My KNK Groove Kicks Ass!

What's this, you ask? This is how well the Groove conserves paper! And I guarantee all my crafty friends reading this are thinking, "Wow, I wonder what I could use that for?" Some nice collage? A stencil? Am I right?

63 peace signs cut in 10 minutes!

These other two photos are a bit blurry. Try as I might, I was unable to hold the camera steady tonight. I must still be trembling with excitement from the progress I've made using my new computerized KNK Groove cutting machine. I highly recommend this machine and I have Darcy to thank for emailing me last year to tell me about it. I had never heard of this particular brand until she mentioned it. Darcy has patiently answered my questions this past weekend, as has Sandy, the real KNK guru. I've been watching her tutorial videos, learning something every time. They are both very generous with their time and expertise. I'm discovering a whole new community out there for this machine.

Once my brain got in gear with how it works, you should have seen the lightbulbs over my head popping off all weekend. I'm fairly obsessed with this machine. I think about it in the shower. While driving. All the time.

Sunday night:

Stefani: How can I possibly get to sleep when my Groove is in my studio, just waiting for me?

Steve: It will be there in the morning. Go to sleep.

One of my "signature" (ha!) things is that I love to stack layers to make thicker elements, especially with black as the bottom layers. It adds such dimension. When I was cutting these peace signs with my QuicKutz Revolution, I was figuring out how many layers to make each one. I had decided on 2 blacks, topped with a colorful peace sign, because that's a whole lot of die cutting. But now that I can have the Groove cut sheets of them at a time, I'll stack 3 black layers with a colorful one on top, which I think looks much better.

I have more stuff to show you sometime but I need to get to bed soon. Just wanted to surface for a moment and say that I'm having more fun with this machine than I thought possible. I had high expectations and they've been exceeded.

1. I am thrilled with how easy and useful it is to change the size of designs. That alone means the sky is the limit, over the vast collection of craft punches I own, even.

2. I knew this machine is super precise, but I had no idea how intrigued and happy I am to set up diagonal guidelines mathematically. It's exactly how my brain works.

3. It's fascinating how I have to change my thinking. As Darcy says, you can make designs that rely on cutting away portions rather than gluing bits on top.

4. I had no idea this machine could trace existing elements to cut out. That's how I made this peace sign project. I scanned a peace sign I'd punched out with my Revolution. I scanned a butterfly (remember, I kept breaking the punch?) to cut, but I ended up tweaking it. Another lightbulb!

5. I can't bear to look at my poor neglected Tivo. It's maxed out it's 40 hours capacity. I have been on my computer for days, not watching TV.

Life is changing. Life is good.