I'm in LOVE!!!

As a small business owner, a mom and a housewife my time is limited and well there is never enough of it, as I am sure ALL moms can relate! My business is a "crafty" business we do everything from sewing to heat press vinyl, and of course birthday invites and party supplies.

We have always had a vinyl cutter, but it was a very basic one that I used/use for fondant (the blade and sheets are different so there is no cross contamination), we loved it and used the crap out of it, still have it on the shelf downstairs as a just in case.

This year after a mountain of research I decided to buy an upgraded version, well oops I guess I didn't research enough because the one I bought (Cricut air explore) wouldn't do what I needed it to do. So back to the research bored I went. After Extensive research I finally decide to go out and buy new, a Silhouette Cameo 3. I got mine off Amazon as it was a better deal than Micheals because it came with all kinds of neat add-ons.

It arrived fast (I am a Prime member) and as soon as it got here my excitement turned to dear god how am I ever going to figure this out. Please keep in mind we were going from a non-digital easy to use machine that I had been using for 8 years! So many parts and pieces and of course the instructions are online and I am that person who if there is no paper instructions I just fiddle around until I figure it out, oh who am I kidding even if there are paper instructions I do the same things.

I get it all set up and excited and installed the software, update the machines software and here I am ready to go! Well dang it the whole reason I bought this thing was so I could design anything I wanted from any image I wanted. Well it turns out after googling and reading post after post, in order to do that I have but the paid for software. Okay I can do that! Buy the software now I am lost because how on earth do I make the file type it needs without buying expensive software. Within my search I found a free program with easy to follow instructions and easy to use it is called inkscape  .
The instructions on how to create the .dfx file you need is here.  It is a lot like using my embroidery software.

I couldn't be happier with my decision and it is so much fun to use. I have used my machine with construction paper, card stock and vinyl so far but my next task is going to be print and cut stickers!!!

Birthday Banner

When decorating for a birthday party or any party really you need a good banner. Not only does it cover wall space it also reminds people what they are there for.

I make my own banners for the birthdays. This year Blaine's party is construction themed so of course it needs to be a construction banner and what better time to test out my silhouettes card stock cutting abilities.

Of course I went online and looked at other peoples experiences with cutting card stock. There were some horror stories about everything going wrong. One I read was the card stock would stick to your bored and tear from trying to peel it up, how I prevented this was by using the older cutting mat, you know the one you have lying around covered in dog hair and dirt from not remembering to put the cover back on it no matter how many time you promised to put it back on when I open a new one it just never happens, or if you are really lucky it falls on the floor face down, sigh. I used that cutting mat.

The other issue people said they had was with card stock tearing as it cut. I used the deep cut blade at 5 speed 10 force and 5 for the blade setting. With these I had no issues cutting my standard card stock that I bought from Micheal's.

What you need:
Card stock in the colours you are wanting (I used orange, yellow and black)

Printer

Silhouettes (or other cutting machine)

Glue stick

Ribbon

Hole punch

***If you do not have a cutting machine you can always print the letters and trucks directly onto the card stock and hand cut it out, it is what I did before I had a cutting machine, you can do it for the letters, trucks and triangles.****

You can either buy or create your own designs for use with in silhouettes software. I have a designer version so I can use .DFX files as well as embroidery files which is a bonus. I create .DFX files using a free software called Inkscape. I use Embird for my embroidery software.

I printed with my laser printer that I got from Digital Friends Inc 1 triangle the size I wanted each part of my banner to be and then just traced and cut how many triangles I needed which was 28.

I purchased and used the construction trucks from the Silhouette store. I cut one for in between each word, giving me 8 trucks in total.

I measured the inside of the triangles I had cut and made each letter I need for banner in Silhouette studio.

Once everything was cut, I used a hole punch and put a hole in the “top” of each triangle for the ribbon to slide through

Punch one hole in the trucks where ever you would like them hand from, or you can do what I did and just tie into the hole already in the truck.

Glue each letter to a triangle.

Lay out your banner how you want it to look.

Leave enough “tail” to hang your banner. Cut the ribbon when you have more than enough to string everything you want on it and a “tail” at the end for hanging.

I slid a truck on and tied it at the top of the truck this prevents it from moving and you have to rearrange it when you hang it. Then I repeated with each letter and tying at the top of each triangle.

My banner is 2 rows, repeat each row as you did for the first one. 

And there you have it, a birthday banner. How did yours turn out?