Beautiful Box

This is such a beautiful little box.

Finished size is about 3 inches round x 2 1/2 inches tall. cut from an 8 1/2 inch piece of cardstock. The design was saying that it needed 2-sided cardstock so I printed one up from Tracy Ann Digital Art from 2 different files but they were only $4.25 each and i already had one.

The hard part would have been the scoring the curved edges, but after the other day I just went ahead and scored the lines @ 13 Thickness and carefully folded the lines so that when glued they would just fall into place with a gentle nudge (for a box, that is).

Files used for the paper were:

• Susie_Q Melon leafy paper 7
• Bold Blooms paper 6

I usually change the names of the papers so they are more descriptive when i go looking through the folder but leave the number with it so when you open your file and expect it to be called leafy, it won’t be called that. But i do think it is paper  # 7.

The Silhouette Files used are:

• star_top_box_C00586_20509
• leaf_vine_border_adornment_C00482_19210
• 5_petal_flower_C00041_27011

Scoring with the Silhouette

How simple this is and it took me till this afternoon to figure it out. Well, last night after i had gone to bed, really. Just didn’t get to it till this afternoon.

This is a ratio so that is should be easy enough to figure out on different papers, Though most of mine are cut on 100 tag and 33 pressure. The ratio is about 1/3 the pressure (I used 13) which is 1/3 plus 2 and that will make cut marks but not all the way through the paper. Which is what you want for scoring.

Edited 8-25-10: I used a template from  the Silhouette store (adorable_box_17_C00627_20509) and i had to make a couple of changes to it so it would line up properly for putting tags in it. Lori Whitlock is the designer and she did such a lovely job on the box with scoreline to make it a little like a bag and for treats. I needed one for the tags so i took the line and moved it and took out the front decorative opening.

My project was making a little tag box for my Christmas tags i did and entered into caardvarks challenge. For scoring this little template I change all dashed lines to a different color (wild pink).

Then when i went to cut i clicked on the setting icon and made sure i was on the Cutting Settings tab, clicked on Cutline Settings and made sure i had appropriate color for cutting checked and the other color (wild pink) un-checked. Then cut the box. Without taking the box out of the machine I went back and repeated the procedure but checking the wild pink line and unchecked the red cutting line.

I made the appropriate changes to the Thickness and let the machine ‘cut’. The score line must be on the back side of the paper, so if you have something that has a right side/back side you must place it on the carrier sheet backwards for scoring before you begin!

A Little Exercise

Nobody is just dying to know what the spline tool can do? Alright Robo Master owners, let’s try a little something new! This is only for the adventurous as this little tool needs some taming. That is it seems to need a little taming. Really it is ourselves that need to get familiar with this neatest of all the tools in the tool box.

I must point out here that i am a self taught person here with computer drawing tools; really I don’t know that much but i made an eyelet edge with this tool. And it was sooo loonnggg ago that i ran across the spline tool that i don’t remember what program i found it in. That program is probably no longer available anyway. That was back in late Windows 3.11 or early windows 95 days.  But when i bought the Silhouette, there was the spline tool. I cannot tell you how happy i was! anyway, here goes….

With your ROBO Master open and a new ‘sheet of paper’, no carrier sheet or grid at this moment, we will make a shape. Click on the closed spline tool and click once on your sheet of paper, pull down a bit (about an 1”) and click again,

then go to the right just a tiny bit and you will see the spline open up and become a loop. Quick - double-click to anchor that point, you can always change it later.

Now take your edit point tool and grab the lower little square (node or anchor point) and when your cursor changes to 4 directional arrow (cross hair pointer), click and hold down mouse button while you move that node to the left and up to where it is in line with the other lower anchor point, let go the mouse button and you should have a rain drop. Or eyelet. Or egg. Whichever you like to think of your shape as. If you didn’t, just try it again. It takes a little getting used to. You make to big a move or loop back on an un-anchored shape and you can come up with some pretty wild shapes and the feeling that you are not in control here, the shape is. You can straighten the line out by going back or delete and start over.

You can further refine this shape buy right clicking while your cross hair pointer is right over the line and add anchor point. If you want to delete an anchor point you hold your cross hair right over the point you want to delete. To make a spline come to a nice rounded, but sharper, point add and/or move anchor point close to the anchor point you want more pointed.

This tool is remarkable in that it makes beautifully curved shapes where the polyline tool (which is easier for a beginner to use) seem more tamable and easier to use but takes more time to shape curves. I used the spline tool to get my scallop line for the lesson the other day and here are some example shapes for other possible projects using the closed spline tool….

 

Now maybe you can do something better.

I Finally Figured it out!

Sometimes things are not the way you think they should be! This is so very true in the computer world. (Poor Programmers...they try so hard to make things as easy to use as they can and us poor users are so inept, We just do not speak computer-eze or think like a computer or programmer thinks.) Oh, well. Anyway I wanted to do a slide show but I didn't want to do the whole folder of items that is on my blog, but do you think i could find a way  to make a folder? Nooooo....grumble, grumble.

I was trying from the wrong end! I had been trying from Google and my Picasa photos on the Internet instead of doing it from Picasa uploader/admire-my-photos-on-my-computer! So i finally found where to make a new album and drug my photos (the ones that i wanted) to the album and voila! it worked. Then i uploaded to Picasa on the Internet and added my little gadget with my photos like I should have been able to figure out in the first place. IT's right there on the right---->

Scalloped Edge Card

From my card that i did yesterday I took the same cutting file and cut a scalloped edge on a piece of Basic Grey’s Green At Heart Polka-dotted paper and used that + a silhouette edge that I had hanging around just wanting to be used and another piece of Green at Heart paper and added a butterfly!

Then I went through my cutting pattern and picked out a phrase”just because”, cut that out of 65# bristol card and used mono multi glue to glue it to the card. I did let the glue set-up for a couple of minutes before placing it on the card; I find, for me, this works  better because it won’t go sliding around as much. Last, i placed a 1 inch wide strip of paper on the inside of the card for pattern contrast.

simple scalloped edge (listed in right-hand column)

beautiful_butterfly_C00327_201509

diamond_floral_scallop_border_C00220_20387

just_because_C00338_19547

Have You Ever Wondered if…

you could just cut a line on the bottom of a pre-cut card? A scalloped one? I have a scallop for you. Perhaps you don’t realize the importance of being able to just cut an edge for your card without cutting the whole card? That’s so you don’t go cutting into the mat/carrier sheet or make the cut size of the cut card smaller than it already is.

 

I have 3 pieces of scrap for cards each with a different width. So here we go. The first card is 5 x 4 1/4 inches; to cut the edge it has to be open and pressed down on the the carrier sheet lining it up at ‘0’ and along the bottom line as shown here.

make sure your tape is small enough pieces that it will Silhouette will not have to cut through them along that edge and I only placed tape where shown. Similarly lining up your edge in the software right at the edge of the printing margin line. I let the edge fall just a tiny amount under the printing margin line as you can see here (below).

Now to size the scallop to the cards size, right click and click on Position Setting and click the little box that says “Hold Aspect ratio'”, then enter the width setting to correspond with the width of the card you want your edge on and click ok. A little help here is that left-hand position of your scalloped edge (or ‘x’ coordinate) will be 0.272 inches. My ‘y’ coordinate was 0.149 inches and I could have gone a little lower. This is also in the Position Setting dialog box (the top set of numbers)and can be changed there if you need to. If you are having trouble lining up your file in the window you can, while the edge is selected, use the right and left or up and down arrows, but you have my coordinates so you can use those. Now you can cut your edge just as you would normally. I did this for the other 2 pieces which were 3 and 3 7/16 inches wide. For the 3 7/16 inch wide piece i used a decimal equivalent for 7/16 and rounded it upwards to .438 inch.

The final results are here…

There you go…now you can do your own..the cutting file (simple scalloped edge1) is listed in the right hand column under Cutting Files & Tutorials. A link to a Decimal Equivalent Chart is listed under Digital Stuff; they have it in .pdf file format.

Finished Box and…

a couple of cutting files in .gsd format and jpg. I am sorry I don’t have other formats but it is way above my financial means at this time to get the software and or machines. So if you have make the cut or similar to take a jpg file and trace it then you are welcome to do that; i placed it down below the box information on this post. In any event the .jpg can be cut by hand. You will have to re-size to fit your card or layout.

I have finished my little box and it is now ready to be filled and given to someone.
 
 

I made a little daisy (opening up) bud by taking a smaller daisy and folding it into quarters and the calyx was made from a snowflake punch and glued to the bottom of the partially opened daisy. A little star shaped flower would have been more suitable but this was handy. Everything was cut on the Silhouette except the calyx.

Files used are:

• box_bottom_0928
• box_top_0929
• 3_flower-sprig_with_butterfly_C00480_19210
• 12-petal_flowers_C00667_20509
• fern_frond_C00374_23067
• Grannie's Wallpaper from Pink Petticoat (listed under Digital Stuff)

box_
I did the bottom label first and then the top label using the closed spline tool. If anyone is interested I will give a small (all i know) tutorial on that marvelous tool. The cutting file is listed at the right under Cutting Files & Tutorials.

Eggplant, Artichoke and Suede

Those are the beautiful colors in the Color Throwdown Challenge this week and I love those colors.

Those are also the color of Stampin’ Up! papers of which I don’t have but I do have something (as close as i can get it) in dusty purple and a brown inked (it looks almost like suede, just a little darker) paper background and a green that comes near the artichoke green on the leaves of the stamped design. So I thought I could enter this in the challenge.

This has been sitting around for a couple of months waiting for something to pull it together and i love it with the purple.

The design was stamped on paper from the Paper Temptress (Cryogen White – Text weight) then painted with Yasutomo’s Pearlescent paints which took to the paper really well. The stamp from Impression Obsession (Victorian Rose by Leigh Hannon)is one of my favorites. 

                              

The Making of a Box

The subject today is making a box ala Silhouette SD and digital paper! I would like to point you to the right hand column that has several places where you can get lovely printable papers; I am using Pink Petticoat’s ‘Grannies Wallpaper’ and ‘A Bit washed Out’ for my box in ‘Lovely’. The program I am using for printing out my digital paper is Serif DrawPlus Se Pro which is upgraded (for $9.99) from Serif DrawPlus SE which is a free program.

This paper set (Grannie’s Wallpaper) is a little on the overly large size for my little box so I need to resize it. The basic instructions are here and the size to make the paper is 4.964w. x 7.0016h. Special handling for this paper is copy, paste the re-sized paper and pull it to the right to line up with the edge of the first paper, then flip horizontally and align top edges and click on the group button to keep them together. Keeping both papers selected, copy and paste and pull down to line up the edges. Now, if you are suing the same paper, you will notice that the bottom edges are not lining up and you will have to do some pattern matching. So move slowly up to where the pattern matches and let go. Drag a line around both papers and now the left edges and enlarge the screen so you can see if you match is correct or needs a little adjusting. Now you are ready to print that out; remember to have the proper setting for printing borderless on your printer driver. I am using ‘Grannie’ for the lid, and the washed out paper for the bottom. The only change i made to the ‘Washed Out’ paper file was to make sure that it was 8 1/2 inches wide since the European paper sizes are different from ours.

The first thing i do after bringing the file i want use into the Robo Master is to delete the dotted/dashed lines that serve as the score marks. You can change these to sketching only lines if you want to, but they will show unless you line the box. I do not have the pens or the holder for a pen yet.  For you guys I will go the the steps of changing the lines to sketch them onto the paper and make a lining.

The first step is to un-group the file (the box bottom) by clicking on the 2nd double box on the tool bar along the top. The tool tip will tell you when you hover over the icon which action will be performed so you can make sure you have the correct one.

then you need to click on the background to de-select the box bottom. Next click on the Edit Point tool along the left side of the software and holding down the shift key select all the dashed lines and right click for the menu. Here you will need line settings.

All I did here was change the color. This particular file had a double set of  score lines and after i had changed the color I grouped them and moved them out of the way for the moment and deleted the extra lines. If you don’t you will have Robo Master cutting those lines. You need to repeat this with the lid.

Because this is a 2 piece box, it is always best to check the size of the base of the lid to the base of the box (which is marked by the score lines) to make sure that after you cut and glued the lid it will slip down nice and easy on the box bottom. To do this you need both files open in separate windows and move the one file so that you can easily click on the border of the other window to pull it forward and still get to the other file when you need it. Use the Window menu and click on cascade and re-size the windows to fit.

Next you want to copy the box lid and go back to the box bottom and paste the lid over the box bottom matching up the score lines (the dashed lines).

You can see that there is a little bit of difference but it will not be enough for the box lid to slide down onto the box bottom like we want it to, so you will need to grab the upper right hand corner and drag it just a little bit and the lower left corner and drag it about the same till you get a margin around the score line of the box bottom; such as this is…

The exact measurement for this lid is w:6.104x h:5.401 inches. The box bottoms is w: 7.574 x h: 6.900 inches.

I have found that if you want a liner it is 1/16th inch smaller measuring the base of the box and if you are using 80# cardstock. you can do that with this program by doing the same procedure just making the second box bottom smaller. If you try putting in a 1/16th inch more in the position dialog box you will still come up short. You would need the measurements of the base and add 1/16th inch to the height and width of that. To find out the exact measurement of the box base from this file (assuming you have not cut it out yet) would be to use the rectangle tool and draw out a rectangle the exact size of the base (using the score lines) and use the position dialog box to find the measurements. Add 1/16th to the measurements you have and re-size the bottom to those rectangle. Delete the rectangle.

Please don’t ask me how to do a octagonal box this far above my learning. I would just print it out onto copy paper and go from there.

My finished box, ready for decorating is here…

I hope that this was helpful. Will post a .pdf file of this for you also.

Working on Christmas…

Cardvaarks is having a challenge to make Christmas tags and/or minis. Those on the design team that are participating this month came up with just lovely ideas and I liked the tag set with the old fashioned rocking horse the most. The sponsor this month is JustRite with a prize of your choice of 5 Christmas stamp sets. Oh wouldn't that be lovely!

My tag idea is this:

I’d been planning on using this stamp this year anyway and now seemed such a good time to put it into reality. Besides if i make them now I will be that much ahead of the need. A closer shot shows up the glitter edge a little better.

I cut the postage stamp square and the secondary background  on the silhouette. I used distress inks entirely and Gelly Roll Clear Star glitter pen. A little tip when using the glitter pen:

I used crosshatching strokes on background because the strokes of the pen show up when covering a large area as opposed to just making marks of show or star and shading something to give a bit of glitz. I went over this border area (only wide enough to to catch the dips in the secondary layer) and did 3 layers of glitter.

I made the tie string of DMC Metallic Gold Embroidery Thread. I made six tags with one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. Size of the tags are2 1/4 inches square. Stamp is by Inkadinkado – no name on it. Now where do I put these So i don’t lose them by the time i really need them?!

Sorry my photos don’t show the glitter up better is is so lovely.

Flower in video

Thought, since i don't have the right stuff to do a video tutorial of my rose, I would post this little video that shows the procedure for making the rose and other flowers. This is not the only way, but is one way to make lovely flowers.



And Fred She Says has the Rose/Poppy digital file on sale this week if anyone is interested. Of course you can always have mine...it's listed int he right hand coloumn and it is free.

The Card from the Tutorial

Cassie’s Brocade makes such a beautiful background and the with the distress inks (Dusty Concord and Antique Linen), I really liked the look. After removing my shapes from the mat i used Old Paper first, the Antique Linen on  both pieces to my liking. the scalloped circle for the mat was painted with Yasutomo’s Pearlescent paints along the edge.

The butterfly is done with the same paints on both layers. It doesn’t show up like I would like it to; the card is really very pretty. The fern that you see was cut on the silhouette but when I went back to check on the website it was no longer there. The rose leaves and the fern were both colored with distress ink Peeled Paint and a cotton ball before taking off the mat (carrier sheet). The rose was colored with Victorian Velvet.

The cutting files used:

• 3_flower_sprig_with_butterfly_C00480_19210
• my rose file listed at right under cutting files
• circle_scallop_MED_1181 altered

Changing a Shape in Silhouette

I wanted to make a copy of this lovely card on Fred She Said’s site. It is a beautiful card and I wanted to make it about the same. There are some minor change in my version. So I picked my shape and brought into the Robo Master software and you see it here the exact size it domes in from the library.

This is nice – you can use as is for any scrapbook page or make it smaller to fit a card. What i didn’t like was the overly rounded edge. I wanted my scallops not quite so deep. The image is selected and I will click on the last icon inthe tool   bar at top whic brings up this screen or input box…

The blue hi-lighted value is changed to 0.060 and the miter is 2.0 – i have not touched that. Click ok and this is what you get.

I liked this just the way it was so i went ahead with the next step. I had to change the .png scripture file to a .jpg which i did in Photoshop Elements (I have version 6 but any version will do this job) then imported the .jpg file into Robo Master and sized for cutting. Robo Master does not have an alignment function you have to use the grid. Lining up a file to the cutting lines is not the best (if your are good enough you can line up the arrows, somedays i need the lines to help) so you can turn on the grid (view/view grid) and turn off the mesh (which are lines of your mat and is in the same menu); the last item. Now you can line up your arrows so that they co-inside with the grid lines …

Then do the same with the cutting lines (the blue lines here).

Since I am cutting on Cardstock this time (Neenah) I want to make a duplicate of the scalloped circle which is easy here, just copy and paste – the new lines will line up exactly on top of the other. Then somewhere on the mat close to the image but far enough away you have not selected anything, click and drag till you have all items selected (this time it is the set of 2 cutting lines and the graphic) and group them together. Next move the group where you want the cut to be made on your paper.

I have already checked to see if the cutting lines were fitting well inside the other large scalloped shape (that will be the mat layer behind the scripture/sentiment. I wouldn’t always be cutting the mat from the same piece of cardstock but this time I am. So i loaded my cardstock into the printer and clicked on the printer icon which brought up the printer dialog box and clicked on okay (you will notice that the printing will be at the bottom of the page). Then I placed the paper on the mat so that is lined up between the ‘L’ brackets and the line along the bottom of the carrier mat, placed it in the machine and let it cut. My setting for cutting this was Tag 100 lbs and thickness 33 with the red blade adjustment cap. I cut Neenah, Bazzill, Prism and AC cardstock at this setting. If I am cutting Dick Blick’s Sulphite Drawing paper (the package says premium weight; that means 80lb.

The final result for the printing and cutting is this…

ready to take off the mat and for the next step.

P.S. I save my files! I name them so that I can relate to what is in the file (scalloped circle_mine; that means i altered the original file)  This is important because when you go back to cutting that file you may be needing the exact size that was in the file and not something that you have to guess at. this is especially true with flowers. I like the flowers in different sizes so have them in  small, med and large sizes. And I try to fill up a whole sheet (8 /12 x 11) for cutting them out. For Flourishes and special borders I don’t, but i do save the file so that when i go back i will have a record of what size i last cut them at. Then if I need a different size I copy and paste it into a different file just like flowers and basic shapes. Robo Master have a viewer for looking at you .gsd file. That viewer will not read any other file but you .gsd files. You  can look into any file folder on you computer system.

Cutting a Stamped Image in .pdf file

I linked up a copy in Acrobat Reader form for you if you want it, of the turtorial on cutting an already stamped image in the Silhouette.It has been corrected also.

Forgot to mention

Please don’t shoot me. I forgot to mention how to tell if your mat is centered in the Silhouette when you feed it in. There is a really nice easy way. Those little ridges long the front platform are an uneven number and the center one (#7) is center. The arrow on your mat is center. So when you feed your mat into the machine just line it up with the center ridge on the platform. I have mine marked with black marker.

On the backside of my machine i have a book i keep there for the mat to rest on as the machine goes about it’s duties. I found that the cutting was more stable if there was something to keep the mat more level. On the front side i have my keyboard that is about the right height for the mat.

Blessed is the Man..,

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

and whose hope is in Him.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,

that spreads out its roots by the stream, 

and it shall not be afraid when heat comes, 

but its leaves shall be green; 

and shall not be afraid in the year of drought 

neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17: 7&8 (Lamsa translation)