Make Dimensional Cake Toppers with Silhouette Chipboard

Hello, Janet here with a new Chipboard project. The Silhouette Chipboard Sheets cut and layer beautifully to make stronger items, and this week I have used them to make a set of co-ordinating cake toppers for a special occasion.

The layered chipboard can be decorated with all kinds of media: paint, decorative papers, vinyl, and more. I wanted my toppers to be glittery, but I didn’t want to risk getting glitter on the cakes. The perfect solution was to fuse glitter heat transfer vinyl onto the toppers to give a neat, flake-free finish. I used the Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer in a rich copper.



Large Cake Topper

I used the crown from the 'Crown Me Phrase' by Lori Whitlock (#215545) for the large, double-sided, dimensional topper.  The phrase was ungrouped and the crown reduced in size to about 14 cm (5.5-inches). Two rounded rectangles were subtracted from the crown to make slits to accommodate two bamboo skewers.

I cut five crowns with slits, and one with no slits, from the Silhouette Chipboard.

I also cut two crowns in mint textured cardstock and one crown in copper glitter heat transfer with a little princess's name cutout in PN Peanut Butter & Honey Font (#143690).

The topper was constructed by adhering all the crowns with slits together with liquid craft adhesive. The plain one was then adhered to the back. The bamboo skewers were aligned within the slits and stuck with more liquid adhesive to the back piece, and the mint cardstock crowns adhered to both back and front.

The heat transfer was then applied on top with a domestic iron, protecting the heat transfer media with a silicon sheet.

HINT: The negative lettering was easy to apply to the reverse of the topper using the used backing sheet from the positive piece.

Cupcake Toppers

I made a matching set of cupcake toppers using the Princess Wands/Cake Toppers by Lori Whitlock (#63758). In addition to the pieces in the file (scalloped circles in cardstock, and decorations in heat transfer) I added:

• a circle with a slit (cut from chipboard, one per topper), 
• a circular frame to fit (cut from heat transfer, two per topper), and
• a letter 'm' using the PN Font (#143690) (cut from heat transfer).

A cocktail stick was sandwiched between layers of heat transfer either side of the chipboard piece, and the cardstock-decorated shapes adhered to both sides of the toppers.

Confetti 

Table confetti was easy and cheap to create by cutting circles utilising the spaces around the scalloped  circles. The waste stars from the heat transfer can be utilised too.

The chipboard was the perfect base for all these glittery decorations. I do hope you'll try it. Here are some links to some other chipboard project tutorials. Just click on the photo to visit each one.

Layering Chipboard

3D Marquee Letters

Jigs for the Curio

Custom Jigsaws

Bye for now,

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Queen Bee Bags with Glitter and Smooth Heat Transfer

Hello,  Janet here with another gift idea - the Silhouette is great for making quick and unique presents for friends. Today's post shows a couple of ways of using gold heat transfer materials. One project uses the Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer alone, and the other combines the glitter with the Silhouette Smooth Heat Transfer.

Materials Used
Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer Material
Silhouette Smooth Heat Transfer Material
Hook Tool
Pressing Pillow or Tea Towel
Iron or Heat Press
Silhouette Cameo, Portrait or Curio
Blank Cotton Bags


Zip Top Bag

I started off decorating a fabric pouch using a Honey Bee design by Nic Squirrell together with one of the new premium fonts, Salanino by Travelling Fox, both from the Silhouette Design Store.

For this project I cut all the pieces from the glitter material, adding a little crown on top of one of the 'e's in the word 'Queen'. I also wrapped some of the scrap pieces left over from weeding (with no backing on them) around the pull tab.  I then wrapped that tightly with the a piece of used backing sheet and pressed it on both sides. This made the tab glittery too, and I think it makes a nice finishing touch.

Tote Bag

When it came to the tote bag I made the design a little bigger and added the Bee Trail design by Rivka Wilkins to balance the design in the larger space.  For this project I cut the bee and crown in glitter, and the words and trail in smooth gold transfer material.  I pressed all the elements in one press, so the two types of heat transfer were pressed for the same length of time and at the same temperature. They adhered perfectly and I think the two textures compliment each other well.

I'm sure my friend will be very pleased with these (they match her personality - but don't tell her I told you so)!

Bye for now,

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Bullet journal pencil case HTV Decal

Hi everyone. It's Verity here from Pretty Little Button bringing you another project. This week the design team has been asked to use Heat Transfer Vinyl in a project. I decided this was a perfect time to decorate a burlap zipped pouch I had been given as an Xmas present and wanted to use this to store pencils in for my bullet journal. Now I have used HTV before, however, not the Silhouette brand, nor have I layered before. So this project had a few new experiences for me. I did find that the Matt white HTV to feel thinner than previous brands, however, I found it adhered very quickly with an iron, much better than previous brands I had used. Another new experience for me was Glitter HTV. When I first cut it, I didn't think it had cut, but when held at an angle in the light I could see it had. One thing to note, I found it more bothersome to weed than the matte white but it still gave a good end result. So read on to pick up any tips and pointers on my first try at layering HTV.

Bullet journal pencil case HTV Decal details:

To start off, draw a shape the same size as the area you wish to add your HTV too. Mine was a pencil case, so a fairly straightforward shape. To adjust the measurements accurately, you can use the aspect ratio button on the top bar (looks like a double ended diagonal arrow). To see this icon, you must have you shape selected.

Next, place your design inside the shape and adjust the size according. I wanted to layer a shadow outline of vinyl to my design, so I added an offset as seen below with the offset panel. This is the 'Double star' icon on the right-hand panel. You can adjust the size of your offset by changing the distance. When happy, click apply. 

Separate your two designs, the main text and the offset from one another and group individually. Now you can add a little box around your design as this may make it easier to weed, but you don't need it. At this point, you can also discard the blank shape you used at the beginning. From an old habbit before the feature was added to the programme, I always flip my design horizontally at this point. Remeber with HTV you need to mirror/ flip your design horizontally, as when the machine cuts, it will cut into the back of the design. This back will the be place down on to your item to HTV and your design will appear the correct way round. 

However, if you forget or don't mirror at this point, the programme will now remind you to mirror when your have HTV set as your material to cut . As you can see below when I press the send button, it asks 'Have you mirrored?'. I selected 'send as-is' as I have already flipped my design, but if you have press 'send mirrored' and it will cut it mirrored for you.

My tips on ironing with HTV:

I don't have a lovely heat press for HTV, I don't do enough to warrant buying such a machine, so I still use an Iron and it works well for me. However, I have learnt a few things to improve my press with an iron. I turn my iron on full heat and allow this to warm up for quite a few minutes before I even contemplating it. I use a hard surface to iron on, by ironing board has quite a bit of giving in it when you press down on it. Not ideal for pressing, as you want to press on a very solid surface for a good press. So I find a towel folded over several times on top of my table works very well.

I also like to press with a piece of baking parchment over the top. This means I won't melt the plastic backing onto my iron or project. When I can see the HTV has started to adhere, I peel the back off and then cover with the paper again to continue my heat press until I can see the grain of the fabric showing through the HTV. When I see this I know I have a good seal and the HTV has adhered.

As I was wanting to layer my items, it was important not to overheat and press the first layer - the white matte HTV. I pressed this just enough to see a little of the grain showing - only ever so slight. This was enough for me to remove the plastic backing from the HTV. Then before pressing the white again, I layered the gold glitter HTV over the top and pressed this like normal.

I hope this saying will remind me to continue to have a passion and my bullet journal is where the passion will have a purpose....if I make sure I use it!

 If this has inspired you to try this out, please post below. I would love to see it!

Until next time,

Verity







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Purpose fuels passion by Sarah Hurley -Design ID #249316

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Glittery Pyjama Bags

Hello,
Janet here with a tutorial on how to make these fun, Christmas-themed, pyjama bags. I took some blank drawer-string bags and transformed them by decorating them with jewel-like glitter heat transfer material and 'punny' wine and Christmas phrases from the Silhouette Design Store.

If you haven't used heat transfer material (aka HTV) before, why not try it for the first time on this simple project? For items that are used infrequently, and are almost never put through a washing machine, a heat press really isn't necessary. A domestic iron is perfectly adequate as long as the steam setting isn't used and there is no chance of water leaking. Dampness prevents the vinyl from sticking securely, so it is a good idea to dry iron your fabric bags to remove all moisture before adhering the vinyl.

These days I'm so fortunate to be able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the company of our grown up children.  For the last few years we've each opened a parcel on Christmas Eve containing a set of cosy PJs. Last year I hit on the idea of decorating reusable drawer-string bags and adding initial letter tags to indicate the recipient's name. The details for making the reusable tags (by adding a hanging loop to the font LW Splendid) are here.

I used Silhouette Glitter Heat Transfer Material in Mint, Hot Pink and Silver, with some Black Flock Heat Transfer too.


What You'll Need

Heat Transfer Material in a variety of colours
Blank Drawstring Bag
Iron or Heat Press
Non-Stick Sheet
Ruler
Hard Heatproof Surface


STEP 1: Prepare The Designs

Open your chosen design in the Silhouette software.  Draw a rectangle of the same dimensions as your bag, this will help to ascertain the correct size for your design pieces.

The quickest way to make a rectangle of the correct size is to open the Transform Panel and the Scale Tab and then to enter the dimensions and click apply.

NOTE: The dimensions are set to Inches for this project, to change to Centimetres or Millimetres, click on the cog icon in the bottom right of the screen and the Preferences Panel will pop up. Choose an alternative unit of measurement from the drop down box and click OK.

Move the design onto the 'bag' and align and resize as you'd like the finished bag to look.  (Optional) To plan your design (while making a simple mockup), fill the elements with colours to match your chosen colours for the design pieces. Ungroup (right mouse click, Ungroup) to arrange the pieces into the correct positions if necessary.

Move the design 'mockup' to the side and copy the design only onto the mat. Draw weeding boxes around the elements. There are two possibilities with regard to arranging the elements for cutting - (1) makes alignment easier, and (2) saves heat transfer material. Of course both are just temporary arrangements, immediately before cutting you'll need to move them to the correct start position (generally top left). You can save more vinyl by cutting a number of designs at once.

(1)

(2)

STEP 2: Reverse the Designs

Select the designs and flip them (right mouse click, Flip Horizontally), before sending to cut. The latest edition of the software has a little pop up reminder in the send tab, which is helpful if you forget.

STEP 3: Prepare The Media

The flock and glitter media can be cut without a mat, but a mat allows scraps and narrow width pieces to be cut. The media should be placed shiny, coloured side down to the mat. It may need a little assistance to prevent the media curling up at the edges (e.g. some washi or painter's tape at each corner).

STEP 4: Cutting  Heat Transfer 

You will have to adjust the cut settings to suit your machine, mat and blade, and it is always worthwhile carrying out a test cut first.  A successful cut only cuts to the backing, and not through it. It is easy to weed when the settings are correct and if the cut is not deep enough the edges of the vinyl will be ragged and may even tear when you weed it.

NOTE: With the AutoBlade I find the default settings are about right, but the force can usually be reduced by 3 to 6 clicks.


STEP 5: Weeding The Heat Transfer

Remove the excess vinyl by peeling it up from one corner. Then remove the interiors from the letters by bending the vinyl and pulling off the unwanted pieces with your fingers. Glitter and flock types are easy to weed in this way, smooth varieties will require the use of a pointed hook to remove.


STEP 6: Applying The Heat Transfer

Arrange the cut pieces, with the shiny side (carrier sheet) upward, onto a bag using your mockup design for reference.  Decided the order in which you are going to apply the pieces, ensuring any overlapping pieces are applied in the correct order.

With the iron on a medium heat, press the pieces firmly in one place for a few seconds, then lift the iron and press firmly with a downward pressure again until the piece has been pressed all over. It is useful to have a firm surface like a wooden chopping board on the floor that you can press down hard onto, rather than a regular iron board which generally has too much give in it.  Use a cloth or non-stick sheet between the iron and the vinyl and only press for as long as it takes for the media to just adhere. Peel off the backing once it has cooled slightly and iron again, with the design protected by the non-stick sheet until the design is firmly stuck. Turn the bag inside out and press again from the reverse side and your bag is ready to use.

Bye for now,

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