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

No-Mess Ways to add Glitter - using the Polar Bear Girl by Sanqunetti Design

Do you love using glitter, but hate the mess it leaves behind? Adding regular glitter with wet adhesive can really add wow factor to cards but tends leave a glittery trail behind.  I made this sparkling card with a new SVG release from Sanqunetti Design - the Polar Bear Girl SVG using two no-mess glitter techniques.


 Supplies Used

I used all the above which including patterned papers are from Kaisercraft's Bubblegum Hills, 6 1/2" Paper Pad (recently retired).  For the glittery parts I used regular superfine glitter and also Silhouette's  Glitter Heat Transfer material.


Card Technique

I made a shaped card base in the Silhouette Studio software using an offset of the bear sitting on a present.  The present is simply a rectangle draw in the software, and the ribbons are just thinner rectangles.  I used a 2 mm offset of the two pieces, then made a mirrored copy to the left, overlapped the two, and then welded them together. The small extra shapes generated were then deleted to give just the outline.  I added a few simple tag shapes, trying out a couple of different colours of sketch pens. This is what I cut out from the white frost glimmer card.

It was then simply a matter of cutting the other pieces out of card and paper. I didn't cut the bear feet separately but made a combined grey base welding all the shapes together, and borrowing the right leg cut line from the feet, adding it to the white bear body.  More about the bear body later.

Now, here is my first non-mess glitter method.


METHOD 1. Apply Glitter with Double-Sided Adhesive


Cut the parcel from regular patterned paper (no fancy finish) and apply a matching piece of double-sides adhesive sheet over the top.  Expose the sticky surface of the sheet and sprinkle it with clear super-fine crystal glitter.

Knock off the excess glitter and burnish the newly glittered surface with a paper folder. Use one of the scrap protective layers from the adhesive sheet to cover the glittered surface while rubbing to protect the paper folder and rub firmly to ensure the glitter is firmly adhered to the paper.

After burnishing in this way you'll have a hard time shifting any of the glitter!

METHOD 2: Using Glitter Heat Transfer Material on Card


To make the he glittery bear, I cut the main bear body from white glitter heat transfer material. The material is cut with the shiny side to the mat, and the design should be flipped horizontally before cutting so that the bear is oriented correctly.

This is the design piece that I cut. Do see where the I placed the right leg piece borrowed from the foot?

I used a heat press to activate the adhesive on the heat transfer material, but an iron would work too. Use a lower temperature than you would normally use to attach heat transfer to fabric to avoid distorting the supporting card.  Apply for just a few seconds and then check if it has adhered. Peel off the backing sheet and press for another second or so and the glitter is permanently stuck.

I hope you'll try these methods out; they both give a really neat professional look - so much easier and cleaner than using liquid glue.

The cute Girl Polar Bear SVG file is available now from the Sangunetti Design website and also from the Etsy store.

This card has been entered in the following challenges:
ABC Christmas Challenge - 'W' for White
Craft Rocket Challenges - Christmas Is Coming
Simon Says Stamp - Christmas Gift Tag
Crafty Cats Challenge - ATG Beartastic challenge #391

If you like polar bears - here are a Polar Bear shaker card  and  Polar Bear personalised gift boxes that I made from the Sangunetti Design Christmas Polar Bear SVG.

Use Silhouette Sketch Pens to Make Cards with a Handrawn Look

Hiya, this is one of three cards that I have over on the Silhouette UK Blog today. This card is drawn with sketch pens on the Silhouette® Cameo and hand-coloured with copic markers. YES! Copic Markers ARE compatible with the Silhouette Sketch pens.  The instructions for this card show how to combine three cut files to make the card front, and include how to convert a regular cut file into a sketch file.

I have two other cards and lots of tips and techniques for using the Silhouette® Sketch Pens to make unusual Christmas cards with a hand-drawn look,

This one has additional text sketched onto the  Presents Christmas Card by Rivka Wilkins from the Silhouette Design Store.

This one uses two colours of pens and uses the Snowman Sketch Card also by Rivka Wilkins.

Sketching is a great way to batch make cards - pop over to the Silhouette UK Blog to read how to do it.

Big Birthday Card for Important Birthdays

Hiya,  Over on the Silhouette UK Blog today I'm sharing a HUGE Birthday card for an important birthday. I've used a very versatile accordion card design from the Silhouette Design Store; the Expanding Birthday Candle Card by Marji Roy.

It is a fantastic design for important birthdays, as it can include a candle for every year of the birthday person's age. This is done by adding whole 'pages' of eleven candles, and then trimming away the flames of the surplus candles.

It was the perfect card to take along to a combined birthday party I've been to recently - a 130th Birthday. Perfect, that is, except for the number of candles required. It was the ideal opportunity to use adhesive-backed cardstock, a real time-saver!  In my post I've shared loads of additional tips including how to further personalise the card design.

For the special sentiment I used the Sweet Pea Sketch font and a green/blue glitter pen from the Silhouette Sketch Pen Starter Set.

The finished card was pretty BIG, but a fun card to give for a BIG birthday!

Drawing on Wooden Discs with the Silhouette Curio™

Hello,  This week I've been using my Silhouette Curio™ to decorate blank wooden discs over on the Silhouette UK Blog.  I used some flat wooden disks from Hobbycraft, a pack of the new Silhouette Sketch pens and my Silhouette Curio™.  

My instructions show how to make a template for accurate placement of the designs onto the discs, which would also work for engraving as well as drawing.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Flat Wooden Discs (1.5"/3.8cm circles)

Silhouette Sketch Pens in Brown (NEW Naturals)

Silhouette Curio™ with Regular-sized Base and Cutting Mat

Silhouette Chipboard, or thick card

Downloaded Seaside Designs (#27917, #84503, #46674, #43866 or similar)

Small Drawstring Bag in Canvas or Hessian


I made sufficient of the discs so that they could be used to play the following games

1. For a simple Snap/Pairs game:
Two or more sets with a minimum of one set of designs for each player. Lay out an equal number of discs face down in a grid pattern in front of each player. Take turns to reveal one disc, and the player who calls snap correctly when a pair is revealed keeps the pair. The winner is the player with the most discs when one player has no discs left.

2. For a Matching Activity (for a younger child):
Making a larger number of discs with a single design, print out a complete set of the discs on paper and laminate (I used a simple screen shot).

I placed the finished discs in a small hessian drawstring bag to complete the rustic look.

Top 10 Tips for using pens with the Silhouette

Did you know that your could use the Silhouette Cameo to write instead of cut? I used mine to make this faux chalkboard kitchen plaque.

The word art on this sign was made by swapping the cutting blade for a pen holder and using a white gel pen on smooth black card stock.  The pen follows the exact path that the blade would, and so just draws the outline of the letters. I used a chalk marker to partially colour the larger letters and the coffee beans and a fine white gel pen to add a pattern to the coffee mug.

I thought I'd share a list of tips to help you achieve a pleasing effect.


10 TOP TIPS for using pens with your Silhouette:

1. Invest in a pen holder - it allows you to use your favourite pens.
2. Use a smooth cutting mat. I use the mat that I usually reserve exclusively for vinyl. A rough mat will cause your pen to skip.
3. Scribble a little with the pen to get the ink flowing before installing it in the pen holder.
4. Don't use too high a pressure setting, this can result in unwanted carriage lines, blotches and even cause the roller in a roller ball pen to close and prevent ink from flowing.
5. Use a flat lolly stick or tongue depressor under your pen nib to set the correct height in the holder for your pen ... and don't forget to remove it before you hit  'Send to Silhouette'!
6. Smooth card stock gives a more even result. Don't use textured card stock unless you are wanting a more distressed look.
7. Pens generally work best on card stock, so adhere your card to your item after it's printed (and had time to dry). The newer Curio machine allows for thicker items to be placed in the mat area.
8. Try to make your design small enough to fit between the rollers. The rollers may smear slower drying inks.
9. Select the best position for the card on your mat and match its location on your screen. N.B. there is a bigger space without rollers to the right of the mat. 
10. If you do get smears across your work leave them to dry a little and then remove excess pen marks gently with an adhesive eraser.

Do let me know how you get on if you try this - I'm happy to add additional tips too if you have any to share!

Details on this Coffee Lettering SVG file from Sanqunetti Design are in my previous post.