2016 - Silhouette Secrets-Swift Creek Customs

Posted on December 31, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

My little mermaid

So a few weeks ago I shared this photo on my Silhouette Secrets Group page and it sparked a lot of interest to what I was making…. Well, it is actually several projects and I’m here today to show you the project I used my Silhouette to help me create.

I found this tutorial for Princess dress up aprons on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for my kids. We have very tall kids so the store bought Princess dresses do not always fit well or for very long. This is perfect for them to use for a long time to come. I actually made these Little Mermaid ones for my nieces as a Christmas gift.

If I actually could sit down and go from start to finish on the project, it would only take a couple hours. But, I have 3 little interruptions, I was making 2 of them at the same time and everyone seems to want dinner… every single night…. So I worked on them a little here and a little there….

I used my Silhouette machine to cut the seashells on the bodice. First I sprayed them with Terial Magic, let them dry a bit and heat set that with my iron. Then, I added some sew-able interface backing to the fabric and put it on my Silhouette mat. This helps to stabilize the material even more and make it easier for the Silhouette blade to cut it. I then found my seashell I wanted from a design I had purchased in the Silhouette store. I duplicated the shell and aligned them next to each other. I added a rectangle between them and then welded the 3 shapes together. And changed my cut settings to Fabric and hit the cut button in Design Studio.

Tip: I keep separate blades for each type of material I am cutting, such as – Vinyl, cardstock, fabric, etc.

And what a joy to see my nieces open up their gifts on Christmas morning!

I asked my youngest if she would like a Little Mermaid apron & she says “I want Tinkerbell!”. So off to the craft store we go again for green & yellow fabric. So I’m sure you will see me back again showing off her Tinkerbell apron, just as soon as I find the time to start that project.

Crafting with your Cameo = So many possibilities….. So little time!

Enjoy !

THANK YOU for your support! How can you help? Click HERE & buy a coffee. Every little bit helps with the cost of running the site.

Looking for more in-depth, step-by-step classes, check out all of my online Silhouette classes on my Teachable site HERE.

Posted on December 30, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

Personalizing scrapbook album covers

I love to give these mini albums as gifts, especially to grandparents. But, I like to make them even better by giving it a personal touch and what better way than….. vinyl!!!

To get it centered on the front I used my CTMH mat for measurements & some painters tape to hold my vinyl in place. I am using a method referred to the “hinged” method for applying my vinyl.

This way I can peel the backing off one side, cut the backing off & then smooth one side of the vinyl decal in place. Then I remove the painters tape & backing paper and carefully smooth the rest of the decal down into place. This helps get your design placed exactly where you want it.

I found these cute designs in the Silhouette store and knew they would be perfect to personalize the covers of my gifts!
I love how these turned out!

Enjoy !

THANK YOU for your support! How can you help? Click HERE & buy a coffee.
Every little bit helps with the cost of running the site.

Looking for more in-depth, step-by-step classes, check out all of my online Silhouette classes on my Teachable site HERE.

Posted on December 24, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

‘Twas the Night before Christmas

I’ve seen variations of this all over and I just had to try it.

This was a bit difficult to weed the vinyl but I was determined. I wanted this image on my charger plate. I ended up cutting it twice and then coaxing it along while weeding & applying it, but I love the end result.

I decided I needed to cut up the words a bit & applied in pieces. It seemed to lay on the charger & go on better with less bubbles.

And done….. another Christmas decoration off my to- do list.

I hope you enjoy your Christmas Eve!

Enjoy !

THANK YOU for your support! How can you help? Click HERE & buy a coffee. Every little bit helps with the cost of running the site.

Looking for more in-depth, step-by-step classes, check out all of my online Silhouette classes on my Teachable site HERE.

Posted on December 21, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

Personalized Christmas gifts

After one of my retreats with Terri Johnson Creates this summer, I brought home my finished glass etching ornaments and my husband asked if I could make something for a few of his co-workers. It started as a personalized ornament, but then we changed it to beer glasses….. I love that I can personalize an item with my Silhouette and a few basic supplies.

He thought of the individualization he wanted on each and that is what I worked with.
I found images of what he wanted and traced them and then worked with a font that would be bold and readable.

Here are the designs I came up with:

I cut these out of vinyl and then we applied them to the glasses. Hubby wanted to help with the project and remembered to grab a couple photos of the process.

Hubby is applying the vinyl to the glass above and smoothing it out to make sure it has a tight seal around the edges where we want to apply the etching cream.

Then we apply painters tape around the edges of the design, just in case the etching cream goes outside the area of the vinyl.

And I am amazed each time I rinse that etching cream off and peel back my stencil. I love this etched glass look and it really adds to these plain ole glasses.
Now, I wish I had remembered to take photos of the rest of them before he took them with him to work.
There’s always something I forget!!!

Another Christmas gift complete!

Enjoy !

THANK YOU for your support! How can you help? Click HERE & buy a coffee.
Every little bit helps with the cost of running the site.

Looking for more in-depth, step-by-step classes, check out all of my online Silhouette classes on my Teachable site HERE.

Posted on December 13, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 1 Comment

Vinyl on glass cutting boards

I have seen so many of these glass cutting boards pop up on my newsfeed. Such a nice little touch to make a personalized gift.

I found a design I liked in the Silhouette store & grabbed it before I could convince myself I could design it myself. One thing I’ve realize is, yes – I can design pretty much anything myself. I’ve worked with the software program & I know I can do it, but I can also just buy the design & get to cutting. If I was making these to sell I would either buy the CU (Commercial Use) license or design something myself, but just for my personal use or a gift, the option of purchasing through the Silhouette store saves me time.

I reversed the design & cut it from black 651 viny. Then I attached to the backside of this glass cutting board. It turned out great & was the perfect addition to a gift bag I was giving to a friend.

I can see creating many more of these in the future. Next, I’m going to try etching using the vinyl as a stencil. I’m addicted to the glass etching.

You can find this design HERE.

I love that I can personalize an item to make it that much more special!

Enjoy!

Posted on November 15, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

Simple Santa Ornament

Here is another simple ornament made using basic shapes within the Silhouette Studio program.
I created a long rectangle belt after measuring the circumference of my square ornament, which I then cut out of black 651 vinyl.
Then I made 2 squares and used the Subtract all feature to make the belt, which I cut out of silver 651 vinyl.

I then used transfer tape to place the images onto my ornament.

And added a few clear rhinestones with some E6000 glue and you have a simple Santa belt ornament.

Hope you are able to create something today1

Enjoy !

THANK YOU for your support! How can you help? Click HERE & buy a coffee.
Every little bit helps with the cost of running the site.

Looking for more in-depth, step-by-step classes, check out all of my online Silhouette classes on my Teachable site HERE.

Posted on November 10, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 3 Comments

Personalizing items

As I approached my first instruction class, I wanted to create a Demo book to show interested Silhouette customers projects that I had completed with my Silhouette Cameo.

I took the new Sea Glass photo album from Close to My Heart and decided to add some vinyl to the front cover to personalize it a bit.

I took some Oracal 631 Black vinyl, even though it’s temporary, I have great luck with it sticking and if I want to re-design it, I can just peel it off and stick a new one on.
I used the hinge method to apply it to get it positioned where I wanted on the album.
By doing this, you apply a piece of painter’s tape across the center to secure it on the album. Then, lift one half of the vinyl up & peel the backing off and cut the extra backing off.
Then you can lay the vinyl down on the album and burnish to your album.

Then you can remove the painter’s tape and are able to work with the other half of the design.

Remove the rest of the backing and you can smooth down the vinyl to your album.

Burnish it down really well and slowly peel back the transfer tape. This one did take a little bit of finesse to get it off the transfer tape.

I ended up applying this design in two pieces as my first cut of my logo was a bit too delicate and didn’t cut correctly. I just changed the font style and cut it again.

The finished project turned out great and it shows customers…. the Possibilities really are endless!!!

What can you create with a little bit of vinyl?

Posted on November 8, 2016November 8, 2016 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

On to the holidays….

I have seen these ornaments all over Pinterest and I wanted to give them a shot, but I wanted to create the entire image myself, so I was not limited on the options I have to use it.

This was a pretty basic design to complete, since it uses basic shapes and fonts.
Make sure if you are going to reproduce these items for sale or to sell the cut file as an svg, that you are using a font that has a Commercial Use license, so everything is legal.

I positioned the design on one mat, then placed my vinyl on each space of my mat in the same position as in the Design Software.

The ornaments were purchased at Hobby Lobby and I used Polycrylic on the inside, let it drain well and then used extra fine glitter on the inside.
I cut all of my pieces and then pieced it together

Now to get these in the mail & make sure my little ones don’t see it before our elf Jingles brings it to them.

Enjoy!

Posted on October 17, 2016April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 1 Comment

Stencils with the Silhouette

I knew you could do it… but I’d never done it…. then I opened my mouth & volunteered to make stencils for my son’s preschool class fundraiser…..
After my offer was confirmed, I started researching…. usually I would recommend doing it the other way around and volunteering for something that you already know for sure you can do….. But, that’s another story.
My first idea was to use my Cameo machine & cut stencils from chipboard…. we were applying them to flower pots and it was for preschool & younger children.
Then I started looking into it and thought there would be better materials to use….
Amazon Prime to my rescue… I ordered some Silhouette Stencil material and a box of laminating pouches.

After my supplies were delivered, I broke out my laminating machine I picked up many, many years ago…. Had to blow some dust off that box!
Once heated up, I ran the laminating sheets through the machine and it became a hard plastic “stencil” material. This was still flexible enough to apply to a round surface, like the pots we were using.
Then I got to work cutting lots & lots of designs from my Silhouette library and other things I traced or drew myself.

I had to make a demo pot to make sure the stencils would work…. There was some bleed through… but less paint is better!!

And I may have gone a bit crazy with the stencils I made… at least I thought I might have.
I was so worried the day of the event that these wouldn’t work & no one would want to use them…. but, I was wrong… everyone LOVED them!
It turned out wonderful and so many pots were painted with unique designs….

It was great seeing people take the stencils and make their own designs and have a keepsake to take home with them.

There are so many possibilities to create using your Silhouette Cameo and this machine amazes me at what materials it can cut… I am forever testing it out!

Posted on October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

TJC Licensed Instructor

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of attending Terri Johnson Creates first Licensed Instructor class. I was ecstatic when I saw her announce the opening of her first Licensing event and I had to sign up immediately.

Why?
Well, I’m a Silhouette fanatic and have been since I first started using the machine.
I started out using a Cricut machine and found it very limiting….
Why could I not change the image and adjust it how I wanted it to be?
I was very familiar with their Design program, but did not like how little I had control over.
Then I won a Silhouette Portrait in a digital scrapbooking challenge and that changed everything. The first time I used the machine I knew that I need the bigger Cameo.
Yep, I upgraded immediately. I fell in love with it.

Now, almost 4 years later I am a graduating member of the TJC Instructor program.
Several times I have thought back to years before that when a friend told me about this awesome machine that she just knew I would love and had so much potential.
Boy, do I wish I had listened to her sooner (you should have pushed harder Bobbi)!

Since the retreat, I have been working on a business plan & this new blog site.
It’s a work in progress and I plan to show all the projects that I work on right here.
I am an avid crafter at heart and love to try all kinds of projects to see if they will turn out.

I am so glad that I was able to attend this training and can’t wait to see what is to come.
Here is the 1st graduating class of the TJC Instructor Program