Category: Tutorial

Holiday Dog Bandanas with Anita

Hi:

Anita here with a fun and easy tutorial to make your furry friend a dog bandanna.  My son and daughter-in-law have three dogs and they like to include them in their Christmas photo.  I made some personalized bandannas for my fur grand dogs using some of Lori’s fun fonts and heart cut files.  For Lily and Sully’s bandannas, I used the Wide Marker font at 288.0 pt which can be found here in Lori’s store and here in the Silhouette store.    For Scout’s bandanna I used LW Thick at 288.0 pt which can be found here in Lori’s store and here in the Silhouette store.  The cut file for the hearts is called 4 hearts and can be found here in Lori’s store and here in the Silhouette store.   I found a doggie bandanna pattern on the internet from Sew Caroline and the free pattern is here.

Here are the supplies that I used for Lilly’s bandanna.  You can really use any heat transfer vinyl.

I measured across the part of the bandanna where I wanted to put the letters so that I would have a sense of how wide the name could be and fit nicely.

Lori’s fonts are so easy to find in your Silhouette font library and they start with the letters LW.

I had fun experimenting with some of Lori’s different fonts to see which one I liked the best.

 

Heat transfer vinyl has a clear plastic sheet which is sticky over the front of the vinyl which allows you to protect the vinyl while ironing it on.  You are going to want to place it with this clear/front side face down on your mat.  You can cut vinyl without a mat but I didn’t want to move my rollers so I put it on a mat.

As you can see from above there are many different types of heat transfer vinyl.  I chose to use a metallic one so that is what I selected in the cut settings.  Notice that the letters are not mirrored on my mat.

Isn’t Silhouette so smart?  They know I am cutting with vinyl and asked me if I wanted to mirror my design.  Given that I was cutting out letters I said to send them mirrored.  I also chose to do two passes as my blade isn’t brand new and I was asking it to cut through three layers.  I could also have mirrored it before sending it to cut.

Wows, my mat is looking well-loved.  Here are the letters cut out and the extra vinyl removed.  Don’t remove the top plastic sheet, you need it on until the letters are ironed down.

Everything is ironed down now.  I used a plastic pressing sheet and did not heat it for the 45-60 seconds as they recommend on the package because my iron runs really hot and I didn’t want to bubble the vinyl. I usually choose a middle point and put the first letter down there and then add the rest one at a time.  I find that things move less that way when ironing.  Apply even pressure, not steam and don’t move your iron back and forth.

I used Velcro circles on each corner point and stitched them down.  I used a seam ripper to gently peel away the top plastic piece, you could also use a pin.   If the vinyl starts to pull up then you might have to reheat it.  Be careful to not overheat it.

Here is Lily’s completed bandanna.

Here are all three bandannas.  Can’t wait to see how the Christmas photo turns out.

Hugs,

Anita

 

“Faux Stamping” with Dingbats Technique by Michelle

Cozy up with the Winter Dingbat Font and make these sweet little stocking-stuffer notebooks!  This is Michelle Zerull and I’d like to share a pocket sized project that can made in practically no time at all.  Perfect for stockings, classroom gifts and coworkers. Make one for yourself too!

For these mini notebooks, I used “A Perfect Winter” papers by Echo Park.  The colors and patterns are great for the holidays and beyond. For the “Faux Stamped” covers, I downloaded the Winter Dingbat Font which can be found in the Silhouette Design Store and also at Lori Whitlock’s SVG Shop.  The books themselves were made from the 2×2 Accordion Mini Album SVG files that can be found here in the Silhouette Design Store and also here at Lori Whitlock’s SVG Shop.  Lori has an excellent Tutorial Video where she shows how to assemble the books. Be sure to watch the seven minute video for Lori’s tips and tricks! I’ll show you here, how to use the adorable Winter Dingbat Font to make the book covers.

I’ve been a rubber stamper for over 20 years.  I love the look, but I hate stamping on my favorite patterned papers.  I’m always afraid that I’m going to get a bad impression and ruin them.  Sadly, it happens.  By using the Winter Dingbat Font, I know that I’m going to get a consistently perfect image every time without actually stamping.  The Winter Dingbat Font contain 26 images and phrases that can be cut, colored and printed in any size your heart desires!  Yes, that’s right…26 images…in ANY size!  This “Faux Stamping” technique is so easy to do with the print and cut feature on my Silhouette Cameo.  It’s my latest obsession!

After downloading your font and SVG design, open up your design area and type in the alphabet using your dingbat font.  Look at all of those images! The hard part is choosing which ones to use!  For this project, I’m going to use three of the phrases. I clicked on the designs, clicked on the fill tool and chose the color black.  I ungrouped all 26 images and deleted the images that I was not going to use.

Next, I opened the 2×2 Accordion Mini Album files. I’m going to cut them all eventually, but right now, I’m working with the covers. I ungrouped the pieces and set them off to the side for later.

I copied the teal front cover piece and made three covers. (I made a lot of little books!)  Move your phrases to the front of the covers and remove the cut lines by selecting “no cut.” Important! Remember to remove the teal color from your pieces and change it to transparent. At this time, I also changed my page setup.  I don’t have a 12×12 printer, so I am going to cut my 12×12 patterned paper down to 8.5×11 so it will feed through my printer.  In order for the Silhouette to read the registration marks, you will need to choose a light colored patterned paper.

Add your registration marks to your letter sized page setup.  Place your light colored 8.5×11 patterned paper in your printer and hit “print.” Voila! Perfectly printed on patterned paper!  Now you can put this sheet through the Silhouette Cameo for perfectly cut book covers that already have the phrases printed, or “Faux Stamped”on them.

Cut and assemble the other pieces like Lori shows in the tutorial video. Instead of using designer paper for the pages, I chose to use plain white pages so I could make them into mini notebooks.

I hope that you enjoyed my “Faux Stamping” with Dingbats technique. The dingbat fonts are so fun to play with!

Give Thanks Pumpkin Card

Hi, Crafty Friends!! Creative Team Member, Mitsyana Wright, here. It’s a new month and I’m not going to lie, I’m missing Halloween already.  It’s ok, I have lots to look forward to and lots to be thankful for. And speaking of thankful… Today, I’m bringing you this Give Thanks, Pumpkin Card.

Let me show you how I made it…

Here are the supplies you need:

  • Pumpkin Mini Album (here in the Silhouette Store)
  • Give Thanks (here in the Silhouette Store)
  • Patterned Cardstock (Autumn Leaves Stack- DCWV)
  • Xyron Creative Station
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Vintage Photo
  • Hemp Twine
  • Glue Pen

I used Lori Whitlock’s Pumpkin Mini Album to create my card base.

I opened the SVG file using my ecal software.

Then “UNGROUP”ed the holes from that are in the pumpkin base and files.

Then, I cut and pasted the window base onto a new page.

I made a mirror image then slightly had them overlap at the center. Then I highlighted the whole and “WELDED” the two pumpkins together.

Once the welded pumpkins were cut, I used my bone folder to crease my card.

Then I die cut the panel pieces, stem, and accessories that come with the file.

Next, I ran the patterned paper through my Xyron Creative Station Lite. Then I inked up the edges with Tim Holtz’ in Vintage Photo. Then All I simply did was peel and stick! Easy-Peasy!!

I also used Lori Whitlock’s Give Thanks Title for my cards sentiment.

I sized it to fit the pumpkin cover in my ecal software. Then opened a new window and cut and pasted it there.

After cutting these words out, I left them in their negative space and inked the edges. Keeping them in the negative space helps to reduce bends and tears.

I used a glue pen to attached my sentiment onto the front cover.

Then, I  added the leaves and button. I  fastened them together with hemp twine.

I also used a micron pen to add details to the words and swirls for a little definition.

And here is my finished card…

Now, it’s ready to give to someone I am very thankful for…

It’s so hard to choose!! I’m going to have to make more!! There are too many people I am incredibly thankful for! I guess that is a good problem to have!

Hope you all enjoyed my project for today!! See you soon!!

~Mitsyana

Score Line Tutorial with Brigit

Hello, everyone, it’s Brigit here, I have a quick tutorial on how I replaced the score marks on the Gift Bag 2 file from Lori’s shop using Silhouette Studio Business Edition so I could use the scoring stylus tool on the Cricut Maker.
You can get the file here from the Silhouette Design Store, but for this purpose, I’m using the svg from Lori’s shop and I’ll explain why. I use Silhouette Studio Business Edition to design my projects even if I’m going to cut from one of my other cutting machines. I really like the Silhouette Studio software and with the Business Edition I’m able to save my projects as an svg which I can then upload into Cricut Design Space or Brother Canvas, you can’t do that with the Basic or Designer Editions and you can’t open svg files with the Basic Edition. What you can’t do with the Business Edition is use an image from the Silhouette Design Store and save it as an svg, the lines around the whole image will save as score marks so that’s why I’m not using the bag from the Silhouette Store. Cricut Design Space does have an option to add score lines but I like this way much better.
After opening the bag the first thing I do is change the fill to a lighter color and the lines to black, this way the new lines I put in will show up as red, makes it easy to line up.
I just quickly add lines over the score marks, I’m not exact here, I fix them and add the diagonal lines when I zoom in.
Zooming in I draw the diagonal lines and align all the other ones as close as I can get.
When I’m done I select the new lines and make a compound path, if I don’t do that when I upload to Cricut Design Space the score lines are off from the project.
I finish by ungrouping the bag, deleting the original score marks and group with the new score lines. I select all and go to file and save selection to hard drive and in the save as type select svg.
When I upload the bag into Cricut Design Space the size is much smaller, so I resize to match what it is in Silhouette Studio, then ungroup, new lines I created to score and select the bag and score lines and attach.
Here’s a closer look at each bag, I dressed them up with the characters from the Cute Halloween Set from Lori’s shop and here from the Silhouette Design Store.
The paper I used is from Doodlebug Design’s Booville collection and Gingham-Linen Petite Prints.
The eyes I believe I bought at Michaels and the sentiment is a stamp from My Creative Time.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!

Thanksgiving Napkins with Brandie

Hi Everyone! Brandie here with a tutorial on how I made some pretty napkins using the Split Pumpkin Set  (Silhouette store) and the Darling Script Font (Silhouette store) .

I wanted something to spruce up my Thanksgiving table this year. I’ve never had a fancy table-scape and probably never will, but a girl can dream. With this project I will get a little closer to that goal.

For this project I used 100% cotton napkins, gold glitter heat transfer vinyl, brown glitter heat transfer vinyl, parchment paper, and an iron.

First I added the font to my computer then uploaded the split pumpkin to Cricut Design Space.

I sized the pumpkin to a width of 3.1 inches and a height of 3.4 inches. I then welded the image so that when I send the pumpkin to the mat the top and bottom of the pumpkin will cut stacked on top of the other like in the picture. For each name I adjusted the letter spacing so that the letters touched I then welded the letters together so they will cut as one piece as well.

Since my name is the longest I used it as the guide to size the other names. The height is .72 inches for all of the names and the width vary for each name.

Once I was happy with the sizing I was ready to cut. I turned on the mirror image for both mats, adjusted the images on the mat to give myself a little more room for weeding, and cut the images out of the heat transfer vinyl. When applying the vinyl be sure to put the shinny side down on the cutting mat.

I washed and pressed my napkins. I also dry fit the two images  so that they would be in the bottom center on the napkin.

I always use a piece of parchment paper between the vinyl and iron. Then pressed  the vinyl with as much pressure as I could to get a good adherence. I then flipped the napkin over and pressed the back of the image. I then repeated the steps for the name.

Here they are finished and ready for my Thanksgiving table. Thanks for stopping by!

Brandie