24 Aug 2017

Scarecrow Basket made with the Scarecrow Topper SVG from Sanqunetti Design


Hiya, today I've created a fun scarecrow basket made with the Scarecrow Topper SVG from Sanqunetti Design.

I made my own basket by welding the hat and face together for the front and back of the basket. Then I added some rectangles for the sides and base, then tabs and slits (for a handle), and a handle piece too, of course.



To add some decoration, I made some panels for the basket sides and the handle.



Once I'd made up my scarecrow topper from textured card stock I adhered him to the basket prior to assembly. It was easy to add the decorative panels at this stage too.



Then it was simply a matter of adhering the side panels to the back of the scarecrow's head and slipping the handle into the slits on the side of the basket. I'd also add a little glue to the handles to ensure they don't move once my cute basket is filled with fall treats.



The Scarecrow Topper SVG can be purchased from Sanqunetti Design from the website or the Etsy store. This guy makes a fun basket but he'd look great on fall cards and invitations too.





23 Aug 2017

Orchid Card using Simply Crafty SVGS Orchid Box Card SVG





Hello, Janet here with a new folding box card. It was a treat to make this SVG file for the Orchid Box Card from Simply Crafty SVGS.

This is a quick and easy card to cut and assemble.  Sandy's version is beautiful in purple, but I made just a few little changes to make it more like the lovely white orchids that I have flowing on my window sill today!




Materials I Used:
White Extra Heavyweight Parchment Vellum 220 gsm (about 150 lb.)
Silver Metallic Card
Heavyweight White Glimmer Card
Copic /Alcohol Markers
Geometric Embossing Folder and Embossing Machine
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive
Dimensional Adhesive Pads
Tonic Ball Embossing Tools


Print & Cut

I used the Print & Cut facility on my Silhouette Cameo to make green coloured stems, leaves and buds, and cut them from thick parchment vellum (less translucent than regular vellum).  The secret to perfect print and cut is to add a non-cut margin of colour around the printed shapes, printer's call this a bleed. You'll find more Print & Cut projects here.




Adding Dimension to Leaves and Stems

I shaped the buds with a ball embossing tool and layered them onto the stem using a triangular-shaped piece of dimensional foam between.  I blended some green alcohol marker around the edges of the leaves and added some stripes along the length before attaching to the base with more dimensional foam to open the slit in each leaf.




Colouring and Shaping Orchid Flowers

The flower parts were also cut from parchment vellum with no colour added (they fit on the same sheet as the Print & Cut stems and leaves). The orchid flower centres were coloured with the Copic marker colours shown in the photo. A Google image search on orchid flowers will provide a host of colouring guides.



The petals, sepals and centres were shaped with the ball tools on a soft surface (I used an old fabric mouse mat).



The individual flowers were assembled from the back forward using strong liquid adhesive. I used the ball tool to hold the parts together until the adhesive had stuck.



Card Assembly

The card base pieces were cut from white cardstock and the pot and panels from metallic silver card. The pot and panels were embossed using an embossing folder. The card assembly was very straightforward, following the PDF instructions included with the SVG file.




The finished card will fold flat to fit into regular envelope. It makes a lovely card suitable for so many different occasions.


Bye for now,
Janet, DT Member Simply Crafty SVGS

Blog: https://craftingquine.blogspot.co.uk 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftingquine



Simply Crafty SVG Files:
Orchid Box Card


20 Aug 2017

Make your own adhesive card and paper





Hiya, Over on the Silhouette UK blog today I'm sharing a trick to make your own adhesive-backed card and paper sheets.  They can be used right away or kept for future projects; with the peel-off paper backing they store perfectly.



Using adhesive backed cardstock saves time, adhesive, and often a good bit of mess. They are great for unusual shapes and batch projects.



I used the Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive sheets to make them. I've tried other brands, but they tend to have thinner backing paper and I've had them stick badly to my mat when cutting and have torn and taken an age to peel off.  The Silhouette brand peels off the mat easily and having a thicker backing has the bonus of giving the paper/card additional strength and rigidity.



The post over on the Silhouette UK Blog includes instructions on how to make the self-adhesive sheets and how to cut them on the Silhouette desktop cutting machines.

I used this lovely Wild Flower patterned paper from Trimcraft to decorate these 5-Sided Pillow Boxes by Carina Gardner from the Silhouette Design Store.

It was quick and easy to stick all 33 pieces on, and even the patterns matched correctly!

I hope you find this useful.









16 Aug 2017

Fall Crow Card and Place Cards




I love making shaped greetings cards and, using the Silhouette Studio software, it is easy to make other shaped papercraft items too. In this post I'll show you how I made shaped place cards for my Thanksgiving table.

The Thanksgiving card and place cards were made using the new SVG release from Sanqunetti Design - Fall Crow SVG.


Supplies Used

Silhouette Cameo® 3 and Colour Printer
Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition (or higher)
White printable medium-weight Cardstock
Googly Eyes
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive


Instructions

To make the place cards, I made an offset from a small version of the crow and cut the offset horizontally across the centre using the software's Knife tool (using the Outline setting, rather than the Solid default).  The upper half of the crow offset was then positioned level with the centre line of a place card-sized rectangle.

Fold lines were added at the centre line either side of the offset.

A complete crow image was then centred within the outline and a patterned background added behind (minus the crow's eye).

Next a rounded rectangle with a coloured outline was added with family names centred inside.




The whole design was then placed within a Print & Cut window, together with a copy and some (optional) separate elements.

It was then a simple matter of printing the design as shown on a home printer, and sending the printed card through the Silhouette Cameo to cut out.

To finish, each cutout place card was folded and the the google eyes added. Optional elements were added too.






The fall crow cutting file is available from the Sanqunetti Design website and at Judy's Etsy store.


Of course, I couldn't resist making a matching paper-pieced greeting card too. Isn't he cute!






15 Aug 2017

Layering different types of heat transfer vinyl - Mason Jar Tissue Holders




Hiya, I have a post over on the Silhouette UK Blog today about applying heat transfer material, both singly and layered. I illustrated this by using heat transfer to decorate fabric sleeves to make mason jar tissue holders.




These are the recommendations on layering the various types of heat transfer vinyl from the various manufacturers.

Base layer: Smooth or Flock
Secondary Layers: Smooth on Smooth, Flock on Flock, or Flock on Smooth
Top Layer: Metallic, Glitter, Holographic

Different brands may give different results.




Once HTV had been applied to the hessian bands, they were trimmed and frayed and affixed to the spray painted jars.

Each jar was filled with a roll of tissues equating to a half box of regular tissues with just the outer band of the screw top replaced on the jar.





6 Aug 2017

Fast Cardmaking with Adhesive Cardstock - Unicorn Card




Hiya, This week on the Silhouette UK Blog I've been using my Bokeh backgrounds and Silhouette Self-adhesive Cardstock to make fast cards.


Using self-adhesive cardstock speeds up the cardmaking process; no need for adhesives, scissors or protective mat. Just cut out the design, peel, press and your card is made.




I used the Unicorn Card design by Nic Squirrell (#176308).

My post includes instructions on how to make this card and a few extra tips and suggestions on how to make speedy cards. Feel free to add any of your own in the comments below the post.