Vacation Time

As my week and half vacation winds down from work.  

I thought I would post a few pictures of what we did along the way. 

We spent a few days in Broken Bow, OK.

We rented a nice secluded cabin that required a four wheeled drive vehicle to reach.  My CX7 is not a 4x4...It made it and we parked it for the rest of the trip! *Whew* I probably should have taken a video and sent it into Mazda for an advertisement!

The men bought these five piece "Alabama Rigs" for the fishing.  If you are paying good attention you will notice there is only four jigs hanging from the rig.  The fifth is attached itself elsewhere (see above)!

Broken Bow Lake

Inside the Cabin

Outside the Cabin

Things look to be going well here.

Beavers Bend Park

Not going so well here :)

We did a good bit of hiking. It took longer than we
intended since we missed the sign that was down on the ground. :(

Wedding Card - Silhouette Print & Cut Tutorial

We had a wedding reception to attend for one of Will's close friends.  I made this card to go with their gift.   My blade for the Silhouette was fairly dull at this point (I might have tried to cut something I shouldn't have for a previous project.) so it took a few tries to cut the "Mr & Mrs" out without snagging too bad.  However, the new blades have since come in from amazon and all is well now!

Here is a screen shot of my design in the Silhouette studio.  I actually made this card a couple months ago and it was one of the first times I tried making a design in the Silhouette Studio.  It took a little while to make but it was a great way to figure out several design functions of the studio!

Print & Cut Tutorial

Here is a tutorial on how to use the print and cut function with the Silhouette Cameo.  

I'll use the inside of this card as an example.  

I used the outline of the card as a guide on what size I wanted the inside boxes to be.  

I picked the font and text size that I preferred.

Using the "Fill Color" function, I added a black color fill for the print out of my text.

Highlight your text field and under the "Cut Style" section, choose "No Cut."  

This will prevent your text from being cut out when you run your paper through the Silhouette.

After you choose your paper size, open the "Registration Marks" section.  

Click the "Show Reg Marks" box and the registration marks will appear.  

Place your design so that it is not on top of the semi-blacked out/grid area.  

If you place your design over this area, the Cameo may not be able to find the 

registration marks.

After all that is said and done, print the design on the card stock.

Here's what it looks like after it has run through the printer.  

When using the registration marks, the cut settings do not show up when you click
 on the "Send to Silhouette" button.  Be sure and check that prior to cutting.

Next place the paper on the Cutting Mat

Choose to detect registration marks manually.

Position the blade over the black square mark on the silhouette (see below)
by using the arrows on the computer or the arrow buttons on the Cameo.

Now "Cut" away!

Smooth and perfect lines!  

I know I could use a manual cutter for these simple straight lines...But that wouldn't be as much fun!

You can see the "tools" on my Father's Day Card for another example of print and cut.  

I outlined those in black prior to cutting.

Happy Birthday Card

Today is one of my close friend's birthday.
This is the card that I put together for her with my Silhouette Cameo.

We seem to always go on vacation together during her birthday.  

This year I got my stuff together before we left and brought the things needed to make her a cake.  

Target had these cute candles, so I just had to try them!  

They melted pretty quick so I had to take a dive for the camera before she blew them out.

It Is Well With My Soul Art - Silhouette Cameo with Contact Paper Tutorial

So I have seen several people make various versions of Canvas/Wood Art using the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul."  I have always loved that hymn and I thought it would be a great piece for my mantel!

I started with an art canvas and printed the hymn and cut it to size.
I initially printed out copies of the hymn on photo paper.
Once I placed the Mod Podge on the photo paper,
it turned into one BIG crinkled mushy mess!
FAIL!!



  I switched to cardstock which laid down nicely.
The ink did smudge a little but it gave it more of an antiqued look.




For the stencil, I decided to use some left over contact paper that we had lying around.
I loaded the contact paper straight into the Silhouette Cameo without a cutting mat.
Be sure and change your load settings on the machine to "Load Media."



Here's the cut settings I used.  It worked great!!
It only cut the contact paper and not the paper backing.

I laid down the letters on top of the mod podged paper
 and painted the whole canvas red.  After four or five coats of red,
I peeled off the contact paper to reveal the sheet music underneath.





I used birds on a branch from the Silhouette store to make a stencil.



After applying the ivory paint, I was left the acrylic "chalky" finish.
I didn't want the red to rub off on my white mantel, so I applied a clear acrylic sealer.




Here it is, all said and done!!!
Just ignore the reflection of the ceiling fan from the mirror.
I couldn't seem to get it out of the picture! :)

I'm so happy with how it turned out that I had to take one more picture!

      

Vacation and Instagram Fun

We have been traveling a good bit the last couple of weeks.  After spending several days in Boston for a work conference, Will and I spent a couple days at my parents.

We couldn't let the Boston trip be all work and no play...
We made time to take a stop by Fenway Park,
which is having its 100 year anniversary this year.

During our tour of Fenway, my husband informed me this is one of the most desired seats (Green Monster) in baseball.  Since it was so important, I figured it was worth a picture.



The last Green Monster picture..I promise!
I think I just enjoy typing Green Monster.

After getting back from Boston, we took a quick trip to my parents house.
Since it was 112 degrees yesterday, I got a little stir crazy and took several
Instagram pictures of some old equipment.  

Case Tractor (Runs of Butane)

'57 Ford Tractor


Picture speaks for itself



Old Brownie!
Growing up on a farm, someone always needed picking up or dropping off in a pasture/field.
I shared my first driving experience with this truck when I was 13.
I remember very well having to hang off the steering wheel in
order to push the clutch in the whole way.

Father's Day Card - No Ties Here

It seems like the majority of the Father's Day Cards floating around blogs and pinterest
are a shirt and tie.  Since my father is not a tie kind of guy,  I was trying to come up
with something that didn't utilize a tie theme, but still has some sort of masculine look.  

I came across this Tool Font on Pinterest.  The font was certainly a cheaper
option over buying each individual tool design from the silhouette store.   

After I picked out the tools that I liked, I increased the line thickness to 2.25pt
and printed the lines/tool image prior to cutting.
"Happy Father's Day" was made using "Stencil" Font.

Here's the finished product!