Silhouette Sunday #8: Card Sketch Organization

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Hello Everyone! Happy Silhouette Sunday.

Well I am on my way on Thursday for a 4-day craft escape. So one thing I like to use at crops are sketches for inspiration.  So I decided to use my Silhouette to create tags that I could put my card sketches on and then I could easily flip through them to find some inspiration.

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I used to print them out on large sheets of paper but this system works so much better. I get happy just flipping through them. I might even organize them by 6×6 card sketches or some other categories. The beauty is that it is on a ring so I can rearrange and add very easily.

sketchtags3I printed them right on my printer and then cut them on my silhouette. I printed them on white cardstock so they would be durable.

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I settled for a little under 4 inches.

I am so thrilled when I think of other ways to use my machine.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what other things you have been using your machine for?

Have a blessed day!

Belinda

Silhouette Sunday #7: Online Resources

onlineresourcesHello! Happy Sunday!  I am in the process of preparing for a 4-day crafting retreat in a few weeks so I don’t have any recent projects to share but I thought I might share with you some online resources that I like.

The first is called SVGCuts. Wow is the first thing I say each time I visit their site. This husband and wife team rock!  They sell cut-files of the most amazing things. Peek around at their gallery if you need more inspiration.  I recently bought a teapot set and will be sure to share pictures when I complete it. Perhaps I will take it with me to the craft retreat. This site is so great because when you buy the files you get a beautiful PDF step by step instructions and most of the times they have assembly videos.  I own a Silhouette Portrait and for most of their files they include additional files so that I can still make everything and they will end up the same size as if I cut it on the Cameo.

Another site I like is called Lettering Delights (LD) and they provide a variety of things including fonts.  You can sign up for their email notifications weekly for updates and free files.

Monica’s Creative Room is another site that has free cut files.  She does as for donations if you use the files for commercial purposes. She has a bunch of different categories to choose from and then you download them right to your machine. Maybe I could do a demo of how to download files from other sites and how to import them into Silhouette in a future post.

Well I am off to continue planning what to bring for the retreat!

Have a blessed day!

Belinda

Silhouette Sunday #6 – My first Vinyl project – jar labels

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I opened up my vinyl kit and took out the hook and the scrapper tools. The kit included a variety of colors of vinyl and transfer sheets.  I chose the white vinyl for my kitchen jars.  I went in and found a label shape I liked and stretched it to the size and shape I liked.

vinyllabel2When you use the vinyl you don’t use the cutting mat and set it to the vinyl setting. Then you pull up the excess vinyl.

vinyllabel3The hook tool is so great because it gets right in there and the vinyl comes out easy. This process takes a little time depending on your design. But I actually found this relaxing. I listened to music and watched how my labels transformed.

vinyllabel4The picture above is all the labels I made.  This is after I pulled up all the excess vinyl.

vinyllabel5What? You say that my hands look different? Well then you are correct. That is my husband. I had him help me place the transfer paper on top of the labels.  The vinyl curls a little so the extra hands were helpful. Oh, okay, so I wanted him to see how much fun this stuff is. Can you blame me?

vinyllabel6Once he placed it down I used the scraper tool to press it down evenly so that it would stick evenly to the transfer paper. Which by the way can be reused so don’t throw it away.

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The labels stuck easily to the transfer paper.

vinyllabel8My husband helped me apply them to my containers.  I just love how they look. They are so pretty and every time I look at them I feel the ‘happy dance’ coming on.

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Well I hope you try using vinyl if you haven’t already. I am definitely going to think of some more projects to use the vinyl.

Have a blessed day!

Belinda

Shortcuts for Designing in Silhouette

Hi everyone! I have been seriously having so much fun with my Silhouette. I have been making Valentines, cutting out some words for my Project Life and even working on a logo design for my son.  I used to do multimedia development way back before having my boys.  One thing I did then was learn all the shortcut keys for the various applications I used to speed up my work.  In Photoshop, I learned all the shortcuts and created actions to reduce repetitive tasks. So I am thrilled to learn that there are shortcuts when working in Silhouette Studio.

Some of you might want to resist this but trust me, in the end you will be so happy you took the time to learn them.  Because whenever you want to create something you will do it with ease and very quickly.

Silhouette has compiled a list for both PC and Mac users.  One way to learn them is to start with a few at a time and as you use  new features, refer to this sheet to see if there is an equivalent shortcut key to perform your task. Before you know it, it will come to you without you thinking about it.

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The photo above is a sneak peek of a finished Valentines’ mailbox I cut out with my Silhouette and now using with my family. So be sure to check back on Monday to see all the mailboxes.

Happy crafting!

Belinda

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