cards

2018 Christmas Card

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

My Christmas Cards are mailed.  Enough time has passed that most of the cards should have reached their destinations.  Now, I can share the cards on my blog.

This year I drew ornaments on 3.5″ square tiles.  I selected the high quality tiles, because I wanted to color on the tiles.  I keep the color to a minimum because I wanted the ornaments to look delicate like glass Christmas ornaments.  Below are a few of the tiles.  All of the tiles are located on Drawing page.

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I designed the card in CorelDraw.  I converted the picture below to an outline drawing to use as a background on the card.

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I created an area on the card to put the tile.   I have been placing the same symbol with my name on all the back of all my cards since 2004.

2018 Christmas Card Outside

Outside

2018 Christmas Card Inside

Inside

The folded card measures 5.25″ square.  I embossed several stems on the front of the card, and attached the tiles to the cards with photo corners.  I wanted the recipient to be able to remove the tile without damaging the tile.   Below is one of the finished cards.

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Christmas Card 2016

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Since I was having so much trouble printing my 3D Christmas Tree card.  I created another card to send out with the card and to the others on my list.  It was designed with Silhouette Studio and cut out using the Silhouette Curio.

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I used plain cardstock, but the background was lacking.  To spruce up the background I used Corel Draw to create the background for both the card.

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My niece was excited to be “and Samantha” on the Christmas Card.  She never has been an “and Samantha” before.

Thanks to my sister, she took these picture and display the tree and the card as I imagined.

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3D Print – Birthday

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There are plenty of March birthdays in my family.  I needed cards.  Someone suggested buying gift cards for my dad.  So, I needed some gift card boxes.  Out comes the Corel Draw, the Silhouette, and the Ultimaker 2 to handle two of the birthdays.

Dad’s Birthday!

I used Corel Draw to create the background, then I printed it on metallic photo paper.  I designed the rest of the card using Silhouette Studio.

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I designed the gift card box in Tinkercad getting the dimension from a credit card.  The box was printed on the Ultimaker 2 using semi-transparent filament.

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Print Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Filament: PLA – 5.22 meters 41 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 100.001, 164.001, 12.701 mm  (Both pieces printed together)

Amanda’s Birthday!

I used a template for Amanda’s card and cut it on the Silhouette.  However, I did design the envelope since no envelope was a good size..  Alas, I didn’t get a picture.

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I tweak the gift card box after the other one was printed to make the top smaller and fit better.  It was printed using pink filament.

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Print Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Filament: PLA – 5.25 meters 42 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 100.001, 163.501, 12.701 mm  (Both pieces printed together)

The boxes was printed with the top and bottom laying flat on the printer bed to make the boxes smoother.

Thanks!!!!

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

My nephews, ages 10 and 12, did me a favor by cleaning up my yard. It was a favor, so they did not want to be paid. This is how I thanked them.

First, I made them a Thank You card using a template I found in the Silhouette Design Studio.  They are held together with double stick tape.

One for the SuperHero fan…

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Another for the garden lover, orange wearer, fan…

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Then using my new 3D design skills that I learned in Tinkercad, I made them both a name tag and printed it on my Ultimaker 2 printer.

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Print Time: 6 hours 54 minutes – for both
Filament: PLA – 3.52 meters 28 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 130.5, 40.002, 6.0 mm – each

I then realized that their younger brother may feel left out.  So, I made him a name tag too.

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Print Time: 3 hours 28 minutes
Filament: PLA – 1.77 meters 14 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 130.5, 40.002, 6.0 mm

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Birthday Card

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Here are my first two attempts at making Birthday cards.  For the outside I used the templates from the Silhouette Design Studio.  On the inside, I font was used and another template.  Several cards will be made this month, because of the numerous birthdays in January.

I really need to learn how to get the insert correct if the card will have a background.

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Instead of gluing the dots back into the letters, I used my metallic marker to draw the dots.  Lazy? Maybe… but, more likely I am feed up with all forms of glue.

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Note to self – Check the quality of the photo before mailing the card.

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The signature was done with the sketch pen in the Silhouette while before the cutting was performed.

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I did save the cut letters.  I may want to used them in the future for another project.

 

Christmas Cards (2015)

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Here is a preview of my handmade 2015 Christmas card.

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The blue starry background was created using Coral Draw and printed on glossy photo paper.  The star, trees, and windows were created using Silhouette Studio and cut using the Curio device.  The star was cut on glitter paper, but the trees was cut on regular card stock and I glued the glitter on after they were cut.

Instead of having the window on the same cardstock, I thought using different pattern cardstock provide a wallpaper background and some uniqueness.

The inside of the card was the same for all the cards.

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I got the text and layout from the internet, but I recreated it in Coral Draw and printed it on card stock.  If I had thought about it before December, I would have created a inside scene and place it in a window frame.  So, the outside of the card would be looking out and the inside of the card would have been looking in.  But, there just wasn’t enough time.

The next card will have to be a birthday card.  There are so many birthdays in January.

Silhouette Curio – Cutting the Design

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In my last post, Silhouette Studio – The First Design, I discuss creating a test design with the Silhouette Studio Software.  Below is the design I created.  It has some text and images.

My First Studio Design

My First Studio Design

The Curio came with a cutting mat, embossing mat, and three other mats that I later learned was platform mats.  I removed the film from the cutting mat and place it onto Curio’s tray according to the image on the Silhouette Studio design screen.  I carefully placed the card stock on top, since the cutting mat has a sticky surface.

I gently slid the tray into the machine.  The instructions says “push into machine until tray sticks out back”  and it says “push into machine until notch passes front of machine.”  If you have trouble seeing the notch, push the tray into the machine until the top left hand corner of the material in directly under the cutting/embossing blades.

I looked at the cutting blade and it cut was set to zero.  I figured out that the by placing the cap that came with the blade on to it and turning, I was able to adjust the cut size.  I set it on 3.  It seemed right, but the instruction manual did not specify.   I placed the cutting blade into the Curio in the first slot and turned on the Curio.  Now for cutting.

I went back to the software and noticed that the paper size didn’t match the Design Page setting.  I adjusted the design page setting to match my paper size.  Then I had to move a few of my designs so they would be inside the cutting area.  Next I clicked Cut Settings cut settings icon icon.  My design now has thick lines around it, see below.  I assumed this is where the design would be cut.

before cut

I looked over the cut setting.  The Standard mode was fine.  I left the cut style on Cut.  Tool 1 was selected, this was fine because that is where I put the cutting blade.  Under Material Type, I clicked Cardstock was even though it was already selected.  As soon as I clicked Cardstock the Editing menu opened and displayed the recommended blade setting.   Sometime during the process of setting up the cut setting and cutting the design, this message appeared on the screen.

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I have some new designs in my library!  I clicked on the library and approximately 50 designs were added to the library.  I am assuming since the it appears anyone can download the Silhouette Studio software, this is how the company distributes content to individuals that have purchased the device.

Library

After I looked at the library, I finally went back to the cut setting and pressed Send to Silhouette.  The machine is a little loud, but it is working.  Wait, there is no cut on the paper.  What did I do wrong?  I looked over the cut setting again and made sure the blade was set on 3.  I scrolled down in the cut setting and there are more options.

Cut Setting Top

Cut Setting Bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The platform setting showed that I needed 6 platforms on the tray. I added 6 platforms on the tray and sent the design to be cut once again.  The paper cut this time.  Yay!   What I learned on my first design.  The text is too delicate for my first cut.  To remove it perfectly from the cutting board, will take time.  The balloon came out great, and the border needs work because it came out is many pieces.

Next embossing….

Silhouette Studio – The First Design

/ Sarah Collins / 1 Comment

In the last two posts, I talked about setting up the Silhouette Curio and installing the Silhouette Studio software.  Click here to read those posts.  This post covers the my first design.

This is my first design attempt.  Nothing fancy.

My First Studio Design

My First Studio Design

To start a new design in Silhouette Studio double-click on the icon and click Design.   The design window opens with a clean working area.

I clicked the Text text icon icon to begin to place text in the design area.  On the right-side of the screen, a Text Style menu appeared.  The menu let me define my text attributes before or after I put the text in the design area.  Scrolling through the fonts, I noticed that it allows me to use any font that is saved on my computer.  Yay!  No, limits there.

I noticed the little circle fit to path to the bottom right of my text.  Looking through the manual, I discovered this allows you to fit the text to a path.  I drew a couple of wavy lines on the screen using the curve curve tool.  I doubled clicked on the first line of text, to select it, and dragged the text to the first wavy line and than I repeated the process with the second line of text.  Easy enough, my text was now wavy.

Selecting the text that was fit to path, I was no longer able to rotate it or change it size by dragging a corner.  I was able to adjust the rotation Rotate by selecting it’s line.  There was also a slide bar that allowed me to change the text position on the line.

If I am doing a birthday theme design, some balloons are needed.  I knew the oval oval would not work for me because balloons are bigger on the top than the bottom.  I selected the curve curve tool to draw my balloon.  I put multiple points around the balloon to get the general shape I wanted.  The bottom point, where the balloon ties, is still too round.  I clicked the Edit Points Edit Points

Just for fun I drew a few more balloons.  Balloons usually have a shiny spot on them that is reflecting the light.  I use the rectangle rectangle tool to draw this area on a couple of balloons.  It didn’t look quite right, so I selected the rounded rectangle rounded rectangle tool to draw the shiny spot on the other balloons.

If I move the balloons around the canvas, I wanted the balloon and shiny area to move together.  I dragged my curser over both objects and selected the grouping grouping icon to keep them together.  To separate items after they are group, select the Ungroup icon next to the Group icon.

A border for my birthday theme design would be nice.  I drew a couple of rectangles rectangle and I drew numerous ovals oval.  First I drew one oval, then I used the copy/paste feature so all the ovals would be the same size.  I tried rotating a oval from the design area, but I found for a precise rotation the Rotate option for the Object menu worked better.   I used the Align option under the Object menu to align, center, and space the ovals on around the rectangles.

I didn’t like how some of the lines in the design.  The Erase and Knife cut and erase was a nice feature for removing unwanted lines.  I was able to adjust the settings in the right menu as each tool was being used.

A feature that the Silhouette Studio software is missing, is the ability for me to zoom in and out using the scroll button on my mouse.  Zoom in and Zoom out is available from the top icon bar.

The manual that came with the Curio did not cover all of these functions.  But, the manual that is available from the Help Menu in the software does provide detail information about all tools, menus, and functions.  I like to play around with any software before reading manuals.  However, this manual is beneficial for using the software and Curio.

The next blog will cover my experience with cutting and embossing.  For now, I will save my work.  This isn’t the first time I have saved my work.  One of my saying is “Save Often! Save Regularly!”  You can’t press save too often.

Silhouette Studio – Opening the Box

/ Sarah Collins / 1 Comment

The Silhouette Studio software comes with the Silhouette cutting machines (Cameo and Curio).  Since I purchased the machine, the software installation was a simple process.  Place the CD in drive and follow the prompts.  After the installation was complete, the Silhouette Studio software launched.

Silhouette Studio Start Screen

Silhouette Studio Start Screen

I wasn’t expecting this screen.  To be honest, I am not sure what I was expecting.  I knew if I clicked Design it would let me design a graphic for cutting.  Also, if I clicked Open it would prompt me to open a previous saved design.  I assumed that if I clicked Library, I would see some graphics.  That was the second surprise.  There wasn’t any graphics in the Library.   I thought that was odd, maybe it was something that you could download.  I clicked on the Store.

TheStore

The Silhouette Design Store wanted me to sign in, or create an account.  So, I signed in with the account I created when I registered the Curio.

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It appears that the store wants to charge you for everything.  After looking over the store, I remembered the cards that came with the Curio title “1 month free.”  I followed the instruction on the card and it provided a month subscription and $25 credit.  I am not sure yet of the benefits of a subscription, but I will figure that out as I explore more.

After looking over the store, the problem still remained.  The Library was empty.  Being the Techie I am, I decided maybe the software needed to be update.  Off to http://www.silhouetteamerica.com I went.  You don’t need to remember that URL or save it as a favorite.  If you are into the Silhouette Studio software, it has the link listed under Help.

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It took me a while to find where the Software Update was located on the site.

  1. Sign into your account; it is the same one you created when you registered the machine.
  2. Click Support, it is listed next to the Sign in.
  3. Click Silhouette Studio then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.  There you will find the update and download.
  4. Select one to download.  You do not have to run both the update and the download, because they are the same file.
  5. After the software downloads, run it.

After I went through all these steps below, I realized you can check for software updates from the Silhouette Studio software.  Look under Help > Check for Updates.

I went through the process of updating the software to see if any graphics would appear in the library, it was still empty.  I occurred to me “Maybe the $25 created was so you could select your own graphics.”

Back to the Silhouette Design Store to get some graphics with my credit.  The store had some very impressive designs. I selected a few for testing but adding them to the shopping cart.  When I went to check-out, it told me that these designs were for personal use only.  What I liked about the entire store, since I have credit it did not ask for my credit card.

My adventure with Silhouette Studio will continue…