Category: DIY

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Love Card FREE SVG Cutting File Download

Valentine's Day Card

Love

February is almost upon us. Looking through all the ideas I have found on cutting files to make, I stumbled upon this lovely little kirigami card. Now, I don’t know where it comes from originally, so it would be wise not to use it commercially. However, this is where I found the image that I based this file on.

EDIT (2/11/19): I have found the original author of this file, Maria Victoria Garrido,  and she has kindly given me permission to keep this post up. Her site is full of very beautiful work and many files that can be adapted for cutting in SVG format. However, her files are for PERSONAL use only. Please be aware and don’t use them for commercial purposes.

Her website is: http://marivi_10.tripod.com/myhomenew.html

Kirigami Love Hearts Card Template

If you cut this out, the pattern above is very useful for scoring the fold lines in the correct places.

I love how detailed the little hearts are. You could definitely use the heart cut outs for other applications, including your own pretty Valentine’s Day card. I cut out the file twice in two different colors so that I could mix and match them. They came out lovely in my opinion.

Tacky or not, I gave one to my husband and informed him that he could write a nice message on it for me for Valentine’s Day. How’s that for an over the top hint?

Assembly Tips

For assembly, you do have to be somewhat delicate so as not to break things as you bend them into place. I used a ruler and hard pointed tip to score the lines where it was supposed to bend. If you are so inclined, you could definitely add them to the cut file and score them with your machine. I don’t have the dual carriage Silhouette and didn’t feel like running it through twice.

You definitely DO want to score this before you attempt to fold it. It is a bit difficult to bend into place even if you score it. I found it useful to weave something small like a knitting needle back and forth through the letters to get them to bend in the correct direction.

And now, the file.

Heart Card Pop Up SVG File

Here are the hearts that attach it. One note, if the paper you cut it out on has a front and a back, you will want to flip a copy of the heart so that you have one facing each direction. I didn’t do this, and have a card with two hearts facing the same way. Oops!

Heart SVG Cutting File

Also check out my other Valentine’s Day cutting files:

Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Knit Bow-Knot Baby Scarf

IMG_0440.CR2

Sad story. Alright, it isn’t a truly sad or tragic story by any means, but I was still sad. A pretty little baby scarf I had made was missing for a couple weeks; it finally made an appearance in one of our vehicles.

I was thrilled to see it again, until I took a closer look. Apparently, we must have capable little visitors of the rodent variety who are able to enter the vehicle and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting scarves that live inside.

The old scarf was really pretty. I don’t recall where I got the yarn, but it had a beautiful gradient going for it. The new yarn I used is a lot busier, but it still is very soft and has some nice colors to it. My one-year-old is sold though. All I have to do is tell her it looks really pretty on her and then it is the best thing ever and she needs to wear it all the time!

What I love about this pattern is that the ends “hook” together and it stays in place even on your wiggly toddlers. I think I need to make one for myself. The adult version of the pattern calls it a tuck-in or bow-know scarf. The ends do look like a bow and link together. I have found it to be very useful. Practicality is probably my very favorite style.

The pattern I used is posted here by Liesl. There is also an adult version I saw referenced in the comments here, but I haven’t tried it myself yet. Have fun knitting and enjoy January.

Katherine Scarf

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How To Create a Cutting file from a Photo Using Inkscape

I frequently use the freely available program Inkscape to alter and create new cutting files. It can handle more than Silhouette Studio and can also output a DXF file, which is a file format that Silhouette Studio can open and use.
Before and After

 

You can download Inkscape HERE (as of April 2016).
Normally, I would use Inkscape’s handy “Trace Bitmap” feature. This is located under Path->Trace Bitmap. It has lots of options which you can play around with for your image if you like, but I could tell that I wasn’t going to get what I wanted from this particular image.
The Trace Bitmap Function Doesn’t work as well on images with busy backgrounds!
The problem was that my image has a lot going on in the background and is hard to separate out from the foreground.
I’m guessing that there are some Photoshop gurus out there who could probably separate the background and foreground of this image and then use Inkscape’s Trace function. However, I am not one of those gurus and I don’t own Photoshop! Sad, I know. Alternatively, I could have tried to mess around with the image in GIMP (a fairly nice free alternative to Photoshop) – but I wasn’t up for that seemingly overwhelming task. Sometimes the dumb but straight forward way can be quicker anyhow!
Covered in Paths
Now, this method takes some patience, but you can get exactly the image you want and don’t have to hassle with photo editing. The basic idea is to use several circular paths to bend and form into the shape we need. If you have not played around with path nodes before, this may look confusing, but once you start, it is not too difficult.

 

Now for the tutorial. Begin by opening your image up in Inkscape, then do the following:


  1.  Draw a circle using the shape tool shown below and place it over part of your image.
  2.  Change to the arrow tool, click your circle, and select Path->Object to Path. This will ensure that your circle is a path and not just a shape.
  3. Now, go ahead and copy this circle and paste it several times on your image. I needed about 7 blobs (which started as circles) to cover my image. You may need more or less depending on the size and shape of your image.
  4. Now for the fun part! Click on the node tool (Arrow 1 in the image below). Then, click on your shape to start conforming it to your image. If you look closely at Arrow 2 in the image below, you will see a node highlighted in red. If you click a node, you can move it around.
  5. Drag the nodes to spots along the edges of your image. Once the node is on the edge of your image, move the little round “whiskers” (I don’t know what these are really called). These bend the edges of your circle and allow you to match the contour of your image. There are also tools for change the node type from a rounded one to a pointy one (right above Arrow 1). Also, keep in mind you can remove nodes by selecting one and hitting delete and you can add nodes by double clicking where you want one.
  6. Once you have your image covered in OVERLAPING paths, select all the paths (but not the image itself) and click Path -> UNION. This will combine all of your shapes into one, and if you did a good job matching the contours and filling all the space, you should have the image you wanted! You can see our bunny Geronimo loved being turned into a cutting file.

 

Here is the resulting file that I created. Feel free to download it and use it for your own creations.

 

FREE SVG FILE DOWNLOAD

 

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Playroom Reveal – Part I

A lot of my time lately has been absorbed in planning and executing a playroom design in one of our basement bedrooms. It is a small room, though not too tiny, and had really REALLY ugly purple trim when we moved in. Well, okay, so the purple itself wasn’t such a bad color, but it was a really bad color for trim!

The first chore was cleaning and painting the room, including the trim. My theme colors for the room were in part chosen by the three clearance paint cans I found at Target in green, pink, and yellow. I ran with it and now everything in the room needs to be one of these three colors (or white).

During Painting

Also, the outlets were a dark dark brown color and really clashed with the room, so of course I wanted those to be white too! Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the power back after the switch and had to have an electrician come out and help us, but now it is beautiful. This held me back for longer than I care to admit. I should have called the electrician in much sooner, but I kept thinking I would be able to solve it on my own. On the positive side of things, I did learn quite a bit about wiring in my attempts.

Paint Almost Complete!

I was also very glad to pull down the blue sheers and old purple cork board. The combination of new white trim and removing the old dusty curtains really lightened the room up! Sorry I took the picture at night – not much natural light coming in.

When the paint was dry, I really got moving. I was so excited to have the room in a usable state again after the electricity fiasco! Along the back wall I used the Kallax shelving from IKEA to create a lot of storage and a bench for adults to sit on. It is very handy to have somewhere to sit when your kids are playing, so don’t forget about yourself in the plans.

At last! It is coming together as I envisioned.

I splurged a bit on the bench fabric from JoAnn’s and used some foam I had left over from another project to upholster the top. I think it came out really nice and it was my first upholstery project. I will post more details in later posts for a lot of these projects. One project that is nearing completion is the vinyl animal alphabet I plan to add to the green wall on the right. I have it all cut out and ready to put up. I already posted the file HERE, but it will be much more fun to see an example of it all cut out.

Getting in on the Playtime

Labeling the bins with pictures is still on my to do list, but I really like how the “PLAY” and elephants from Hobby Lobby livened the room up.

 

Closet lights and Mirrors

Our girls did not hesitate to start using the space. The kitchen and kids table worked out really well with the color scheme too. In the closet, I made use of some super nifty wavy mirrors (from IKEA again) and lit the space up with some neat string lights. I was really quite excited to learn that they make light socket adapters with two outlets in them. This turned out to be the perfect place to plug in my string lights AND have them be on a switch to boot. I also have a curtain across the door (not in the picture) that I plan on lengthening. The closed still has some additions in the planning stage. These include IKEA spice rack book shelves and foam pillow rolls for the floor to make it a really cozy reading nook.

More pictures and project details to come! Let me know if you need details on anything.

PART II HERE

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Shapes and Colors Learning DIY

My daughter is quickly nearing the age of two. Her interest in talking and learning new words is at a record high, and I have been wanting something for her to play with that would also help her to learn a few new things in the process.

At her age, sorting and moving things from one spot to another is a fabulously exciting activity, so I thought maybe we could try to learn and sort with some shapes and colors.

Naturally, I wanted to put my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine into the creative action, so I came up with some laminated shapes that I then cut out in circles. You could definitely do this without a cutting machine, however, and the laminating machine is not strictly necessary either. I wanted these to last a while, so I laminated them, but if you use a heavy cardstock, they should last a for a while also and be just as educational.

In my set of colors and shapes, I picked out 6 of each, for a total of 36 cards. I choose the colors RED, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, PURPLE, and ORANGE. For the shapes, I went with CIRCLE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, HEART, STAR, FLOWER. Now, I know “flower” isn’t really a traditional shape choice, but I didn’t like the other options I thought of, such as diamond (easily confused with square) and more elaborate polygons.

The process was fairly simple, with only one small trick or two to get my machine to cut the circles around the shapes correctly (even if not quite perfectly).

First, pick out your shapes, size them all about the same, and arrange them evenly on your page.

Next, add a circle behind each shape, all of the same size (these you will cut out after you laminate the shapes).

Cut out just the shapes (not the array of circles) from your first color page. You need to cut out at least one page of shapes arranged inside the circles so that you have a template to place them correctly in the laminating page. I also cut a separate sheet with just my 6 circles, though this isn’t strictly necessary.

To save some of the page of cardstock, I then rearrange the shapes in another file more compactly and cut them out of the other 5 colors of cardstock.

Now, it is time to laminate. I pulled out a laminating sheet and placed it on top of my template (the page with the shapes all lined up). Then, I took a set of shapes and placed them inside the laminating sheet using the template as a guide.

I cheated a little and used an iron to quickly stick the shapes in place. Placing a sheet of paper over the sheet, I put the iron down for only a couple seconds, just enough to keep the shapes from shifting while I put the contraption in the laminating machine.

Once you have all 6 sets of shapes laminated in the correct alignment, place the sheets back through your cutting machine one at a time. This time through, select “No Cut” for the shapes, and “Cut” for the 6 circles around the shapes. If you lined the shapes up correctly with your template and put the sheet in the correct way, it should cut out nice perfect circles around your newly laminated sheets.

My shapes were not all perfectly centered in their circles (due to my own imperfections), but the resulting set of shapes was still awesome.

My daughter took to them immediately. Even as I finished each sheet and handed them to her, she kept demanding “More, more”. We practiced sorting them into piles of different colors and then shapes. She did not know the names of all these shapes yet, but is picking it up quickly.

 

I think we will have a lot of fun with these and that we will be able to come up with new games and things to learn with them as she grows. I am already thinking of games like “Can you give me the Red Flower?”, or counting games, matching, etc.

What games would you play with these?

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How To Make Custom Monogrammed Travertine Coasters with your Silhouette Cameo

I absolutely love how these turned out! Our set of coasters had been almost completely demolished by our one-year-old and I knew my husband would appreciate some new ones. The natural texture and indentations in the tiles are really highlighted and enhanced by the design. My worry had been that the design would be obscured, but it was not a problem at all.
First things first – you need a design! I had seen lots of monograms on Pinterest, and thought that ours would make for some great coasters. I plan on making a separate post on how I made this monogram using Regal font. Here is how my monogram design turned out:
Once you have your design, size it to fit your coasters. My coasters are 4″ x 4″, so I made my design just under that size and cut a 4″ square around it.
Next, cut out your designs with your Silhouette Cameo (or whatever cutting machine you have), one for each coaster. Weed your designs and adhere your transfer tape. Remember, take away the parts of the vinyl design that you WANT to show up, since this is going to be a stencil.
My tiles were a bit dusty from rubbing together in the package, so I wiped them off with a damp cloth before I applied my vinyl stencils. Once they are clean and dry, apply your stencils to each tile. I made a total of 6 coasters, but forgot to take a picture of this part! If I make some more, I will update this page so you can see how it works.
Finally, the fun part! Once your vinyl is on, it is time to apply the ink. I used a black speedball caligraphy ink and a make-up sponge. The ink permanent and water-proof. I tested it on the back of a tile first, and it looked great! Put a small amount of ink on your make-up sponge and dab it gently over the stencil. Try not to get any on the edges of the coasters past the stencil, and make sure you just apply a little at a time. If you put too much down at once, it may seep under your stencil.
Wait until it is dry (it took only a matter of seconds for mine) and start peeling off that stencil to reveal your design! Your coasters are beautiful now, but not quite done.
To ensure that they do not scratch your furniture, you will probably want to apply some sort of protective backing. I bought a roll of thin cork material, and some spray adhesive. Cut your cork into squares just smaller than your coasters. Apply adhesive according to your adhesive spray – for mine I applied a medium coat to both the tile and the cork, waited a few seconds, and then held them together.
Below is a side view of my coasters once the cork was applied.
What do you think? I would love to hear your thought, I think they came out well, but love hearing suggestions. Let me know if you have any questions too, I am happy to help.
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DIY Wooden Growth Ruler Chart

Well, this is one of those projects that I’m sure you have seen if you have spent any time on Pinterest. Despite its ubiquity, I wanted to give it a try since it has a wonderful appeal both in its practicality and in its decorative nature.

Once completed, you can chart your children’s growth without the worry of having to leave behind a chart on the wall. The ruler is also a beautiful keepsake for years to come!

I wanted to keep the cost of this project down, so I rummaged around the stash of paints and such that was left in our home by the previous owner. I found a can of stain – just what I was after. Now, this meant that I had to be content with the stain color I had (red oak), but it definitely kept the costs down.

Materials

  • 1″ x 8″ x 6′ board (I had them cut an 8′ pine board down to 6′, cost = $8)
  • Stain – whatever color you like, it really doesn’t take too much either
  • Sandpaper
  • Black Permanent Marker
  • Ruler / Square (Square is optional, but VERY helpful)
  • Silhouette Cameo (optional – can use printer and exacto to make a template instead)
  • Black Vinyl (optional, see above)
  • Clear Spray Coat (optional)
Directions
 

  1. Sand and Stain your wood.Tips: Sand a lot; I definitely should have sanded this some more, but oh well… Also, you can wipe your stain off after several minutes with a paper towel to get a lighter look (didn’t know this at first!)
  2. Mark your lines every inch with your permanent marker and measuring device.Length of the lines I drew:
    – Each “foot” mark = 3.5″ long
    – Each 4″ between feet = 3″ long (these divide each foot in thirds)
    – Each 2″ withing the thirds = 2″ long (these divide each third in half)
    – Each remaing 1″ mark = 1″ longTips: Use a square if you have one! This allows you to make even, perpendicular lines. I began my board at 6″, so my 1 foot mark was 6″ up the board. Measure the baseboards where you plan to hang your finished product to ensure you start high enough. Also, if you have room, there is no shame in making a taller ruler – I probably could have had an extra foot on mine if I had thought ahead.

     

  3. Spray your wood with several light coats of your clear protective coat.Tips: I don’t know how essential this is. It seemed to smooth the surface, make me feel better about the projects durability, and perhaps prep it for the vinyl. Note that I did not spray the project after the vinyl was applied as this can make the vinyl peel up. 
  4. Design and cut out your vinyl (or paper stencil). Feel free to use the numbers I made – here is my svg file.

    Tips: I used Century font and put a little bracket around each number to help me line it up. If you use my cut file, leave the bracket on while applying to get it straight, then pull it off your project. Play around with your name if you want it, I used Xiomara font with Century for the numbers.

     

  5. Apply your vinyl lettering and admire your work! (And, I suppose, hang it on the wall…)
If you made a wonderful growth chart like this, I would love to see how yours turned out.
Happy Crafting!
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A Baby Headband

Well, this project was a pretty simple one, but I thought I would put it up anyhow as it was a spin off project from my t-shirt yarn rug. When I made the t-shirt yarn (see my DIY t-shirt yarn post), I kept the elastic edges of the fitted sheets I cut apart. (And I made a wonderful crocheted rug for my daughter’s room with the yarn I made). I left a nice little ruffled edge along the side of the elastic and it seemed that it might come in handy, and it did.
Elastic from Jersey Fitted Sheet
The elastic edge of the fitted sheets was perfect for a headband, but it is a little thicker than some elastics I have used for headbands. So, I wanted a larger flower to add to it. I used a knitted flower I made using directions I found on Ninuska’s Blog. The flower came out very lovely, though I think I would use a lighter weight yarn to make the flower more delicate.
Knit Flower for Headband Accent

I measured my daughter’s head and cut the elastic to size. Next, I wove the band of elastic through the bottom of the flower. Finally, I sewed the ends of the elastic together and hid the seam in the flower. Here is the finished product:

Here it is again displayed on my daughter’s lovely little head. I think it turned out well. What do you think?
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DIY Bulletin Board and Household Command Center Makeover

We recently moved into a new house, and I am afraid my walls are mostly still blank. I have an area of our main floor that I have been using as a command center to gather odds and ends, pay the bills, stash the printer, etc. Someday, it will get a pretty little white desk, but unfortunately that is not in the budget yet.

What could I do to make the space more usable right now without spending money? It turns out I could do quite a lot. Well, technically, I did spend $1.50 on the frames, and a little bit at some point in time on the spray paint and a few other materials… but the point is, I didn’t go out and buy things I didn’t have already.

I had an old black framed bulletin board lying around, so I decided it needed a spray paint makeover! What doesn’t, right? Well, it turned out that I had paper and paint just the same teal color as a file holder I had on hand, so my colors were chosen.

Now, for the fun part!

I had already worked on some nice little chore charts with my Silhouette Cameo machine as you can see here if you like. I started by spraying my three thrift store frames white. After tweaking the text on my chore charts, I sketched the text on a plain piece of white cardstock. Then, I cut out the frames with a pattern I made. Basically, the pattern I came up with involved a shape (created from overlapping circles) that repeats across the area I wanted to have for a frame. It doesn’t look like much by itself, but trust me, when it is repeated, it looks awesome! Here is the shape I repeated to form the pattern:

Free SVG File Download

Here is the bulletin board I started with (well, almost… I forgot to take a true before picture, before the teal paint and application of the stencil):

 

Before the white paint (but after the teal – sorry!)

STEP 1: Paint the cork board part of the bulletin board the background color of your choice (teal!).

STEP 2: Make a stencil using copies of the shape given above (or another one, of course). Size the template according to the inner cork dimensions of your bulletin board.

STEP 3: Cut out your stencil from contact paper or vinyl (I used clear contact paper). You may need to use multiple strips to get the necessary width.

The Stencil is On

 

STEP 4: Apply your stencil. This is the hardest step. At first I tried to remove all the negative space (the diamond shape pieces) before applying it to the board, but since I was using clear contact paper, this proved very difficult. So, I applied it to the board and it was a lot easier to pick off all the diamonds. Be very careful applying the second strip. You want the stencil to align just right in the center where they come together, so BE CAREFUL! I had to trim a little bit with an exacto knife to make the stencil just right. It didn’t come out as perfect as I would have liked, but the result was still awesome!

 

 

STEP 5: Spray paint it white (or whatever color you like better)! Spray it from above just to make sure it doesn’t seep under the edge. Make sure you cover it well, then wait for it to dry.

STEP 6: Peel off the stencil and marvel at your handiwork!

 

All Done!

Doesn’t it look awesome? I framed the chore charts with a cutout frame using the same stencil and color. I hung them below and added a dry erase marker to check off my chores! Let me know if you have any questions. I am smiling at how nice it looks, and at how I conveniently chopped off the part of the picture that shows my messy folding table desk.

 

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Hearts and Handprints

I’m just now getting around to posting these little projects I made. One was a (very) belated Christmas gift for my parents and the other was first Valentine for my husband from our baby daughter. Both turned out really cute. Also, I am throwing in a free cutting file (in both svg and dfx formats) that I adapted from a free image I found online. I was going to use it for Valentine’s day – but didn’t quite get to it! Let me know how it looks if you end up using it.

First, the adorable handprint, heart, and footprint picture! Inspired, of course, by pinterest. This turned out really well. It has Micah 6:8 (the first part) on it – “Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly”. The most challenging part of this project was getting my daughter to cooperate. I actually did the handprints and footprints months ago and it sat around waiting for the words for what seemed like forever. My hold up was terror of messing up the lovely handprints I had worked so hard on.

Finally – I tried to write the words on with a paint pen and my attempt was a huge fail! I hated how it looked. Thankfully, I only had done one word and was able to paint it back to gold and try again. Not liking my handwritten attempt – I typed the words in and cut them out of vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo. MUCH better results! The only remaining worry is that the lettering might slip off of the paint, but you could probably fix that with a clear top coat of some kind.

Anyhow, this is how it turned out:

BABY TIP : I finally got her left hand when she was deep in sleep. I had to let her nap on the floor and then do the print quickly (her left hand was particularly challenging since she sucks her left fingers!). It did cost the nap though as she woke up after the handprint. The footprints were much easier!

Since footprints were easier, I used them to make a nice Valentine’s day card for daddy. Paint was so messy and unpredictable, so I decided to try embossing ink. It work better than I imagined. I simply dabbed her foot with the embossing ink (I had it in a tube, but an ink pad might work even better) and pressed the foot on the paper. I did one foot at a time, so after the first one, I put on the powder and embossed it, then did the second to form a heart.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a heart shape around it. After measuring where the footprints ended up, I matched the size and positioning of my shape in Silhouette Studio and cut it out. If you don’t have a cutting machine, I’m sure it would look just as cute if you cut out a heart by hand, or even just left it as a rectangular card.

The shape I used was a modified version of the lacey heart I found at Bird’s Cards.

And, finally, the free cut file that I made. I found the image on the right online and made it into a cutting file. I also inverted it in case you want to cut out one piece instead of embedding it into another shape. Let me know if you make anything with these files, I would love to see it!
FREE SVG FILE DOWNLOAD