CREDITS:

Digital scrap items in the header, layouts and sidebar are by Miss Mint at PeppermintCreative.com or Jen Wilson at JenWilsonDesigns.com

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

FREE Halloween Vinyl Cutting Vectors EPS & SVG

It's never too early for Halloween! Just released are our 2011 Halloween vectors for vinyl cutting machines at PeppermintCreative.com along with 3 New 2011 Halloween Freebies!
(Please note if you are viewing this blog post after July 2011 these products are no longer free)

I am SUPER EXCITED to release my hilarious new Witchy Potion Labels and coordinating Halloween Party Labels! The potion bottle labels were designed with moms in mind and feature my 100% unique, never-before-created wording that are certain to elicit smiles from anyone who pauses to read them!

We've got a whole blog post HERE on how you can make your own spooktacular vinyl potion bottle labels just like these:





Here is a closer look at all the riotous labels in each set:



(Halloween witchy witch potion bottle spell labels frankenstein monster pumpkin bat eye of newt skull whining heathen harry potter spooky freaky poision jar stickers)


(Halloween Party Labels to tag eerie eats, tricky treats, witch's brew, witches, creepy crawlies bugs, monster mash, ghoul goulash, poisioned apple juice, spider cider, funny food name tags, place cards, water bottle and wine wraps, best halloween party table decor and favor treat bag tags for October 31 or harry potter owl halloween parties)

Love owls?!! We do! WHOO Wants Candy vinyl design features handlettering!



(Harry potter owl halloween candy corn spooky spider web branch owl baby hoot spook boo october 31 cute whoo wants candy funny decor for party)

Want to see our most current products and freebies? Click HERE or visit our Shop By Theme page to quickly find everything you need!










Thursday, August 5, 2010

Woodlands Nursery Animals with OWLS, Birds & Trees SVG & EPS for Cricut & Silhouette Vinyl Cutting

Click HERE to Download FREE SVG & EPS Vinyl Cutting graphics for Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines at PeppermintCreative.com!


Shown: Woodland nursery animals with whimsical trees, solid & dashed line clouds, baby boy & girl owl, squirrel, cute baby deer, does, whimsical birds, finches, robin, polka dot toadstool mushrooms, acorn, wildflowers & everything to match pottery barn kids brooke bedding, crib sheets & room decor


Shown: Grow Wise Little Owl baby nursery woods & forest creature vinyl wall word art with tiny unique, hand drawn baby owl perched on branch. Scratchy, earthy hand lettering style with leaves, branch & owl accents.

FREE SVG & EPS Halloween Witch Vectors for Vinyl Cutting Machines, Cricut & Silhouette

Download FREE Halloween SVG, EPS & GSD Files HERE for your Cricut, Silhouette, Wishblade & ALL Vinyl Cutting Machines @ PeppermintCreative.com!

Check out our new Freebie & Halloween Designs:

Shown: Welcome My Pretties witchy welcome humorous word art for Halloween front doors & entry ways or hallways with cute wicked pointed witch hat


Shown: Frankenstein "Monsters Only, No Ghouls Allowed" funny Halloween word art for making signs, gifts, October party invitations & holiday decor


Shown: Halloween Doodles with doodle black bat, candy corn, wrapped candy pieces, doodle pumpkin, doodle jack o lantern, doodle spiders & loopy witch hats for vinyl cutting machines - great for making adorable halloween window clings with vinyl printing print and cut machines!


Shown: Hand drawn doodle witch face with cute patch purple witch hat that says "A Real Witch Lives Here With Her Little Monsters". Halloween decor & sign making design for stencils, vinyl lettering, crafts, art projects, craft shows & fall festivals & carnivals

Shown: Aberzombie & Witch Halloween clothing costumes funny logo sign with crumpled old witch sorting hat graphic in EPS & SVG for Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines

Shown: Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun with spider shape Halloween October 31 ghouls night out funny halloween sign decor for trick or treat or front door entryway hallway decorating for your costume party in SVG for Cricut vinyl cutting & EPS for ALL vinyl cutting machines

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Vinyl Cutting Fonts: Clean Cut, No Jagged Edges & Easy Weeding for Cricut, Silhouette SD & ALL Vinyl Cutting Machines















Finding well-designed, clean cutting fonts is no easy task. Even when you're paying good money for quality fonts you can run acoss some that the font designer did not take the time to "clean" which means ugly jagged edges for you. Here's Why:

A vinyl cutting machine will only cut vector graphics - even if it accepts JPGS it will convert the image into a vector using it's own auto-trace program embedded in its software. A vector image is made up of points and your machine cuts along those points. Too many points equals jagged edges. The fewer the points, the cleaner the cut is. Usually you can get away with cutting anything small-scale but as soon as you need to cut two or three foot tall graphics, clean graphics become paramount.

The WORST offenders with jagged edges are free fonts and dingbats. I'm sorry to tell you that but that's why they're free. Occasionally you'll find one or two free fonts that are clean but they're few and far between. Fonts that cost less than $10 are usually similar to free fonts in that they're not cleaned up and have too many points. Around the $15-$19 range you begin to find fonts that are crisp, clean and excellent for cutting. So what is a gal with a vinyl cutter supposed to do?

I have compiled a short list of some of my favorite clean cutting fonts with links to MyFonts.com where you can buy them legally. You won't find any free font downloads here (remember those free fonts are choppy) but if you want to download some free SVG files for your Cricut or Silhouette you can click HERE! This is by no means all the fonts that cut well but these are fonts I have personally used or have seen cut cleanly on a vinyl cutting machine.

WARNING: Vinyl cutting machines do NOT accept Open Type fonts. You MUST buy True Type fonts if you wish to cut them on your machine! Click on "Buying Options" at MyFonts.com to select to buy True Type fonts. Some fonts only come as Open Type or will include both True Type & Open Type. Install the True Type only.

Also: Make sure the font you are buying has a commercial license if you are going to sell any vinyl lettering. (And if you have a machine, believe me you will - even if only to friends & family!)

Cute & Crafty Fonts:

Tweedledee: Reliable cutting & weeding, even at TINY sizes

Hayseed: Cute, thick & awesome at all sizes

Sweetheart Script: Adorable scripty font that cuts clean & is great for names & monograms

Just About EVERYTHING from Ronna Penner: She's my go-to font designer for cute, crafty fonts that I know will cut well!

Just About Everything from Filmotype: Another vinyl cutting machine-friendly foundry! (Check for True Type font options first though!)


Scripty & Monogram Fonts: These fonts are all available in True Type


Corinthia: A very popular favorite

Passions Conflict: Bet you've seen it & loved it!

Lovers Quarrel: A sister font to Passions Conflict that's gorgeous, too

Liccorice

Inspiration: Used to exhaustion but it's always a favorite!

The NautiGal

Mea Culpa: Loopy, Extra-Fancy Capitals

Ephesis

Beau Rivage

Just About Everything from TypeSETit: A wonderful foundry that offers stunning, scripty fonts in both Open Type & True Type but you MUST select the correct option under "Buying Choices" when you add the font to your cart!

Click HERE to view my blog post about welding monogram letters to make interlocking, single-piece vinyl monograms that cut as one continuous sticker


But HOW do some people cut Open Type fonts on their Silhouette SD machine?


They use a second software, like photoshop, to type the text onto a blank page and save it in JPG format that their Silhouette Original or Silhouette SD software can import & auto-trace. Voila! Problem solved! (This, however, is why you should water-mark JPG images on your site. You may inadvertantly be supplying your competitors with your entire catalog of graphics!) HINT: Silhouettes cannot import colored JPGs - only black & white ones - so coloring & watermarking your example images solves this problem!


Tay, how do YOU get the same jagged, messy font to cut so clean in the designs you sell online?

The short answer: LOTS of time! Let me explain. Anything in vector format can be edited & cleaned up if you have hours you're willing to spend doing it. Even messy fonts that have a look you like can be cleaned up. Here's a perfect example:











The "m" on the left is typed in the original font. The "m" on the right has been hand-edited by me to remove excess vector points, smooth out curves and make it much more clean cutting without losing the cute feel of the parent font. My edited m can now be cut at huge sizes whereas the flaws of the original letter form would become exaggerated & obvious if cut larger than a few inches tall. It takes 10-20 minutes per letter to correct these types of things (and then a bit longer for me to do my personal 3-step optimizing for superior vinyl cutting before I offer the graphic for sale at PeppermintCreative.com) but to me it's worth the time investment up front to have a design that will cut cleanly for the rest of its life!


Okay Tay, HOW do you clean up dingbat shapes you use?

I don't. Dingbats are infuriating to me so I don't use them. Insead I have a digital drawing tablet and years of practice as a cartoonist & advertising designer so I draw my shapes directly into my computer and then optimize them for vinyl cutting. I know not everyone can do this but that's why I design and give so much stuff away for free!


Click here to download FREE SVG designs, shapes & Graphics for your Cricut with Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) vinyl cutting machine!

Click here to download FREE GSD designs, shapes & graphics for your Silhouette SD vinyl cutting machine!


* Freebies are updated every 4 weeks! Check PeppermintCreative.com often & grow your business for FREE!
If you don't see the freebies listed on the front page, click on the "WordArt" heading written in hot pink above and click through the designs until you find the ones marked with "FREE" in hot pink in the price section!

Can I use freebies I download to cut vinyl to sell?

Yes, please do! That's what Commercial Freebies are for! (Freebies under the Digital Die Cutting section are for personal use.) You can cut as much vinyl as you want for as long as you want and make as much money as you want using the freebie design without ever paying a thing! Just please do not sell the digital graphic file itself. :)

I love what I do and I share my talent & gratitude by giving dozens of designs away to hopefully better the vinyl cutting experiences of others! I appreciate the work of font designers and will gladly supply font names & buying links for any of the fonts I use - just e-mail me. A font designer who is paid for their work will make more new fonts for all of us to enjoy!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

FREE Vinyl Cutting EPS & SVG files for Cricut, Silhouette & All Vinyl Lettering Machines

Want to cut vinyl on your Cricut or Silhouette SD? We have FREE SVG files you can download instantly & tutorials to show you how all at Peppermint Creative!
Look what downloadable word art fonts, monograms, graphics & designs for vinyl cutting machines (including Cricut SCAL & Silhouette original & SD) are totally free at PeppermintCreative.com!
Get these adorable scalloped oval baby nursery monogram mats & frames TOTALLY FREE (EPS & SVG format with JPG & PNG files inlcuded) for your Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl lettering machines! Click on the above picture to download 100% FREE right now! This is a limited time offer MEGA BONUS so grab them quick!

Double freebies! Get this Summery Beach Life WordArt design with it's cute hand drawn starfish shape FREE! Click the image above to download! It coordinates perfectly with our adorable surf nursery & children's room vinyl wall decal & sticker graphic design lines!
Pick up the Surfer Girl Nursery hand drawn shape & word art pack and do her whole bedroom & bath to match!
(Shown: hula girl, palm tree, pink flamingo, hibiscus stripe surfboard, skinny finger starfish, chunky star fish, island tropical beach beauty, tahiti sweetie, beach beauty & California Cutie Surf Co designs in EPS & SVG vector format for Cricut, Sure Cuts a Lot, SCAL, Silhouette, Silhouette SD, Wishblade, Inspiration, LXi and ALL vinyl lettering cutting machines & commercial 24 to 48 inch vinyl plotters)

Our beach surf board block art is PERFECT for making glass block night light decor with christmas lights & glass squares from Lowe's & Home Depot! Easy peasy home decor crafts await with our perfectly-square BlockART™ downloadable graphics for Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines!
Keep an eye out - some BlockART designs are often listed for FREE!



Our new 4-in-1 BlockART™ graphics feature a grid-style design made up of 4 individual FULL SIZE BlockART singles! Each download includes the full-size single and a full size grid design (total of 5 files in one!) The decorating & sales opportunities are endless!
Make Money (Hundreds per month!) Selling Vinyl Lettering with Your Cricut or Silhouette Craft Cutter NOW!
Our 100% FREE blog posts at PeppermintCreative.com walk you through the steps of getting started, setting up your business and making money! Even better, we offer FREE downloadable graphics that are updated every single month that will get you started cutting & selling INSTANTLY!
Average FIRST MONTH profit cutting vinyl with 12 inch Cricut machine: $145
Average FIRST MONTH profit cutting vinyl with 24 inch Cricut machine: $200
Average FIRST MONTH profit cutting vinyl with Silhouette or Silhouette SD machine: $140
*Profit figured after cost of vinyl & supplies is subtracted from total sales. Second & third month sales tend to double.


Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Making Interlocking Monograms Using Fonts & Overlap Welding for Silhouette, Cricut & All Vinyl Cutting Machines

As a graphic designer for PeppermintCreative.com where I design free & downloadable EPS & SVG vector shapes, I very often get the question of how do you use fonts to make a monogram that will cut on a vinyl cutting machine all as one piece without any letter lines overlapping.

It's easy to do and nearly every vinyl cutting machine has software capable of performing a simple "weld" technique to remove those letter edge overlaps. I have a QuicKutz Silhouette machine (same Craft Robo Master software as the Silhouette SD) so this tutorial will show how it is done in that software. I've been told Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) for the Cricut works the exact same way. Let's begin!

First, using any True Type font, type in the letters of your monogram. I have used the font Corinthia, available for purchase from MyFonts.com. As you can see in this example image, there are two places my letters overlap:


I want my T, A, and Y to all flow seamlessly one into the other and cut as one whole, solid piece of vinyl, like a sticker, so I'll need to perform a simple letter weld in the software that came with my Silhouette craft die cutting machine. First I select the entire image - all 3 letters - and click on the Weld Shapes button in my software, located along the top command bar in my software, close to the end as shown in the inset photo below:



Clicking this causes the letters to instantly weld, giving my monogram the proper appearance. It will cut out of vinyl exactly as I am intending. Here is what the connected, interlocking monogram now looks like at this stage of the tutorial:



Since this is going on my car, I want it to look cute and plain monograms are boring. I'm going to add a whimsical loopy border, which can be downloaded here or here for personal use only. I add the whimsical frame and ensure my design is centered and none of the letter tips are touching my border. Here is how my finished design looks and it's now ready to be cut out of vinyl!



For auto vehicle windshield stickers I like to use Oracal 651 vinyl. It's got a 6 year outdoor rating meaning it will stay put for at least 6 years on your vehicle and hold up well through car washes, rain storms, scorching summers and the like. If you're planning on selling car decals, this is the vinyl I recommend you cut with so your customers are pleased and come back for more.

You can use Oracal 641, which has a 4 year outdoor rating, or Oracal 631 matte which has a 3 year rating. Both of these will show wear after a couple years and the 631 will come off if a pressure washer is used on it.


Need More Monogram Frames, Mats, Shapes & Supplies?

Click HERE to view all the specialty shapes you can download at PeppermintCreative.com!


Want Start-to-Finish help in learning how to cut vinyl with your Cricut, Silhouette, Wishblade, Inspiration or ANY other vinyl cutting machine and make money selling cut vinyl online?

Click HERE for the 100% FREE Peppermint Creative Blog Series that walks you through all of the beginning steps and gives you all the industry inside secrets you won't find anywhere else!
(Because really, no one with a vinyl business has TIME to write all this stuff down because they're too busy with orders!)


Download FREE SVG vector graphics for your Cricut with Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) HERE!

Download FREE GSD file format graphics (personal use only) for your Silhouette, Silhouette SD and Wishblade HERE!

Download FREE EPS & SVG commercial use vector graphics for your vinyl cutting machine or professional vinyl plotter HERE and sell as much cut vinyl as you want!

* Please note our freebies are updated regularly, with new ones added every single month!
If you don't see the current freebies showing on the front page, click on the pink heading titled "WordArt" and click through the pages until you find the graphic with "FREE" written in pink underneath it. Check back often for new freebies to be added - I LOOOVE giving free SVG & EPS vinyl graphics away!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

FREE SVG files for your Cricut & Vinyl Cutting Machines

There is a TON of brand new stuff at PeppermintCreative.com that is perfect for a baby nuseries, monograms and there are even some brand new Halloween designs! Here's a sneak peek of what you can download NOW!


(Shown: Little hula girl hawiian beach nursery graphic in the Surfer Girl Nursery EPS & SVG commercial use vector pack for Cricut, Sure Cuts a Lot, SCAL, Silhouette, Wishblade, Craft Robo and ALL vinyl cutting machines )


(Shown: Unisex boy & girl surf boards with palm trees, hibiscus & waves for pottery barn surfer baby nurseries and children's rooms decor in the Surf Board Row BlockArt pack)


(Shown: Surf Shack surfer dude room decor for vinyl cutting machines with a jeep woody stacked high with surf boards, palm tree, hibiscus, stripe surf board & surfing text in the Surf Shack BlockArt pack)

(Shown: Halloween Witch Word Art reads Would a Bad Witch Wear Shoes This Fabulous with high heel pointed witchy kitten heel shoe )
(Shown: Hocus Pocus Halloween Witches Haunted Word Art design with magic potion spell starburst pops for vinyl cutting machines in EPS, SVG & GSD file format for Cricut, Silhouette, Wishblade, Craft Robo & ALL vinyl cutting machines)

(Shown: Spells & Potions and all sorts of Commotions witches boutique halloween shop sign design graphic with magic wand, spells, potion bottles & eerie haunted starbursts for vinyl cutting machines in EPS & SVG commercial use file formats for Cricut, Silhouette, Wishblade & ALL vinyl cutting machines)
(Shown: Funny Come in for a Spell with grungy loopy decorative scrolls Halloween Witch Sign EPS & SVG file for ALL vinyl cutting machines - cute witches boutique holiday craft wood decor!)

(Shown: One Really Catty Witch Lives Here HILARIOUS Halloween holiday decor sign graphic for Vinyl Cutting Machines, Cricut SVG, Silhouette GSD & EPS file formats for witchy home craft decorating with vinyl lettering!)
(Shown: Polka Dot Baby Nursery Monogram Frames in 6 different shapes! Perfect for children's rooms, family room monograms, play rooms & label making! EPS & SVG files for Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines!)

(Shown: Scalloped Rectangle Baby Nursery Monogram Frames IDEAL for children's room monograms & personalization of wall vinyl lettering wallies & stickies!)
(Shown: Scalloped Square & Diamond Babies Nurseries Monogram Mats & Frames for personalizing children's rooms walls! In EPS & SVG for your Cricut, SCAL, Sure Cuts a Lot, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines!)

(Shown: Scalloped Edge Circle Monogram Mats & Frames for little girl baby nurseries & children's rooms & playrooms! Just like Pottery Barn personalized wallies & vinyl lettering! In EPS & SVG format for your Cricut, SCAL, Silhouette & ALL Vinyl Cutting Machines!)

100% FREE SVG Graphics FREE INSTANT DOWNLOAD for your Cricut, Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) & Silhouette Vinyl Cutting Machines:
For a limited time the Scalloped Oval Monogram Mats & Frames are TOTALLY FREE in EPS & SVG vector format graphic download from PeppermintCreative.com. Perfect for baby nurseries, personalizing children's rooms, bathrooms, playrooms & making vinyl sticker labels for toys, sippy cups, wine glasses & belongings. Get the FREE SVG FILES NOW!
(Shown: Scalloped oval monogram mats & frames in EPS & SVG file format for Cricut, Silhouette & ALL vinyl cutting machines)
Have Questions About How to Get Started with Vinyl Cutting?
Check out these totally FREE blog articles on how to select a machine, import SVG graphic files, buy vinyl rolls at discount prices, where to get FREE SVG & EPS file downloads every single month and more: