Birthday Card

I recently made a birthday card for a good friend's 25th. I've edited out the front bit on the card to maintain his anonymity (I cut out his name using my cameo as well).

I went with a vintage theme, and included a map in the front because he likes maps. 

The strip below his name is type-written. 

I got the template for the "Happy Birthday" pop out from http://www.birdscards.com/, a site with many free and fantastic SVGs.

The backing behind the "You're 25! Hoorah!" is burlap.

For the bunting, I used washi tape folded along embroidery thread.

The Love Letter sheets were for friends to write messages on, and I used those sheets because it looked like old register books/guest books.

Mims :) 

Rhinestone designs I did over the holidays

Basic Design&Cut for Rhinestone Templates

This is a basic tutorial on how to make a rhinestone template. I will not go into too much detail about how you make the designs, but I will point out a few tools you can use. I use the SSDE so the layout on the Basic Silhouette Studio may look slightly different. 

1. Open the Rhinestone window 

2. Use the tools on the Rhinestone Window (On the far right) to design what you want to cut. 

Rhinestone Effect
Edge - If you draw a circle for example and select this tool, your circle will be outlined with rhinestone circles
Linear Fill - If you draw a circle for example and select this tool, your circle will be fully filled with rhinestone circles all alligned in a horizontal plane

Radial Fill - If you draw a circle for example and select this tool, your circle will be fully filled with rhinestone circles but instead of being horizontally alligned, they will be arranged like outlines of increasingly smaller circles until the middle is reached - alligned in the plane of the outline (if that makes sense)

Rhinestone Size 
Adjust the size according to what size of rhinestones you have.

Rhinestone Spacing
This adjusts the distance between the rhinestone circles. Always ensure that the edge of the circles are not overlapping (becomes a non-functional well and the rhinestones will not sit in it) or too close (the template will rip easily). Take care especially if the design has bends.

Draw Rhinestones
Select - Select individual rhinestone circles or select a whole design of rhinestone circles (if they are still grouped)
Single click - Allows you to place individual rhinestone circles where you want it to be
Freehand - Allows you to draw (must be in a continuous motion) lines (straight or curvy) which will automatically be filled with rhinestone circles

Release Rhinestone 
If you drew a circle, for example, and clicked Edge, the Release Rhinestone feature allows you to then adjust each and every rhinestone circle to where you want it to be.

3. Once you are done designing, Click on the Send to Silhouette Window  

4. Click on "Change settings"

• Select Rhinestone Template Material (If you are using the cheap alternative then I usually select Cardstock) 
• Adjust your blade (I would normally use 3 or 4 instead of 6 as I find 6 cuts right through my Template Material which makes it useless) 
• Ensure that your Rhinestone Template Material has been fed into the machine (I use the cutting mat) 
• Select Cut and watch the magic happen :) 

Hope this is helpful! Shout out if you have any questions or need help! There is definitely a lot of trial and error involved and you just have to play around with the programme to learn to design more complex patterns. :) xx

Mims

Sketching with the Cameo

I got my Sketch Pen Holder!!!!

I decided on a Sketch Pen Holder instead of buying the individual Silhouette Sketch Pens because I have a lot of colour pens, which I hardly use nowadays, so now I will be able to put them to good use!!!

I got my Sketch Pen Holder for RM45 (£9) (I got a 10% discount for it (So pleased!!) because I bought a few other printable materials from him) from http://www.lazboydesign.com/ in SS2, Petaling Jaya.

It is very easy to use the Pen Holder. Once you fit the pen into the Pen Holder, turn the screw on the Pen Holder to ensure the pen is fitted tightly in the Holder. Then, you insert the Pen Holder into the compartment where your blade usually sits! Lock it and you're ready to go!

What I was curious about, before I got the Pen Holder, was the maximum diameter of the pen that can fit into the Pen Holder. I've tried a few pens and this is what I found out :

Fits into Holder. For the first two pens, I had to remove the rubber piece.

DO NOT fit into Holder. Pen was too fat, so couldn't be pushed down far enough for the nib to exit the holder.

Step by step instructions (Super easy, do not worry!) :

Insert the image you want to sketch  

Open the "Trace Window"
Select your trace area
Uncheck the "High Pass Filter"
Adjust your "Threshold" until you get something like the above
In Apply Trace Method : Select "Trace" 

Remove your coloured design (You can delete it) 

Add some words if you want then open the "Cut Window"
Select the areas you want to cut select "Cut" 

Open the "Sketch Window"
I have chosen "Plain" 

If you choose for example "Continuous Edge Sketch" it will look something like this 

Send to Silhouette, Select the Sketch pen and CUT! :)

The final product!!

Enjoy!!!

Mims

More Print & Cuts on White Printable Stickers over the couple of days

Look at how intricate and precise the cuts are :) 

Amazing free SVG website

I found this amazing website with tonnes of free very beautiful and intricate SVGs

http://www.birdscards.com/

I was particularly fascinated with the free files in the Free Digital Cut Files section :)

Enjoy!!!

Mims

I love labelling - Print & Cut

So..... I suddenly had the mood to test out my "Print & Cut" function of my Cameo today.

I searched the net for inspiration and found this free digital print, and I got to work.

Here's a step-by-step of what I did: 
1. "Open.." my file in SSDE
2. Used the "Draw a Round Rectangle" function
3. Copy&Paste the rectangles and put them in place
4. Opened the "Cut Style Window" and selected Cut Edge
5. Opened the "Registration Mark Settings Window"
6. Printed my document on Printable Sticker Paper (which only cost £0.80 for 10 sheets, so that is plenty cheap!)
7. Stuck the paper onto my cutting mat
8. Clicked on "Send to Silhouette"
9. Select "Detect registration marks automatically"
10. CUT! :) (I used Blade 1 because when I used Blade 2 for the first document (the failed one), it cut through to the backing)

Step 2

Step 4

Points to learn from my Silly-Mistake-Of-The-Day
ALWAYS.. ALWAYS.. ensure the design you want to cut is within the borders of the Registration marks.


This was my first time and I didn't know (though it is quite obvious, now that I think of it. Oh well, you never learn if you don't make mistakes :p) I had to do that. This is what I got as a result - my Cut Lines outwith the border were not detected :










The final product! 

I picked up calligraphy writing recently and I thought this would be the perfect time to practise it!

I had a lot of fun. Best part... It is cheap! 

Have a great day!

Mims