silhouette cameo .. i found a stray and he followed me home

I tried telling mr. everythingshetouches that I found this poor little critter by the side of the road and that he followed me home but mr. everythingshetouches is far too wise for stuff like that.

The truth:  this little guy was on super sale and I couldn't resist missing the great opportunity to bring him home five months earlier than planned (do you think mr. everythingshetouches will forget this was an early Chanukah gift by the time Chanukah Harry actually rolls into town with his bag of goodies?  Yeah.  Not likely).

And even on sale (did I mention that it was a really good sale? - 40% off!) I struggled with the idea that I hadn't done enough research to bring this baby home and crack it open the minute the keys hit the bowl and the door closed behind me.  So for two days the box remained closed and I watched YouTube videos on how to use the Silhouette Cameo and read countless reviews.

On day three I opened the box.  Set up was easy peesy lemon squeezy.  Cutting?  Not as much.  Here's my first unsolicited bit of advice: don't open a new machine after 10pm.  Fatigue, technology and despair don't mix like White Russians and red wine.  Save the grand opening for a time when you (a) have time and (b) don't feel the need to check your eyelids for holes desperately (I'm no longer a night owl).

In my search for answers as to why the Silhouette would not cut through the paper (or when I had more hope - chipboard) I found that there is a bad batch of blades included with the Silhouette itself.  A quick, and very nice, call to customer service taught me that Silhouette does not ship to Canada (was my machine somehow smuggled across the border by the store elves?) and I was on my own to procure a replacement blade ($21 at Michaels which is almost as much as the Silhouette itself.  Criminal!  They're $16 at Treasured Memories which is slightly better).  The Michaels staff member was quite sympathetic and very accommodating.  And with great trepidation and a series of plan Bs if the new blade did not work I plunked it into the machine and I cut my first image.  Success!  And then I cut another and another and well, you can see for yourself I had a lot of fun.

Now the mission is to maximize Silhouette functions to really enjoy my newest toy.  Perhaps I can teach it to also clean the house ..