Custom Gift Wrap with Silhouette

The Silhouette Studio software is so powerful in what it can do and what you can create with it. The biggest limit is YOU! The more time you take to learn about the Silhouette software and how to do things in it, the more you can expand your skills and apply those to your future Silhouette projects. This is why I have the “Let’s Explore v4” series and most of my blog posts focus on tools and techniques in the software.
It is the key to it all!

If you learn how one tool functions and all it can do in the software, then you can take that knowledge and apply it to so many future projects.

Affiliate links may be present in the following blog post and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This is a sponsored post.

Today I’m going to share how I created a custom pattern that could be used for gift wrapping and making a matching gift tag.

As you may know from reading the blog, I am a Silhouette Elite Affiliate, and occasionally they will ask if we want to participate in an activity.
This month it was a gift wrap & tag challenge.

The only supplies needed to create this pattern are cardstock/paper, designs from the Silhouette Design Store, and a printer.

Supplies used:
11″ x 17″ copy paper or 12″ x 12″ cardstock
Printer – I am using a Canon TS9521C Craft printer, but any good quality printer will do
This printer is a borderless printer, which allows me to print edge to edge.
Designs:
White Poinsettia Flower Watercolor by Little Luxuries Loft – Design #334862
Pink Poinsettia Flower Watercolor by Little Luxuries Loft – Design #334859
Dark Red Poinsettia Flower Watercolor by Little Luxuries Loft – Design #334858
Holly Branch Watercolor by Little Luxuries Loft – Design #334864
Holly Sprig Watercolor by Little Luxuries Loft – Design #334863

Once you have the pattern created, you can create all kinds of projects with it.

Print on a light weight paper like copy paper and use it as wrapping paper.

I also used it to create the bow to add to the top of the package to match. This bow is called Layered Gift Bow by Jamie Lane Designs – Design #284007.
The bow is originally 2 layers and I printed the pattern on copy paper cut it, then did an offset of the pattern layer and cut out of Close to My Heart gold glitter cardstock.

And then the final layer was the red cardstock. I followed the assembly instructions and put it together. I would recommend if you are doing 2 or 3 layers of cardstock to use a really strong glue.

Print the pattern on cardstock and use it to create gift boxes where no wrapping paper is needed.

Embossed Leather Earrings created on the Curio
Etched Acrylic ornament created on the Curio
Classes for both can be found on my Teachable site HERE
Pizza Box with Square Window by Pebbles in my Pocket – *Design #320302*
Earring Jewelry Gift box by Sweet Afton – scaled up –
*Design #133208*

Use the flower designs individually to create matching tags to go with your gift wrap or gift boxes.

Add a little bit of shimmer to your project with a Clear Shimmer brush.

Or use the patterned paper to create a card.
The possibilities are endless and you can make a few designs go a long way in your supplies.

Merry Christmas Red Truck by Lori Whitlock – Design #281993
Print and Cut class on my Teachable site HERE
FREE Z-fold card cut file HERE

I had so much fun creating this idea and putting it into action. It’s amazing how when you get involved with a project hours can go by and you don’t even realize it.

Creating a custom pattern with designs

Now, let’s take a look at how I created this. It is actually very simple.

I started by opening up each design and placing it on the design mat. To open multiple designs on the same design mat, right click on the file in the library and choose Merge.

If you are opening the file from outside the software, use File > Merge to bring a design onto the current design mat. Or drag and drop the design from the Windows Explorer or Finder window.

Once all of the designs are on the same design mat, select them all and scale them to the size you would like. This will ultimately depend on the designs that you are using, but in this case, I wanted all of the flower designs to be proportional to each other and the holly sprigs to be smaller to fit in between.

Rearrange and duplicate the designs on the page as desired.
Each user is going to find what they prefer and like in designing.
However, the one thing that I have found that is common among all users is that we are often most critical of our own work. If you are feeling like something is not quite right, don’t scrap it. Save the design file and then come back to it at a later moment. You might find that given some time you open up that file and it is just perfect the way it is!

I started by creating a 12″ x 12″ page size and then I also created a separate 11″ x 17″ page size as well. How large you can print is going to be determined by your printer capabilities.

When I am doing a print project, I always use the Print Preview before I send to my printer. This has saved me on so many occasions to catch something that doesn’t look right before it prints.

For instance, one time while creating this design, I sent it to print and a 3″ section at the bottom showed up blank. The design was on the screen, but it didn’t show up in the print preview. It just turned out to be a glitch and a save and software restart solved it, but if it had printed that way, it would have not been good.

And wahlah! You have a custom designed patterned to print and use in projects!