Valentine's Day Apron by Craft Warehouse Guest Designer Jessi Buehrle

Hey everyone Jessi here from My Life in Arts n’ Crafts, which is where you can usually find me. I have the honor of guesting here on the Craft Warehouse Blog. I am beyond excited to share with you a few simple projects that you can make with just a few items.

You will need:

·      Several tea towels in your choice of colors I used the red and the white
·      Red (Maroon) Apron
·      Your Silhouette Cameo (most of our stores have upgraded to the new touch screen one which has amazing new features)
·      The Heat Transfer Starter Kit
Weeding tool (comes in the kit)
·      (Optional) Silhouette Spatula
·      Possibly some scissors
·      Iron
·      An Ironing board or a towel to protect your work surface

Let’s get started!

To get started open the software on your computer. You will need to find a design you like for your towel.

For my white towel I used the teal HTV (heat transfer vinyl). I wanted my design to be small enough to fit in to the portion of the towel, that when folded, would be visible.

I used “ Love is four-legged word - phrase by Kolette Hall”
Design ID #70554

You can ungroup the image to keep only the Love portion. Of course if you have another love or word you want in your jar then feel free to do that as well. I love having images I can get more use out of.

For the jar I used “3 mason jars by Lori Whitlock”
Design ID #27990

I chose this one because I liked the outline part of the jar. This is what I used for my design

I then layered the love over the jar and welded it together.
I used the hearts from the jar set and sized them smaller and tipped some of them. Remember odd numbers look better to the eye so I used 3.

For the apron I used typewriter by Hero Arts
Design ID #43203

I typed out LOVE in the font “Courier”

Being able to use any font from your own computer is amazing with the Silhouette software.
I sized the typewriter approximately 9 by 9.  I used a heart for the O in love and placed in inside what would be the paper from the typewriter.

***Reminder*** always flip (mirror) your image prior to cutting. With heat transfer you cut the material upside down.

Always do a test cut on the material with the machine to avoid ruining your HTV I found with my machine I needed to adjust the blade to a 3 for regular HTV and to a 4 for the flocked.


Iron your item that you will be applying the HTV to prior to actually applying the design. Follow the direction inside the booklet that comes with the kit for how to iron on the design.

And as simple as that you have a cute valentine apron and towel that is great for anyone!

 

Jumping in the Leaves Layout featuring Authentique Paper's Grateful Collection

Hi, I'm Julie and I'm here on the blog today to share a layout I created with the Grateful collection from Authentique Paper. When I first saw this collection, I loved it for its color palette and its variety of patterns. From traditional brocade to whimsical acorns, I know you'll love it for your fall projects as much as I do. As I considered my layout, I wanted to use as many of the patterns as possible.

When I think about fall, I think about color and all those leaves. My family's favorite fall tradition is jumping in the leaves. So, each year on a relatively dry day, my husband rakes all the leaves into a huge pile and the kids run across the yard and jump into them. I am the photographer for this annual tradition. Some of our most memorable fall photos come from our "jumping in the leaves" days. After a few jumps, the leaves spread out and my husband rakes them all up and the jumping begins again. Sometimes there's a leaf fight, sometimes Dad tosses a rake-ful on the kids, and sometimes the kids drag Dad into the fun, like they did here.

In order to showcase as many of the beautiful patterns as possible, I designed my layout in the Silhouette Studio software using leaves downloaded from their online store. I flipped, arranged and resized the leaves until they looked like they were being blown across the page. After cutting the leaves into the subtly patterned Gracious paper, I applied the offset feature in the program. These outlines create slightly larger leaves around each original leaf. Next, I moved the outlines to a blank page and cut them, one at a time onto different sheets of patterned paper. I mounted each offset piece with foam mounting squares, to the back side of my layout, matching each piece to its coordinating leaf. You can copy this look without a electronic die cut machine. Just search free clip art leaves on the internet. Print your favorite leaves, trace them onto the back side of your background paper and cut them out with a craft knife.

After cutting the background, I added a strip of the Plentiful paper across the layout and placed my photo on top, between the leaves. I printed the photo in sepia tone, to coordinate with the muted, autumn tones of my layout. (The kids are wearing bright red in the original photo.) Using sepia tone is one of my favorite scrapbooking tricks. Black and white works too!  If the colors of your photo don't match your supplies, try printing your photo in sepia tone or black and white. This will create a cohesive look between all the elements of your project.

For the title of my page, I created my own chipboard word and used some sticker letters from the collection (from the Details and Petite Type sticker sheets). I like mixing fonts and alphabet stickers in my titles. I have a step by step photo tutorial over on my blog, JulieChats, to show you how I used my Silhouette to create the script, chipboard word "leaves" that I used in this title.

At this point, my layout needed just a couple more details. I like to add embellishments to my photos. For this layout, I cut a quick banner and added a paper die cut from the Components sheet to it.

And, since the upper right was looking a little bare, I used one of the cardstock stickers from the Details sheet, backed with a little thin garden twine, from the home decor section at Craft Warehouse, and a placed a punched leaf to the side.

Thanks for following along with me as I created this layout with such a beautiful paper collection. I enjoy creating one photo layouts like this, when I find papers that I just fall in love with.  But, if you take tons of photos, like I do, you may want to know what I do with my other photos.  Well, I will be putting this layout into my pocket page album, so a pocket page protector will be on the right side, complete with a few more photos and a journal card to tell the story of this year's leaf jumping extravaganza.  For more paper craft projects, check out the Learning Center on the Craft Warehouse website. Stop by my blog this month for the chipboard letter tutorial and also to see the 30 Days of Thankful album I made with the scraps from this project.

Silhouette Cameo Dish Towels

Use your Silhouette Cameo to cut out your holiday designs from our NEW Fall and Christmas fabrics to make custom dish towels that are perfect for gifts!

Did you know the Cameo cuts fabric? The Silhouette Cameo is an electronic cutting machine for personal use. Like a home printer, it plugs into your PC or Mac with a simple USB cable. However, instead of printing it uses a small blade to cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric, and more up to 12" wide and 10 feet long!

 Create your own personalized appliques for your next sewing project! All you need is a fabric blade.

Watch this video tutorial by Silhouette to show how we created the dish towels above!


* Silhouette Cameo Bundle Special $259 (reg $328.99) includes Cameo machine, $10 download card in box, scraper tool, hook tool, spatula tool, and an additional $25 download card good until September 21, 2014!

Awesome Stars and Stripes Nail Tutorial

Get ready to celebrate 4th of July by doing a little nail art! I love nail art! I have realized that it is like painting, just on a small surface. Ha! I can't wait to share this fun tutorial with you using scrapbooking supplies!

To create this look you will need your nail polish, piercer, stylus, and washi tape. A great tip is to try to use light stick washi tape. Also, in the video I am using the Doodle Bug Designs thin washi tape which I like better. It is easier to cut the pieces you need because of the stripes or chevron patterns.

I also used the Silhouette Cameo in this tutorial, but you can look for stickers in your stash or even cut shapes from washi tape if you don't have a Cameo!

Watch the video below and have fun!

Silhouette Cameo Dish Towels

We have NEW Fall and Christmas colored towels to mix and match! Use your Silhouette Cameo to cut out your holiday designs.

Did you know the Cameo cuts fabric?

 Create your own personalized appliques for your next sewing project! All you need is a fabric blade.

Watch this video tutorial by Silhouette to show how we created the dish towels above!


* Solid Color Towels 5 for $10 (reg $3 each) and Cameo Bundle Deal $269.99 (Purchase the Cameo Digital Cutting Tool and receive a free gift set valued at $47.97. Includes: $25 download card, a hokk tool, scraper Tool, and Spatula Tool) on sale until October 27, 2013

Silhouette Cameo

Use the included design software to cut any font on your computer, download shapes from the Silhouette Online Store, or draw your own designs to be cut out!

Cameo works great for vinyl cutting, fabric appliques and all kinds of paper

VINYL

Cameo cuts vinyl like a dream!. Create your own vinyl decor. Cameo cuts virtually any font you already have on your computer! Design your own custom vinyl designs or words!

 FABRIC

Create your own customized apparel! Cameo also cuts fabric. Make personalized appliques for your next sewing or iron on projects.

PAPER

Cameo cuts all kinds of paper. Design your own cards, scrapbook pages, and amazing 3-dimensional crafts!

Watch this video to learn more!