Monday, August 30, 2010

SVGCUTS.COM - The premiere source for SVG Files.


Note:  Every now an then, I'd like to highlight some of the people that might be important to your success and fun with your digital die cutting machine.  This is the first, of this genre.  I hope you not only find it helpful; but, you find it helpful for a long time to come.

This is the story of a very special web site and two very special people that make it happen. For eCraft owners, I think SVGCuts.com is going to be an important source of information and SVG images to use with eCraftShop Pro.

Not all of us would see a stressful job with squabbling officemates or losing a great job at a major corporation as opportunities. But, that is exactly how SVGCUTS.COM was born.

In early 2008, Mary (the main artist for SVGCuts) was working as a project manager for a software company in Schaumburg, IL and she was getting fed up with her job. She found her job to be super stressful and all of the office squabbling was wearing her down. She ALWAYS wanted to have a store where she sold cute things, she just wasn't sure what or how!

At that time, Leo (the technical director at SVGCuts) was working as a network administrator for Chrysler's corporate office in Chicago. Counting on the stability of his position, Leo and Mary agreed she should quit her job and follow her dream. The first step toward that dream was to spend the next 8+ months learning Adobe Illustrator and testing out different creative ideas to see if she could generate income on Etsy and by creating stock illustrations for her istock.com portfolio.

In September of 2008, Leo was laid off due to the financial crises at Chrysler. Rather than panic, Leo turned his attention to doing what he really had wanted to do, shoot stock photography and market it through istock.com. At the same time he began to seriously study internet marketing. But, they still didn't have the direction they needed for them to truly thrive on the internet.

That's where Leo's mom came into the picture by giving Mary a Cricut for Christmas. Soon after, they found “Sure Cuts A Lot”, which allowed Mary to create and cut her own shapes with her Cricut and sell her own line of cards and scrapbook pages on Etsy. Mary was hooked!.


Mary spent about a month coming up with cute cards featuring her custom made die cut designs to sell on Etsy. People responded well to her products and one night she had an epiphany and thought "Duh, why don't I just sell my digital designs to people that have SVG compatible cutting machines!"


They realized that they had something here, but if this was going to work, they'd have to streamline the process so that she could spend time creating and not answering emails and sending files all day long. So, SVGCuts was born.

Both Mary and Leo are perfectionists and I've witnessed the fact that they just keep getting better and better at what they offer and what they do. In just under 18 months, SVGCuts has received over 10 million pageviews from crafters in more then 150 different countries! Mary's designs are marvelous and I love talking photography with Leo on their forums. In fact, it was the generous photographic help on their forums that first caught my eye. I could tell he not only knew his stuff with a camera; but, that he was very generous in sharing what he knew.

They continue to grow, adding their first design team member, Thienly Azim and Mary is filtering through hundreds of portfolios in search of new artists for their store! I REALLY like what I see at SVGCuts.com from top to bottom.

Check them out. Http://www.svgcuts.com And, be sure to check out their forums. I hope to test some of Mary's SVG designs on the eCraft as soon as the software is ready. And, I KNOW that I'm going to be linking to their site a LOT as we began using both Inkscape and eCraftShop Pro with our eCrafts.

Great people!  Great site!

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for enlightening SVGCuts fans. Great article!

Cricut Critter said...

I have been an SVGcuts Fan (ahem stalker LOL) for almost a year now, nice to read how they got their start. Mary and Leo have a wonderful product(s), Thanks for the great article.

Ruthie said...

Mwah ha ha ha! I bought one!!! Hee hee!

Now - if I can just get the thing to "grip" the card rather than letting it slide all over the place....

have left a post on the yahoo group to see if anyone can help...but any ideas???

Rx
PS more detail on the group post!
PPS - help and I will gladly listen to your squeeky chair Tom!

Tom Meeks said...

When I was looking for places that would help in learning about SVG Files I came across SVGCuts. And, then I noticed that they had a photography forum. As I looked at the quality of the advice from Leo, I was very impressed. But, to be welcomed as I was, when I also began to give photo advice, was REALLY impressive. That told me that they were there to serve, not be the big fish in the pond.

And, that feeling has only grown as I've expanded out to other areas of the forums. It's no wonder you guys are fans! I'm a fan, too. Thanks for speaking up about your experience there.

Tom Meeks said...

RUTHIE!!!

You ended up buying one after all!!!

Well, if it turns out you have problems and want to get revenge on me, YOU buy a sqeeky chair and tell Monky, Monkey stories on video to drive me crazy as my grandkids insist on listening to them!

I'm glad to hear that!

Carolina Girl (Cely) said...

Great story behind the team...I have been with them for over a year and hooked on the beautiful creations of Mary and the assistance of Leo when I mess up or my computer goes wacko over a file I'm trying to cut. Two great people. Hooray for them and thanks to you for recognizing some great people with some awesome talent.

Tom Meeks said...

It's great to know that my instinct's are born out by those that have followed their work longer than I have. Thanks, Cely!

westloopsters said...

I was a lucker, but turned to buyer..love you newest military dolls...way to go to be resourceful in this recession..keep up the good work..

Tom Meeks said...

I took at look for the military doll set and it IS very cool. Thanks for mentioning that.

Thienly Azim said...

Wow - what a great article about Leo and Mary. I have been following SVGCuts since 2 years ago. I agree, it was awesome Mary's cut files and Leo's amazing photography that caught my eye. They are very special people, so motivated, and so dedicated to making things happen. They have been so helpful to me and I can't say enough great things about them. I was so honored to be chosen as their first design team member - and thank you, for including me on this special article. I'm very honored :)

cal8007 said...

I've been using Mary's files since she started, and I found SCAL. Now I've progressed to doing my own designs, but I always fall back on Mary's collections because they are very well done, and Leo is excellent when it comes to customer service and photography. I'm so happy they are getting the recognition they deserve.

TFS

Carmen Lucero

Tom Meeks said...

Thanks, Thienly and Cal8007!

You hit on the key phrase... "that they deserve" and that is exactly how I felt. I hope they get a lot of new fans as eCraft users look for SVG files for their new cutter.

And, Thienly, tell Leo that while we enjoyed his video of the eCraft at CHA, that we would appreciate it if he did NOT video himself while driving if he ever visits DC!!! I'm ON those roads!!! LOL!

Thanks to ALL of you for stopping by! And, I hope you will come often.

Thienly Azim said...

I was right on that, Tom. They went to the show twice, and as much as I enjoy their videos, I made sure (at least to my knowledge) that Leo wasn't video-ing himself while driving. He shouldn't be risking his life - he's just way too important to Mary and all the rest of us! I will be following you ofen - looks like you've got some interesting articles - and thank you for putting up my blog link on the side bar of you blog :)

Tom Meeks said...

Your welcome, Thienly. As the category says, every link is a Noteworthy Site. And, your designs certainly fit that description. :)

Pam Leng said...

Tom thank you so much for recommending SVGCUTS.COM I have been looking for a source of good SVG files for a while since I purchased my ecraft and this is just great.

Pam xx

Tom Meeks said...

I'm happy to have written about them. Good people and very helpful to the eCraft community.