Welcome back to MINT-SPIRATIONAL MONDAY! It was a busy week of sales at PC, but not a lot of action in the gallery. Are we all feeling a little BLAH this week? That seems to be the consensus on our end in Mint-land. But it’s a brand new week and it’s time to beat those blah’s. Perhaps some new goodies will cheer you up?! I’m working on a pile of new products that I think you will LOVE. Can’t wait to share with you. In the meantime,

Let’s take a look at some Minty goodness…

Checkers | by: Mommy2Talesia
An adorable page from Mint Chick Trisha using my current FAVE kit Game Night. Beautiful shots and fun angles plus great element placement too!

Our Triplets| by: boofceil
Awwww x3!! Look at those precious bundles! Isn’t this the sweetest page?? I love the mix of the pink and blue around the border. A perfect baby page.

Mardi Gras | by: Aemilius
Love the red/pink with the black. Great combination. Brilliant choice to change the photos to black and white to avoid a color contrast. Fun page!

Megan Renee | glumirk
Beautiful take on last week’s MBM challenge to scrap your name. Megan did a fantastic job letting the colors of her photos dictate the colors for her page. And as a result, she’s created a completely unique look!

Keep posting your pages! I promise, more stuff coming soon!! ;)
Have a great day!

Introduction to Vinyl Cutting Machines: Tools & Supplies You’ll Need
By: Tay Silver | Creative Cuttables & Commercial Vector Designer

It’s Tay here again to help turn your Cricut, Silhouette or Wishblade craft cutter into a vinyl lettering machine! Our first blog post helped give you an understanding of how to import graphics into your machine’s software. Once you have made sure your individual machine can handle thin media, such as vinyl (see your user’s manual), it is time to purchase supplies! Here is what you will need:

Vinyl: Oracal 631 Matte is the most popular home interior vinyl because it’s non-glossy surface looks as if the vinyl was hand-painted on the wall. White, chocolate brown and ivory are the most popular color requests, followed by black, light pink and deep red.

Weeding Tool: Most gals use an Xacto™ Knife, available at any chain retailer or craft store. I personally use a tool called a Bubble Popper, which has a needle tip at one end and a burnishing wedge at the other. It’s intended to pop bubbles that occur in large vinyl applications but I find it the size ideal for weeding & applying craft-sized vinyl projects. (I purchased my Bubble Poppers, and all my supplies, from SignWarehouse.com)

Application Tape: This is what you use to peel the vinyl off the backing and put it on the wall without having to individually apply each letter. The tape is low-tack, so it holds the letters in place until you stick them on the wall. The vinyl adhesive is stronger than the tape adhesive, so the tape peels away, leaving the vinyl on the wall.

I recommend buying tape in a size slightly larger than the maximum cutting width of your machine. For example, my Silhouette can cut 8 inches wide so I purchase 8.5 inch tape. If you know you are going to be doing smaller craft-type projects, you may wish to buy a second roll of 4 or 6 inch tape to save yourself some time. Also, consider getting a higher quality tape for easier application. I personally use R-Tape ApliTape Standard Application Tape. However clear film application tapes that let the client view the vinyl design through the tape is a favourable new option.

Ruler & Yard Stick: You’ll need both. Chances are you probably have them. Both can be purchased at any chain retailer or craft store.

Comfy Grip Scissors: They’re not absolutely necessary but you’re going to use scissors a lot and saving yourself from hand strain is worth the money.

Not wanting to buy a full roll of vinyl? Search for other sites selling small pieces of vinyl specifically sized to fit your machine. This will allow you to cut several designs in many different colors for about the cost of one roll of vinyl. Just be sure to order a bit extra for test cutting and you’ll still need to purchase weeding tools and a roll of application tape.

In our next blog post, we’ll walk you through test-cutting and how to begin cutting vinyl for your home, craft projects and to sell!

How To: Cutting Vinyl With Your Cricut, Silhouette or Wishblade Machine
By: Tay Silver | Creative Cuttables & Commercial Vector Designer

If you’ve made the investment in a digital die cutting machine chances are you can make back more than a bit of that money selling vinyl lettering cut by your machine. Lots of crafters and stay-at-home moms are setting up in-home vinyl businesses with minimal upfront cost and enjoying immediate profits! As a graphic designer and a serious vinyl crafting enthusiast I’m happy to give you some advice on how to get started:

Vinyl lettering is HOT right now and whether you just want to cut a few things for your home, make gifts for friends or start an at-home business, it’s a great time to begin! Let’s look at how you can easily turn your Cricut, Silhouette or Wishblade into a vinyl cutting machine.

First, do some research on your individual digital die cutting machine to determine what file format it accepts so you can cut graphics in addition to text, a must if you will be taking orders and selling cut vinyl. Once you know the file type(s) your machine accepts, you can begin experimenting with vinyl cutting. To assist you, I have created a quick reference of the three most popular machines and the file types they accept:

Please refer to your user manual for file types accepted and directions on importing your own images into your machine’s software.

Although I do not have experience with each machine and cannot tell you exactly what will work for your machine, Peppermint Creative does have a free download available that contains EPS, SVG, JPG and PNG file types which you can try with your machine.

Knowing the file types your machine accepts unlocks a whole new category of Peppermint Creative supplies! You’ll find hundreds of graphic files in our Commercial Vector section, all professionally designed and packaged with a Commercial Use License for cutting and selling vinyl. If you’re only cutting for yourself and will not be selling your vinyl, Personal Use Vectors are available here. Please note our personal use vectors do not include EPS files. (EPS files are available only in Commercial Use packs because it is the file type accepted by most large-scale professional vinyl plotters.)

Once you have imported your graphics and followed the directions in your Users Manual to set up the cut, you can perform test cuts.

Our next blog post will tell you exactly what tools and supplies you’ll need for getting started with vinyl cutting.

:: SHOP NOW!!

Don’t miss the awesome brand new alphabets including a ton of felt stitched alphas because they looks SOOO amazing when overlapped slightly on a page, lots of epoxy (colored and clear) and much more including a computer keyboard alpha (my new fave). Click the link above to view all new alphas in store!!

Sorry for the slight delay ladies!..Let’s take a look at the inspirational pages & projects of the week.

"Hi, mommy!" | by: mturnidge
A stunning page by Mint Chick Megan. Great color coordination between the papers/elements and the photos which are just too cute for words. Love the untraditional cluster of photos in the centre! 

Queen of the Sea | by: tkeetch
The great design of this page reminds me of a traditional paper layout! Love the simplicity of the elements and how motion was created with the paint streak running
behind the photos!
 

Uno! | by: rjcjme
Sometimes less is more as is the case with this adorable page. That photo is just perfect! And rjcme was clever not to overdo it with elements. As my 12th grade drama teacher used to say…‘KISS’ = keep it simple stupid!


best friends | by: shutterspeed
Beautiful! The choice to convert this photo to black and white was perfect. It really lets the papers POP! Color explodes all over this cheerful page. Black and white conversion is always a fantastic option as the photo will then coordinate with virtually ANY kit you have in your stash.
 

eBlocks | by: jdrain86
Beautiful layering and use of elements on this one! Great choice of title letters & color as well! Bravo for a beautiful page and for documenting important research with a special page.
 

Oops…we did it again! | by: RhiG122
Baby in da house! Can I get a ‘what, what?’. Love the title and of course the photo!
I feel honoured that I had a minor part in announcing/celebrating this news (online at least). Can I suggest ‘Minty’ as a name? Perfect for a boy or girl…
Just say you’ll think about it.

Love-Being-Together | by: Scraphappy
Kisses and cuddles this page is all kinds of lovey dovey. In a good way, of course. Love the choice of the serene colors with these photos!
 

4th of July Fireworks| by: crystalcangel
Snap, crackle, POP! Crafty Crystal is back rockin’ the vector graphics once again. These graphics designed to be cut from vinyl on a digital cutting machine like the Silhouette or Circut are then adhered to painted wood blocks and decorated.

Can you imagine how amazing these will look on the party table surrounded by bowls of chips and plates of sandwiches?! Too cute. Each guest could take one home as a souvenir!
 

Small Friends and Family Welcome Block | by: crystalcangel
Another adorable hybrid creation. This one is perfect for your mantle or bookshelf!
Loving this idea? Click to view more completed creations from Crystal.

Thanks for posting ladies! Keep the creativity coming. ;)

 Princess Monopoly | cindy 732003
Always glad to see a page from Cindy! A fantastic overall design and great use of black and white photos to help them work better with the kit!

Winner of My Heart | glumirk
Ahh the FACE! I just love this handsome little face. Look at him. Oy. Oh right…I’m supposed to be talking about the page. I can’t! I want to kiss those cheeks! Ok…great use of negative space at the top. It helps pull the eye right to the photo.

Christmas Cutie | tkeetch
Absolutely adorable! Great use of elements and again, I love the use of older photos like this one from 1985. Don’t forget all those old photos you have laying around.

play ball | Keela
Sometimes simplicity is key! You don’t have to pile you pages high with embellishments if it’s not your style. Fresh, modern and clean is just as beautiful. Embrace your scrapping style and just go with it – don’t force yourself to do something that doesn’t come naturally to you. Either it will over time, or it won’t. Either way – you can have a beautiful page like this one from Keela.

Life is like a Mirror | glumirk
Sometimes its the subtle details that really make a page special. Like the way the second ‘R’ in mirror is flipped to create a mirror effect. Cute, clever and memorable.

Me | Gabby
I love AAM pages because we don’t see them all that often. I love Gabby’s dictionary definition of her name and the cute photos to boot.

All Tuckered Out | tkeetch
A primary delight! At first glance I didn’t recognize the papers as my designs because Tiff had pulled them from several different kits to create her own unique color combination. Great idea! Don’t get stuck only using one kit at a time – make the most of your products by mixing and matching to create brand new looks.

cupcake cake balls | mturnidge
YUM. Cake balls. ‘nuff said.

Lastly, I feel a need to include some submissions from our current Click-a-Pic Challenge because they are too amazing not to feature. Challenge hostess and photographer Sarah Harbuck has challenged us to create a color collage and the results are pretty incredible. Check ‘em out!

by: birgit

by: gabby

by: sarah

by: kirstie

Just go to BIG HUGE LABS and you can utilize their mosaic maker. Make a 3×3 mosaic square using photos of a similar color shade. This can be done with photos in your archives or (more encouraged) go out and shoot photos for it specifically! Can’t wait to see what you create!