Scan N Cut.....I Missed the Obvious

A thought occurred to me yesterday that perhaps my problem stamps were not really the problem. I wondered if it was the process I was using.

I was stamping, cutting, then coloring. It works well when you have matching dies. I can see the lines clearly for lining up the die with the stamped image, then color using sponge daubers. They are not as precise as markers, but the look works well for large florals, and it's generally faster. I do not enjoy coloring. I tolerate it.

It seemed that the Scan N Cut was confused by some of the detailed stamped images. What would happen if I colored them first?  Originally I was concerned about ruining an image I had taken the time to color, but you can see with the machine before you cut if there is a problem. If there is, you just don't cut.

I got out the same "problem" stamps this morning that had issues yesterday. I stamped two images of each. I colored one, and left the other uncolored. For the uncolored, I used the same color of ink that I used for it yesterday.

These are the cutting lines of the colored image:

Next, the cutting lines of the non-colored image:

If you look closely, two petals would have been cut away, parts of each completely missing.

Next, here are the colored and black & white stamped images of the rose trellis:

The cutting lines of the colored image:

One small part at the bottom would be cut off, but the image would be cut out almost perfect.

Next, the black and white cutting lines:

The rose at the top would be chopped apart, as well as other little bits cut away. It's not horrible, but it's not what I wanted.

I cut only the colored images of both the dogwood and rose trellis. You can see the results look good, and NO TRACING REQUIRED:

There is a way that you can cut both inside and out, which would hopefully get rid of at least some of the inside white sections, but I wanted to resolve one problem at a time. I will play with that technique later.

This was one of those occasions when I seriously felt like doing a face palm for missing what should have been obvious, but since I typically die cut before coloring when I have matching dies, it just didn't occur to me at first. I cut first out of habit.

The information (that fully colored images work better) was probably in the operations manual, which came on a CD. I am one of the few who usually will usually read manuals, but since I have used so many electronic cutters, I thought watching tutorials would just be quicker this time, not to mention a lot more enjoyable.

Lesson learned: Color first before cutting.