Make Light Up Cards

Hello,
Today I have a very special post over on the Silhouette UK Blog with a fun idea to make greeting cards extra special by adding interactive lighting!

These cards contain a battery which powers a super slimline, teeny, tiny light bulb that lights up when a certain part of the card is pressed; fun to make and great fun to receive!

The reindeer card is relatively straight forward, but being an easel card, the snowflake card is a little more complex so I have included detailed instructions over on the Silhouette UK Blog for you.




To make these you'll need the Chibi Lights LED Stickers Kit. This includes batteries, copper tape, slimline sticker bulbs, instructions and project ideas.

I also used these files from the Silhouette Design Store:

:: Reindeer Card ::
Reindeer Holiday Rectangle file download by Loni Harris (#51516)
Chapstick Box Snowflake file (for the snowflake & button only) (#70564)

:: Snowflake Card ::
A2 Snowflake Easel file download by Lori Whitlock (#66545)
Chapstick Box Snowflake (for the small snowflakes only) (#70564)
Arrows file (for the arrows) (#45683)
Valentine Set file (for the word 'Love') (#54154)

There must be hundreds of card designs in the Silhouette store and elsewhere that you could add these lights to. I challenge you to try it!

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Novelty Pillow cases

Hello,
Just wanted to tell you that I have a tutorial and fun gift idea over on the Silhouette UK Blog today.

In the post I'll explain how to combine designs, types of vinyl and how to create a space around the words so that the vinyl media don't overlap. This method keeps the design as flat as possible making the finished item look more professional and ensuring the pillow cases are more comfortable in use as well. The same offset technique can be used with regular vinyl and even for paper-crafting.


I used the following files from the Silhouette Design Store.
Quote file downloads by Sophie Gallo (#140987, #140989)
Starburst file downloads by Lisa Norris (#68600, #68596)

... and also
and a Pair of Egyptian cotton pillow cases
Black Flock Heat Transfer Vinyl
Gold Metallic HTV
Silver Metallic HTV.

My post includes a few tips which I've picked up doing this and similar projects with HTV.

The pillows turned out beautifully and they feel great too!

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DESIGNS USED:

Party Animal Card and Stickers

The new SVG release from Sanqunetti Design this week is this cute Party Llama file.

I made him (the llama definitely has a male demeanour) into this circular layered card and added the party animal sentiment.  The sentiment was applied using the 'perfect placement' technique that I describe in detail here.

The entire card is made from paper and card with the exception of the facial features and hooves, which I cut from dark brown vinyl and some additional enamel dots.

The paper and card used was American Crafts textured cardstock and Lidl paper (a light beige colour can be hard to track down).

I also made some matching stickers, cut from an A4 sheet of Avery label paper. My settings were a little high and I managed to cut the backing sheet as well as the sticky part. Not a big deal, but bound to happen when I had only ONE sheet of sticker paper left!

I was pretty pleased with how the stickers turned out.  They are a fun addition for the card recipient or can be used to give out at a party, school class, or to friends.

The file is available from Sanqunetti Design store and from Etsy, and is reduced in price for a limited time.

I think I might make more matching stickers with the child-centric cards I make. Do you make stickers to match your cards? What sort of cards do you pair them with?

A Beginner's Guide to Mat Keeping

Hello, on today's Silhouette UK Blog I have written a guide to maintaining you Silhouette mat. It's title and sub-heading sound a little tongue in cheek, but hopefully this simple guide will prove useful especially to new Silhouette users.

Leaf Monogram Frame into Love Card with the FREE design of the Week

Hiya, I'm LOVING setting myself the challenge of making a quick card with each of the free designs of the week from the Silhouette store. This week's is a Leaf Monogram Frame which I've turned into a letter card.

Method:

• I utilised the Silhouette's Print and Cut feature and added an offset cut line to each of the frames and placed a letter in each one using a font I already had installed on my computer.
• The letter frames were printed onto 300gsm card along with the registration marks and cut out with the Silhouette. They were adhered with dimensional tape on to a rounded rectangle shape filled with the same colour as the frames. 
• This was my first time using this lovely smooth printable cardstock which arrived today from Anna Marie Designs. I'm very impressed as this weight of cardstock usually gets stuck in my printer and I have to use a lighter weight card. I was also impressed with the (not so) little free gift of some lovely glimmery paper - thank you Anna Marie! Did I say - the card was on special offer at 29% off too! 
• The background rectangle was mounted on to a card base made from the full width of another piece of A4 300gsm cardstock. 
• That's it, card made!

What I used:

• 2 Sheets of printable cardstock (300gsm from Anna Marie Designs)
• Printer
• Silhouette Cameo
• Adhesive

Yes, that was all!

This card design could be adjusted to accommodate a name (it it isn't too long) or some other neat message. Not just for monograms then!

Pumpkin Latte Love Card

Cards that will hold a gift card are always useful, aren't they? I made this one with an Autumnal feel using this week's new SVG release from Sanqunetti Design - Pumpkin Latte Love SVG.

Supplies Used

6" X 6" card blank
Patterned papers from Lawn Fawn (Let's Polka Mon Amie) & Doodlebug (Friendly Forest)
Plain cardstock Lawn Fawn (Fundamentals - Green)
Silhouette adhesive corrugated paper

Silhouette metallic sketch pen

Card adhesive

The SVG file needed only a few adjustments to make the gift card holder.

These are the extra steps required:

• Form an interior for the cup to form the card carrier by making an internal offset of the cup in the Silhouette Design software. Attach the cup lid to the carrier piece without applying adhesive to the lower edge (to allow it to overlap the cup).
• Cut the collar for the cup in kraft-coloured adhesive corrugated paper, this cuts beautifully in the software using the recommended settings.  
• Make an attachment strip sized to be hidden behind the cup's collar. Make it long enough so that the ends can be folded under and, once attached to the collar, used to attach the collar to the card, Ensure that it is folded closely enough to the edges of the collar to allow the card carrier to pass through, but not allow it to fall through the bottom.
• Use the Silhouette sketch pen to write the sentiment using the Silhouette machine (swop the blade for a brown metallic pen). Use an interior offset to fill in the lettering.

I'm entering this card in a couple of special UK challenges this month. 

Orange and Brown combo challenge over at Delicious Doodles Challenges

'O' is for Open challenge at the ABC Challenge

Challenge #27, Anything Goes at A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge

Anything Goes challenge at Crafts Galore Encore Challenge

Anything Goes challenge at Through the Craft Room Door Challenge Blog