Just my cup of tea - a wiper card

Hiya, over on the Silhouette UK Blog today I have  a new style of card from the Silhouette Design Store. Lori Whitlock, one of my favourite designers, has a new range of fun Valentine's wiper cards which have a central swipe up part which appears once the card is opened. There are quite a few of these interactive cards to choose from, but I wanted to make one with a tea theme, and so used a couple of other files by Lori including the Tea Time Dingbats font to make teacup and teapot toppers.

DESIGNS USED:

Wiper Card Valentine Balloon Card by Lori Whitlock (#285948)

You Are My Cup of Tea phrase by Lori Whitlock (#267429)

Tea Time Dingbats Font by Lori Whitlock (#279453)



MATERIALS USED:

Textured Cardstock - 12" x 12" in white, mint and navy

Patterned Scrapbooking Papers - 6" x  6"

Scrap of Clear Acetate

Silhouette Adhesive-Backed Cardstock in mint, sea mist, grey and strawberry

Silhouette Sketch Pens in red and pink

Silhouette Cameo 3



The designer has a full video tutorial on how to put these cards together, so my post just shows the small changes that I made. I used the Valentine Balloon Card as it has a pop up sentiment in a rounded rectangle shape (some of the pop ups are animals or other more specific shapes).

My post on the Silhouette UK Blog includes instructions on the following:

(1) Changing the Print & Cut message to a cut out phrase - one of the words uses a 'marquetry' technique.

(2) How to separate the pieces in one element of the dingbat font, and which ones to remove to make a cuttable file.

(3)  How to make a floating piece with adhesive-backed cardstock on acetate.

(4) Tip for placement, sizing and orientation of the new toppers.


I'm so pleased with how the card turned out and urge you to experiment with dingbat fonts. They open up so many possibilities.

Year of the Pig - Fortune Cookie Basket - In My Heart Box by Simply Crafty SVGs

Hiya, This week I've had such fun playing with the In My Heart Box SVG File by Simply Crafty SVGs. I converted it into a basket for my homemade paper fortune cookies and added decorations to celebrate the forthcoming Chinese New Year - the year of the pig.

The designer Sandy, has made a fabulous video on how to put the basket together. In this post I've shown the alterations I made. I used my Silhouette Cameo and the Silhouette Studio software, but any changes I made can no doubt be replicated in other cutting software and with other machines.


Materials Used:
American Crafts textured card in Red
Kraft cardstock (heavyweight, 260gsm)
Antique Pearl Gold paper (120gsm)
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive
Black adhesive foam pads
Silhouette Cameo
Silhouette Pen Holder
Pentel Hybrid Gold pen

Files Used:
Simply Crafty SVGs In My Heart Box

Other Digital Files:
ZP Chinese Zodiac font by ScrapNfonts (for the pig icon)
Chinese Characters Love, Laugh, Live by Loni Harris



Basic Box/Basket
I cut the basic shape from kraft cardstock and then inked the edges with gold metallic stamping ink. The cutout heart won't show as it will be covered by a the decorative panels on the outside, and a new liner piece on the inside.

Handle
The two existing handle pieces were cut from kraft and red cardstock. I additionally made an internal offset on the red piece and cut that from gold paper.

Decorative Front Panels
In the software, I ungrouped the panel pieces and then released the compound path on the front panels and removed all the elements except the little heart swirl. I then cut these from red cardstock along with the plain side panels.

I inked the edges with gold ink and then adhered them to the box base. It was easier to adhere them while the base was still flat.

Gold Lining Pieces
I made lining pieces by making a slightly smaller version of the outside panels using an internal offset of both. I adhered these before assembling the box, but they would be better adhered after, as they would cover the internal flaps. Next time I'll do it differently!

Embellishments
The embellishments were made using the Sketch function, and a gold gel pen in the Silhouette Pen Holder on the reverse of the red textured card. For the pig an offset was made for the cut line. Then a further offset was made and cut from the gold paper. The pig was then adhered to the offset, and the whole thing mounted onto the box with adhesive foam pads. The Live, Laugh, Love characters were similarly drawn, cut out, and mounted on the front and sides of the box.

Fortune Cookies
The gold paper fortune cookies were simply made from circles of gold paper. To keep this post shorter, the instructions for the fortune cookies can be found in a separate post here.

This is the Simply crafty SVG file I used. Just click on one of the photos to visit the page in Simply Crafty SVGs online store.




Simply Crafty SVG Files:
In My Heart Box

How to Make Paper Fortune Cookies

Hiya, Today I have a mini tutorial on how to make paper fortune cookies. I came across these 'cookies' at New Year, and I made a bunch for the family with fun predictions for the year ahead. This week I have used them to fill a basket for a gathering to celebrate the Chinese New Year (pictured here made from gold paper). The cookies could also be used for a Valentine theme, with a more romantic selection of fortune slips.

I used a metal die and a Sizzix manual die cutter. If you don't have a cutter, you could draw around a circular object of similar size and cut out with scissors. Of course, the fortune cookies could be cut with a Silhouette, Circuit, Scan and Cut or similar, and there are designs available in SVG and Studio format from the Silhouette Design Store (#55256, #53238)

You'll need to find some suitable fortune slips. Print them out, and trim them in narrow strips of around 4" in length. A Pinterest or Google search will yield a wealth of free printables or ideas to type your own. I've included a list of my favourites at the end of this post.


Materials Required
Circles cut from light-weight scrapbook paper, or coloured copy weight paper
Selection of fortunes or messages
Liquid glue


STEP 1: Cut a number of 3.5" (9cm circles).

STEP 2: Fold a circle in half and pinch it in the centre. Open it up, rotate it a quarter turn, and fold it in half again, adding a small dot of glue as shown.

STEP 3: Lightly hold the edges together until they have adhered.

STEP 4: Place an index finger in each end, pressing your thumbnails into the centre crease. Fold at the crease and pull the edges down to meet each other. Release the edges.

STEP 5: Slip a fortune slip in past the centre, leaving the last inch peeking out. Add a small dot of glue as shown.

STEP 6: Bring the ends together again holding the sides together where the glue is located. I find this easiest using the thumb and index finger of one hand until the glue has gripped. Trim the end of message if you wish.

On one side the surface is smooth, and on the other it is creased like this.

Make as many as you need and add them to a nice container. I made this one using an SVG cut file from Simply Craft SVGs. Instructions will be published tomorrow and can be found here.

Here are the links to some of my favourite downloadable printed messages/fortunes.

Party Inspiration by Margaret Alba - Valentine Fortune Cookies - messages for friends
SheKnows - Edible fortune Cookies with Positive Chinese New Year messages

Of course, the messages can be adapted for different occasions from birthdays to baby showers. I hope you'll find fun ways to use them.

A Beginner's Guide to Cutting Cardstock and Making 3D Designs

Hiya, Over on the Silhouette UK Blog I have a pretty and practical Valentine's papercraft project using the Heart Bowl (#39182) file by Snapdragon Snippets. The mini size is perfect for sharing some chocolates or a special gift on Valentine's Day. I've also shared some useful tips for preparing and assembling cardstock projects.

Tips include

• Fitting more pattern pieces to a sheet
• Changing perforated lines to score lines
• Using 'Cut by Line' to use different cut settings on the same pattern piece
• Advantages of using liquid adhesive
• How to clean up excess adhesive
• Reducing the size of the finished item
• Choosing different weights of paper and cardstock

A Beginner's Guide to Print & Cut with the Silhouette - focus on stickers

Over on the Silhouette UK Blog I have a Print & Cut project for the Silhouette using a sticker design from the Silhouette Design Store. It includes step-by-step instructions for manipulating the store bought design to get maximum value from these purchased studio sticker files. The instructions include: how to set up a Print & Cut sticker page, adding a trim line around sticker sets, re-sizing sets, and cutting sticker planner pages.

I have a second post with further ideas for getting more from sticker files from the Silhouette Design Store. These include mirroring the images, splitting the set of images, isolating individual images, and making co-ordinating functional stickers.

Here I have reproduced the general Print & Cut section as I'm sure you'll find it useful if you are new to Print & Cut, or if you haven't used the Silhouette Sticker Paper before.

This is the design I used. I think these birds are so pretty. The stickers can be used on SO many crafting projects.

Little Bird Stickers by Carina Gardner (#284076) 

Here are my Print & Cut Instructions - just four easy steps.

(a) Page Setup for Print & Cut

In the Page Setup panel, change the Page Size to match the sticker paper (Silhouette Printable Sticker Paper is U.S. Letter sized).  Also tick the Show Print Border and Show Cut Border boxes.

From the Registration Marks tab, select Type 1 in the Style dropdown box, I like to also increase the Thickness to .60 to make the marks easier for the sensor to detect. If you were to look at the virtual mat, you'd see that the registration marks are joined by the cut (red) line. Any item outside of this red box will not cut.

(b) Print Page Setup

In the Main Menu (top of the page), change the Print Page Setup to match the Page Setup (i.e. Letter size). If there is a borderless option for Letter size DO NOT select it. Leave the scale at one hundred percent.

The print (grey) line will now be visible within the page borders and outside the cut line. Any part of an item outside the grey box will not print. Where possible avoid overlapping the hashed area (dark printing in this area can cause the sensor to mis-read the design).

(c) Print the Design

Once your have placed your sticker design in the correct position, print the design on your printer (from the Main/Top menu chose File > Print). For most printers select 'Best' or 'Photo Quality' for the best result. You may notice that any line with the thickness set to zero will not be printed.

(d) Cut the Design

Press the printed sheet onto the cutting mat, aligning it with the top left-hand corner of the sticky area. Load it into your Silhouette and open up the Send tab. Select the cut setting for "Sticker Paper, White". Adjust the force to achieve a "kiss cut" (cutting through the sticker layer, but not the paper backing). I usually reduce the force to '12' and recommend you use a Test Cut to find your ideal setting. Highlight the Cut option and check that the correct lines on the design will be cut. If they are correct, Send the design to cut. The Silhouette will attempt to read the registration marks and then cut the design.

I hope you find this useful.