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.

Hello,
Today I have a simple but useful post on the Silhouette UK Blog about adding a hanging loop to your own designs or those bought in the Store to make gift tags, present decorations, tree ornaments and banner elements.

To demonstrate how easy hanging loops are to design I included a step-by-step tutorial using snowflake files from the Store designed by Lori Whitlock. Just pop over to Silhouette UK Blog for the instructions.


KEY FOBS: Snowflake decorations cut from faux leather to be used on a festive key chain, or as an embellishment on a handbag or a zipped bag. These are double-layered snowflakes with the silver vinyl trapped between and all stuck with Beacon Fabri-tac (great for sticking faux leather).

GIFT TAGS: Weld a hanging loop to the background of this snowflake design to make pretty gift tags.

SLIDERS: Add elonganted loops to make sliders to decorate a parcel or a card. 

LETTER TAGS: Add loops to letters using Lori Whitlock's Splendid font to make decorative letters to enhance your parcels using glitter heat transfer vinyl and faux leather paper. These were cut from faux leather and layered 3 or 4 thick with Beacon Fabri-tac. The glittery layer is Glitter HTV from this fantastic supplier.

I'm sure you'll find lots more uses for your new hanging loops.

Vinyl Wall Clock - Shadow Tool

Hello again,  Today I'm thrilled to share a post over on the Silhouette UK Blog on making a vinyl wall clock. Since installing our clock at home some months ago I've had a number of requests asking how I made it. In the post I explain how to design your own vinyl wall clock using the Silhouette Studio software and a font from the Silhouette Store.

Unless you have a font with an offset shadow you'll find the tutorial on how to use the Shadow tool useful too. The tool is available in Silhouette Studio designer Edition (V.3.0 and higher). The tutorial uses Lori Whitlock's Friendly font. The font I actually used to make the clock already had a shadow and is called Langdon font and is available for free for personal and commercial use from XLN.

I made my clock some months ago from Oracal 631 Repositionable Vinyl, a vinyl film with a matte finish provided to me by Danielle at Crafty Cutter for review purposes. I applied the black and grey vinyl to the painted wall and it should remove easily when I eventually come to redecorate.  Some months on I've tested a corner and it peels away and re-sticks perfectly.  I also love the thicker, matte-look of this vinyl, it looks really classy!

I used regular transfer tape to move the vinyl from the backing sheet to the wall, and even the tiniest pieces transferred with no problem at all. As you can see my wall has a slightly textured painted finish (Dulux Matt Emulsion). It had been painted for more than 6 months before I installed the clock so was well cured and dry.

I purchased a good quality clock mechanism which claimed (correctly) to be silent. Cheaper versions come with a loud tick which I didn't want. This mechanism is called the Seiko high torque sweep clock movement with eye shaft, requiring special clock hands and a wall cup, all bought online from Mega-Quartz.

This is the largest vinyl project that I've attempted so far - my printed template extended to more than 12 sheets of A4 paper.  However, I'd really like to try something bigger now that I know how easy the vinyl is to use. The vinyl isn't available at Crafty Cutter just yet (but there are some lovely vinyls there - check out those beautiful colours of glitter HTV).  I can't wait to see the colour selection available (it should be in the store soon).

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