I DO Think I Can Chevron!

I had such a fun time in my craft room this weekend! I’ve had a million and one projects on my to do list for months now but packing, moving, and unpacking (almost complete) hindered my productivity. My craft room has been one of the last rooms to be touched, until this weekend! It all really began last weekend when I found some old burlap mail bags at one of my local treasured spots. I decided I must make pillows out of them, along with other things. When it came time to decide what to blog about here at TLP I decided I would do one on just that…. CRUD… that meant I needed a place to get crafty. I’m so glad I made that commitment because now not only do I have an almost wonderful place to work but I also have my new chevron pillow.

Let’s go ahead and get to the How To, shall we? First of all, I wanted to use Rachel Young’s So You Think You Can Chevron papers as a stencil cut by my Silhouette. Here are the instructions I use for how to import shapes from my digi stash into my Silhouette…

From Kristen Hamlin, eHow Contributor
How Do I Import & Cut Other Images With My Silhouette?

The Silhouette personal die-cutting machine has revolutionized die cutting for crafters. Unlike other machines that require you to purchase cartridges or dies with pre-loaded images, the Silhouette allows you to cut images and fonts that you design yourself, download from the Internet or purchase from the Silhouette store. While the process for cutting Silhouette-licensed images is easy, cutting images you download from other sources requires only a few extra steps; this allows crafters to create truly custom embellishments for their craft projects.

1. Download the image that you want to cut and save it in a folder on your computer. Give it an easy-to-remember and descriptive name. The Silhouette studio can cut JPEG and BMP, as well as True Type fonts.

2. Click on the “File” dropdown menu, then click on “Import.” Choose the files you want to import from your computer and follow the prompts to import them to your Silhouette library.

3. Open the Silhouette software on your computer. Click on the “Help” menu, then click on “About Silhouette Studio” to ensure that you are running the most recent version of Silhouette Studio. You need to run version V1.5.0 or higher to cut imported images that are not from the Silhouette store.

4. Create a new document in the Silhouette Studio. Click on “Open” and choose the file that you want to cut. You may need to click the “All Files” selection on the Open menu to see all of the file options.

5. Adjust the image to the size and shape that you want for your project using the prompts on the work screen. When you’re happy with the adjustments, click save to prevent losing your work.

6. Click on the “Select Trace Area” tool in the Trace dropdown menu. This tool will allow you to pinpoint the area you want to cut in the image. Draw a box around the part of the image that you wish to cut.

7. Adjust the trace settings using the Trace menu. For example, selecting High Pass Filter creates a border outline around your image.

8. Click on the “Apply Trace Method” dropdown box and then click “Trace” to create the cutting lines for your project.

9. Load the cutting mat and paper (or other material) into the Silhouette machine. Use the keypad on top of the machine to choose “Load W/ Carrier.” Push the mat against the rollers, press “Enter” and allow the machine to position to cutting mat.

10. Click on the “Send to Silhouette” icon on the top left hand of your computer screen. Follow the prompts that appear on the screen to set the material and cutting specifications. When you’re done, click on “Cut Page” to cut the image.

Alright… now that I had my stencil and a pillow cover I was ready. The pictures are pretty self explanatory but I thought maybe you’d like to see how the project turned out. By the way, I tweaked the chevron pattern from the original digi paper until it fit as I needed it to.

Make sure you put a piece of cardboard directly under the layer you are painting or it will bleed through to the other side.