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,

   Profile | Crafting Quine Blog | Instagram @CraftingQuine

DESIGNS USED:



PRODUCTS USED:

Unclog paper build up in your blade

Gone are the days when we have to spend an hour trying to remove trapped bits of media from out blades.
A while back Silhouette changed the top of the standard blade but it seems it was done so smoothly not many people noticed or perhaps noticed and forgot again.

 Like me have you spent ages with a pin trying to remove little bits from your blade housing? I was so relieved when Silhouette came up with this change to the blade.

I mentioned to a friend the other day to check her blade for any trapped bits of paper to which she replied "and how would I see in there?" in a sort of for crying out loud voice.
I realized not everyone is aware of this The top unscrews to let you clear out any trapped bits! sometimes we forget this simple little trick. My friend replied back to me she couldn't get the top off hers, so I sent her a photo. Turns out she has been trying to take the whole white part off. So in case anyone else is having the same issue here's some photos of how to open the blade housing. Turn your blade down to 0 and grip only the end of the white part of the blade housing. You will see from the photo that there are small dimples on the end cap to help you get a grip. Twist the end cap in an anticlockwise direction until it comes away from the rest of the blade. use a pair of tweezers or another tool to remove and media that may have become trapped.  DO NOT TRY TO USE YOUR FINGERS, the blade is sharp and will cut you. Be gentle during this process so as not to damage the tip of your blade.

When we have the cap opened it's easy to remove any trapped bits and it is also a great way to check the tip of your blade. When you have finished your maintenance remember to tighten the cap firmly as it will affect your cut settings if the cap is not screwed back on firmly. Failure to tighten the end cap securely will result in the blade not extending through the end of the cap to the correct depth. It is worth checking this cap is secure if you are having issues cutting with settings that worked perfectly in the past.

PRODUCTS USED:

Make your own cork stickers

Hello, Janet here with another cork project.  Last month, I used the cork sheets to cover MDF shapes, and the designs I cut were quite large. As promised, I've returned to the Silhouette Cork Sheets to make sticker embellishments for my cards.

Now, I also discovered that although you can paint and stencil onto the cork I like the neater and more detailed results achieved using Silhouette Heat Transfer Material - yes, you can press heat transfer vinyl onto the cork sheets. Better still, the adhesive backing on the cork stays sticky, provided you use a lower heat setting. I made lots of these cute beach huts, but it was a little time consuming to apply the vinyl colours to one cork piece at a time. There had to be a way to decorate a whole sheet of stickers at once, and I think I've found it!

Sticker Designs

I chose the following regular cut files from the Silhouette Design Store, using some of the simpler elements from the designs:

• Gingerbread Peppermint & Candy Cane by Kristen Magee #35782
• Valentine Choc Rack Tall Card by Snapdragon Snippets #73620
• Filofax Planner Donut Bookmark Clip by PPbN Designs #76883

Some ungrouping, regrouping, and deleting of unwanted parts was required. In addition, an external offset was needed to make the cut lines for the cork sheet for most of the designs.

Cutting Cork Sheets

The cork sheets are 5in. x 7in. and you can fit quite a few stickers onto one sheet.

Previously, I cut the cork successfully with my Cameo3, but this time I decided to use the Curio. For both machines I used settings close to the recommended settings, but I found that it was necessary to lower the thickness (pressure) to achieve a 'Kiss cut' (that is, to cut through the cork, but not the backing).  In a couple of places the blade cut through the paper a little, but the stickers were still held in place, although not completely attached.

These are the cut settings I used for the Silhouette Cork Sheets:

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.


Cutting Heat Transfer

I decided to use two colours for some stickers and these require two layers of heat transfer. Remember to reverse the design, cut shiny side to the mat, and refrain from moving any of the pieces once you've cut the cork, or they won't align. I cut all the white pieces and then all the pink and left them as whole sheets with exception of the white banner.  Here are the 'weeded' pieces.

I'd though the process would need two presses, one for each colour, but I'd forgotten that the banner had the colour reversed (white under pink, while the doughnuts were the reverse), so I needed to remove the white banner and press it by itself. Here it is on my heat press. The small blue pieces are heat resistant tape, to prevent the piece sliding out of place.


Temperature and Duration

I used heat Setting 6 on my Hobby Jack heat press (which I believe is around 120ºC, so a good bit cooler than you'd use for garments). You can use an iron (non-steam) with a similar temperature, but if you move the iron around, the design will shift too.
I initially pressed for 8 seconds, and allowed it to cool and then pressed for a few seconds more if it hadn't stuck. Ensure you use a protective layer between the stickers and the hot platen. I have a silicon sheet fixed to the upper platen of my press.

Next I aligned and pressed on the pink heat transfer.

Then I added the final white layer. The alignment wasn't perfect, but it wasn't far out. The backing paper did crinkle a little, but the stickers remained in place and remained sticky. A couple of the stickers (bottom right) did get detached in the process, but the backing sheet on the individual stickers remained in place.

WARNING: Do be aware that this is an experimental technique and uses the cork sheets and heat transfer in a way not intended by the manufacturer. Do take extra care.


Using the Stickers

To use the stickers, its simply a matter of peeling off the backing paper. They can be used on cards, scrap layouts and other papercrafting projects.  I made a few into planner clips. The cork sticks really well when a pair are used back-to-back, securing the clip in between.

I hope you have fun experimenting. I'd love to know how you get on and what you make. Why not share pictures of your projects on the Silhouette UK Facebook page? 




Bye for now,

   Profile | My Blog | Pinterest | Twitter | Instagram

DESIGNS USED:




PRODUCTS USED:

Draw on Wooden Blanks with the Curio with NEW Sketch Pens

Hello, Janet here with a quick and easy project for the Silhouette Curio™-

I've used one of the NEW sets of Sketch Pens. The Natural set contains four pens in; Brown, dark brown, grey/charcoal, and white. The darker colours all have a subtle glimmer to them and they all seem more juicy than the older versions. I've made a children's seaside-themed game by simply drawing on wooden discs with the pens using the Silhouette Curio™. Within the instructions I show you how to make a template for accurate placement of the designs onto the discs, which would also work with circular blanks in other materials, and for engraving as well as drawing.

I tested the colours on card to see which one I'd prefer for this project. I loved the white and grey, but they didn't look sufficiently rustic. Both of the brown pens looked great, but I finally chose the lighter, more reddish brown (in the centre of the test paper).

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Flat Wooden Discs (1.5"/3.8cm circles)
Silhouette Sketch Pens in Brown (NEW Naturals)
Silhouette Curio™ with Regular-sized Base and Cutting Mat
Silhouette Chipboard, or thick card
Downloaded Seaside Designs (#27917, #84503, #46674, #43866 or similar)
Small Drawstring Bag in Canvas or Hessian



STEP 1: PREPARE THE DESIGNS

Measure one of your discs across its diameter. Draw a circle of the same diameter in the Silhouette Sudio® software using the Ellipse tool (hold down Shift to make it circular). Place it in the top left on your virtual mat, open the Replicate Window and click on Fill Page.  At this stage the size of your Design Page doesn't matter as you will change it later.

Open all the designs (or similar ones) in the software in the same window as the circles.

To do this close all tabs except the one with the circles. Go to the library and double click on one of the files. This file will then be opened in the window with the circles. Move these new images off the mat. Revisit the library and do the same with the next file. Repeat until all files are in the same window. N.B. If you need to open files in separate windows, click File > New before clicking on each design icon in the library.

Reduce the size of each group in turn to a size that will approximately fit a single design element into one of the circles.

Ungroup the designs if necessary and move the ones that you like into circles (some, like the seagull will need to be layered up to make the complete design). I have added extra detail to some of the designs. I'll show you how below.

For the Crab:
Select the design. Open Offset Window. Click Internal Offset, change distance to 0.05 in. Select Round, click Apply.

To add pattern to the crab's back in Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition, select the larger of the new shapes and open the Sketch Window. Select Plain in the Edge Sketch options, and Diamond Hatch for the sketch Fill. You can play with the advanced options to refine the pattern if you wish. In the regular edition of Studio you can draw a pattern with the drawing tools, or add one or more extra internal offsets. You can also use the Emboss/Deboss fill effects (note, these can only be accessed when Curio is connected).

For the Turtle:
Simply add extra lines on the turtle by adding a series of internal offsets. Hint: To make the 'shell-shaped' pattern, make small internal offsets until you make one with no 'legs'. Use this one to make successive external offsets, and then return to it to make the internal ones too.

 I chose four of the images to continue with.



STEP 2: MAKE THE TEMPLATE

Ensure that your Design Page Settings are set for Curio mat and paper size. These may only be visible when Curio is connected and switched on.

Copy your chosen images with their circles to the virtual cutting area.  Change the line colours so that the circles and the designs are different. I have circles in black and designs in red.

Open the Cut Settings Window and tick the Advanced Cut Mode.  Select Line Colour in Cut Order and set the following as per the settings and screenshot below:

Black Lines, Red Tool, Chipboard. Edit Chipboard Setting if necessary (I reduce the Thickness to 31).
Red Lines, Blue Tool, Silhouette Sketch Pens. Reduce Thickness to 13.

Using  6 platforms as indicated in the cutting instructions (2+2+1+ Cutting Mat), place a ratchet blade in the left-hand tool holder (red circle) and the sketch pen in the right-hand tool holder (blue circle) as in the photo.

Trim a piece of chipboard to fit Curio mat and carefully align it with the top left corner and press onto the mat. Remove the tick from the red cut lines (make sure there is a tick for the black lines) and press Send to Silhouette to cut the circles (do a test cut first if you haven't cut this media before). Then carefully remove the chipboard circles leaving the template on the cutting mat.

STEP 3: USE THE SKETCH PENS

Now select the the red lines and deselect the black ones. I edited the Sketch Pen setting by reducing the pressure (thickness) to 13, as I find that the ink flows more evenly if the pressure is lower. I also chose Double Cut so the pen would make two passes, useful where the surface is uneven (as on these wood blanks).

Before commencing to draw, remove the platform and reduce the number of platforms equivalent to the thickness of the wood blanks. Mine were about 2mm thick so I used a total of 4 ( 2+1+ Cutting Mat). Press the wooden discs into the holes in the template. If you feel your blanks need more adhesion, carefully add a piece of vinyl or wide adhesive tape between the chipboard template and the mat, sticky side up, and replace the template. Reload the platform and Click Send to Silhouette to start the pen drawing.

Once the pen has finished remove the platform, or Send to Silhouette once more if you think the results should be darker.

STEP 4: MAKE & PLAY THE GAME

Replace the discs with a fresh set and draw again. Repeat with the same designs or with fresh designs as required.

For a simple Snap/Pairs game:
Make at least 2 sets with a minimum of one set of designs for each player. Lay out an equal number of discs face down in a grid pattern in front of each player. Take turns to reveal one disc, and the player who calls snap correctly when a pair is revealed keeps the pair. The winner is the player with the most discs when one player has no discs left.

For a Matching Activity (for a younger child):
Draw a larger number of single designs. Print out a complete set of the discs on paper and laminate (I used a simple screen shot).
Place the finished discs in a small drawstring bag.

I'm sure you'll find even more games to play with the discs. Of course you can choose other subjects or themes which have greater appeal to the age and interests of your children such as dinosaurs, jungle animals, Harry Potter items, or even astrological symbols. Do share your ideas with us in the comments below or your pictures on the Silhouette UK Facebook page.

Bye for now,

   Profile | My Blog | Pinterest | Twitter | Instagram

DESIGNS USED:
PRODUCTS USED: