Silhouette Challenge | I Tri and Craft

March 14, 2016
by Dawn Marie 5 Comments

Custom Daredevil Shirt ~ Silhouette Blog Hop & a Giveaway!!

When Sid turned two we had an Evel Knievel themed birthday party for him. This seemed perfect for our little daredevil. Admittedly when discussing this theme with Ian he was a little concerned. It took me a while to figure out why, and then I explained to him that Evel is a person’s name and that he was not evil, and when I say ‘daredevil’ I also don’t mean someone who is bad. I just love how kid brains process things.

Originally I wanted to make Sid an Evel Knievel suit. And when I say ‘I wanted to make’, I really mean I wanted my mom to make him one (see picture).

But it was so hot and we had lots of water activities at his party that he wouldn’t really be wearing it…..so I scratched that idea.

I also thought of just making him a shirt that looks like the top of Evel’s suite. Think tuxedo shirt….

But I still wasn’t sold on that idea. Then I found an image somewhere on Google that I thought would be great for his shirt and a whole new idea was formed.

I wanted to customize Sid’s shirt so I took the image traced and altered it. (As I do with everything I make.)

It is convenient that Sid’s name only has three letters and fit under the motorcycle in place of the engine. I used two colors of flocked HTV (HTV=Heat Transfer Vinyl), it’s the kinda fuzzy stuff. I personally think it holds up better than regular HTV by the way.

It was a little difficult to get a picture of him in his shirt on his birthday (left) but he still wears this shirt all the time (he’s three and a half now).

I went ahead and used the same image for his party favors. I simply replaced Sid with Ride, as I felt people wouldn’t want to take home bags that say “Sid” on them. For the bags I used the printable HTV for light colors (there is a difference between the one for light fabric and the one for dark fabric, I explain it in this post) and had my Cameo cut around the outside of the image, and the larger pieces inside.

Inside the bag is a matching tattoo and sticker also made with my Silhouette Cameo.

Turns out that this Silhouette Challenge theme was all about Fabrics! So I just knew this project would fit in perfectly. Now since using HTV is only one option with working with your Silhouette and fabrics these wonderful ladies have come up with some other amazing ideas for you. My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Cutesy Crafts // 2. Mama Sonshine // 3. Morena’s Corner // 4. Simply Kelly Designs // 5. Coral + Mint Design Co. // 6. A Time For Seasons // 7. Architecture of a Mom // 8. Where The Smiles Have Been // 9. Haberdashery Fun // 10. The Thinking Closet // 11. The Crafting Nook // 12. Get Silvered // 13. Tori Grant Designs // 14. From Wine to Whine // 15. Create & Babble // 16. Curly Crafty Mom // 17. unOriginal Mom // 18. The Small Stuff Counts // 19. The Experimental Home // 20. Creative Ramblings // 21. Adventures in All Things Food // 22. Minted Strawberry

But wait there’s more…

Because really if you are going to be working with HTV you really want a heat press and right now you have a chance to win one!

Heat Press Giveaway

click on picture to enter contest

Pro World Inc is giving one lucky reader a Heat Press Valued at $300!

Pretty sweet, huh? To enter: just complete the entries in the Rafflecopter link below. You have 26 potential entries, which means a lot of winning power. So, hurry up and enter!

{This giveaway runs from today through Monday, March 21st at 11:59p eastern and is open to anyone 18 years of age or older with a lower 48 U.S. mailing address. You can read the rest of the terms and conditions in the widget below, click through the link below.}

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→→ a Rafflecopter giveaway ←←

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This year my running club and I will be participating in the Hood to Coast Relay Race as a fundraising team. We will be raising money for Providence Cancer Center to help #FINISHCANCER. Click on the picture below (or here) to donate today.

February 9, 2015
by Dawn Marie 5 Comments

Custom Birthday Party Invitations using Silhouette’s Print and Cut

I feel a little behind this year. Ian’s birthday is next month and I have only been working on his invitations for about a week.

Ian decided in December that he wanted a Ninja Turtle birthday party. I knew it was on the list of parties but didn’t know he wanted it this year. (He has the next six birthday’s planned, yep, he takes after me.)

I decided I wanted his invitations to be a pop-up card with the front as a sewer cover. I designed them knowing I would need to use my favorite thing about the Silhouette. It’s Print ‘N Cut feature!

It is the main reason I got it and it just so happens that this month’s Silhouette Challenge was to make a project using this very thing I love so much.

I started with a picture of a NYC manhole cover. I used Photoshop to make the sewer cover look a little more comic-booky. I couldn’t find a TMNT one with out words on it, and while I could have altered it in Photoshop to remove the words, I just didn’t want to go the trouble, this was easier.

I had thought about having just a circle card, but the pop-up part would have been to small, or the circle card would have been too big. So I used a card template from SVG Cuts Haunted Forest kit.

I needed something above the manhole cover, and I didn’t want to use a solid color so I used a picture of NYC that I found on one of the TMNT sites. Since the angle of the city is from the street it worked perfectly. For that part and the sewer cover I used the fill with pattern feature, or more accurately, I dragged and dropped the pictures into the shapes.

I used foam dimensional tabs to raise the ‘Let’s Party’ text.

I didn’t want to apply the letters individually to each invitation. I connected them with the offset tool, I made the offset as small as possible while still maintaining connections between each letter.

It was still in two parts, but that was better than 9 parts.

I made the “Ian is turning 5” part in Photoshop and traced it in Studio.

But a TMNT party invitation would not be complete with out some Ninja Turtles!

p.s. I decided to use the Old-School version from my childhood because I like them the best.

I traced a PNG copy of a picture of the four of them coming out of a sewer. This was the part that I wanted to use as a pop-up.

It is pretty amazing how close and accurately the Silhouette cuts with the print ‘n cut feature. I could even cut out the little spaces on the bottom that would have been white after printing. There is no way I would have been able to cut that out by hand.

The party information will be printed out on vellum and attached to the bottom of the inside. I decided on vellum because I didn’t want the inside to be white. I could have printed it on colored paper, but with the size of the card I couldn’t get two on one page, and I hate wasting paper.

Stay tuned for how the party turned out and all the other things I will make, although you will have to wait till a couple of months.

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration! With a heavy emphasis on hearts!

1. Clever Someday // 2. TitiCrafty // 3. GingerSnapCrafts.com // 4. My Paper Craze // 5. Simply Kelly Designs // 6. Little Blue’s Room // 7. Mama Sonshine // 8. Small Stuff Counts // 9. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 10. GiveMeAPaintbrush // 11. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 12. Barb’s Life // 13. GetSilvered // 14. Lil’ Mrs. Tori // 15. Minted Strawberry // 16. unOriginal Mom // 17. Where The Smiles Have Been // 18. Persia Lou // 19. Silhouette School // 20. From Whine to Whine // 21. DailyDwelling // 22. Creative Ramblings // 23. Paper Garden Projects // 24. It Happens in a Blink // 25. Perfectly Fabulous // 26. Adventures in All Things Food // 27. Create & Babble

December 8, 2014
by Dawn Marie 7 Comments

DIY Christmas Coasters ~ and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

‘Tis the season for giving, and there is nothing better than giving someone a hand-made gift.

Except being able to giveaway a new Silhouette Portrait or Cameo, that is.

That’s right, a wonderful group of bloggers and I have gotten together to giveaway not one, but two Silhouettes. These ladies have also came up with a variety of holiday projects to make with your brand new Silhouette. Just follow the links at the end of this post for some inspiration.

DIY Christmas Coasters

I thought I would share some of the gifts I have been making for Christmas this year.

I made some Christmas coasters from tiles using a couple different methods, including etching cream, vinyl and sharpies.

I love making etched glass items and thought how great it would work on glass tiles. I found these blue glass tiles, they are clear glass with a backing that is colored, and knew they would be perfect for a snow themed coaster.

Since the tile would be a coaster I wanted the majority of the surface to be rough with the design smooth. I cut my design out of scrap vinyl, I have been told contact paper works too, and transferred the design on to the tile.

I like to apply my etching cream right next to the sink. I lay down wax paper for a work surface, and use gloves to protect my skin. At the end of the etching time I try to scrape the etching cream back into the bottle. No need to waste! Rinse the rest of the cream off the tile under cold running water. Peel off the stencil and wash again with soap and water.

Please follow the directions on your etching cream and be safe.

Because the tile is thick glass the unetched parts refract the light and distort the design when trying to take a picture.

I absolutely love how these turned out, but the elegance of them is lost in translation. They do look lovely all wrapped up in a bow.

Did you know that etching cream will also take the glaze off ceramic tiles?

This is even harder to photograph because of how subtle it is.

My first thought was to make a minimalist snowman design with vinyl, but then I decided to take it one step further. I used a vinyl stencil for the snowman base and a few circles of falling snow. I then applied the etching cream to the entire coaster as above. This left a rough background with a shiny snowman and snow.

After etching, washing and allowing to dry for at least a day, I applied the vinyl decorations, using outdoor vinyl if I had it. I love how these turned out, they are impressive with just the vinyl but when you look close you can see the subtle outline of the snowman and snow.

But why stop there? Sharpies on ceramics are always a fun craft.

Since I am pretty sure my 4-year-old draws better than me, I use my Silhouette to cut out stencils for all my Sharpie work as well. As I did with these Rudolph coasters and they are fantastic!

After coloring I cured the ink by placing the coasters in a cold over, turning on the heat to 350°F, baking for about 30 minutes, turning the oven off and letting the coasters come back to room temperature slowly.

Using the same sharpie and stencil method I made some Christmas light coasters as well.

On one set of coasters I simply colored the lights in. On the other set I used the negative of the stencil and used scattered dots to draw the lights. I should tell you that I did not use oil based markers or ceramic pens. I cured them just as I did with the Rudolph ones.

Some of the colors (uh, all but the red and green) did not hold up as well with the curing process. *sigh, lesson learned. So, if you are going to cure them in the oven, use ceramic markers. Another option would be to seal them after coloring with a clear waterproof sealant. Sealing them is still probably a good idea anyway.

Not to worry though. They can just be recolored and then sealed. (which admittedly I have not yet done, but plan on doing)

These coaster would make great gift to with a new mug and box of hot chocolate, coffee or tea. *spoiler alert

Silhouette Giveaway!

I know, I know, here is the part of the post you are most excited about. As I said above, my Silhouette Challenge buddies in partnership with Silhouette America are hosting a mega-huge giveaway for not one…but two winners! The prizes up for grabs?

First prize: The NEW Silhouette Cameo Machine and Designer Edition Super Bundle! $406.93 value.

Silhouette CAMEO®
Designer Edition Software
Dust Cover
$25 Download Card
Four Essential Silhouette Tools (hook, spatula, scraper, pick-me-up™)

Second prize: Silhouette Portrait Machine and Rhinestone Starter Kit! $219.98 value.

Pretty sweet, huh? We want you to have the chance to get that Silhouette machine that might still be on your wish list.

To enter: just click on the image below or on this link, either will take you to the entry form. Because of my many blog friends who helped make this giveaway possible, you have 42 potential entries, which means a lot of winning power. So, hurry up and enter!

{This giveaway runs from today through Monday, December 15th at 11:59p eastern and is open to anyone 18 years of age or older with a U.S. or Canada mailing address. You can read the rest of the terms and conditions in the giveaway window. You only need to enter the giveaway on one blog.}

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

click on me to go to entry form

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Pineapples and Pinecones // 2. Simply Kelly Designs // 3. Architecture of a Mom // 4. Just a Girl and Her Blog // 5. Two Purple Couches // 6. Chicken Scratch NY // 7. Creative Ramblings // 8. One Dog Woof // 9. Ginger Snap Crafts // 10. The Thinking Closet // 11. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 12. Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body // 13. weekend craft // 14. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 15. Practically Functional // 16. Living My Given Life // 17. My Paper Craze // 18. The Kim Six Fix // 19. Home At Eight // 20. Queen of Everything // 21. Tried & True // 22. McCall Manor // 23. unOriginal Mom // 24. Create it. Go! // 25. From Wine to Whine // 26. GetSilvered // 27. It’s Always Ruetten // 28. Nearly Handmade // 29. Mama Sonshine // 30. Silhouette School // 31. It Happens in a Blink // 32. Create & Babble // 33. Sowdering About // 34. Where The Smiles Have Been // 35. My Favorite Finds // 36. Lil’ Mrs. Tori // 37. Designed Decor

October 13, 2014
by Dawn Marie 10 Comments

Boo-tiful Halloween Treats

Fall is in the air, and for us, that means it’s Halloween time!

Ian loves Halloween. I mean loves it.

Not just the candy, but the costumes and decorations too. Since this month’s Silhouette Challenge theme was fall I just knew I had to make something for Halloween.

If you remember from last year I made a candy treat folder and popcorn box for the kids at Ian’s school (those are a couple free printables if you want). Well that was pre-Silhouette. Now I can make things a little more intricate.

First I created a little gift bag for the kids at Ian’s school.

I created the bag with a little spider web window, and it is the perfect size for a couple treats and some stickers.

On the back panel is the sentiment and a little pumpkin. Of course I had to make some cute little wrappers for the candy.

I really like how the window turned out, and I glued a plastic sheet inside so the web doesn’t break.

But I didn’t stop there…

I decided to make a little candy dish, perfect for Candy Corn.

I used a hot dog boat file from Oh Happy Day as the base of the dish. I extend the dish up the back so I could create a little spooky Halloween scene.

I used foam dimensional tabs to pop out the letters, the lower ghost and the pumpkin.

I love this little dish, I have visions for a few more.

I used elements from one of Just So Scrappy‘s digital scrapbooking kit as well as from SVG Cuts.

Here is to Spook-tacular Halloween!

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Create & Babble // 2. Lil Mrs. Tori // 3. unOriginal Mom // 4. Zanaree // 5. The Kim Six Fix // 6. One Dog Woof // 7. Cupcakes & Crowbars // 8. Living My Given Life // 9. Architecture of a Mom // 10. Put A Bird On It // 11. Just Add Paper // 12. Weekend Craft // 13. Silhouette School // 14. Minted Strawberry // 15. My Paper Craze // 16. McCall Manor // 17. Chicken Scratch NY // 18. Mama Sonshine // 19. Creative Ramblings // 20. From Wine to Whine // 21. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 22. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 23. The Thinking Closet // 24. Simply Kelly Designs // 25. Sandpaper & Glue //

I Tri and Craft

thoughts from a mother of boys, a marathoner, a triathlete, a crafter, a wife, and a scientist

Tag Archives: Silhouette Challenge