Category: Tutorial

Silhouette tutorial with Mendi: Shaped Cards

I’m so excited to be sharing one of my all time favorite ways to use Lori’s adorable cutting files:  Shaped Cards!!!

There are so many different ways to approach shaped cards.  For my first card I took Lori’s Santa Tote and cut off the flaps that formed the box and removed the hole in his hat (which formed the handle) to transform it into a cute card instead.


For my second card I used Lori’s Present cutting file into a card, pairing it with her button cutting file to form the knot on the bow.  I also elongated the bow and bottom portion of the gift to so that the overall dimensions of the card would be 4.25 x 5.5 inches to perfectly fill an A2 sized envelope.  To form my card base I cut 2 of the overall outline of the gift from white cardstock by welding all the shapes together.


For my snowman card I transformed another one of Lori’s treat box using the 3D Snowman Tote cutting file.  Once again I removed the circle handle in the top and instead cut a bigger circle to form a pom-pom for my snowman’s hat.  Rather than cutting two to form my card base, I mirrored my base shape and overlapped the two ever so slightly and welded them together, using a bone folder to create my crease and fold the card after cutting.  To give a little shine to the eyes and mouth, I added glossy accents.


For my Nativity card I cut two of my background shape from the blue cardstock to form my card base and scored the back piece along the top so that my score line was parallel to the bottom of the card.  Martha Stewart’s Score Board is an awesome tool for this.  I then just added adhesive above the score line and adhered it to the other card base piece.

I printed my sentiment on the computer using iridescent gold paper and popped the top portion up with foam tape.  I finished off my card with random dots of Stickles “stardust” glitter glue to give the look of a star filled sky.


This last card is a favorite of mine using Lori’s Ice Skate diecut from her Christmas Winter Set (available in the Silhouette store). To create my card base I used the same method as I did on my nativity card.  To give my skate a more realistic look I also chose to cut the blade from iridescent silver paper.

I had so much fun embellishing the skate!  I chose to discard the curly cutout for the laces and instead used my We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile to set a row of eyelets along the edge.  I then ran bakers twine through them and added a bow to the top.  To ground my sentiment I slipped one of Lori’s snowflakes behind a basic circle.


If you’re like me I do better with a visual example so I’ve created a video tutorial showcasing a couple different techniques I’ve utilized to create my shaped card bases.  🙂



Just to recap, today I’ve used the following cutting files designed by Lori which are available to purchase in her shop:
I hope you’ll give shaped cards a try! They’re so much fun!  🙂

Silhouette Tutorial with Brigit: Making Christmas Tags

Hi everyone!  Brigit here with a fun print n cut tutorial for you today.

These cute penguin Christmas tags are so easy to make and really helps save some time.

Start by getting the penguin  from the Christmas Icon Set, I love this set by the way, so many cute svg files in there.

Ungroup and fill each piece with colors, zoom in and layer the penguin together like I’ve done below, select all and group together.

You want to create an outline for your penguin, select him and go to the Offset Window, choose offset and change offset distance to .1 and apply.

Draw a 2″ x 3″ box and place it over the offset of the penguin you just created, like I have in the photo below, with both selected right click and weld or you can go to the Modify Window and weld.

Place a circle about .125″ on your tag, (this is for your twine or ribbon) and select both the tag and circle, right click and choose make compound path, this helps later when you choose to only cut around the edge of the tag.

Fill your tag with digital paper, I’m using Echo Park’s Reflections Christmas designed by Lori.

I added a 1.75″ x 2″ box and filled with beige then added the text so you could see it better.

Fill your text with color or if you just want it outlined make sure under the Line Style Window you check the Print Lines of Selected Shapes.

It’s important that you only cutout the outline of your shapes. I chose to cut my penguin out separately so I could pop dot him up.  Go to the Cut Style Window select tag and choose the Cut Edge, do the same for the penguin, it should look like the photo below.

In the Registration Window select Show Reg Marks

Under Page select your printer page.

I have a wide format printer so mine is setup to print on a 12″ x 12″ size paper.

I was able to fit 6 tags but you can re-size to fit more if you’d like.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.  Christmastime can get very busy so these pnc tags come in handy when you need some quickly.

Thanks for stopping by, you can visit me at http://www.brigitsscraps.com

Silhouette Tutorial: A Fun Tip for Using Sketch Pens with Traci

Hi everyone!  I have a fun tip to share with you today for using your Silhouette sketch pens.
‘Tis almost the season for sending out Christmas cards, and if you’re like me, the task can often be so time-consuming that I lose sight of the meaning for sending them out in the first place.  This year I remembered I have a silhouette and sketch pens and it’s going to make creating my cards a lot more fun.
The sketch pen technique that I want to share with you today involves cutting a shape from inside an offset that’s been drawn with the pens.
So here is the card I created using this technique:
1.  First I started with Lori’s adorable Christmas Tree Pop Up Card.
I ungrouped everything and moved everything off to the side except the front panel with the tree.
2.  Next, I ungrouped this one shape so that I could move the tree over to the left side of the shape.
 
3.  Once I moved the tree over to the left, I had space to put a sentiment.  Using Lori’s Dot Sketch Font, I typed in the sentiment that I wanted to use and centered everything the way I wanted it to look once it was sketched.
4.  In addition to the sentiment, I also wanted an offset drawn around the tree cut out.  To do this, I highlighted the tree, and opened the offset window (6th icon from the right in the top toolbar).  I clicked offset and set it to .05 distance.
5.  For the next step, I moved the inside tree shape, and the outer card shape, off to the side.  These portions will be cut out, so I didn’t want them to get sketched when I insert my pen.
6.  Next, I loaded white paper into my silhouette cameo machine and removed the blade.  I replaced the blade with a red Silhouette sketch pen and locked it in place.  Then I made sure my cut settings were set to Silhouette Sketch Pens, and I clicked “Cut”.
7.  Here is an important step!  Once the sketch pen was finished drawing my lines, I didn’t remove or unload my paper.  The reason for this is because I want it to line up perfectly again when I go to cut the inside shape out of my tree.  So I left the paper loaded exactly as it was when it was finished, and went back to my software.
I highlighted everything that I had just sketched, and clicked on the Cut Style window.  I chose “No Cut” so that when I replaced my red pen with a blade, everything I just sketched didn’t get cut out.
8.  Next I moved my card shape (which IS highlighted to cut) and the inner part of my tree (which IS highlighted to cut) back in place. I made sure that I replaced my red pen with my cutting blade, adjusted the cut setting to card stock,  and hit the cut button again to tell my machine to cut out just those areas around my sketch.
9.  For the inside of my card, I repeated the steps above to create a personalized “sketched” message inside the card before I cut it out.
One last tip — I used a large needle to help thread my twine through the holes in the front of the card.
Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope I’ve given you a few new tips on using your sketch pens!

Silhouette Tutorial: Adding A Window with Corri

Hi everyone!  Corri here today with a simple tutorial to show you how to add a window and frame to your favorite treat bag.   I just love Lori’s gable box file….it’s so simple to assemble making it great for a last minute gift.

I love having the window in the box so you can get a peek of what’s inside.

To add a window to the box,  I selected a label from this set.

Size the inner shape at 2.5″w (check the aspect ratio box) center it on top of the gable box.

 

Size the outer label shape to 2.875″w and center the two shapes.  This will cut your frame piece.

 

I opened the tall pumpkin from this set. After cutting the two pieces,  I welded the stem to the base using the weld feature.  Select both pieces and right click and pull down to weld.

 

To create a shadow for your pumpkin, select the pumpkin, right click your mouse and pull down to offset.

Specialty Media Products with Christine

Don’t forget, today is the last day you can get these prices with this Silhouette promotion. And, with the FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $25 going on right now this is a pretty sweet deal!! Be sure to use code: LORI at checkout and you can shop right HERE.
Would you like to see some of the specialty media products in use? Christine has a very fun Halloween project to share with us today.
Have you got your Halloween decorations out?  I have, but I wanted to add a few more pieces and thought that this banner would be super cute to hang in my kitchen window.  As soon, as I saw the file, I thought glitter would be great on the bats and web.  I looked in my stash, no black glitter, so I remember that I had my Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive Paper Starter Kit which had all of the things I needed to make this banner extra fun!
The double sided adhesive paper cuts really easy.  Just make sure that when you send it to your Silhouette that you have changed it to the preset for this type of paper.
After it is cut, I gently lifted the outside portion of the paper and set it aside.

Then I used my pick tool and weeded out the middles of the letters and web. Below you can see the process.
In the starter kit, you get this great little spatula.  It makes lifting off the pieces very easy.  You want to make sure that you lift off all of the layers of your cut piece.
I probably should have taken a picture of me putting the glitter on the bat, but this was the first piece I did.  What you will need to do is lift off the white paper from the top of your piece.  You will see the sticky layer underneath it and then a bottom sheet that is yellow.  After you peel of the white paper, you can sprinkle glitter on it.  Be sure to mash it down into the sticky layer so that you get good coverage.
I always keep a few of the Silhouette mat cover sheets around and they come in handy when playing with glitter.  Just bend the sides together and put the excess back in the container.  Another tip I thought I would share is to use a lint roller to clean up the left over glitter that clings to your mat, table, and you! 🙂
In this picture, I am putting on the flocking material.  This also came in my starter kit.  It was the perfect spooky green for my letters.  The flocking really needs to be worked into the sticky part of your piece.  I took a pinch and then rubbed in many times to achieve a good coverage.
The one thing that I liked about this material is that when you pull off the yellow backing to stick it where you want it to go, it’s not super flimsy.  It doesn’t easily stick to itself which makes sticking it down and placing it just where you want it very easy.  Once it’s down, it’s there, so make sure you are careful.
Here is my finished banner.  This file comes with all of the pieces that you see.  It’s kind of a small banner when you first pull it onto your mat, so I sized it much bigger before I ungrouped it.  The banner pieces are around 4×5 but if you were putting this on your mantle, you would need to go much bigger than that.  I really love this banner because it is so versatile.  You could change it up with a few extra character files to a birthday or Christmas banner.
Lori Whitlock products used:
Other Products used:
Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive Starter Kit, use cod LORI for 30%, ends today!
May Arts- Web Ribbon and Cording