Tiny Tea Light Houses

Hello, this week I've been making some new Christmas Tree decorations using Silhouette's Faux Leather Paper. The natural shade is perfect to use for gingerbread-look projects and I really enjoyed using it to make these miniature Tealight Houses. The design used is the Tiny Gingerbread House by Amanda McGee from the Silhouette Design Store. This year I'll be giving these as to friends - as "from our house to your's" gifts.

What I Used
Silhouette Faux Leather Paper in White and Natural
Oracal 651 Premium vinyl in White and Red
Clear Application Tape
Beacon Fabri Tac Adhesive
6mm Silver Organza Ribbon
Silhouette CAMEO® 3
Silhouette Black Ratchet Blade
Silhouette 12" x 12" Cutting Mat

The post over on the Silhouette UK Blog includes instructions on how to cut the faux leather paper on a Silhouette together with a load of hints and tips. Once assembled a regular tea light fits inside and can be accessed through a flap in the rear of the gingerbread house.

Make your own Pen Holder for Planner, Journal or Notebook

Hiya, I have a post over on the Silhouette UK Blog today with ideas for creating a custom pen holder for a planner, notebook or journal using the Silhouette Faux Leather Paper.

I've used the faux leather in many projects previously, and although it requires more care to cut then card, it is well worth the effort. In the post I've included some tips to make the job easier if you decide to try it for yourself. 

I chose to decorate the ends of my holder with a shell image from the CG Under the Sea Dingbats Font using silver metallic heat transfer material. I think shells compliment the pretty mermaid scale fold-over elastic that I found on that famous auction site, but any relatively simple shape could be used. 

My post covers how to design and assemble your own pen holder, customised to fit your pens, as well as tips on cutting the faux leather leather paper and installing the elastic.

The finished pen holder can be added to the outside, or within your planner, notebook or journal to act as a place marker.

This design can be adapted for different themes, just choose a relatively simple shape to weld to the basic rectangle.

Let me know if you try it.

New Cork Sheets

Hiya, this week I had the opportunity to play with the NEW Silhouette® Cork Sheets and this post on the Silhouette UK Blog was the result.

I also included a little seasonal project, using the cork to cover an MDF or wood shape for Easter/Spring. I've also been following a course on the Creative Live App called Craft Photography Fundamentals tutored by Candice Stringham. I'm loving trying out her hints for top down photos.

Now, back to the cork sheets ...

... they can be coloured with stamping ink,

... tiny pieces cut successfully,

... heat transfer material adheres too.

Over on the blog I show how I made these Easter/Spring decorations by covering MDF shapes with a mix of cork and faux leather paper.

I used these digital files from Jamie Koay and Nic Squirrell

Hope you like them.

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.

Make decorative panels for your 3D projects - a folk art jar

Hi! I have a blog post on the Silhouette UK Blog today - a tutorial on how to make decorative panels for your 3D projects

It also uses
Faux Leather Paper to make durable 3D items AND
Heat Transfer Material pressed onto Faux Leather Paper.

Faux leather paper makes 3D items much stronger and more durable. Items last longer and are more practical for regular use. I used Lori Whitlock's Curvy Container (Design id #123167) as it has such lovely lines.

Heat transfer material can be cut into very intricate shapes and irons beautifully onto the faux leather paper. I made decorative panels for the curve container using an existing cutout design, by using the container's panels as a template. I used this lovely folk art flower cutout design from the Silhouette Design Store by Emily Dyer (Design id #59889).

The tutorial ion the blog is a step-by-step on how to make the panels - I call the technique "Modifying a pattern to fit a shape", the shape here being the jar side panel. The technique can be used with many of the store's backgrounds, stencils, masks and cutouts. I hope you find it useful.







I love combining files together to make something unique.

Here are some of the steps to make the jar. I used a heat press, but an iron will do the job too - you just have to have a surface that you can press hard onto (your ironing board may not be up to the task)







The faux leather quite a strong material and needs a good adhesive to stick it. I like to use the Beacon Fabri-Tac. It has a quick grab and some wiggle time (not as much as 3-in-1, but it is stronger and maintains some flexibility too).





There you have it - a pretty and useful storage jar!

Do pop over to the blog and try it out!

SILHOUETTE DESIGNS USED:

FREE Weekly File - Folk Art Basket into Pen Pot

There is a new FREE design at the Silhouette Store today. I decided to make myself a pen pot and to try out some more robust materials - sometimes card just isn't durable enough!

Now I thought it would look good with real wooden sides, and I had wood - in the form of lolly sticks (or tongue depressors, as the packet says).  Now to match the strength and durability of the wood I ditched card in favour of faux leather. I re-sized the file pieces to fit the width of the sticks and made it a little taller, but not the full height of the sticks, as that would have been too tall to see the colour of the pens I planned to store in it.

The sticks were trimmed with some heavy duty scissors.

I made up the pot sides in the faux leather (after it had been soaked and dried) and then attached the sticks with fabric glue and a selection of brads.

Then I attached the base with more fabric glue and pushed it inside the pot when dry (not how the design was intended, but I thought it would serve my purpose better that way).

Voila! A durable pen holder for my desk.

I'm sure that you can make something prettier with this file! Why not join in the challenge on the Silhouette UK Blog and prove it?

Dog Card Using Faux Leather Paper - Design Team

Looking for a fun birthday card for a dog lover? 

This card is made from a Silhouette Store file and is my first project to be featured for the Silhouette UK Design Team. I tried out the Silhouette Faux Leather Paper for the first time and included a little tutorial on how to make the embellished collar.  You can read the full post here.

He was modified to look like our family pet; Lucas Terrier, Beckett. Do you think they look alike?

Are you wondering who the other Silhouette Design Team members are for 2016/17?
Read our profiles ...

Janet Packer
Hilary Milne
Nadine Muir
Karen Moss
Sara Talib
Niki Rowland
Caroline Free
Beverley Edwards

I'm so looking forward to working with this group of creative folks!