with it.

  9. This is very cool, and I have been on the fence about an e-cutter myself. Maybe if Justin would set it up for me??????

  10. Uh, yeah. I think Pam said it best. Now I want a Silhouette too. I think it will have to be my next big purchase. Thanks for enabling.

  11. Great card Brian! I am always willing to help you out my friend! 🙂

  12. Oh how fun, you will love crafting with your e-cutter. I recently bought an e-Clips machine and it’s awesome. Check out http://www.misskatecuttables, she has a free cut file every day. It’s a great way to build your library. Enjoy your new toy!

  13. I have a cameo too. Are you thinking of giving on-line classes? I’m afraid mine is still in the box. I love your card!

  14. I bought a Cricut Expression about 4 years ago and it has literally collected dust!! I hate to admit that! I struggled between buying it or the Silhouette Cameo but then there was a “steal of a deal” on the Cricut, if you know what I mean!! I wonder if I can use the MDS with my Cricut as you have your new Silhouette Cameo?

    BTW, awesome card and congrats on your new toy!! I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun with it! I’m looking forward to what you create with it using SU’s MDS!! 🙂

    • Tonya, you can’t, unless you also bought Make the Cut or SCAL before ProvoCraft sued everyone. You can only use the cartridges with the Expression. I’m selling mine and will eventually get one of the friendlier machines.

      • Thank for the info Sarah!! Most helpful! Perhaps I’ll give my Cricut Expression to my daughter and get the Silhouette Cameo!! 🙂

  15. I have had my silhouette a year now and I am still discovering things I can do with it. It is a phenomenal machine. I had the Cricut for several years now and Silhouette leaves it in the dust! I have played with the MDS with my machine only a little but I did manage to import some papers and some punches to use with my machine. You can open jpeg images and create cut files from clip art even. Alas, so much creative potential, so little time! Good luck and enjoy!!

  16. This is Crazy Awesome!!!

  17. I held out for a long time too. Not sure which one was the best fit for me. Stamps take up a ton of my space, didn’t want to give up any for cartridges. I hope you will be posting tutorials as you learn more and more. I look forward to your post every day. Thank you for re-igniting my craft bug.

  18. I hope this doesn’t mean that you are going to give up using stamps and punches Brian. Everyone sounds really hopped up on this cutter and I bet it is an amazing computerized machine. I’m sure you’ll have tons of fun with it.

  19. Congrats on your new purchase Brian! I’ve been on the fence so long about buying an e-cutter — mostly waffling between the eclips and cameo. How did you decide which one would be a better fit for you? Would love your feedback (and enabling words)!

    • Jeanie, Thanks. This is going to sound irresponsible, but I simply asked around to the handful of people who use it. I ordered what they use. 🙂

  20. My MDS is still somewhere! I bought the previous version, put it on my computer. Didn’t use it then bought the newer version, and I can’t get things to work. Is Fantabulous you ONLY on MDS? I thought only the regular SU things were on MDS. Oh my.

    • Karen, If you have the disc, you could reload it to your new computer. The new version is MUCH better – comes with lots of content. I want to say that Fantabulous You is exclusive to MDS. There’s lots of content in MDS that’s not in stamp form.

  21. I love the card and all the sayings in the set, totally bummed it doesn’t come in regular stamps. I am what I term as computer illiterate, and I cringe at the thought of trying to set up an e-cutter and actually use it, would it work off my laptop??? is it wireless??? hmmm my 12 year old grandson could maybe figure it out, unless Justin is willing to travel to western Canada,lol.

  22. Gorgeous card Brian. Love those colors together.

    I have had the Silhouette Cameo for a couple of years now and have well over 5,000 “shapes” (they were 50% off last month…LOL). However I had been holding off on MDS not knowing if it would really work with the Silhouette, but after seeing what Justin and now yourself can do with Silhouette and MDS, guess what??? Ordered the trial version a little over a week ago (thanks Justin the enabler!) and now I will test it with my Cameo. Can’t wait to start playing.

  23. Oh my gosh, that card is AWESOME!!!!
    And I hope we get “Fantabulous You”in stamp from in the new catty…….love the sayings.
    So nice that Justin has found a new career, LOL!

  24. Brian – I’ve been a cutter user longer than I’ve been a Stampin’ up! demo (and I’ve been a demo for over 10 years ;). I got a Cameo for Mother’s Day last year (actually I *won* it in a Pin It to Win It thing)… i LOVE my Cameo!!!!!! And I love using MDS images with it, and stamps to do print and cuts, and,… OK, I’ll stop, but I really LOVE that thing! Welcome to the wonderful world of Cameoing!!!
    (I was going to say cutting, but that sounded bad in today’s context of what cutting is so I changed it).

  25. Still too chicken to buy an computer based machine… I am sure I will one day. But forget the machine… Next time you are chatting to Shelli, ask her to make that e-file a stamp set… I would buy it in a snap!

    • I’m with you Emma! I have a Cricut I bought years ago and it is still in the box, waiting for me to learn how to use it. I just can’t get excited about MDS; must be because I’m on a computer all day long at work… and I love to use my hands to create instead. But Brian, this card IS awesome and I really do love it. I agree with Emma too….it should be a stamp set.

  26. I am so excited for you. I have a Silhouette Cameo, and I LOVE IT!!!!! Wel worth the investment. I had no clue it worked with MDS. Gotta try iy!

  27. Love this card Brian – now you have an e-cutter there will be no stopping you! I have so far resisted the urge too, but I think it’s only a matter of time …

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