Another one bites the dust…

So, I feel the need today to alert my blog readers of something that happened over the weekend. SCAL2, the die cutting software I use 95% of the time with my Cricut Machine, has been removed from the Craft Edge website and will no longer be sold. If you have SCAL2 or SCAL already you are OK, the software will continue to work just fine and you will not be tricked into updating scal and losing your ability to cut with your Cricut. Craft Edge will continue to support the software until the end of the year. However you won’t want to update any ProvoCraft Cricut software or they may block you SCAL or MTC and then you will be up the proverbial river. I’m just bummed today, I have been a passionate user of SCAL for almost 3 years, I think it stinks the ProvoCraft (the makers of Cricut) have bullied them and got their way. Boo provocaft, shame on you! I will continue to use my SCAL2 software until my Cricut wears out then I will buy a die cutter that will let me cut what I want and doesn’t go around suing everybody and there are plenty of reputable die cutting machines that will work with the new SCAL3 such as: Craftwell eCraft™, Black Cat Cougar/Lynx™, Boss Kut Gazelle™, Pazzles Inspiration™, Silhouette SD™, USCutter™. And unlike Provocraft software SCAL is available for Windows and Macintosh. 

I will no longer purchase products from bullies and I know other crafters feel the same way. Provocraft/Cricut thinks that this move will give them back a monopoly so they can charge $90 a cartridge…think again.  BTW there is a new software I tried called FairyCut and although I prefer scal for straight die cutting the print & Cut feature in fairy cut is freakin’ unbelievable! It’s like having the Cricut Imagine machine except you can print and cut ANYTHING you want not just the lame graphics available on the overpriced cartridge…oh wait, that was just mean…shame on me 😛 Of course it is only a matter of time before they get sued too so you might want to grab this software while you can 😉 Alrightie, I am official done with my ranting and raving…speaking of fairies (nice segway huh?) here is a card I made with the new Flower Fairy stamps from Crafters Companion:

Stamps: Fairy/daisy (Crafters Companion), Words/other flower (SU!), Frugal Tip: Make an envelope first and use the scrap of paper leftover on the card.

It was a thank you for the Daisy Girl Scout leader, hence the daisy fairy. To see how I colored this image you can watch the video here. This was the image I colored in the video. To add the daisies I simply covered the fairy with a sticky note and stamped the daisy stamp right on top after the image was colored, then I stamped just the ends if the stems again to make the flowers look bigger and as if they were behind the fairy. I colored them with my promarkers.

This card qualifies for the following challenges: By the Cute & Girly, Sundays with Crissy, Tiffany Doodles, Come and Get It Challenges, One Stitch At A Time, ECP Challenges, Creative Card Crew

Thanks for listening to me rant today. I just wanted to make sure that if you have a cricut and d not already have SCAL that you don’t run out and get SCAL3 because it will not work with a cricut. (If you have another brand of diecutter I still wholeheartedly recommend it tho!)I am so fortunate that I got mine when I did! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!