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I like that idea, about the pricing on the inside of each roll. I'm going to start doing that as well. I went over my numbers again, and changed it just slightly. I went with $25 per sign and $65 per truck, per side. So bringing me to a total of $900. With a deposit large enough to cover my materials for the entire job. She called me just a bit ago, and they want us to do the job. Thank you all again, for your help! When I quoted her the job, I did let her know that it was less than I'd normally quote, because we've known one another for so long, and that if anyone asks her what she paid, she needed to make it clear that every job price varies, and that the price she received would not likely be the price another would be quoted. Could I have charged more for the job? Probably. But, making a little less on this one and getting my foot in the door and the experience and exposure is definitely worth it. It'll be a great job to add to my portfolio for sure!

did a job for cat i belive last year

I keep seeing posts from people looking for fairly standard clip art items, and so rather than keep replying with the same answers over and over, I thought I'd start a thread of links to all the most popular free vector clip art sites. First, some basic information about clip art. There are two kinds of free when it comes to artwork: the first being free in the sense that it doesn't cost anything. The second type of free is "royalty free" which means that you are free to use the art without having to pay a licensing fee each time you use it - it does not (necessarily) mean that the art is free for the taking and may very well cost you money to add it to your collection. Items placed in the Public Domain are considered royalty-free, although the terms are not interchangable. Unless it is marked specifically as Public Domain, every piece of art you will find is copyrighted to some extent - by default everything that is created in this country is automatically granted copyright status. For the most part that means you can't slap your name on it and claim that you designed it. In many cases it also means you can't legally use that art in your designs. Most websites make it clear what the copyright license, if there is one, will allow. It is your responsibility to confirm that any art you use is not violating someone else's copyright or trademark. This forum post demonstrates what can happen when you violate someone's intellectual property. It is possible to obtain licensing approval to create some copyrighted designs - however, the cost to do so is usually prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest businesses. If you send a letter/email asking permission and you do not get a response, do not take that as permission to proceed! You need it - in writing - to C.Y.A. when the lawyers crawl out of the wood work. It doesn't matter if everyone on ebay is making them. It doesn't matter if the guys/gals at the flea market are making them. It is illegal and if you are caught it will cost you more than you want to think about. Also, when you buy clip art, you are not necessarily obtaining a license to use the designs that you just paid for! There are many vendors selling copyrighted logos that are illegal for you to cut and sell. Let me say that again - "Just because you paid for it, doesn't make it legal!". Why do they include them? Well, theoretically if the local Ford dealership comes to you for a banner and they have the right paperwork, then you can use a Ford logo in their banner/sign and you'll be OK. It is still your responsibility to make sure that the dealership has the right paper work to prove they are authorized to ask you to cut a Ford logo. One last note - I use Chrome as my web browser and have ad-blockers enabled and various malware defense software running - I can not vouch for the safety of these websites or the ads running on them. It is your responsibility to use caution when visiting new websites! Please feel free to add your favorite links and a description of what people can expect to find there... http://all-silhouettes.com -- Great source for easy to cut vectors. Everything is sorted by category and are bunched together with several pieces of art on each downloadable page. Most art is available as Adobe Illustrator v8, Adobe Photoshop custom shapes, EPS v10 and SVG files. This is my #1 go-to site for basic vector art. http://artshare.ru -- In Russian, but a collection of vector and raster art, most pulled from other free sites. Formats vary but you can usually find something in a format you can use. http://dezignus.com/category/vector/ -- Similar to ArtShare, but in English. Mostly free clip art pulled from other sites. Formats vary but you can usually find something in a format you can use. http://downloadfreevector.com -- Similar to ArtShare, but in English. Mostly free clip art pulled from other sites. Formats vary but you can usually find something in a format you can use. http://clipart.edigg.com -- Another source for free clip art - I use it primarily for the pets categories when I need a specfic breed of dog or cat for a design. http://digital-clipart.com/text/links_catalogs_samples.htm -- A source to buy clip art that also offers free samples of some of their designs. http://www.freelogovector.com -- A variety of small, simple vector designs. http://www.freevector.com -- Another large selection of multi-color clip art in vector format. File types are usually Adobe Illustrator and PDF. http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/ -- A broad selection fo multi-coloro vector art. Includes a lot of vector backgrounds and other large designs. Most files are in EPS format. http://vectorstuff.blogspot.com/?m=1 -- An eclectic collection of some free vector art. http://www.vectoropenstock.com/home-vectors -- Has a nice selection of multi-color vectors, not all of which are cutter friendly, but lots of pretty art. http://www.vectorss.com -- Even more free vector art! http://www.clker.com -- The online royalty-free public domain clip art site - has a raster to vector conversion feature - upload a raster image and it will be automatically converted to a vector. http://tshirtclipart.com/?page_id=15 -- A site with clip art for sale, and a small free section to let you sample their work. http://www.vectors1.com -- Vector net has a large selection of mutli-color and mono-color vector art, some of which is free. http://vectorlady.com -- Another site that collects links to free vector clipart from around the world. http://wpclipart.com/index.html -- A site full of kid safe, copyright free clipart http://openclipart.org -- A site full of public domain (royalty-free) clip art http://www.freedesign4.me/category/vectors/ -- A lot of the art on here is backgrounds and 3D shapes that aren't cutter friendly, but you will find some designs you can use. http://boxtemplatesstore.com/ -- A site I just bookmarked - it provides vector templates you can cut and fold into a wide variety of box shapes and sizes. Could be used to cut wraps for boxes, or use your pen to draw a box template onto coroplast, cardstock, etc. and cut out to make custom boxes. Not truly clipart, but could still be useful... http://www.clipartandfonts.com/Free_Clipart.html -- This is the home site for the "World's Largest Vector Clip Art Mega Vault" collections for sale on the big auction site. They have several free clip art sample packs available for download to show you what their art work is like. Their collections do contain several copyrighted designs that you can't legally cut (Calvin, No Fear logos, band logos, Playboy logo, etc.). Don't buy from their website, instead buy from their auctions - I got their "$999" package for under $150 through one of their auctions on ebay. Their "Swap Meet" collections contain all of the popular designs you see for sale at flea markets, but also contain a higher percentage of unlicensed, copyrighted designs. http://www.brandsoftheworld.com -- This site is chock full of copyrighted and trademarked business and product logos. Unless you have permission from the owner(s) of the respective copyright and/or trademark owners, there is almost nothing here that you can legally cut. However, there are frequent requests for logos of this nature and that is the only reason I include it here. Edit - Made a grammatical correction and fixed a URL

My youngest daughters graduation is Sunday - made this for her - she has always been called Bee and the bee thing has stuck around for years - the reason for the bees. she will be going on to college for criminal Justice and has abitions of working for the FBI. It looks uneven on the bottom in the photo but it is just not laying flat there and it looks much better in person!

Dots is good.......!!!!!! More dots.... More Gooder................... !!!!!!!

Looks awesome. congrats to your daughter...

Right! You don't want your quote time to be equal to your actual time spent doing the job. I had mentioned before how I do it. When I order my vinyl and it comes in, i figure my cost (per linear foot) and jot that inside the end of the tube. That way I know what my cost is on that roll on the fly. No guessing and no looking for invoices.

It's what I eat eats.

Yes you will. Main thing is don't make it a complicated thing when pricing. Just don't cut yourself short.

Bottom line... figure all material costs, then decide what YOU are comfortable with making on the job.

My two cents Cost is rarely the only consideration to a buyer. Confidence is critical.... Do I like and trust the work of the provider.? Will he deliver on time? Will it be a quality product? Is it what I want? Do I want to start my hunt all over again? Depending on the size and scope of the job, I am going to go to the place that I am comfortable with....... Unless the price is way out of line.... I am on board and ready to rock..... Quality and confidence always beats cheap

well take the price of the 4 rolls of vinyl add 1 roll of app tape and 10 sign blanks. see what that comes up to. That would be the lowest i would ever go. Cutting a friend a deal and cutting your profit line are two different things.

Conga Rats Dakota........ Sure is a double edged sword when they leave.... Ya wantem to be free and productive But Missem like hell

I have 3 machines, actually... A hand press A bench press And the Semi-Automatic press I got all 3 machines, plus the two cutters and a big box of parts at a live auction and I've never actually tried to use the hand press or bench press - I read the instructions and there were entirely too many steps involved and I'm lazy. The only real difference between the fully automatic machine and the semi-automatic machine is that with the fully automatic machine you don't pull a lever twice, you push a button once. You still have to manually load the various parts for each button you make, and unless you have really bad arthritis or no strength at all in your hands and arms, it's not worth the extra $500+ for the fully automatic machine, at least in my opinion. I have the automatic circle cutter ($180) and it is a lot less effort than the manual circle cutter when doing large jobs, but for anything less than a dozen it's just as fast to use the manual cutter. If I was going to buy a manual cutter, I'd spend the extra $30 and buy the metal one with a crank as the plastic one is hard to get a good grip on and cut reliably after the first 25-30 your fingers start getting tired of trying to grip the little handle. And yes, these are all the BAM 2.25" buttons - which aren't exactly 2.25", they're a tiny bit bigger, which is why you'll see auction listings for "BAM" 2.25" parts and "Standard" 2.25" parts - they are NOT interchangeable. Every month BAM has a Hot Button of the Month contest and you can submit your latest designs for a chance to win a $50 or $100 gift certificate from BAM - I've won one of each so far - they're only good for 30 days so don't let it go waste (like I did with the $100 the first time I won). I've found it helps if there is a compelling story about why your buttons were the ideal choice for the event/promotion/etc. to go with your design.

I do tend to turn down those with bad artwork . . . .or things I have never done as I want to make sure I can do a good job on it

Do a search under my name, I am the one that posted the welding helmet one

wow i eat 12 or more packages a month... im a huge hotdog and popcorn guy. lol oh yea and drinking milk is bad for ya ,,, dont drink natural water from the tap, make sure ya spend your money and buy bottled water.. i think if ya eat too much salad, ya might get cancer.. I live once and only once ( that I know of ) i will eat what i want, live how i want and wont let no stupid doctor tell me otherwise i am not gonna live to see 90, nor do i want YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER wiping my arse!! lol so excuse me while i go nuke a few more hotdogs

Heck I have one kid that is very light and the other looks tan all year long - lucky girl. first one has to be carefull in bright sun that she doesn't burst into flames - second one never ever burns

thanks, everyone... I can't wait until they're delivered, tomorrow. LMAO.... You are SOOOO right about that.

Woof woof.

Nothing at all. No thanks and no likes. If someone needs that file tomorrow, they can draw it them self or ask me for it.

I have posted before about the use of simple manners. Apparently, it didn't sink in.

I have a Badge-A-Minit button making system. You put two aluminum pieces, a round piece of printed paper and a clear piece of mylar on top and press the handle twice and out pops a completed button. The only reason I have a B-A-M brand system is because I got it super cheap at an auction - there are other button making systems that are much cheaper and produce similar quality results. I usually get my button parts through ebay as B-A-M charges way too much for parts - this vendor Button Safari is where I usually order parts from, and he sells non-B-A-M machines. You need to watch out because the B-A-M parts and "standard" parts are not interchangable, so if you buy 2.25" "standard" machine you can't use B-A-M compatible button parts, and vice-versa. I have a 2.25" machine which is the right size for fund-raiser and party/event type buttons - most of the funny buttons you see in stores are 1" - 1.25" in size and that is a popular size for kid's for promoting their favorite bands, etc. The big 3" machines are primarily for making photo buttons for parents to wear large pictures of their children - band parents, sports parents, etc. - in my opinion they are too big and too expensive to be your only size choice, but there is money to be made there, too. I keep saying I'm going to get a 1.25" machine one of these days, but I keep buying more vinyl and dye sub (and now rhinestones!) to get around to it. You'll need the button making press, a set of parts, printed artwork (I print them in a regular laser or inkjet printer, doesn't require anything fancy) and a circle cutter - I have a manual and an electric circle cutter and use both - the electric one is nice for mass production, but I usually take the manual one with me when I setup remotely - none of the button making machines (with the exception of the fully automatic B-A-M machines) require any electricity, so it's very convenient to use at shows. This shows the process. Time to go to the Race!

Can you break up an object through node editing only? For example, and this is a very very simple example. Say you have a long rectangle and you want to cut it in half and turn it into two squares with a gap between them. So far the best method I've found for doing this is drawing another rectangle that intercets with the one I want to modify and use the Difference path tool to cut the rectangle and then I can move nodes around of the two individual shapes to get the desired affect. Is there a better way? If the question isn't clear I can try and put together some sample images of what I'm doing to clarify, I just don't have access to inkscape right now.

How's this... gunsncoffee.EPS