Layered Vinyl Rudolph with Sanqunetti Design NEW Cutting File

I've seen a lot of lovely examples of decorated acrylic shapes, but I hadn't got around to decorating my own until now.  The release of Sanqunetti Design's new Reindeer SVG file was the perfect opportunity to use them for the first time.

I also wanted to use the beautiful rose gold permanent vinyl from Crafty Cutter for the body. I have both the plain and the glitter, but opted to use the glitter for this project.

For the first design I used a 74 mm round acrylic blank from Acrylic Crafts to make a tree decoration for a new baby.  

I opened the outline of the acrylic blank (downloadable from the Acrylic Craft website) into the Silhouette Studio software as well as the reindeer design and then re-sized the image to fit on to the blank.

I enlarged the whites of the eyes just slightly as they were just a smidgen too small to manage at this reduced size. I used Ed's Market Regular font to type the letters and numbers separately then dragged the text-to-path button on the name to a circle, centred but smaller than the outside of the blank.

I used three small pentagon shapes as guides to help align the layers and use the hole and the circular outline the size of the acrylic blank as placement guides.  I duplicated the whole thing for each colour and deleted the unwanted parts. I coloured them so that it was easier to keep track of the pieces. 

Once I'd cut out the vinyl in all four colours I trimmed them to squares close to the circles with scissors. Then I weeded the unwanted parts on each circle leaving the circle outline. 

I first transferred the body piece on transfer tape to a blank that I'd cleaned with alcohol. Then I layered up the remaining pieces onto the used piece of transfer tape starting with the white bits. On this design is doesn't matter which colour is next, red or dark brown, as neither overlap each other. It is then easy to remove the stacked pentagons once the layers are all on the transfer sheet. I just flicked them away with my fingernail. 

I recommend applying the glitter rose gold first using the wet method. Just press out the moisture from the centre using a scraper or squeegee. Then add the remaining three colours at once (I sprayed the smallest amount of liquid onto the blank and lifted most of it off with a paper towel.

You'll find lots of instructions and videos on how to use the wet method for layered vinyl. Most seem to recommend using paper transfer tape, but I found it unnecessary on a project as small as this one and I used regular clear tape. For the spray liquid I used a mixture of baby shampoo (just a drop) and a small amount of tap water in a tiny spray bottle (craft spray size) and allowed the rose gold layer to dry before applying the other colours.

For the star ornament I used a duplicate decal of the same size but without the name and date. The star blank is the 100 mm star, also from Acrylic Craft.  I didn't bother with the downloadable template this time and just 'eye-balled' the placement of the image.

To finish them I just added hanging ribbons to both, and a bow to the star ornament.

I'm pleased with how they turned out and think the Rudolph image is adorable - great for all manner of seasonal items.  It is available from Sanqunetti Design with Commercial Use in formats to suit most cutting software (Silhouette Studio DE and above). Use code 'janet15' for a 15% discount.

Fall Hedgehog Swing Card

Hiya, today I have a card combining files from two of my favourite designers.  The cute Fall Hedgehog clipart is from Sanqunetti Design and the neat Swing Card SVG file is from Simply Crafty SVGs.

 The clipart was resized and placed within the oval centre of the swing card. The panel pieces were filled with a digital paper by Cosmo Cricket. All these pieces were placed on to a single piece of card on the Silhouette Cameo's virtual mat and the Print & Cut marks were turned on.

This was then printed out onto plain white card. The cut lines can be seen on the paper on the virtual mat, but don't show when the pieces are printed as the line thickness is set to zero.

The printed card is then placed onto the cutting mat, loaded into the Silhouette Cameo, and the pieces are then cut out.

The centre panels are coloured around the edge with Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink. Some of the colour is overlapped onto the base of the panel to indicate the ground beneath the hedgehogs feet.

The Card base is then cut from Kraft card. Here two copies are cut, one is still flat, and the other has been folded to form the card.

The panels are then adhered to the card blank, a sentiment is added and the card is complete.

 

The files are available now from Sanqunetti Design

... and Simply Crafty SVGs. The Swing Card is free, and there are also some more decorative shapes of swing card available too.

Fast and Easy Halloween Notecards using Halloween Ghost Planner Clipart by Sanqunetti Design

Hello,
I love, love, LOVE this Halloween Ghost Planner clipart from Sanqunetti Design. You'd be amazed how quickly you can use it to print off some cute note cards in the Silhouette Studio software. These cards are just 10cm square - perfect for quick notes and to enclose gift cards.

With the Silhouette Studio software open, just open up each design you want to use. The download includes both jpg and png. Either will work for this purpose.

Make your paper size the same as your pre-cut cards. My cards were 10cm square when folded and 10cm x 20cm when open. In the Page Setup window I made the width 100 mm and the height 200 mm. I chose this orientation because the cards pass though the printer more easily that way.

For guidance, draw a square of the size of your card front and resize and align your image as you would like it to appear on the front of the card.

Add text and colour match it to the design by using the colour dropper. Change the line colour to black and adjust the thickness to match that of the image. I used the Kraash Black font (free for Personal use only) from Imagex Fonts, colour matched to the image.

Group and rotate the whole group and position it onto the virtual mat.

Set the size of your card blanks in Print Page Setup. I had to make a custom size for these blanks. Then just send them to print ... easy! Note these instructions refer to using a Mac. It is a similar process using Windows.

The set of Halloween Ghost clipart images is available from Sanqunetti Design and the price includes both personal and commercial use. Use code 'janet15' to receive a 15% discount. Look out for regular sales too!

These clipart designs can be used for so many things - Halloween stickers for my planner will be my next project!

BREAKING NEWS!

All clipart and SVG files in the Sanqunetti Design shop are 50% off for a limited time. That's in addition to the 15% off by using my follower code 'janet15'.

Haunted Halloween Castle using Crafty SVGs Dragon Castle Card

Hello, Janet here with a new Halloween project. I've used the SVG file for the Dragon Castle Card from Simply Crafty SVGs as a starting point for this folding haunted castle.

You might have noticed that I can't resist changing things up a bit and as Sandy's files are so well designed and versatile they are the perfect for this.  Sandy's castle box card is great as it is, and comes with a super dragon - brilliant for all the 'Game of Thrones' fans in your life. Not only that, the file contains a bonus shaped card of the dragon in all his/her glory!

However, I needed something bigger so I enlarged the castle design and used two castles stuck back-to-back. Then I added some Halloween embellishments and the castle was transformed. I was so pleased when I realised that it still folded down. That means I can easily store it and reuse it next year.

 

Materials Used:
Grey Heavyweight Card in A3 sheets 240 gsm
Crackle-textured Background Stamp
Black Soot and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Inks
Patterned papers in Grey and Orange
Black Paper
Silhouette Glow-in-the-Dark Sticker Paper
Black Wink of Stella Pen
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive
Dimensional Adhesive Pads
Silhouette Cameo
Silhouette 12" x 24" Cutting Mat

Files Used:
Simply Crafty SVGs Dragon Castle Card

Silhouette Studio Files:
Haunted House Accessories by Samantha Walker (ghosts) (#34010)*
Trick or Treat Halloween Banner by Emily Dyer (#97615)
Spider Web by Silhouette (#2954)*
Spider & Web by Sarah Bailey (spider) (#33514)
Bats by Lori Whitlock (#156856)
*also available as SVGs



Resizing and Cutting

I enlarged all the castle card components so that the biggest piece would fit onto A3 cardstock approx. 11.5" x 16.5". The file piece shown is roughly 8" x 16".  The I cut double the number of card bases, panels and door frames from the grey cardstock.  I also cut additional small towers to put on the inside of the castle.

Decorating the Card/Castle Base

I used black distress oxide ink to blend some ink around the the edges of the inside parts of the castle (parts not covered with panels).

Decorating the Panels

The panels were stamped with a texture background stamp. This is an old one from Personal Impressions (P765). I think it may be discontinued as I couldn't find it online. It's so long since I used a quality large mounted stamp like this, it has a real luxury feel to it!  However, most texture stamps would work, especially brickwork, stone or marble.

I then blended Distress Oxide ink around the edges with a mini sponge dauber and also lightly rubbed some Frayed Burlap ink over the surface to give the panels a bit of colour variation.

Windows and Doors

Using the panels as a template, I drew the windows onto the bases. On the front of the castle I added scraps of glow-in-the-dark sticker to cover the window openings (they will later be covered with the panels). As an alternative I cut out the windows on the rear of the castle with a craft knife and placed orange vellum over the windows.  I preferred the glow-in-the-dark ones, but the vellum is an adequate alternative.

Attaching the Panels

The window frames, flagpoles and battlement strips were cut from black paper, the flags from orange, and the roof pieces from grey patterned paper.  It is a good idea to made up the panels before attaching them to the base. Sandwiching the vellum or glow-in-the-dark paper between the base and the panels really shows the detail in the window frames off nicely.  The picture below shows the vellum version.

Card Assembly

Both written (PDF) and video instructions are available for this file and it is very straightforward to put together. I assembled both halves of the castle independently, remembering to put the rear panels on the inside of the card rather than the back, where the two castles are joined together. I reversed one of the castles so the towers matched up on each side, but it would look fine with them alternating too.



Decorations

The two ghosts were cut from the glow-in-the-dark sticker paper, with a second set in reverse. I sandwiched a narrow strip of grey card between each matching set which was used to attach the ghosts above the castle walls.

I substituted the door for a glow-in-the-dark panel with a spider's web sandwiched between the two door frame parts.

The spider was made from several layers of black and orange card and mounted proud of the web on adhesive foam pads.

The 'Trick or Treat' banner was cut from black paper and layered with some orange paper behind and mounted above the door frame. A black Wink of Stella pen was used to give the black parts a bit of gloss and shine.

Finally, a few bats were added on the flag and in other random places.



Here is the castle in the dark with the ghosts a-glowing!

There are so many options for decorating this Halloween castle, it is hard to know when to stop!


Bye for now,
Janet, DT Member Simply Crafty SVGS


Blog: Crafting Quine 
Instagram: @CraftingQuine



Simply Crafty SVG Files:
Dragon Castle Card

NEW Pop Up Cards in Silhouette Studio V4.1 - Digger Card

Hiya,

Over on the Silhouette UK blog I recently shared a fun card using the new Popup card feature in the Designer Edition in version 4.1 of the Silhouette® Studio software.

I'd been asked to make a card featuring a digger for a friend's grandson and it seemed the ideal opportunity to try out the popup feature.  I used the Construction Tractor (#113473) file by Studio Ilustrado from the Silhouette® Design Store.

My post over on the Silhouette UK Blog includes step-by-step instructions on how design and put together the card using the Silhouette Studio Software.

This isn't the fastest card that I've ever put together, but it is certainly one of the most fun. I loved how it turned out. I hope you'll try it - you're sure to love it too.

Acorn Girl Gift Tag

The new SVG cutting file release this week from Sanqunetti Design is this cute Acorn Girl file.

I made her into a simple shaped gift tag by welding a washer shape to the base piece. This was then tied to the little parcel with baker's twine with some Echo Park skeleton leaves from the Silhouette Design Store.

The tag was paper-pieced, and for speed and economy the tag and leaves were made using the Silhouette's Print & Cut feature on printable white card. The shapes shown in the picture below look quite thick, that's because they have an extra margin of colour (a gutter) around them, to ensure there are no white lines.

I also made my own wrapping paper for this gift using a seamless pattern and the colour changing options in the Silhouette's Image Effects panel. I was able to change the pattern from black to beige by playing with the Tint sliders.

I was pleased with how pretty the finished gift wrapping looked - great for fall birthdays or little thanksgiving or hostess gifts.

The file is available from Sanqunetti Design store.  Use my discount code 'JANET15' to received a 15% discount on this and other files in Judy's stores (can only be used when items are at full price).

I love finding ways to make gifts even prettier, don't you?