Are you getting the most from a valuable scrapping tool?

Using Your Silhouette

for Titles and Text

When I bought my Silhouette (and the Cricket before that), I justified the expensive purchase by saying, "I'll cut out all my titles and I won't need to buy Thickers anymore!"

Sound familiar?  Well, if you've followed my videos you know that I love my Thickers.  However, I do get tired of trying to find the right letters I need in a pack of heavily used ones or having to settle for a color or size that just isn't the best for my layout.

There is a simple fix for this.  USE the Silhouette I bought!  Now I have continuously used the cutter ever since I bought it.  I use it for text and shapes but I knew I could do more.  And I knew that many of you would like to do more with your cutter.

So I hope you will come along with me as we really USE our Silhouette to create titles for our scrapbook pages.

I have a new self-study class available November 4 called

Using Your Silhouette for Titles and Text

In this class you will learn to ...

• Select the best fonts for cutting on your Silhouette
• Use Silhouette cuts for masks and stencils
• Mix fonts and sizes for a fun title
• Use the offset feature for a border around your letters
• Learn a really easy trick for getting long titles of small letters adhered neatly and easily
• Create a long title cut out of the background paper - simple and easy!
• Shape text to a curved line
• Mix text and an image for a custom design to tell your page's story
• Print and cut a title

The class contains 9 layouts from start to finish including step by step instructions for the titling shown in the Silhouette Studio ® software.  There are many more tips for using the Silhouette, design and creating scrapbook pages.

With over 3 1/2  hours of video content, you will become confident in using your Silhouette to create custom titles for your scrapbook pages, cards and other papercrafting projects.

This class is perfect for beginners or more experienced Silhouette users.  The only prerequisite is that you have set up your Silhouette and used it to cut out a few shapes so you know what cut settings work best for the paper you most use.  This class is perfect for beginners or more experienced Silhouette users.  (This class does NOT require the designer edition, only the regular free software available for use with the Silhouette cutters.)

I hope you will join me for this self-paced class available starting November 4!  Introductory price is $20 US.

I can't wait to hear how much more you use one of your most valuable scrapping tools after taking this class!

Shells

Hilton Head Island has a beautiful long, wide continuous beach.  It is perfect for walking, running, playing but shelling?  Not so much.

It is very rare to find good shells on the beach but this year we found a bunch.  It was a treasure trove for us.   Maybe it was all bad weather out at sea or that we were there during a full moon when the tides are higher but whatever, we brought home some pretty things.

For the page, I used a stencil with Martha Stewart Pearl Paints.  I really love how these paints glisten and they dry fast.

Here's the process video at YouTube:



And here is the sketch for this page:

Thanks for watching!

Over the last couple of months...

I've accumulated a few scrapping and mixed media goodies.  Here's the shopping video on YouTube:


Stay tuned to see some of these in upcoming videos particularly the stencils.

Hope you have a great day!

Not sure where this will lead

Often when I start an art journal page, I have no idea where it is going.  I pick colors or stencils that just sort of speak to me that day and go from there.

That is what happened with this page.  I was quite a ways along when it dawned on me that these 3 circles reminded me of spinning plates and I do a lot of plate spinning to keep life on track.

My husband had some serious health issues earlier in the year.  He is doing much better.  My parents though have lots of things that come up. Currently I'm taking my dad to speech therapy twice a week and doing therapy at home with him twice a day.  Some weeks there are 5 doctor appointments between the 3 of them and almost all are in a town 20 miles away.

So this page is about keeping everything running.

Here's the process video at YouTube:


Thanks for watching!  I just finished all my next scrapbook class layouts so I"ll soon be back to regular layouts for you on the channel.

Christmas Card production

Today my mother said she wished spring was starting rather than fall.  I hope she is looking at least a little bit forward to Christmas because these are her cards.  I make a couple of different designs for her each year.

For this one, I used a Stampendous set called Nativity Christmas which I snagged on Ebay.  The process video is here at YouTube:



I'm working on a new scrapbooking class.  Stay tuned for more info coming in the next few weeks.

Thanks for visiting!

2 Art Journal Pages using Distress Paint backgrounds

Distress products are all designed to mix well with water.  One technique with paints and inks is to spread the ink or paint on a craft mat, mist with water and then press your paper into the color.  You get a mottled, marbled look.  It is always different and fun.

The only challenge when working with an art journal is the middle.  All that paint and water can seep down between the pages.  I started with pages that were one continuous sheet across the center. It still left me the holes where the paper is bound together and I did get some seepage in those holes.  You can avoid all this by covering the center with tape and going over it all with gesso.  The trouble is I'm just not that fond of gesso as a background for my pages.

Coating with gesso automatically curls the paper no matter what else you do with it.  Spray inks don't adhere to the back of the paper.  It does have advantages as paint moves well and can require less paint for coverage.  I suppose it is really what look you are trying to achieve.

I've decided that a little bleeding of paint or ink from one page to the next is not going to bother me that much.

For the first page (above), I used some black accents and a stenciled design with a sun theme.

For the 2nd page, I'm welcoming fall.  Now when I did this page almost 2 weeks ago, I didn't know that fall would arrive in the form of a monsoon.  I think we are at 10 inches of rain the the last few days but nothing compared to some parts of the south.  Hopefully all this will go away and we can settle into a nice normal cool fall pattern.

Here is the process video at YouTube.  I used music as I didn't think I needed to talk through it all and I had a cold.  This is my first effort with music and admit that I didn't try to time the music to the activity.



Thanks for visiting today!