Mini tropical Foil Leaf Canvases

Hiya, this week I have another quick and easy home decor project using the Silhouette Printable Gold Foil over on the Silhouette UK Blog. I decorated some mini canvases using some tropical leaf shapes by Amy Robison (#83624, #83618) from the Silhouette Design store.

Materials Used
Silhouette Printable Gold Foil Sticker Paper
Silhouette Cameo, or Portrait
4-pack of Mini Canvases (12.5cm x 12.5cm, 5" x 5")
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Clotted Cream
Mod Podge Matte Sealant
Foam Brush

My post includes instructions on how to cut the foil and decorate the canvases, and includes some information on using the Nesting Tool (available in Designer Edition and above). Do pop over there if you'd like to find out more about the project.

FREE Weekly File - Happy House

The FREE design at the Silhouette Store today is just ripe for vinyl and as my faithful Cameo has been working so hard over the past few weeks, I thought she deserved a little sprucing up. This file was perfect!

To fit it onto my machine I changed the house's proportions to make it a little squatter in the Silhouette Studio software. Now you might also have noticed that the wording has changed a teeny bit? To do this I just ungrouped the letters and copied C, A , E and O from the letters further down and then point edited an H to make it into an M. The new letters just needed a little re-sizing and making back into a compound path and my file was ready for cutting.

Using a weeding tool and then transfer tape made getting the decal onto my Cameo super easy. I think she's looking rather smart now, don't you?

What are you going to make with the free file? Do share your make over on the Silhouette UK Blog. I'd love to see what you do.

Wedding Card with Docrafts Wedding Ever After range

Using items from Docrafts Wedding Ever After products I made this folding box card for a very special couple who are getting married next week. 

Their cat featured on their invitations so had to be included on the card. A London cityscape is added around the base of the card.

I love that these cards provide lots of dimension yet fold flat to go into a conventional envelope.

I used the softly patterned paper from the 6x6 Paper Inserts pack to make a back panel for the greeting and to partially line the envelope.

Docrafts Wedding Ever After 6 x 6 Inserts

contoured back panel

assembled card showing back panel

The heavier weight of the paper chains was ideal to make the side panels and the decorative hearts.

Docrafts Wedding Ever After Paper Chains

folded cardstock and gold vinyl hearts

cardstock contoured side panels

SUPPLIES:

CUTTING FILES 

#57460  Skyline Borders by Sweet Afton Studio

#54842 Valentines Cats by Megan Hardy Designs Studio
#79504 Mr & Mrs Phrase by Miss Kate Cuttables Studio/PNG/SVG/JPG
Folding Box File - my own design

Items used:

Docrafts Wedding Ever After 6 x 6 inserts and paper chains
Beacon 3-in-1 Craft Glue CPD/AmazonUk/AmazonUSA
Thick Parchment paper
Gold Adhesive Vinyl
Clear Acetate

Making Stencils with the Silhouette Cameo

With an electronic cutter, like the Silhouette Cameo, stencils are cheap and easy to make. 

I make reusable stencils and masks from translucent plastic subject dividers. 

Mine are quite old and were bought in the US, very similar to these, they are softer and less brittle than the polypropylene 'popper'-ed wallets. The slight colouration is useful as they show up on your cutting mat.

They can be used with texture paste, spays, mists or with ink blending tools and stamping ink.

If you have a Silhouette cutter and use the Silhouette Online Store you can download and cut designs very easily; just search 'background', 'overlay', 'mask', 'doilie' or 'doily'.

This one is the Wood Pattern Background by Tanya Batrak, design #49120. I think it works equally well for water as in my Origami Fish project.

This one is Flower Scolloped Circle Simplified by Samantha Walker design #4836.

Other favourites of mine are Antique Doily by Lori Whitlock design #15658 and Scattered Raindrops background by Loni Stevens, design #26878.

I designed this set myself, but it very similar to the Honeycomb Screen by Jennifer Wambach design #56061. It shows how you can easily adapt the design to mask out a portion of the stencil. Folks have been asking me for cut settings and a video - I'll have to get back to you on that!

Craft, Hobby + Stitch International 2014 - part 3

Using Beacon Gem-Tac to Adhere Buttons

I thought I'd better share this one before Valentine's Day becomes a distant memory!

My wall art example for Craft Hobby + Stitch was made to demonstrate the excellent bonding qualities of Beacon Gem-Tac. If you design your project so that you can access both front and back of your base material then you can make use of an iron to heat set buttons, gems and other embellishments. This ensures that they are firmly bonded - how embarrassing would it be if they started dropping off mid-show?  

 

 

I firstly cut the heart swirl and sentiment from a piece of white flocked heat transfer vinyl (HTV) on my Silhouette Cameo and ironed it on to a 12" square of regular felt/flannel. Then I adhered the buttons using Beacon Gem-Tac (actually I practiced various arrangements first in the Silhouette's Designer edition software, which saved a lot of frustration). Although the glue dries clear, excess glue would still show up on the matte texture of the felt, so it was important not to allow any glue to oose out around the buttons. The trick to achieving an 'oose-free' finish is to use a thin coat of glue and to gently guide the buttons into place without pressing - and then some patience! I left the glue to cure overnight and then ironed on the reverse to complete the sticking process.

When it had completely cooled down I trimmed the felt and adhered it to a cardstock frame which I'd earlier cut on the Cameo and assembled with Beacon 3-In-1 glue. 

I love the cardstock frames designed by Lori Whitlock and available in Studio format though the Silhouette store. I've made several and I recently made another of these combined with a 3D letter which I'll share in a later post. Ooh, I just remembered a tiny one that I made way back!

Design Credits:

Heart Felt Wall Art
Janet Packer (The Crafting Quine)
Frame: Lori Whitlock
Heart (adapted): Jamie Koay
Flourish (adapted): Bird's Cards

Sewing Frame
Buttons: Janet Packer
Frame: Lori Whitlock
Other Elements: Silhouette Online Store

Iron gates with heat embossing

I love the metallic looks you can achieve using embossing powders.

This card was made using the WOW! brand embossing powders and all items were cut files, or print and cuts from the Silhouette Online Store and made on my Silhouette Cameo digital cutter.


 

The iron gate, cut on my Silhouette Cameo from a design by Jennifer Wambach, was heat embossed three times using WOW! Primary Ebony Regular embossing powder. The finished gate had a great tactile quality.

The snowdrop embellishment, also designed by Jennifer, was miniaturised  (top right on the card) and 'enamelled' with WOW! Clear Gloss embossing powder to make a badge.

I'm just wandering what else I can 'iron-ize'!

Update: I was very happy to win our Silhouette Cameo FB page's Charity Card Challenge with this card. All the cards in the challenge were donated to Maggie's Cancer Centre in Aberdeen.  The goodies from Graphtec GB (UK distributors for Silhouette digital cutting machines) and That Craft Place (UK FB shop) were great!