Paper Dolls

Holly, one of the members over at Silhouette Plus shared a set of paper dolls she made. On her blog Stitch/Craft she has a wonderful tutorial on how she made these. Below is a picture of the set of Betsy McCall Paper Doll . These paper dolls sure brought back some great memories. Holly also gives a link to lots and lots of McCall paper doll sets so you want to make sure to check out her blog. She is a very talented lady with lots of crafting ideas you would love to take a look at while you are there.

I made cutting files for two of the Betsy McCall paper doll sets to help get you started. When you click on the link over at Holly's blog you will find so many more to choose from. Come on over and join us at the Silhouette Plus group to grab a couple of paper doll cutting files and lots more free cutting files. The group over at Silhouette Plus is filled with talented and generous members. It's all free and it's all fun.

Holly's Betsy McCall Paper Doll Sets

Kid Friendly Origami Star with Cutting File

Yesterday, my granddaugher was feeling a bit under the weather so she spent the day with us. She is only three years old but loved making this start with some help. Later we made a blue star for her "Bubby". She is so thoughtful to want to make one for her big brother. They loved their stars! I glued some green embroidery yarn to the inside of them so they could hang them on their tree.

These are fast and easy to make. The adults and kids both loved seeing how pretty they look on the tree. Next year, we are going to make an entire "star" tree. Here is a picture, cutting file and instructions.

Download Cutting File HERE

Happy crafting and Merry Christmas to All.

Framed Holiday Gifts

There are so many wonderful holiday posts on projects going on over at the Silhouette Plus forum. My dh wanted a hand-made gift for a drawing at his work Christmas party. He works with all women. Kelly from Finding Time to Create posted some framed holiday projects she did for her neighbors gifts. She bought all of her frames at the Dollar store. Woohoo! for the Dollar store.

My dh went to Target and bought this one because he refused to drive across town to go to the Dollar store and I was too busy doing holiday stuff. This frame was only $10.00 at Target but I hate the way the back is made. It was very hard to get off.

With some pretty decorative cardstock I made backgrounds for the 6 areas and them on some white textured cardstock I simply cut the designs to fit in each area. Easy as can be and my dh loved it.

Next, one of the ladies posted a link to a site where a tutorial for making 3D pinecones was shared. I had a shadow box frame laying around so I decided to make another holiday framed piece to use as another gift. The frame did smash some fo the elements a little bit but, I think it still turned out nice.

If you have a couple of more little gifts you need to get; look around the house and use some of those frames we all have laying around and come up with your own special holiday framed piece. These projects were fun and easy. Off to go look for some more frames. I'm on a roll.

Making Easy Angels to Share

Joy to the world the Lod has come! Oh yes, Christmas is just around the corner and I am excited. This is my favorite time of the year. It give us all the opportunity to celebrate the most wonderful of all occasions; the birth of our Lord.

I want to share a cute little angel project I have made almost every year. You can do all sorts of things with these cute little angles. I even made an agel mobile one year. One of the reasons I enjoy making these is because they are quick and easy and so many oooooh and aaahhhh over them and they help to brighten their day. When we have visitors to our home they always leave with an angel. I think it warms their souls.

The instructions for this particular angle will measure about 3.5 inches tall. All of this can be easily done with the Studio software. If you have any problems please let me know and I'll be more than happy to help. Here is my email address My Email Address Wishing you all the blessings of the Season and a Happy New Year.

1. Draw a 4.5 cirlce in Studio, then divide it half. This will make the angel dresses and wings * If you want to make the wings with a bit of shape cut out you can also do this in Studio
2. Draw a 3.5 circle in Studio and divide these in half. This will make the sleeves
3. Roll the 4.5 circle to form a cone. (dress)
4. Roll the 3.5 circles to form two smaller cones. (sleeves)
5. insert a small piece of wire into the a large bead. I used a pearl bead for this one but you can even use wood beads and paint them with a little face.
6. tape the wire under the angel dress to hold the bead into place. * You can also hot glue the beads on.
7. Take a small piece of silver or gold pipe cleaner to form a halo with a small stem and hot glue it to the back of the angels head.
8. Fold the larger cirlcel in half and glue it to the back of the angel.
9. Embellish your angle however you would like. I embossed the paper and added a silver bell.

Silhouette Plus November Challenge

Over at the Silhouette Plus forum a challenge is hosted by the winner of the previous challenge. Holly, the November challenge host was not able to host the September challenge so, we are a month off but it is working out great.

Holly's challenge was to make a simple card design so multiple cards could be easily and quickly made to make a gift set of cards. We only had these four entries. I guess with Christmas crafting, shopping, and other holiday things going on, the guys and gals at the forum just couldn't squeeze another thing in. We sure had some gorgeous entries.

The talent on this forum, never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Below are the entries.

This is my challenge entry. A very simple setr of Christmas Cards

to cut on the Silhouette 

Challenge Entry #2 by:Debby (ekimdnamed)

These little pictures don't do these card the justice of creativity they

deserve. Debby's card set is ooolalal!
 

Challenge # 3 and the Winner of the Challenge is:

Shawna (kiyakgirl)

Congratulations to Shawna. These are beautiful!

Last but not least. This gorgeous card set entry is by:

 Gayle (Cut-It-Out)

Copy and Pasting the Silhouette Way

This is a fun, quick, and easy way to grab all sort of words and verses from the internet and make the to be what you want them to be.

I was making Christmas cards and decided I wanted some new verses to add to my card inserts. I found so many on this wonderful site HERE.

After I found the verses, I thought wouldn't it be nice if I could copy and paste it in the Silhouette Studio software instead of having to type it all out. The next thing I thought was, give it a try. yes, it pasted right into Studio and then the best thing ever! Studio let me change the font, the size, color and it made making my card inserts super easy. You can use this for cards and scrapbook pages.

This was something I wanted to make sure to share so I made another video tutorial for all of those who are just like me and enjoy seeing how something is done. I hope this comes in handy. If you want to see this video in a larger format you can check out my YouTube channel HERE .Thanks for stopping by today. Merry Christmas to All.

Tutorials Help

Being such a visual learner I decided to start making Silhouette tutorials to help others enjoy their Silhouettes even more. I was recently asked to make some tutorials covering the basics of the tools. On the Silhouette Plus group forum many members have questions on how to do certain things wit the Silhouette Studio software. It makes me feel great to be able to help out with some visuals.

This week, one of our new members wanted to make a frame inside a frame with welded snowflakes in between the tow frames. She was having a lot of trouble figuring out the welding process. I wrote out directios for her but then thought....what if she is a visual learner like me. I woke up bright and early this moring to make her a video tutorial.

If any of you would like to learn more about certain functions of the Studio software, please leave a comment here and I will make every effort to create some more learning tutorials based on your requests.

Here is a picture of the frame she was wanting to make. Keep in mind, I don't spend too much time perfecting things when I'm making a tutorial. I try to keep them short so YouTube will allow me to upload them based on the size. You can check out the tutorial on creating your own customized frames HERE

Silhouette Plus October Challenge Winner

As some of you know a challenge is hosted each month on the Silhouette Plus Forum. We had many excellent entries. It was also a lot of fun.
 I am so impressed with all of them but the winning entry is absolutely outstanding. The winner of October's challenge is one of our forum's board moderators and host of her blog Finding Time to Create, Krafting Kelly. She is remarakably talented and is such an inspration to all cutting machine and crafters. I will try to post some of the other entries here later but this one I just had to share while I had the time to post.

Congratulations to Kelly and thanks for your wonderful inspirations.

Studio Patterns

One of the many tings I love about the Studio software is to be able to add patterns to designs. You can do this in a couple of ways, I have a tutorial on my YouTube channel on how to drag and drop patterns using digital paper. If you have the Silhouette Studio Designer Editon you can also load your own patterns. Here are some I made to share. Click on the link if you would like to add them to your collection of digital paper or patterns.

Download Patterns Here

Faux Embossing

I love Photoshop. One of our moderators (Barbara) reminded me of this great technique and shared a terrific tutorial for this technique over at Scrapper's Guide. This is an example of what I made using a similar technique for seals on my last year's Christmas card envelopes. I'm looking forward to making a new one for this year's cards.

Here's a look at my faux embossed reindeer seal using clipart from Scandinavian Christmas by Susan Seals. Check out this tutorial to create your very own.

Here is another example of the faux embossing technique you will learn to make at the Scrapper's Guide site linked above.

Tis the Season & Cameo News

Here I am once again jumping a holiday. I can't help it. Christmas is so much fun! There are all sorts of card and craft making going on during this time of year. I designed a pop-up Merry Christmas card I'll be sharing in the Silhouette Plus forum as soon as I get the test cut done. Yes, I like to test cut everything! With my new Cameo all fired up to do some holiday crafts this will be a exciting year of Christmas crafting.

Speaking of the new Cameos; our Silhouette Plus group forum has a new look and a whole new forum area dedicated to the new Cameos. In the Cameo forum we have Cameo Chat, Cameo Tips & Tutorials, and more. One of the many great things about our group is; they are most helpful and share some great tips. For example; we now have a downloadable Word and PDF document with Ratchet Blade settings for various types of material that have been cut with the new ratchet blades. One of them I'm pretty excited about is the light weight chipboard...woohoo!! I can see the projects now.

Okay, back to business. Here's a link to some Christmas files I would like to share with my followers and visitors. Remember, there are even more at the Silhouette Plus forum so come on by for a visit. We know you will want to join in the fun, sharing, and learning.

Click here to download the Studio Christmas Cutting Files shown below.


Click here to chek out the Silhouette Plus Group forum

Editing Photos In Studio For Cutting With The Silhouette

On the Silhouette Plus forum members come on and ask questions of the forum.The questions can be as simple as an explantion of making a Print andCut or as complicated as computer issue. The wonderful minds and thoughtfulness of the group there always comes forward to help new and old Silhouette users. The Silhouette Plus group sure makes being a Silhouetter a lot of fun.

A couple of members on the forum has asked about editing pictures to cut on the Silhouette. Many of the members have wonderful photo editing software which makes this task very easy. For those who don't have this kind of software wanted to know if it could be done in the Silhouette Studio software. The answer is yes! :-) It is a bit more time consuming but the results are nice. I use Photoshop CS5 to do my photo editing but, I wanted those who don't have software like Photoshop be able to change up and edit their photos so, I made another video tutorial to show the process.

If you would like to try out this technique; please take a look at the new videos I posted to YouTube. I actually made tow new videos since another question was asked about setting up to do a decoupage as a Print and Cut. The Print and Cut is one of my favorite features of the Silhouette. It sure has saved me from some pretty achy hands. My hands us to throb after a day of crafting and now the sweet Silhouette does all of the tiny, tedious, cutting work. Woohoo! 

If you would like to take a look at the newest tutorials just click on the links below. Thanks for visitng my blog and Happy Crafting to All! :-)

Editing Photos With Silhouette Studio

Getting Images Ready for Decoupage In Silhouette Studio

Sharing Some Holiday Cutting Files

Here I am still on holiday kick and maybe jumping forward too fast but, I know us crafters like to get ahead of the holidays. Here are a couple of quick samples I made to show how these Pyramid boxes will look and how they can be used for the holidays.

Thanks for coming to visit my blog. Below are the links to your free Silhouette Studio cutting files. Happy Holiday crafting!

Tall Pyramid box

Small Pyramid Gift Box

Pop-Up Word Card Inserts

The holiday season is approaching. All of us paper crafting folks will be making cards, scrapbook pages, and more. I love cards that have something going on. Interactive, pop-up, cards are fun to make and receive. For those of you who want to add some pretty pop-up words to your cards; I would like to share this "how to" video with all of you.

It is easier to view if you go to my YouTube Channel. You can also increase the size the size of the video by going to YouTube. To give you a peek at what you will be learning I've added this picture of the Christmas card I made.

To view the tutorial click here.

Studio Designer Edition - Lattice & Adding A Border

Today is a tutorial kind of day. The house is somewhat quiet and I've managed to hold back my cough.

This tutorial will guide you on how to make Lattice with the sketch tool and, add a border with the Silhouette Designer Edition. You can use any shape to create the lattice piece you want just by following this tutorial and using the shape you need. 

To see it in a larger format you can go to my YouTube channel to view it Here

Newest Tutorial - Breaking Paths and Perforating Lines

Hello, It's been a little while since I've made a new tutorial. I managed to make this one on Breaking Paths and Making Perforated Lines without one cough...lol This cough has been a real pain in the tushy. If you want to see more learning tutorials you can check out my YouTube Channel. As members on the Silhouette Plus forum ask questions; I try to make a video tutorial to go along with the questions.

My YouTube Channel - Silhouette Tutorials

Sharing Some Silhouette Blinkies

I am so excited about the new Cameo and can hardly wait for the new baby to arrive.This will be my third Silhouette and I have to say; they are amazing and make crafting a blast! So come on OhMyCrafts send me that email telling me it has shipped.

Okay, time to get on with what I wanted to blog about. With the new Cameo on my mind I started making blinkies. One of the ladies on the forum had asked if there were any out for the Cameo. She inspired me to make these blinkies. As you can see below; I kept on making them...lol.

If you see one you like; feel free to use it. You can grab one by right-clicking and selecting "Save picture as..."

Silhouette Plus Group New Look

The Silhouette Plus forum now has a new look and new features. We now have a working search feature that is a great benefit to those who want to learn something specific. Besides the fun challenges that take place every month we also have a portion of the forum dedicated to Silhouette News. You will be getting the latest Silhouette news and updates in one place. Our creative and talented members continue to share project ideas and cutting files. This is a one-stop place for Silhouette help, tutorials, ideas, and inspirations.

 If you can't find the answer to a problem; check out our Ask the Forum. In no time one of our members will come along to thoroughly answer your question or resolve an issue. I have made many Silhouette tutorials based on questions I've received from forum members. These work out well for those who are visual learners like I am. We have other video and written tutorials shared by other members in our Tips and Tutorials section of the forum. These written and video tutorials are terrific for those new to the Silhouette Studio program and those who want to learn more.

Do just want to stop by for a little chat? Check out our Coffee Shop and "Shout Out Box".  We also have a section of the forum dedicated to Fonts, a forum dedicated to those who want to share pictures of their creations in our Gallery and so much more.

We learn, share, create, and have lots of fun. The greatest thing about the Silhouette Plus group is; it's all free! Come on all of you crafty Silhouetters come join in the fun, be a part of a community that is willing to not only learn but share what you have learned with Silhouette users. We have over 1,200 member so far and there is room for more. Come check out our new dudsby clicking on the Silhouette Plus Blinkie on the upper ight hand corner or simply click Here to check out a neat place to hang out.

The Knife Tool and Welding

I often get questions from people askingme different questions about the Silhouette tools. Recently, a sweet lady who viewed one of my YouTube tutorials wrote to me asking some questions about the knie tool. She was trying to creat a Birthday Ring tag.

The knife tool is an important tool. I love the new knife tool in the Silhouette Designer Editon but it still has a couple of flaws. I wrote to SA to let them know it is not fun to have to keep on selecting the knife tool when we have a project requiring it be used a lot, like the Happy Birthday ring.

Back to the ring. After watching the YouTube she was still a bit confused so I wrote her with written instructions. She hated using the knife tool over and over so she welded the ring without using it. She was pleased with the results but I wanted to show her the difference between using and not using the knife tool. I also did some screenshots for her to see where she would cut, and the portion she needed to delete to get the results in the second image.

I hope if anyone is having the same issue this helps. You can also view my YouTube tutorials for more help. I saw this on the Silhouette blog the first time. Iloved the screenshots and thought it would make a wonderful tutorial. Here it the link:



YouTube Tutorial Here is the picture of the side by side. The left side shows the way it will look if you only weld the image. The right side shows what it looks like after using the knife tool to cut and remove the parts of the ring you want to delete.

What's A Party Without Balloons

Celebrating the birthdays of our family and friends is a big deal in our home. I probably make more Birthday cards than any other type of cards. After making the Pop-Up Balloon card, I decided I wanted to have some pretty ballloons on hand for whenever I want to add a bunch of ballons to a card.

Just in case I miss any of your birthdays; I want you to have these for the celebrations of your loved one. Okay, off to go make a birthday card. Enjoy your bunch of ballons. Oh, the download of the image is in a .png format to make it easier to do an auto trace for a Print and Cut.

Download Your Balloons Here

Here's the card I made for our grandson's 5th birthday. When he pulls the pull tab the ballons will pop up.. The verse inside says; Up up and away it's your birthday!

A Terrific New Prodcut!

I am so excited to tell everyone about this terrific new "paper". It is so much more than paper! This product is Square1 Masterpiece. When my beautiful paper arrived I couldn't wait to try it out. I grabbed some images for Google images on the interent and proceded to make some cut wall decor for my grandson and granddaughter. Okay, I have to confess; Tinkerbell is mine and I made two of them for me. The little birthday cakes are on our calendar to show the dates of up coming birthdays. The terrific thing about this is, these images are repositonable. You can move them from place to another over 50 times. While playing with these images I stuck them to everything you can imagine! One of the Tinkerbells is on my Silhouette, the other on my purse. I stuck the Optimus Prime sticker to everything in the house; including brick! Can you believe it! The "paper" printed beautifully with an inkjet printer. Remember, these were from the internet and they are low resolution images. The Square1 Masterpiece paper has a vinyl feel. It is a matte finish so no eye blinding glossy images. My husband was so impressed with this new product; he was showing it off to ur Saturday night card playing group. Oh yes he was....lol. This paper has inspired me to do all sort of projects. My husband has already planned the first one. I have an old end table, I refuse to get rid of; he wants me to print some pretty design and cover the top of this old sort of ugly table. I had just planned on sanding it and paintin it a bright white now it will be white with a lovely pattern on the table top. He is even going to have a piece of plexi-glass cut for it. This was the very first time I used this fantastic product. I was so thrilled with the results; I had to make a mini video. My pictures were kind of on the blurry side but you can see the potential in doing some amazing projects with this new medium.

Cricut Font Equivalents

One of the Silhouette Plus members was looking for a font similar to a Cricut font. While on a search for her request I fond this site. I think it is a wonderful resource for those looking for thier Silhouettes to cut the type of fonts Cricut users have. No expensive cartridges, just some good cutting fun. Below is an example fo what you will find by going to the link. Isn't it great!

Cricut Font Equivalents Site Link Come join this terrific group. You will learn new techniques, share ideas, and have lots of fun. Silhouett Plus Group Froum Link

July and August Challenge Winners

Every month the Silhouette Plus forum has a challenge. The challenges are hosted by the winner of the previous challenge. Here are some pictures of the July and August challenge. Our September challenge theme is 'boxes". Our wonderful stand in hostess Susan42 chose this fun theme.

Here is July's challenge. The theme chosen by our June challegene winner Krafting Kelly chose the theme of pennant,flag,banner.

The winner of Krafting Kelly's challenge was Cut-It-Out with this beautiful entry.

The August challenge theme was Subway Art chosen by Cut-It-Out this was another really fun challenge. These make great gifts. This challenge had a three way tie.

Krafting Kelly's Entry

Holly's Entry

My entry aka doodlingdebbie

These are a lot fun to do. We get the chance to try new things with the challenges and this helps to learn more about the potential of our Silhouettes.

Magical Halloween Card

Not so much magic but my grandchilderen sure think they are terrific. I made some as Christmas cards and never received so much response for a card sent out. Friends and family were calling to let me know how much they loved them.



The cutting files and instructions can be downloaded on the Silhouette Plus Group forum.

You can sign up by clicking on the link below.Not only is it free we have a great time doing challenges, sharing ideas, crafts and projects. You will also find so many helpful members always willing to lend a hand. I created this forum for Silhouetters to enjoy using their Silhouettes even more.So, what are you waiting for? Come join in the fun!We would love to see you there. :-)

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Silhouette_Plus/index.php?act=idx

Silhouette Designer Edition

With all of the deign potential Silhouette Studio already offers for free. The new Silhouette Design edition offers even more with the new eraser tool, shear tool, knife tool, rhinestone tool and the sketch tool. I've been playing around a lot with the new Design editon. I loved the fact it can open so many different types of files.

I think it is worth the $49.99. Remember, all of the future updates will be free! woohoo! I was slightly disappointed the new Design Edition software didn't have the layers option or the ability to open up PDF files. I wrote to Silhouette America; and guess what? They are working on adding layers and the ability to open PDF files.(happy dance :-)) The one thing I've learned about Silhouette America, they work hard for their customers and have the best support team I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

So, what do you think? If you would like to take a sneek peak of the new Design Edition you can check it out on my YouTube channel along with other helpful tutorials.

http://www.youtube.com/user/doodlingdebbie1?feature=mhee

Update On Making Videos for Sale

After a lot of thought here is where I'm at. I started the Silhouette Plus forum in order to help out others. It has been hard for me to even make videos for sale because I 've felt all along; help should be free.

There are so many wonderful helping members on the forum. They offer their help and advice for free as it should be. I thank them for all they have done and continue to do. This is what makes our community so nice.

I started making my free Youtube tutorials today and will continue to make them for free as questions come up. It sure feels great to be back to doing things the way my heart wants to do them.

If you want to check out some of the newest tutorials you can check them out here on my YouTube channel.



Big hugs,
Debbie

Making Silhouette Studio Educational Videos

I love it when someone has that aha! moment. Learning some of the struggles our Silhouette Plus group members has made me want to make some instructional videos. At some point I would also love to have live Webinars where we can meet as a group having live interactive instruction and live chat.

Visual learning has always been the best way for me to learn. Many other people are just like me and learn faster and easier when they are show what to do. I've dubbed this the "show and tells" of learning.

There is so much that can be done in the basic Silhouette Studio software. I want others to know how learning the software in more depth will liberate them and their design abilities.

Making videos for Silhouette users and those who use similar cutting design software will open up a whole new page for me. I am in hopes of supplementing our household income and best of all; helping others to enjoy their Silhouette Studio software even more as the begin to be their own designer and design with confidence.

Below is my first attmept at making and intro video. I still have a lot to learn with this new software. Hopefully, it won't be too long.

Thanks for all of your love and support, Hugs,
Debbie

Get The Most Out fo Your Silhouette - New Video Tutorials

Hello friends, this week I've been busy making some new YouTube tutorials. As our Silhouette Plus Group forum asks questions about certain features or problems; I've been making tutorial to help.

Many of us are visual people and seem to learn more from seeing something done. No, I'm not the best at making tutorials. I get so darn nervous but, as long as they are helping out others to enjoy their Silhouettes more I'll continue to make them.

Please excuse all of the ums, whatevers, and other nervous nelly words. :-)

Here is the link to my YouTube Channel.

My YouTube Channel for Silhouette Tutorials

I "Hat" to Say Hello

Here is one more cutting file for today. Every month I try to send a card to a special friend. She has had to make a lot of adjustments in her life. Real mail, seems to cheer people up.
This is another Print and Cut, Silhouette Studio file. Inside the card it says: "I just "hat" to send you a little note to say  hello." the tag will remind her of an old favorite of hers; Minnie Pearl. Below you will find the link to download this Print and Cut card file. Happy crafting everyone!

Hello Hat Download

Jumping Ahead To Halloween

Tomorrow, I get to spend the whole day with our new grandaughter so today, I played. I don't know why Halloween jumped into my head but it did. I drew up a little witch; I caller her Witchypoo to make as a Halloween topper. After she was done, I thought it would be nice to have a card made with her too. So this cutting file can be either a topper or a card.

Of course, I want to share it with all of my blog followers. If you click on the link below, you can download this print and cut Silhouette Studio file and get ready for your Halloween crafting real early.

The blank images of Witchypoo and the pumpkin are to line the card and make it sturdier. I usually just use 64 lb. card stock and like to have them sturdier than this.

Download Witchypoo Topper and Card Here

Tea Time

One of our members at Silhouette Plus was looking for a tea bag holder. After searching the internet for her and finding a couple of links she could try; I thought what the hey, make one for her.

After I made the cutting file; I had to cut a test run too. The picture is the finished sample with my hubby's favorite tea tucked inside. Below the picture is the link for the download of this Silhoutte Studio cutting file.

Tea bag Holder Cutting File Download

Celebrating Our Newest Family Member

Our sweet little granddaughter arrived this past Friday. She is so precious. There were some and touch and go moments for both my daughter and sweet Avelyn throughout the pregnancy and delivery. God is good as he has blessed us once again with another beautiful, healthy, grandchild.
Here is a little celebration freebie cutting file. This four pieced scalloped cirlce tag would be great to add to cards. As you can see I used the backgrounds in the Silhouette Studio software. These can easily be changed to your liking. Just click the link below the pictures to download this Silhouette Studio file. Happy crafting everyone!

4 Piece Scallop Tag Download