Best Grad Card EVER! (design by Emily Dyer)

Even though I COULD design my own card, I've been enjoying being a casual Silhouette consumer. Need a card? Download one of their many designs, cut and assemble. It would take that long to drive to the store pick one out and drive home.

Silhouette designer and friend Emily Dyer is constantly updating her store and I suggested she design some grad cards in her wonderful artful style. She did just that and it's now available at the Silhouette store here. It's fabulous for many many reasons.

I did a double cut on this thicker card stock on blade setting 7 and ran it at a slow speed.

There is so much cleverness in the design because the big STAR is holding the interior in place. It takes out the placement guesswork. Silhouette users will appreciated that.

I modified my scraps to spell out the graduate's name and blinged out with more stars. Love that Emily included a 2014 die cut. So cute.

The cleaverness continues. Where does the money go?

Here's an easy way to make an envelope. Cut a large one down to size. Just eyeball it.

Use a fanny wacker to mark your folding edge and crease it. Cut away top layer of the fold to eliminate bulk. Round the corners and glue bottom shut.

Finis. Well almost. Did I mention the back is fabulous too? I hand wrote Emily's design credits in the star area.

Finis.

Vera Makes a Bold Appearance

I visitied the Vera show at the Goldstein Gallery at the UofM's St. Paul Campus (my design school stompin' grounds). She created over 20,000 pieces in her career. Here are a few--all arfully displayed.

Purple walls made a stunning backdrop.

Incredible florals and color combinations.

Some were based on her travels.

I like how she invented her own icons.

Show runs through June 29, 2014.

Muskrat Love

Mother's Day was hectic as usual. Cleaning, shopping and getting ready for company. Luckily, hub did all of the cooking.

The eggs were great, but the hashbrowns (renamed unicorn poop or muskrat), not so much.

Did I get a gift or card for my mom? Not yet. I downloaded one of Emily Dyer's lovely designs. It was very detailed and I knew I would need some help with the weeding.

It was like doing a puzzle after dinner. 

And and the gift for mom? A trip to the garden center completed the task.

I'm Dyering to Make Some Cards with my Silhouette Cameo

Thanks Santa for the Sihouette Cameo die cutter!

My first attempt didn't go well.

When your cutting mat is brand new it is a bit TOO sticky.

Advise from Jen: stick it to your jeans to remove some of the tackiness.

I was a little afraid of it so I gave it a time out for a month. After watching a bunch of YouTube videos I was ready to try again. Silhouette has a store where you can download images. Turns out two of the artists are in Lilla Rogers Bootcamp class with me, Amanda and Emily. I downloaded a few images--super easy to do. First up was Emily's bird design.

This was a pretty intricate design for my first try and it cut perfectly.

This time I used the Silhouette tools (they look like X-ACTO knives) to slowly and carefully lift the design from the backing.

The pink underpinning is also included in the die cut pattern.

I also uploaded Emily's cat design. Here's a pic of the knife.

You don't have to use big sheets of paper. Just load in a small scrap if you need a tiny element cut.

The last design of Emily's I made was the Scottie card.

Coming soon: how I cut out my own drawings…

Santa Can You Get Me a Silhouette Cameo?

In December, I visited my friend Jen to see her wonderful home. It's filled with wonderful collections--all artfully displayed. I could have taken a hundred more photos. 

You can follow Jen on instagram here or visit her blog here. 

She had a craft room filled with all kinds of neat tools, like the one that does the binding on this book.

I noticed this in her craft room and asked what it was. It's called a Silhouette Cameo diecutter. 

She gave me a quick demo. She pulled one of my drawings from my blog and uploaded it to the Cameo software.

Next she placed cardstock on a semi-sticky cutting mat and loaded it into the cutter.

After adjusting the blade and doing a test cut, it was ready to cut out my design. 

It makes really weird noises when it cuts. When it's done, you gently peel it from the mat. 

This took less than 10 minutes to do. I was super impressed. Santa?