Author: K S

Lucky Me with Kathy

Hi Everyone, it’s Kathy today with fun gift set to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!  You’d never know from my name, but I come from a long line of Kelley’s, Barrett’s, Doyle’s & McDonough’s so St. Patrick’s day is a big deal around here!  Take a peek….

I combined the new St. Patrick’s Day Phrases file and the Center Panel Step Card to create my card.  And of course you need some kisses if you’re Irish so I combined the 3D Hot Cocoa/Coffee Mug with some Clovers from the Five Clover Shamrocks File to create a fun “Kiss” holder.  I can’t wait to give it to my favorite Irishman!!  That’s it for me today, thanks for stopping by!!

 

Heat Transfer Tutorial with Cathy

Hi everyone!  Cathy here with you today.  I have been wanting to try heat transfer vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo for quite some time….I have to admit I was more than a little intimidated by it. But I kept seeing all of these adorable onesies and I wanted to created one for our grandbaby!  It will take you some time to search through all of Lori Whitlock’s files to find the perfect choice, so many awesome to designs to choose from.  I think that was the hardest part of this project.

I chose her “too cute for words” file and a couple of hearts from her “11 hearts” file!

I used two colors of heart transfer vinyl from SRM.  Hot Pink and Black on a light pink onesie.  Wash and dry your item before your get started.

I enlarged the file just a bit to fit the onesie.  And the most important part of working with heat transfer vinyl is remembering to mirror your design.  Simply highlight your design, go to the Replicate window and click mirror right.

You will want to load your heat transfer material into the machine with the clear plastic backing facing down.  The backing of heat transfer material will be facing up.

Start with the default cut settings for the type of heat transfer you are cutting and do a test cut.  You should be able to see the cut on the heat transfer side, however, you might not be able to see the cuts if you turn the material over and look through the clear side.  This is okay!  Heat transfer material is VERY thin and the cuts will be very fine

Weeding your heat transfer. Once your design is cut, you can trim around the design if there is extra around.  Then you will want to peel off any parts of the design that you don’t want to be ironed on, or the negative space.  You can use a weeding tool for this, or just use a safety pin. Make sure and get inside of any letters like A and O! When you are done you should have the design you want to transfer left stuck to the clear backing.

Ironing the design on. Last but not least we get to iron!  Read the directions on the back of your specific heat transfer, but most direct you to place your iron on a  very hot setting.  I used a heat resistant craft sheet between my onesie and iron.  A lot of people use parchment paper, but the craft sheet worked wonderfully.

Now you will want to put your hot iron on the design for between 10-40 seconds depending on the type, again read the directions for your specific heat transfer.  Make sure that you are covering all of the edges of the design with the iron. You can release it and carefully pull up the backing to see if the design has stuck or needs to be heated more.  I also found that on designs larger than the iron, it was easiest to iron the design in sections rather than going back and forth across the entire design.

Once the design has transferred I like to let it cool for about 30-45 seconds and then gently peel back the clear plastic until it is completely removed.  I find that letting it cool for just a short bit helps because on smooth vinyl, if it gets too hot it can pull a little bit when you are removing the backing and cause wrinkles in the vinyl.  Cooling a little seems to prevent this.

Awesome!  I love how this came out and it was so easy!  And from everything I read, you just have to remember to wash the item inside out and dry on a cool temp!

Here’s my little grandbaby modeling her onesie with a little help from her older brother.  Every time you lay her down, her feet come up and she rolls over.  So it took a bit of brotherly love to get a photo!

Too Cute For Words

11 hearts

Easter Belly Boxes with Kathy

Hi Everyone!  It’s Kathy today with some ADORABLE Easter Belly boxes!  It’s been so cold here lately I needed a little spring to brighten my day…the chocolate eggs help too!  Take a peek..

Aren’t they cute??  Here are some close-ups…

Belly Box Lamb SVG in Lori’s Shop
Belly Box Lamb in Silhouette Store

Belly Box Bunny SVG in Lori’s Shop
Belly Box Bunny in Silhouette Store

Belly Box Chick SVG in Lori’s Store
Belly Box Chick in Silhouette Store

They were so easy to put together, and would make great treats for teachers & friends!  You could even add a name to each of them and have them be place cards on your Easter table!  That’s it for me today, thanks for stopping by to peek!

Using Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl with Kathy

Hi Everyone!  It’s Kathy today with a fun tutorial using the new Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl.  This medium is perfect for making custom t-shirts, and bags but I thought it would be fun to do a pillow for a friend!  Take a peek…

I found a great, easy tutorial to make an envelope pillow cover here on YouTube.  I followed the directions but before I stitched the pillow cover together, I did the following to decorate the front.

 First, I decided on my design and laid it all out in the Silhouette Studio.  I used the word “love” and some hearts from Lori’s Homespun Hearts collection.  When cutting words from heat transfer material, make sure to mirror the image (select Object from the menu, then Mirror) because you cut the back of the transfer material.

I chose to work with the White Silver, Red and Hot pink Glitter Heat Transfer.

If you like, you can load the Glitter Heat Transfer material directly into your Silhouette without a mat, using the Load Media button.  I chose to use my mat, since I was using smaller pieces of the material.  The load media is great if your cut is larger than 12 x 12.    Change your cut settings to Heat Transfer Material, Flocked. (It’s the same for the Glitter) and your blade to a depth of 3.  Be sure to put your material on your mat shiny side down (you’re cutting the back).

Once you’ve cut your image, you want to peel off the “negative” sections of your material so that only your image remains on the plastic transfer sheet.  If you have small sections that are hard to peel with your fingers, you can use a piercer or hook to snag those sections.  I did this with my letters, putting the image over a piercing mat to make it easier.

Next, I laid all my cut pieces out on the cover fabric to get the perfect placement.

A little trick…to make sure you leave space for your stitching seam allowance ( in my case 1/2 inch), put some 1/2 inch washi tape around the edges.  This way you can see exactly how much space you have!

Now for the fun part…Ironing the design to the front of the pillow cover!  I preheated my iron to the cotton setting. (no steam)  Place your design on your fabric.  When layering it is best to do one layer at a time starting with the bottom. (my silver heart for example).    Cover the transfer material with a scrap piece of fabric and iron the design for 45 – 60 seconds.

Check to make sure all of your design has transferred to the fabric by carefully lifting the transfer sheet. (it can be hot!!) If it doesn’t peel off easily, place it back down and iron for a bit more time.

Once your design is all ironed on, you can finish stitching your pillow cover together according to the instructions above.

Here is the finished pillow!  It was really easy to make, I don’t sew fabric a lot but it’s really just a series of straight lines!  My friend doesn’t know this is coming her way…I’m wondering if she’ll know it’s for her!!

That’s it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine Trio

Hi everyone!  Cathy here with you today to share a Valentine Trio of Treat Holders created by Lori Whitlock!  I used papers and stickers from 3 of Echo Park’s collection designed by Lori…Fine & Dandy, We Are Family, and Here & Now.  I needed to create Valentines for my favorite little people.  I know they will love these!  I used the 3d heart cracker box, 3d heart pocket and the adorable 3d mini mailbox files.  These are all linked to the Silhouette Design Store!

The 3D heart cracker box is so cute and easy to put together.  Just one row of adhesive, tie one end and fill will candy…then tie the other end!

And how cute is this 3D mini mailbox?  And again so easy to put together!  Really, you can make all of these in no time at all and have a jump start on all of your Valentine goodies.

Lots of room for all kinds of candies and chocolate!

Next up, this fun 3D heart pocket!  Gorgeous and ready to fill with treats!

There is so much room, that I still need to go buy more goodies to put inside and keep some others from sneaking treats early!

Make sure to stop by the Lori Whitlock Shop to check out all of her amazing Valentine files.  There are so many to choose from and they are all adorable!