Silhouette CAMEO and a Silhouette stamping starter kit to review
I received a Silhouette CAMEO and a Silhouette stamping starter kit to review. When I got these boxes I couldn’t wait to open them up and play with the contents, however due to my schedule I had to wait another four days. But, alas, the time finally came and I was able to open these boxes and get started working with them. I have used the original Silhouette Portrait in the past, so I do have experience with the Silhouette software. However I set up the Silhouette CAMEO on a new computer so that I could give a more honest review on how the set up went.
About the Silhouette CAMEO- The Silhouette CAMEO is a paper crafter’s dream come true. It is an electronic cutting machine, allowing you to cut materials ranging from paper and cardstock to vinyl, fabric, and more. This machine allows you to cut materials up to 12” wide and up to 10 feet long. You can also print on cardstock to your printer, and then put that printout through the CAMEO and it will cut out the shape you just printed. This machine is so versatile, it is well worth the investment. You can use it to make cards, scrapbook pages, stamps, heat transfer on shirts, vinyl wall art and so much more.
At 20.9 in x 6.5 in x 5 in the Silhouette CAMEO does take up a lot of real estate in your craft area. It weighs 6.5 pounds, and can cut materials up to .8mm thick. It also has an SD card slot. This is nice because as I mentioned the CAMEO is large and you may not have room for it right next to your computer. What you can do is create images on your computer, save them to the SD card and then insert the SD card into your CAMEO to cut them. Included with the CAMEO is a power cable, USB cable, adjustable blade, 12×12 cutting mat, 50+ exclusive designs, a one month free subscription to the Silhouette Online Store, software CD, instructional DVD and basic instruction guide. It is compatible with Windows XP or higher and Mac OS X 10.6.8 and higher.
After I took everything out of the box I watched the instructional DVD and read through the instruction guide. If you watch the video and read the instruction guide you should have no problems setting up your CAMEO. It was really quite easy.
My laptop has a broken CD drive so I was a little nervous about how I was going to download the software. But, to my relief I was able to go directly to www.silhouetteamerica.com/support and click on “Download the latest Silhouette Studio” to download the software. It took about five minutes to download the software to my laptop and another few minutes for it to install onto my laptop.
Silhouette stamping kit
The starter kits that Silhouette America offers for purchase are very nice. They include everything you need to get started with that material. The stamping kit came with 3 sheets of stamp material at 6 in by 7.5 in, a cutting mat for stamping material, three acrylic blocks sized at 6 in by 2 in, 3 in by 4 in and 2 in by 3 in, a black ink pad, 10 exclusive stamp designs, an instructional DVD and an idea/instruction book.
After setting up the CAMEO and opening the stamping kit I opened up the Silhouette Studio software so that I could download the free designs that came with the CAMEO and stamping kit, and also enter my code for the one month free subscription to the Silhouette Online Store. For the project that I wanted to make (will be in a later post) I purchased a layered flower cut file and also a card sentiment. After purchasing cut files they are automatically loaded into your library. I did make a mistake that was completely user error but wanted to mention to save someone else from doing the same thing. The factory setting for the CAMEO is “Load Media”. You can select Load Media or Load Cutting Mat. I did not change the default setting, so the CAMEO started cutting about a ½ inch above the paper. I should have changed this before I started cutting but didn’t realize it until it was too late. The paper cut smoothly and I had no problems taking the paper off of the cutting mat. The mat is very sticky so you do have to be very careful when removing pieces, especially very detailed cuts.
After cutting paper it was time for me to try out the stamping material. I had to move the roller on the CAMEO since the stamping cutting mat is so much smaller, but with the instructions that are provided it was a very simple process. The stamping material is very thin. I cut some simple shapes with it like hearts and flowers, and then a card sentiment that had a swirly font to it and it cut fine. There were no problems with it. Taking the stamp material apart is difficult depending on what you have cut. Basic shapes are easy to take apart but the swirly font was harder to take off. You just need some patience, but if you work at it slowly it will all come apart just fine. The stamp ink that works best with this stamping material is pigment inks and embossing inks.
Overall the whole process of setting up the CAMEO and cutting paper and stamp material with it went very well. Silhouette does a very good job of providing enough instructional guides both in paper, on DVD and online for setting up the CAMEO. I love the Silhouette CAMEO and am so excited about all the scrapbook pages and cards that I will be able to make with it. I am also excited for all the stamps that I can design and cut with the stamp material. The whole experience has been great with this machine and stamping kit. The CAMEO is a great investment in your crafting hobbies and definitely worth the investment. No more fussy cutting, and no more looking for the exact stamp you want, you can make your own! Thank you Silhouette for giving me the chance to review your awesome products.
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