Gingerbread Cork Ornaments

Hello, Janet here again.  This week I've made a start on making faux gingerbread tree ornaments.  I love using the Silhouette Cork Sheets, and previously I've used them to make Cork Stickers and to cover MDF Shapes. I knew back then that they'd be great to use for faux gingerbread items - the perfect colour and texture - but I had to bide my time until the festive season arrived, and here it is.

I've used the Snowy House files (1) and (2) by Hero Arts from the Silhouette Design Store, there is also a church in the same series. I've used self-adhesive cork sheets and Silhouette Heat Transfer Material in white, both smooth and glitter finishes.  These materials and techniques would work for any snow-sprinkled design, so browse your files and see what would fit your decorating scheme and taste.

I aim to hang mine on my Christmas tree, but as they are flat, they could also be attached to a card for  a lovely card/present combination. Of course, family names, house names, or personal greetings can be added to the reverse, for a personalised gift for friends and family.


What You'll Need

Silhouette Smooth Heat Transfer Material - White,
Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer Material - White,
Silhouette Cork Sheets,
Ribbon,
Mini Bells,
Liquid Glue,
Iron or Heat Press


STEP 1: Prepare the Cork Pieces

Open all the files in one tab. Ungroup them so they are four separate files (Right click and Ungroup). Select them all and Resize them by holding the Shift key and dragging one of the white corner squares toward the centre of the mat. I made the tallest one roughly 4-inches tall.

Ungroup and Release the Compound path on the houses until all the individual parts are separated.

Click away to deselect and select all the parts of one house. Deselect the house outline by clicking on it while holding down the shift key and Group (right click, Group). Move the interior parts off the mat.

Set the paper size to reflect the dimensions of a cork sheet (5-ins. x 7-ins.) and arrange the house outlines to fit. Do NOT resize unless you select the interior parts as well.

Change the dimensions to double the height (10-ins. x 7-ins.). Duplicate the houses and flip horizontally (now you have a second set to use back-to-back with the first set.

STEP 2: Cut the Cork Pieces

Mount two pieces of cork onto the mat and send the cork to cut. The cork will cut successfully with the Cameo, Portrait or Curio.  I used cut settings close to the recommended settings, but I found that it was necessary to lower the Force (thickness/pressure) to achieve a 'Kiss cut' (that is, to cut through the cork, but not the backing).

These are the cut settings used:

Silhouette® Curio
Ratchet Blade: Blade 7, Platforms 6, Speed 2 and Thickness (Pressure) 25

Silhouette ® Cameo 3
AutoBlade: Blade 7, Speed 1, Thickness (Pressure) 18

Your settings will no doubt differ, and it really is worth using the test cut and getting it right, because getting an adequate cut in one pass gives a much neater result than two or more passes.

Remove the cut sheets from the mat keeping them intact. Peel the excess cork from around the houses, leaving the houses on the backing sheet.

STEP 3: Prepare the Heat Transfer Pieces

Remove the houses from the virtual mat and bring back all the interior pieces. Ungroup all of the pieces. Taking one house at a time select just the roof and the door and group them. Select the whole of a house, deselect the roof/door and group the remainder. Repeat for each house.

Move the non door/roof bits off the mat and arrange the roof/doors, placing a weeding box around each. Duplicate and make similar boxes for just the roofs (for the reverse, leaving room for a sentiment). Mirror just the roof/door set and cut from Glitter Heat Transfer (right click each and click FLIP Horizontally). I used the recommended cut settings for Heat Transfer - Glittered.

Remove these pieces from the mat and arrange the smaller pieces, remembering to FLIP these too. Cut these from the smooth heat transfer using a suitable setting (again, the recommended setting worked for me).

STEP 4: Weed the Pieces

Cut the rectangles apart and trim to the edge of the rectangles for both types of heat transfer pieces. Peel off the unwanted parts.

STEP 5: Apply Heat Transfer to Cork

Align the smooth heat transfer rectangles onto the cork pieces keeping the cork on its original backing paper. Press with iron or heat press for a few seconds and remove the backing layer.

Then apply the glitter heat transfer pieces.  Remove the backing layer and press again. Full details as to heat setting and duration are shown in the cork stickers post.

STEP 6: Finishing the Ornaments

Trap a loop of thin ribbon between each house and it's reverse image.

HINT: Although the sheets are self adhesive, add a little liquid glue to allow the two pieces to aligned more easily. It gives a little wiggle time whereas the cork is instant grab.

Optional: Add a matching bow made from a thicker ribbon.

To finish add small bells (threaded onto matching embroidery floss and tied onto the bow).

I loved how these turned out and am looking forward to adding them to my tree. They'll have to wait a little longer though - we don't put our tree up until the second week in December.

Bye for now,

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