Tag: DIY

Looking for stencil craft ideas to spark your creativity? This week, I’m sharing how one stencil design can be transformed in six fun and unique ways! Using the Hand Carved Flower Stencil by Kassy’s Parlour, created by artist Kassandra Louise Designs, I turned this single file into a home décor sign, cup decal, jewelry pendants, painted canvas, and more. It’s incredible how one design can inspire so many creative projects.

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

When you look at a design file, do you see one project idea, or can you envision it on multiple projects? I started the Crafting Creativity series to help spark ideas and inspiration to do more with your files.

In this episode, I’m featuring this Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour.

Crafting Creativity Projects – Stencil Craft Ideas

Project #1 – Stencils with Stencil Material

Once I got started cutting stencils out, it was hard to stop.

These are cut from 6 mil stencil material and it cut beautifully.

Here is a look at the stencil before I unloaded it from the machine. For harder to cut materials, checking the cut before unloading the machine is a great habit to get into. If the cut did not complete, you can send it again and it should cut in the same place. This is great for materials such as stencil materials that dull blades quicker and may need extra passes to cut through.

Once the stencil is cut, it can be used for many different projects and mediums.

One thing to keep in mind is that stencil material is plastic and plastic will dull the blade quicker than other materials. It is perfectly normal to have to increase the blade settings or passes the more that is cut. And if you are cutting this material a lot, you may go through more blades than other thinner, easier to cut materials.

I cut this 6 mil stencil material using the preset for Stencil Material in the Silhouette Studio software. All I changed was to increase the passes to 2 and then when that started having a few hang ups, I increased it to 3 passes.

Additional Resources:

• How to Make Custom Stencils with Silhouette: Tips, Materials & Project Ideas
• Perfect Cut Settings with Silhouette

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• 6 mil stencil material
• Silhouette Cameo or Silhouette Curio 2
• Silhouette Autoblade

Project #2 – Card Background with Stencil

Have you ever used a Gel Press or Gelli Plate before? This is such a fun technique!

Basically, a gel press is a jelly plate that you can add paint or other mediums on top of and then you press a piece of paper over top of it and pull the paint off. You can layer colors, add textures, and have lots of options.

Here are a couple of pulls that I did using the stencil on top of the Gel Press.

These can turn out so neat and each one is unique. Once dry the pages can be used for many projects such as cards, mixed media pages, tags, backgrounds and more!

I used two of the gel prints to make this card and then stamped with black ink directly on top of the print. It turned out pretty neat with the paint showing through the black ink.

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• Neenah 110 lb Cardstock
• Mixed Media Paper
• Gel Press Plate
• Brayer
• Paint
• Paper Trimmer
• Glassboard Magnetic Mat – use code SILHOUETTESECRETS to save 15%

Project #3 – Home Decor Sign

For this project, I opened the stencil design, changed the fill color to transparent and then right clicked and chose “Release Compound Path”. This will break up the design into pieces. I then deleted all the pieces around the full flower design. Then selected all of the flower pieces, right click and choose “Make Compound Path”.

I am using a 8″ frame, so drew a square and sized it to 8″ x 8″. I selected the flower design and filled it with black, just to see it better. Then started playing around with patterns. I filled the flower design with a pattern and decreased the transparency in the Fill Color panel. Then I started filling the background square with patterns and testing them out.

Here is a look at my working file where you can see the different pattern options I was playing around with.

Then I printed the design onto Epson Presentation Paper – Matte and cut it with my paper trimmer.

When there are straight lines and a larger image as shown above, an old school paper trimmer does the trick versus trying to set up for a print and cut. I use Silhouette Studio to do the design work and printing and then with 4 swipes, my paper trimmer has the project ready to go.

And the best part about this is, you can change it out whenever you feel like. Print a new image and swap it out to coordinate with the season, your decor, or your mood.

Additional Resources:

• ​Design with Pattern Fill: Tips for Stunning Results​
• ​Pattern Fill Resources​
• ​4 Ways to Open Patterns in Silhouette​

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• Angista Script Font
• Blue Watercolor Texture by Sophie Gallo – Design #416225
• Pink Blue Mixed Media by Clikchic Designs – Design #1240661
• Silhouette Studio Software
• Epson Presentation Paper – Matte
• Paper Trimmer
• Printer: Canon TS9521C
• 8″ x 8″ black frame

Project #4 – Cup Decal

I cut several flower decals from patterned adhesive vinyl to decorate my new travel coffee cup. I used the same technique as described above to separate the flower design from the stencil and cut individual flower decals.

After I weeded the decals, I cut them apart and then applied transfer tape and placed each one individually around the cup, so I could control where they were and how they fit together.

Here is a close up of the decal where I hope you can see a bit of it’s sparkle & shine.

Tips for Creating Cup Decals with Adhesive Vinyl

Surface Area

When applying adhesive vinyl to a surface that may be handled often, you want to keep in mind the size of the pieces of the design. The smaller the piece, the less adhesive there is to stick to the surface of the blank. So thin letters, intricate flourishes, delicate designs may not stick well to the surface of an object that’s handled or washed.

Even if using “permanent” adhesive vinyl, that doesn’t mean it will never come off or lift. Permanent adhesive vinyl simply means it has a stronger adhesive on the backside than “temporary” vinyl once cured. You can still peel it off, pick it off, scrape it off, etc.

The greater the surface area of the solid pieces of the design, the more adhesive there is to stick to the object.

There are a couple things you can do to help with a decal staying put longer.

• thicken fonts or enlarge small areas of the design
• eliminate the smaller or tiny sections of a design if possible
• clean the surface of the cup with an alcohol swab & let it dry completely – this cleans off any dust or oils off the surface that can repel the adhesive
• after applying the decal, let it sit for 48-72 hours for the adhesive to set up
• apply a bit of heat to help the adhesive vinyl stick – not too much, you don’t want to melt it

Surface of the Cup

Stain resistant, nonstick, or silicone surfaces are designed to repel anything from sticking to it. Even if you are able to get a decal to stick initially, it usually does not for long.

It doesn’t just apply to cups though. There are a lot more stain resistant paints on the market and being used to paint interior walls of homes. Stain resistant is designed so things don’t stick to it, so even a “permanent” adhesive vinyl decal may not stick.

Textured surfaces can also be more difficult for a decal to stick to or it may not last long on a texture surface.

Placement of the Decal

When placing decals onto a cup, keep in mind where it is placed. I purposely placed my designs higher up on the cup knowing that it would be set into a car cup holder.

The more a cup is handled, the greater chance there is that the decal can catch, lift, or come off. This would include things like someone picking at the design, washing the cup, scrubbing the cup, sliding in and out of a car cup holder, being tossed around in a bag, etc.

And…

Sometimes things just happen and it won’t last. The best part about having a cutting machine is that you can cut another one. Or you can take the current one off, clean the cup, and apply a new decal to fit your mood.

Additional Resources:

• ​Offset Tool to Thicken a Font​
• ​Test Cuts​ with Silhouette
• ​Tips to Cutting Thin Fonts & Designs​
• ​Adhesive Vinyl Tutorials​
• ​Creating a Layered Vinyl Decal Class

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• Patterned Adhesive Vinyl
• Glitter Laminate Adhesive Overlay
• Cup

Project #5 – Custom Jewelry for Pendants, Bag Tags, Keychains, Earrings…

I created a collection of jewelry pendants with matching earrings, bag tags, keychains and more

Once I got started with this, it was hard to stop and I ended up creating quite a few.

When working with digital supplies, it’s so easy to change things up and I think the Mod Podge Sparkle added so much to this project.

See all the written details in this blog post – Sparkle & Shine: DIY Custom Jewelry HERE

Or watch the video tutorial on the Silhouette Secrets+ YouTube channel HERE.

And by request, I also created a set of printable instructions that can be found HERE too.

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• Silhouette cutting machine
• Silhouette Studio Software
• Silhouette Autoblade
• Epson Presentation Paper – Matte
• Printer: Canon TS9521C
• Bezel Pendant Trays Blanks 25 mm (larger)
• Bezel Pendant Tray Blanks (smaller)
• Mod Podge Sparkle
• E6000 adhesive
• Craft stick
• Foam Brush or small paint brush
• Silicone Mat
• Digital Patterns as desired

Project #6 – Painted Canvas Decor

I tried several different things with these and they are still a work in progress. Some things didn’t turn out such as using the stencil with white sharpies or sponging on white texture paste. I had too much bleed, so I ended up painting another layer to cover it up.

When the white Sharpie and texture paint didn’t work out on this one, I switched gears and cut a stencil from Silhouette adhesive backed stencil material and started filling it in with TCW Stencil Butter. OH MY! I have to say that the Silhouette adhesive backed stencil material worked AWESOME! Even with the texture of the canvas, it worked great! I will definitely be using this more in the future. The only drawback is that it is letter size and I would have loved to create a larger stencil.

But I made it work. I had to let the first flower dry and then I added more.

All I need now is the perfect saying to add to it. Let me know if you have any ideas that jump out at you when you see the project!

The next one has several layers of paint on it, but ultimately, I ended up with a solid pink background. I had cut a 12″ x 12″ stencil to use with this, but then I started looking at all of those negative pieces that were left over from the stencil and wondered if I could use those in some way.

I ended up applying transfer tape and picking up all of those pieces that I then used as a negative stencil on the wet paint. It was really just a “let’s see what happens moment”. I just laid the transfer tape on top of the wet paint with the negative pieces attached and smoothed it down to see what would happen.

It gave it an interesting pattern. Once the paint was dry, I then simply traced around with the white Sharpie Creative Maker and then I added a layer of Mod Podge Sparkle on top of it.

I am not sure if it’s finished yet or if I will add more to it. Just waiting a bit to see where the art goes.

Additional Resources:

• How to Make Custom Stencils with Silhouette: Tips, Materials & Project Ideas
• Perfect Cut Settings with Silhouette

Supplies Used:

• Hand Carved Flower Stencil Pattern by Kassy’s Parlour
• Silhouette cutting machine
• Silhouette Studio Software
• Silhouette Autoblade
• TCW Stencil Butter
• Palette Knife
• Paint
• Silhouette Adhesive Backed Stencil Material
• 6 mil stencil material
• Sharpie Creative Markers
• 10″ x 10″ Canvas Panels

All of these projects were completed using just 1 stencil design file from Kassy’s Parlour.

Find designs by Kassy’s Parlour on Etsy HERE.

Follow along with Kassandra Louise Designs of Kassy’s Parlour on:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Kassandra Louise Designs website

A great big thank you to Kassy for contributing the free file for the Silhouette Secrets+ newsletter for the month of August! If you missed grabbing the free design in August, it is available in the HERE.

This year I started offering a free file each month for Silhouette Secrets+ newsletter subscribers. I love designing in the Silhouette Studio software and have shared some of my creations as well as look forward to collaborating with more artists in the future too!

Sign up for the weekly newsletter HERE to have information delivered direct to your inbox and grab each month new freebie.

Did this spark your imagination? ✨ It’s amazing how one single file can be transformed into so many unique projects! I loved exploring all the creative possibilities with this design. You can find even more inspiration and project ideas in the Crafting Creativity section on the website — check it out HERE.

Save this for future reference by pinning the image below.

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.

**This post may contain affiliate links. What that means is that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher but I may get compensated for sharing.

Looking for creative ways to get more out of your cut files? In this post, I’m sharing how I used one SVG file from Diva Watts Designs to create four unique and beautiful projects—all with Silhouette! From a layered cardstock sign with vinyl to an interchangeable home décor frame, greeting cards, and even a custom wood sign, you’ll see just how versatile one SVG project can be. Whether you’re crafting for fun, decorating your space, or creating gifts, this post is packed with inspiration and ideas to help you make the most of your designs.

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

When you look at a design file, do you see one project idea, or can you envision it on multiple projects? I started the Crafting Creativity series to help spark ideas and inspiration to do more with your files.

I took this Oh Hello design by Diva Watts Designs and am sharing several projects below that could be created from this one file.

First, here is a look at a finished wood sign by Diva Watts Design using this design.

Crafting Creativity Projects with Diva Watts Designs

One simple design opens the door to endless crafting ideas. You may look at this design and say, “I don’t have a laser, so I cannot do anything with it.” But that’s simply not the case! Let’s take a look at a few possibilities.

Project #1 – Door Hanger with Cardstock and Vinyl

Rather than limit yourself to a specific material, use different materials to create a similar style. I used cardstock and vinyl added to a pre-made wood backer for this design.

Check out this post – How to Make a DIY Door Hanger Sign with Cardstock & Vinyl Using Silhouette HERE for more details.

Additional Resources:

• Adhesive Vinyl Resources
• Why Every Crafter Needs a Magnetic Craft Mat in their Studio

Supplies Used:

• Oh Hello by Diva Watts Design – Design #1252716
• Recollections cardstock
• SuperTite Precision Craft Glue
• Fine Tip Applicator Bottle
• Wood Sign Blank
• Maker’s Magic Gloss by Scorch Marker
• Adhesive Vinyl
• Transfer Tape
• Silhouette Cameo 5
• Silhouette Autoblade
• Squeegee
• Weeding Tool
• Washi Tape

Project #2 – Card Designs

I love this one! I used just the hello part of the design, cut a bit off the left side using the Knife tool and then welded it to rectangle frame. Then I made an offset of the design and layered it together to make it pop.

Using just the text from the wood sign design I created the next cards. Don’t throw out those bits! In some cases, like this one, you can use the negative part of the design that’s been cut and create with it too!

When using the negative of a design, a quick trick to get the placement is to use the positive part of the design as your “stencil” and glue the pieces in place first. This means that the design will be placed exactly where you want it. I show using this technique in a video on the Swift Creek Customs channel HERE.

After I used the background as a stencil, I used double-sided foam tape to pop up the striped background to give it some dimension on it’s own card. One cut = 2 card designs.

Additional Resources for the tools I used to create the designs:

• ​Compound Paths​
• ​Demystify Compound Paths Live video tutorial​
• ​Knife Tool​
• ​Welding Text to a Shape Tutorials​
• ​Offset

Supplies Used:

• Oh Hello by Diva Watts Design – Design #1252716
• Recollections cardstock
• Patterned Cardstock
• Adhesive Tape Runner (tape runner refills)
• SuperTite Precision Craft Glue
• Fine Tip Applicator Bottle
• Double sided foam tape
• Silhouette Cameo 5
• Silhouette Autoblade

Project #3 – DIY Glass Frame Sign with Vinyl and Sharpie Markers

I love creating projects that can be repurposed and have use all year long! This glass frame with the flower portion of the design does just that.

I cut the flower design from adhesive vinyl and added it to the backside of the frame. Then colored that in using Sharpie markers on the backside. While that was drying and the adhesive vinyl curing, I designed several backgrounds to swap out in the frame. This really makes the project versatile and something that can be used year round.

There are so many patterns & design sentiments options out there!

This was another project that I didn’t even bother to use registration marks with. I designed it the size I needed and then used a paper trimmer to cut the straight edges to fit the frame. Sometimes I think we can overcomplicate projects just because we have a machine that can cut things. A good ole paper trimmer is a great tool to have in your tool box!

See the step-by-step tutorial for this project here – DIY Interchangeable Glass Frame Sign with Silhouette Studio – One Project for All Seasons

Additional Resources:

• ​Adhesive Vinyl Tutorials & Projects​
• ​Pattern Fill
• Silhouette Studio: Testing Print Colors

Supplies Used:

• Silhouette Studio Software
• Epson Presentation Paper – Matte
• Printer: Canon TS9521C
• Paper Trimmer
• Black Frame
• Oracal 651 Adhesive Vinyl – Black
• AT 65 Transfer Tape
• Sharpie Creative Markers
• Oh Hello by Diva Watts Design – Design #1252716
• ​Hello Friend by Diva Watts Designs – Design #346714
• ​Pastel Bokeh Background Patter by Sarah Hurley – Design #468587
• ​Life is Beautiful by Diva Watts Designs – Design #353162
• ​Turquoise Blue Mauve Ombre Watercolor Gradient Background by Clikchic Designs – Design #414628
• ​You are Braver Than You Believe by Diva Watts Designs – Design #375874
• ​Heavenly Sky Background Pattern by Faith & Grace – Design #436002

Project #4 – Wood Sign

I used my Glowforge laser to cut all the pieces out of a piece of Maple Plywood. Here is a look at the pieces etched, scored, and cut out.

I prefer to mask my wood pieces before cutting with the laser and then I can simply remove the masking and they are much cleaner.

Once I had all the pieces cut, the Posca Paint Markers made this so easy to color in. Painting is not my favorite part of the finishing process and I hate waiting for things to dry, but I’m getting used to it. Coloring with the paint markers was so satisfying.

The larger pieces I did end up using a bit of acrylic paint to cover the larger surface area.

I shared my process including how I set up the “OH, hello” to score on the wood section so that I knew exactly where to glue the pieces in place in this video on the Silhouette Secrets+ YouTube channel HERE – Laser Engraved Wood Sign Using Silhouette Studio

Additional Resources:

• How to Save As a SVG from Silhouette Studio
• Creating SVG files in Silhouette Studio for use with Cricut, Siser, Glowforge, and More! class
• Creating a SVG file in Silhouette Studio with Text class

Supplies Used:

• Oh Hello by Diva Watts Design – Design #1252716
• Silhouette Studio Business Edition
• Maple Plywood
• Glowforge laser machine
• Posca Paint Markers
• Acrylic Paints
• Foam Brush
• Aleene’s Tacky Glue
• UV Resistant Clear Gloss

All of these projects were completed using just 1 file from Diva Watts Designs! Stacey has so many more amazing designs too!

Find designs by Diva Watts Designs at:

• ​Silhouette Design Store​
• ​Design Bundles​
• ​Etsy​
• SoFontsy

Follow along with Diva Watts Designs on the Diva Watts Designs website, Facebook and Instagram too!

A great big thank you to Stacey at Diva Watts Designs for contributing the free file for the Silhouette Secrets+ newsletter for the month of July! If you missed grabbing the free design in July, it is available in the Silhouette Design Store HERE.

This year I started offering a free file each month for Silhouette Secrets+ newsletter subscribers. I love designing in the Silhouette Studio software and have shared some of my creations as well as look forward to collaborating with more artists in the future too!

Sign up for the weekly newsletter HERE to have information delivered direct to your inbox and grab each month new freebie.

Did this give you some ideas? How about how you can take 1 file and create a variety of projects with it. I had so much fun brainstorming, designing, and creating with this file. See more ideas and inspiration in the Crafting Creativity section on the website HERE.

Save this for future reference by pinning the image below.

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.

**This post may contain affiliate links. What that means is that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher but I may get compensated for sharing.