Posted on April 3, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 38 Comments

Let’s Explore v4 – Transform Panel – Align

Today we are exploring the Transform Panel – Align Tab.

This is a very important and useful panel when you are creating designs & one I use almost every time I open the Silhouette software.

The Transform Panel is on the right side of Silhouette Studio v4 and the first tab on this panel is the Align Tab.

Let’s take a look at the entire Align tab.

Center – This icon is the Center to Page and it will center the design in relation to the Page Size you have set under the Page Setup Panel – Page Size. Here I have resized my design (Softball Mom by SM Designs) and then hit the Center to Page icon and it centered that to my 12″ x 12″ page size.Then you have the Center multiple objects icon. When multiple objects are selected, this will center those objects to each other. If I draw a circle and select both objects, click on the center multiple objects, it will center those designs
Horizontal – There are 3 options here: (A) left edge, (B) center, (C) right edge. (Dots Nice – A Dotty Handwritten font by One Oak Designs)
Vertical – There are 3 align options here: (A) top, (B) center, (C) bottom edge. (SG Beach Vacay Dingbats Font by Sophie Gallo – Design #240727)
Horizontal Spacing – With multiple objects selected (more than 3), this will space those objects equal distance apart horizontally.
Vertical Spacing – With multiple objects selected (more than 3), this will space those objects equal distances apart vertically.

And there you have the details of the Align tab in the Transform Panel of Silhouette Studio v4. Now, there is no need to eye-ball the spacing or alignment, let the software do the work for you.

You can also find the same icon in the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) at the top when more than one object is selected.

Check out the other posts in the Let’s Explore v4 Series HERE.

Save this for future reference by pinning the image below.

I would love to see what you are creating with your Silhouette machine. Feel free to post on my Facebook group Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae. If you have questions feel free to post below or on the Facebook group too!

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 March 29, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 1 Comment

Hot Mess with your Silhouette Cameo

While the title could mean many things, this week it’s in reference to Spring Break at my house. I thought it would be a fun idea to try out this “Hot Mess” technique with the kids for a crafting project on Spring Break….

Now, I don’t know if it was a good idea to do this on Day 1 of Spring Break or not – would it have been better on Day 5? Who knows…. but I’m going to show you our results.

First, what is a Hot Mess? On some days, that could be my title but today I’m talking about a new crafting project that has everyone rushing out to pick up canvas from the craft store.

How do you create these pieces of art?

Grab a canvas and the paints you want to use.
Paint any sort of pattern you so desire onto your canvas. Let it dry thoroughly.
Cut a stencil using your Silhouette machine and some vinyl – I used Oracal 631 and 651. As you can see, this is what you get when you let an 8, 6 and almost 5 year old pick out their own stencil.
Apply the stencil using transfer tape – I recommend Oracal transfer tape. You may need to help the vinyl stick to the canvas at first. Just be patient and go slow.
And now paint your top layer of paint. You can choose any color you’d like, but we stuck with white on top.
Let that dry for a bit and then carefully peel off the vinyl stencil. You don’t want it to be too wet when you peel it and you don’t want the vinyl to sit on the canvas too long either as it may start to cure to the canvas.
Let your works of art dry completely.

And there you have the “Hot Mess” technique.

I am so glad I did not start with the 12″ x 24″ canvas that jumped into my cart at Michael’s, as the kids were done after the first 30-40 minutes. And I can say it is a one and done crafting project for Spring Break 2018.

If you have any desire to use these same designs in your works of art, here is where I found them: – Enjoy this Moment by Kolette Hall Design #36196 from the Silhouette Design Store – Oh Poop! Quote by Sarah Hurley Design #209510 from the Silhouette Design Store – Cat by Basic Grey Design #65180 from the Silhouette Design Store – Other poo design created using tracing and point editing.

Next week we will be back to our “Let’s Explore v4” series, continuing through the different tools available to you in the Silhouette Studio v4 software.

In the meantime, check out the other posts in the Let’s Explore v4 Series HERE.

I would love to see what projects you create! Feel free to post on my Facebook group at Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

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 February 20, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 14 Comments

Let’s Explore v4 – Trace by Color

Last week, we started with the Trace Panel – Tab 1 which covers the Basic Tracing options. Now, we are moving on to Trace Panel – Tab 2: Trace by Color. This option is available if you have the Designer Edition upgrade (DE+ or BE).

While the Silhouette Studio Basic software is available for free, I do feel the Designer Edition upgrade is a great investment and will save you so much time in the long run. Silhouette America has provided a chart that lists out what features are unlocked with each upgrade and you can find it HERE.

Some of the biggest features for me that Designer Edition unlocks are: opening svg & pdf files, rulers, trace by color, rhinestone conversion and glyph access. Even if you do not know what all of those do at this time, you will learn more as you utilize the software.

Now, let’s explore the Trace by Color Panel.

First, open a design to be traced such as a png or jpeg file. For this example, I am using a png file from Scout and Rose Design Co called Too Cute to Pinch.

Trace by color – Click on Trace by color and then choose the color you want to trace. I clicked on the pink color and it highlighted all the pink of the design in yellow. This is what it will trace.
Solid Fill vs Outline fill – Solid Fill is shown in the photo above. Outline fill is shown below. This is a matter of personal preference on how you want it to show.
Single Area or All Areas – In my original photo in #1, All Areas was chosen and that highlights all of the pink areas of the design. Single Area will allow you to pick & choose a certain area, such as individual letters, that you want to trace.
Tolerance – This can be adjusted to increase or decrease the area that is picked up in a trace color. In my example, when I click on the light green, it picks up the dark green as well in my trace.Here you can see that the Trace picks up all shades of green with a 50% tolerance. And when the tolerance is lowered to 6% it deselects the dark green shamrock and only picks up the light green color in the trace. You would trace the shamrock and change the tolerance to get it to trace as well.
Trace – After you have the design highlighted that you want to trace, click on trace and it will change to red cut lines around the object selected. You can then move the cut lines off the design and I fill with color to see the design better.
Trace & Detach – This will trace & detach the image from the background. If you are using a jpeg, this is a great feature.

Now, I have my final pieces that I’ve filled with color and can move them around on my mat to cut them and then place them on to my project.

And now you can go play with the Trace by Color Panel. This can be a great option if you only have the graphic file for a design.

Check out all the other posts in the Let’s Explore v4 series HERE.

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 February 13, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 19 Comments

Let’s Explore v4 – Tracing Panel

If you are just joining in, we have explored our way through several of the icons on the v4 Silhouette software – you can find all of those HERE – starting with the Page Setup Panel.

And our next step in the Let’s Explore v4 series is the Tracing Panel – Tab 1.

This is a very popular Panel and there is so much that you can do with it from tracing an image to tracing a photo. But, I will say right from the get-go, it is not a one size fits all Panel. Each image you trace is going to require you to adjust it differently than the last one. So while the concepts can be taught, the technique varies some each time a trace is done.

You will find the Trace Panel on the right side of the v4 software and it resembles a butterfly or a piece of bread.

Now, let’s take a look at the Trace Panel. Tutorial written in version 4.1.441 Updated 6/8/21 – trace panel has not changed since original post

Select Trace Area – Click on Select Trace Area and then draw a rectangle around the image you want to trace. A gray box shows up around the image and you should see some yellow show for your trace. For a good trace, you want as much yellow and as crisp, clear lines as possible.
Trace Preview – Choose between Solid Fill (as shown above) or Outline fill. I prefer to use the Solid Fill so I know exactly where it will trace.
Threshold – Determines how the trace filters are applied to your image.
Despeckle Threshold – Eliminates noise in your trace. *
High Pass Filter – Trace lines begin from the outside and work to the center of your image. *
Scale – Scale the trace up or down to get the look you want ** Each image will be different in how it traces and you will need to adjust the Threshold & filters to what works best for you particular image.
Trace – Click on this when you want to trace around all the yellow of the design. This is the most common Trace and the one that I use the most often. After clicking trace, move your design away and the cut lines will be there around the area traced.
Trace Outer – This traces the outside edge of a design on your screen. If you stamped an image and wanted to trace around the outside edge of it, this is the option you choose. Then your cut lines will only generate on the outside of the image and as you can see below, it did not trace the 2 circles on the inside of my image.
Trace and Detach – This will trace the image and then detach it from the background. It works great if you have a jpeg image. For instance, if I wanted to use this little guy for a Print and Cut Valentine.

For a basic trace, black traces the absolute best. The resolution of your image also plays a big factor in your trace. If the file you are tracing is very pixelated, then it will trace all of those pixels. This results in a very choppy cut line and a lot of edit points.

And there you have your Trace Panel – Tab 1. It is a fun option to play around with and I suggest practicing with it and seeing what works best for you. A lot of it is moving the filters and finding out what works best for the image you are working with.

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

For my information on the filters, I consulted the Silhouette Handbook that is available in the Silhouette store.

Make sure to check out all the other sections of Let’s Explore v4 and learn more about what you can do in the software.

The images used in this post can be found here: CoffeeMondays by Scout and Rose Designs Stinkin Cute by Scout and Rose Designs Love Frog by MissKateCuttables

We would love to see what you are working on! Feel free post on the Silhouette Secrets+ Facebook Group.

Save this for future reference by pinning the image below.

**This has been updated on 4-12-18 to reflect the changes released with the v4.1.441 software version.** *Updated 6/8/21 – the Trace panel has not changed since the original post was written.

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 February 8, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 6 Comments

Layering vinyl with Silhouette

Well, this week has been such a crazy week. Snow days, 2 hour delays and just life has gotten in the mix – I am sure I’m not the only one out there who has these weeks.

I will have the Let’s Explore v4 – Tracing Panel post out next week, make sure to check out the previous posts in the Let’s Explore series.

I thought I would pop in here today and show you the projects we used last night on a webinar that I co-hosted.

The first one we created was a 2 layer decal.

So how did I create this?

Type out the text and weld. I used the Mystical Wood Smooth Script font found at SoFontsy – you get 4 fonts all in one file when you purchase this.
Create an Offset. The size of the offset is a matter of personal preference – I used the default of 0.125.
Create the registration marks. Draw a rectangle, make a copy & move it to the right. Align the marks and group together.
Click on the Send tab in top right corner, choose Cut by Fill Color, checking the boxes next to each color to select it to cut & uncheck the colors you do not want to cut.
Line up the registration marks to layer the decal. Always start with the top layer of a decal.

Here is my finished decal & I loved where Barbara placed her’s so I copied her and placed it on my Iris tote that holds my Oracal 651 sheets.

Next, we created a 3 color vinyl decal.

To create this design:

Start by drawing a large circle using the Circle tool from the left side of v4.
Download the circle heart frame HERE.
Open the heart circle frame and resize to fit inside the circle you drew.
Purchase the It’s Ok to Wine a Little by Dawn Nicole Designs – Design #227534 from the Silhouette Store. Open the design from your Silhouette library by double clicking the design.
Choose the Fill Color Panel and fill the design with black.
Resize the Wine a Little design to fit in the center of the white circle.
Right click on the Wine a Little design and choose Ungroup. While holding down the Shift key, click on the 3 hearts – this will deselect them. Then right click and choose Group. Now your text is all Grouped back together.
Hold the Shift key down and click on the 3 hearts. When they are all selected, right click and Group.
Choose the Fill Color Panel on the right and fill the hearts with the same red that the heart circle frame is.
Select all the layers and choose the center Align tool. Right click and Group those layers together.
Create the registration marks. Draw a rectangle, make a copy & move it to the right. Align the marks and group together.
Click on the Send tab in the top right corner, then Cut by Fill Color, checking the boxes next to each color to select it to cut & uncheck the colors you do not want to cut.
Line up the registration marks to layer the decal. Always start with the top layer of a decal.

And there you go, a 3 color vinyl decal that is aligned perfectly.

And all those little hearts will work perfect as nail decals, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

I also wanted to note that I used an Autoblade on my Cameo 3 to cut this out and as you can see, it has some pretty thin details. It cut beautifully!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I create a layered vinyl decal.

I would love to see what projects you create! Feel free to post on my Facebook group at Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

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 January 16, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 28 Comments

Let’s Explore v4 – Registration Marks

Welcome back! Today we are talking something that I love to do – Print & Cut.

We have explored Tab 1 – Page Setting and Tab 2 – Grid setting the last two weeks and now it’s time to talk Tab 3 – Registration Marks. On the Page Setting Panel, the 3rd tab over is your Registration marks tab and you only use these when doing a Print and Cut project.

Tutorial written in v4.1.206

For software version v4.3+ check out this post HERE for updated information.

Registration Marks

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

First you will need to set your page size. If you have a printer that will only print Letter Size, then you need to change your Page Size to “Current Printer” (check out the Page Settings post on changing Page Size). This will adjust your page size down to the exact area that you can print. Turn your Orientation to the Portrait Orientation and it also helps to check the box next to ‘Show Print border’ and ‘Show Cut Border’.

Now, we are ready to click on the 3rd tab on the Page Setup Panel.

I first want to start out with a warning. While you can change a lot of the options on the Print and Cut, I highly recommend that you try cutting at the Default settings first and get to know the Print and Cut features before you go changing too many things.
I have great success with just the default settings and find I don’t have to change them, even though it is possible.

1 – Style – Under Style you have 3 options: Off, Type 1 & Type 2. Almost all users will choose the Type 1 option. Type 2 is only used for the Original or SD machines which are rare, they do still exist and are still going strong, but only a few users.
Choose Type 1 – Cameo, Portrait, Curio.

2 – Length & Thickness – You can change the length and thickness of the Registration marks. Below I have shown 2 examples of changing the measurements and you can see the marks in the bottom left & top right change.

3 – Inset – Here you can change the placement of the Registration marks. The higher the number, the closer it moves to the Center of your page.

4 – Advanced Options – If you click on this, it will open up more options for you to change the Inset dimensions.

5 – Restore Defaults – This is probably my favorite. This will reset anything you have changed to the Defaults of the original Print and Cut. Length at 0.787 in, Thickness at 0.50 in and Inset at 0.625 in. So if you get a wild hair to change things, you can always go back to basics and click on ‘Restore Defaults’ to change it back.

6 – Default vs Inverted – This will change the direction of where the Print and Cut is placed on your mat. Notice the direction of the arrow on the cutting mat, Inverted places it on the opposite corner of the mat & moves the registration marks on the page.

7 – Enable Barcode on this Design – This adds a barcode to the side of your page and it stores all of the cut settings data in the bar code that the Cameo 3 will read.
This is a Business Edition upgrade feature only.

8 – Add Barcode file to the following Cloud account – Check this and the information will be saved to your Cloud account.

9 – Email address – this is the cloud account email address that the file will be saved to when you print it.

Some tips for Print and Cut:

Start with the default settings and print the file from there first.

The design cannot be in any of the cross hatched areas of the Print and Cut screen. This is the area that the Optical scanner needs to read on the paper and if the design is in that area, then you may get a registration error.

You only need the Registration marks on if you are doing a true Print and Cut project, by printing first through your printer and then cutting the image with your Cameo.

The ‘M’ key on the keyboard toggles the Registration marks on and off. You can turn them on very easily without realizing it.

Feed the paper into the printer one sheet at a time.
If you have a tray or feed multiple sheets into the printer and print multiple copies of the page at once, the printer can pull it in too early or too late compared to the first print and this can affect where the print is on the page. This can give you a registration mark error.

So let’s check out my example. This is a design I purchased from the Silhouette store called Wine Themed Planner Stickers by Sandi Idleman Design #205613.

I can tell right away that if I sent this to print there will be issues.

I opened the file and know that I have to turn my registration marks on.
As you can see the alignment is off. There are areas of the design that are in the cross-hatched areas of my print and cut and the entire design is a bit too large for my print and cut area. So I will need to Select All and resize everything.

I have some Silhouette Clear Sticker paper so I’m going to load that in my printer and then click on the Printer icon in the top left tool bar.

Here is my printed page.

And I am ready to place my design on my mat and click on the Send tab. When you place your printed image on the cutting mat, you want to make sure that you place it in the exact same location that you have it on your Design screen, in the top left corner.
Choose Sticker paper – Clear in my Cut settings & double check that all my cut lines are how I want them. And then load my mat, do a test cut to make sure my settings are correct and then click Send.

And it cut beautifully!

Now I have some wine sticker for my planner.

Have you used the Print and Cut feature?
Tell me what you have used it for below in the comments.

Hope you enjoyed today’s overview of the Page Settings – Registration Marks tab!

Check out the entire “Let’s Explore v4” series HERE.

I would love to see what you are creating! Feel free to post on my Facebook group at Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

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.

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

**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.

Posted on January 2, 2018April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 37 Comments

Let’s Explore v4 – Page Setup Panel

Today I’m kicking off a new series called “Let’s Explore v4”. Each week I will highlight a new Panel available in Silhouette Studio v4 and explain a bit about that panel.

One of my goals as a TJC Licensed Silhouette Instructor is to not “reinvent the wheel”. There are lots of great posts, tutorials and videos that are a wealth of information and if you are on my Silhouette Secrets+ Facebook Page or Group, you will see that I share information from other colleagues and industry leader who I think you may benefit from. You will see me post links to their pages, share their information and link them up in my blog posts. Why? I am not in competition with them, we can all learn from multiple sources and what I’ve found is there is always something new to learn with the Silhouette Studio software & the Silhouette machines.

Now on to the fun stuff! I am using Silhouette Software v4.1.201, this information can be found under the Help>About in the software. If you are using an older software version, then my screen will look very different than yours and some of the options may not be available to you. If you’d like to upgrade your software to the latest version, you can find the upgrade HERE on the Silhouette America site, v4.1.206 is the most recent and it will work for these tutorials. You do not want to choose the Beta version unless you know the software very well and are able to spot a bug or two that may be in the program and report that back to Silhouette.

Page Setup Panel

The Page Setup Panel is located on the right side at the top of your Panel bar. Click on it and the Panel will pop up. Now with v4, you can move your panels around – this is called Floating Panels. If you grab the Blue area where it says Page Setup, you can move that panel around and drop it where you like. These Panels will stay open if you do move them on your screen, so it is a nice feature instead of having to keep clicking on the Panel icons on the right side.

If your Panel is not letting you grab and move it, check out the Preferences under Edit > Preferences. Under Defaults, change the Panel mode to ‘Flexible Panel Mode’.

Now let’s break down the first tab in the Page Setup Panel.

Page Size – Here you can select the Automatic (machine) size and it will default to whichever machine you have plugged in to your computer or the last recognized connection. Click on the drop down arrow and you have many selections to choose from including a Current Printer option, if you have one connected.
Width & Height – You can make the page size any size from 12″ wide to 10′ long. If I choose to change my Page size to 10″ x 12″, notice how it adjusts the white page or the red cut border (if Show Cut Border is checked). Something to note, if you have your page size set and your design is outside of that page size, it will not cut outside of the Page border.
Orientation – this will flip your page either vertical or horizontal on your mat.
Cutting Mat – The Silhouette Cameo can cut any material that has a backing, such as vinyl & HTV without a mat. It can cut materials up to 10 feet long and this is how you accomplish that. You can tell the software you are cutting with ‘None’ or you can choose a 12″ x 12″ or 12″ x 24″ mat or several other options for other machines. Below you will notice that my Cut border is the full dimension of my mat. I have my Preferences set to ‘Cut to Edge of mat’. It does not always cut to the very edge, but it comes close. When you choose to cut with a mat, you are telling the software that it needs to feed that mat in to a certain location before it can begin cutting. It should only be cutting on the grid area of your mat. If it happens to cut higher than that, go check if you have it set to cut without a mat. Now in the photo below, I have chosen Cutting Mat ‘None’ and I want to point out a few differences. You will see that the Cut border (red line) starts immediately at the top of the page. If your design is right at the top of the design mat, when you load your vinyl, it will begin cutting exactly where you have placed it on your screen. Also note, the Cut border on the left & right side. You lose about 1/4″ of cuttable space on both sides of your vinyl when you cut with no mat. This is the allowance that the machine needs to grip the vinyl in the machine. And you will see the Cut border end approximately 1″ from the back end of the page size, this is again cuttable space that is lost so the machine can hold that vinyl in the machine to finish the cut.While you can cut without a mat, I personally prefer to use my mat any time that my material will fit on it. It provides stability and there is less that can go wrong, such as your vinyl sliding.Now, if you do decide to cut without a mat, I would strongly suggest investing in a roll feeder. I just used this for a large cut job and it worked beautifully and I did not have to babysit it as much as without. Here is what that looks like: You can find the Silhouette roll feeder HERE.
Reveal – This one is a favorite of mine. At 0% your design mat shows a white space that equals your page size. As you slide the bar up it starts to reveal the grid lines of the mat underneath that are the exact match to your Silhouette cutting mat. At 100%, it shows your entire cutting mat grid area and this is how I prefer to use my software most of the time.
Rotate – this rotates the orientation of your mat on the screen. It is for visual purposes only and does not actually rotate your design or the way the mat is fed into the Cameo. Notice the photo on the left, it is at 0 degrees – the arrow is facing up. The arrow is the direction you load your Silhouette mat into the machine, it matches the arrow on the physical Silhouette mat. I have placed a design from the Silhouette store (Design #181402) on my mat, so you can see how it changes. Now, look at the photo on the right, I have changed the Rotate to 270 degrees and the arrow is now pointed to the left. This option rotates your entire mat and anything on your mat, but it does not change where your design will cut on your mat. It will still cut in the top left corner because you are loading the mat into the Cameo with the arrow pointing in.
Show Print Border – If you check the box next to it, a gray box will appear on your screen. This is the Print Border for the current printer you have connected to your computer. It shows you the maximum border that you can put a design at to be able to print it on a material.
Show Cut Border – This is another feature that I always have checked. As you can see in the photo above, I have the Show Cut Border feature checked and it shows a red line around what my maximum cut border is. I have it set to Letter size paper, so it is showing me it will cut to and 8.5″ x 11″ space. If I change my Paper size to 12″ x 12″, it will expand to the full 12″ x 12″ and outline my grid on my mat, as seen in several photos above.

I encourage you to check out each of these features in the Page Setup Panel and as you click on them, you will see things change on your screen. If you have an understanding of how these features work, you can spot and fix a problem when you notice something is not right.

I hope you have enjoyed the first session of “Let’s Explore v4.”

I am EllyMae with Silhouette Secrets+ and my goal as a TJC Licensed Silhouette Instructor is to teach the Silhouette Studio software. Once you know how to do things in the software, you have the skills to create any design for a project that you want.

Check out my Silhouette Instructions and Events tab for more information on Personalize Silhouette Instruction.

Have fun Exploring your Silhouette Software v4!

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 31, 2017April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

Ornament boxes with Silhouette

Today I took down the ornaments on our Christmas tree and as I was packing away some of the ones my children had made in school, I had a thought to use a file I purchased in the Silhouette Design store called an ornament box. So as soon as the rest of the ornaments were packed up, I headed into the Studio to create these boxes.

Now, I will say these were probably designed with the idea of using them as a gift box and not to be used as a secure storage container. However, for my purpose I think they will be great…..

Above is the Scallop Ornament box by Samantha Walker. The Silhouette Design Store has many different styles of ornament boxes – find more HERE.

Now, what did I do….. I moved my design up a bit on my page & then go to my Send tab panel and select my Cut settings. That’s it – so simple!!!

I chose Textured cardstock as my material (I cut almost all cardstock on this setting with great results), set my blade depth and click Test Cut. Yes, Test Cut!…. this cuts a small square with a triangle out of the center of it and let me tell you, it will save you so much material!!! If it doesn’t cut correctly, you can make adjustments to your settings or blade depth before you cut the entire design.

After you have cut your design out, flip your mat over and peel your mat away from your material. This is a good practice to get in to for many reasons. I find that it helps my paper not to curl as bad and it also helps keep the adhesive on the mat longer. If you pull your paper or vinyl off the mat, it can bring up some of that adhesive with it.

On my second box, shown on the left, I noticed that my blade was not getting a crisp cut. Normally, I would recut this, but since I’m cutting for the purpose of my own storage box, I left it. However, I knew exactly how to fix it. A new cutting mat! Yes, as easy as that. The mat I was using with the one on the left (green) was well used and even though it felt sticky enough, if that cardstock moves even just a little bit, it can make your blade tear the cardstock. So when I went to cut my 3rd box, I pulled out a new mat and look at the difference on the right side (red). I changed nothing else, except using a new mat and it made such a better crisp cut. If you are having cutting issues and your mat is well used, even if you think it’s sticky enough, just try it – get a new mat out and see what the difference is. I do de-stick my mat a bit when I first open it by applying it to a clean cotton t-shirt a time or two before I stick my cardstock down on it.

If you are looking for a new mat or other Silhouette supplies, check out the prices at Swing Design – I always price check there first and they usually have the best prices. Plus, free shipping on orders over $35.

Above are all the pieces of this box….. 3 – yes 3! And do you know what is even better? There is only 1 tab that needs to be glued together. It’s so simple and a great project for a beginner.

I am a big fan of this liquid adhesive called Liquid Glass for any 3-D project. It is made by a company called Close to My Heart who is a papercraft & stamping company. I find just a little amount of the glue goes a long way and then I hold it together for the count of 10 and it’s stuck pretty good. You can find it HERE on my website.

Ornament box

Now, I purchased both the Scalloped box and the Snowflake box and here are my completed boxes cut with the same double sided paper. I used the Beary Christmas paper from the Close to My Heart Holiday Expressions catalog. This expired tonight at midnight, so grab it quick – available while supplies last!

And then I needed a 3rd box, so I decided to ungroup the original design, draw a rectangle that was the same dimensions as the snowflake and put that in for my 3rd box. This could be done with any shape that you would like to use. You can mix and match designs to your liking, but do keep in mind that it is the original creators file that you have used as your base.

And there you have it….. 1 cut, 1 tab glued and fold the box together. So simple!

There is a big sale going on in the Silhouette Design store right now, so pop on other there to grab this and so many others for 50% off.

I hope you enjoy your last evening in 2017 and I look forward to bringing you lots of new things in 2018!

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 27, 2017April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — 1 Comment

3D Lantern

As we are all thinking of packing away that Christmas decor, I thought I would share a 3-D project I made to add to my Christmas decor this year. I love working with paper crafts and 3-D items.

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

This 3-D Nativity Scene Lantern is from the Silhouette design store.

I have to say this file was pretty easy to work with. When you first open this or any layered design up, it may look a bit intimidating but I promise the more you play with them, the easier it becomes to turn it into a masterpiece.

This design has 2 colors – the black for the entire 3-D box and the vellum papers for the “glass” of the lantern, so very easy to cut. First, you right click on the entire design and ungroup. This will separate all your pieces of the lantern out and you can move them around. Then, I will select the like items and group them back together. In this design, I grouped the bottom 3 rectangles back together because they will all be cut from the vellum. Then I move my other parts around on my 12 x 12 design mat to get as many to fit in the space as I can. In this case, you can move the circle hangers to the middle of your cutout, as shown below, to get a little more use out of your cardstock or position where ever you want on the mat. It is really a personal preference how much you move them around to cut. I like to get as much on one page as possible to send it through the Cameo one time.

I then choose the Textured Cardstock setting and Send to cut on my Cameo. After it’s cut, I flip my mat over and peel it away from the cardstock. This helps with the paper not curling as much, keeps the adhesive on your mat and helps it release a bit better. Your Silhouette cutting mat is very flexible and can be rolled back quite a ways. That doesn’t mean they won’t crack, because they can – yep I’ve done that… but it’s was an old mat too…. so it had a lot of miles on it.

In the Silhouette Studio, I move the pieces I’ve cut off my Design mat and then move the other pieces on to the mat to cut them. Or you can copy and paste the designs that are off the Design mat to a new Design mat and cut that way. Either way works and I use both methods depending on what I’m cutting.

Now comes the assembly. These are all scored where you need to fold and then you glue into place. I use a liquid glue called Liquid Glass by Close to My Heart for most of my 3-D projects. You place a small amount along the length of where you are gluing and then I hold for 10 seconds. As long as you didn’t use too much glue, it has a pretty good hold after that 10 seconds. And then you want to allow the entire project to dry completely before using. You work you way around the design until it is all assembled together.

The designer, Jennifer Rush, has also included a link to assembly instructions in the description of the design. You can find those instructions HERE as well.

And now, here are a couple images of the finished project….

There are so many cool projects and so little time to make them.

I encourage you to take a design for a spin. Try it out, play and learn as you go.

Now, these neat decorations will get packed away in a shoe box for safe keeping when the Christmas decor comes down this week.

I hope you enjoyed this project! Let me know what you have created below in the comments.

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 10, 2017April 26, 2023 by silhouettesecretsplus — Leave a comment

Butcher print painted sign

I do not usually get in to the painted sign projects, but I needed a bit of kitchen decor and thought I would make one. You may be asking…. “Well, why doesn’t she paint signs?”

Well, I know I can do it and my hubby has a shop full of woodworking tools. But, honestly, it takes too long for me…. I like to slap a vinyl decal on something & call it good. That is what works for me.

I found the images here at The Mountain View Cottage’s blog.

I do want to note that these files are for personal use only and using them to sell items you make is illegal. The designer has provided the free printable files for personal use only and I ask that you keep that in mind when using. You can find out more information on Personal Use vs Commercial Use licenses on Cutting For Business‘ blog, which is a great resource.

Now on to how I did it. First, I pulled the printable file in to the Silhouette Studio program. It was a PDF file and in order to open that file type you need to have the Designer Edition Upgrade or higher of the Studio program. When I opened the PDF, I chose the option to import “As an image”.Next, was to trace my images. Since these were black printable files, they traced really nicely. I am using Silhouette Studio v4.1.201 and chose the Trace Panel on the right side of the Studio.

Then you choose “Select Trace Area” and draw a rectangle around your object. Your object will then turn yellow and you want it to be as solid yellow where ever you want it to trace. For some objects, you may need to play with the settings in the Trace Panel to get the highest level possible for a good trace. I then clicked on the Trace option at the bottom of the Trace Panel.

There are 3 Trace options at the bottom and the one I use the most is the top trace button that has the inner & outer butterfly shape. It will trace around the areas that have yellow on them, inside and outside of the object.

Once I had all of my objects traced, I then click on them to Select and use the Fill Color Panel to fill them all with color. This helps to visualize your design and makes it easier to move them around the software. I then measured my board and decided how big I wanted to make the design.

I decide to give it a go cutting my vinyl without a mat. This is one of the perks of using a Silhouette machine, you do not have to use a mat if you are cutting a material that has a backing attached, such as adhesive vinyl or HTV. One thing to note when you are cutting without a mat is that you cannot cut as wide as you can with a mat. If you look at my photo above you can make out my red cut border around the edge of the white area, this is the software telling me it will not cut outside of that range. If you have a piece of 12″ vinyl, then it will take about 1/2″ of cutting area off of each side. You will also notice that it starts the cutting area on the edge of the vinyl on the left where the arrow is, this means it will start cutting almost immediately on your vinyl if that is where your image is. This differs from using a mat because the machine has to account for the edges around the grid area on the mat. So it makes a big difference if you tell the software you are cutting with or without a mat. You will also notice the Cut border on the right side of the design ends about an inch before my page size ends. This is the software telling me that it will stop cutting before it reaches the end of my material because the machine needs the space to grip the material & keep it in the machine.

Now, I will tell you that I highly recommend using a mat when you can for several reasons. The mat provides support for your material and gives it a solid surface to use when cutting. It also helps to hold your vinyl in place and there is less of a chance that it will move around and ruin your cut. However, the Silhouette does give you the ability to cut without a mat and it is a great feature, especially if you are cutting a lot of decals at once or one long decal. This ability to cut up to 10′ long sets it apart from other cutting machines.

On my Cameo 3, I needed to move my right roller in to the left just a bit to grip the vinyl. To do this, you unlock your roller and move it and then make sure to lock it back in place. The lock on the roller is very hard to see and is right next to the white roller, you twist to lock it back in. If you do not, then your vinyl will slide all over the place. You then line your vinyl up with the blue line & arrows on the left side and press load. After it cut, I then weeded out the parts of my design that would be my stencil and applied transfer paper.

I painted my board with Black Chalkboard paint from my stash and let it dry a full 24 hours…. again, this is why I say I don’t paint boards often….. time involved.. watching paint dry. While it dried, I gathered my supplies and worked on other projects.

I then applied my stencil using the hinged method, so I could get it as straight as I possibly could and not have it shift during application since it was so large.

After I applied my stencil, it occurred to me that using black vinyl as a stencil on a black board was probably not the best idea. But, you go with it at this point. I then added a border of painters tape around the edges of my vinyl and board, so I would not accidentally paint an area I didn’t want to.

I then sponged on my DecoArt Chalky Finish white paint. And let it dry for a couple hours. I had read a lot of posts that said to peel your stencil off while it was still wet, so I just kept coming back to check on it. You don’t want to do it while it’s too wet or it will smear and if you wait too long, then the vinyl could peel up more paint than you want.

Now, after removing my big piece of stencil, came the task of weeding out all the little pieces inside of each animal……

After I finished weeding out the inner pieces of vinyl, I let the entire piece dry for a good 48 hours. Once dry, I took a white piece of chalk and turned it sideways and “seasoned” the entire board to make it look more realistic.

And here is my finished kitchen decor board… well, almost finished. It still needs a frame, which will require more time.

The supplies I used for this project are:

Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software Cameo 3 cutting machine Oracal vinyl Transfer paper a board from my husband’s woodshop Craftsmart Black chalkboard paint from craft store DecoArt White Americana Decor Chalky Finish in white from craft store White Chalk

I am happy with how this sign turned out for my kitchen. The end result was exactly what I wanted, but it was no simple, quick project.

While I know that painting wood signs is not my preferred method…… I still encourage you to try a project out at least once. I may not paint a new sign every week, but I may have a few more in my future.

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.