Layered leaf Notch-swing card

Ya'll are going to get tired of my notch swing cards...I'm just having too much fun playing with my Silhouette machine! I've pre-cut some front panels from my favorite DPs, and this lovely yellow pattern from Graphic 45 worked well for this week's colourQ challenge.

I also used my Silhouette to cut the leaf overlay embellishment (you can read more about my process in this post.

For the the sentiment, I created it in SCAL using the Georgia font and the "Union" tool. I cut it from a yellow paper and used chalks to add some dimension. I sprayed it with a matte coating to set the chalk, and used orchid Liquid Pearls for the border.

If you'd like to try it yourself, this Notch-Swing card design is now available for purchase as SVG files in my Etsy Shop.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Chalk N Stock: Anything goes just use chalk (on sentiment)
colourQ challenge: Color combo #215
Connie Can Crop: Leaf it up to me...
Creative Card Crew #49: Pearls
HIMCR #124: Die Cuts


Thank you for visiting,

Leaf Overlay card

Although I love my SCAL software, I really enjoy the "Internal Offset" and "Subtract All" tools in the Silhouette Studio software. My husband suggested this layered design, and although I've only gotten it to work well with their free Moroccan Background, I'm having fun making different shapes with the same design. For this overlay card, I used Silhouette's free Maple Leaf shape.

I bought a paper pack of Autumn colors at JoAnn's, which gave me a nice mix of colors for this one. I added some gemstones and a wooden embellishment that I painted with a gold leaf pen.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craftitude #53: Anything Goes/Falling Leaves
Crafty Catz: Anything But a Square
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge: Shaped Card

Thank you for visiting,

Hexagon Overlay Cards

You may remember my Hexagon box with matching card/envelope set; well, I had so much fun using my cutting machine to cut those overlays that I decided to make some larger, individual cards with the same files. I'm calling them "overlay cards" until I can think of something better.

My husband suggested this layered design, and I used the "Offset" tool in Silhouette Studio to create the layers.

I made the sentiment layer using the font Eccentric Standard:

I bought a paper pack of Autumn colors at JoAnn's, which gave me a nice mix of colors for this one. I added some gemstones and a wooden embellishment that I painted with a gold leaf pen.

My mom has been making white-on-white cards, so I used several white papers, gemstones and pearls for this, which will probably become a Wedding card:

These cut amazingly well on my Silhouette, although there's a bit of cleanup. Man there were paper pieces everywhere! I used ZipDry as my main adhesive, but for the fine cuts I used a ZIG glue pen. To do that, I use a coated paper (usually a piece of junk mail) as a mat.

These are pretty addictive, so you'll be seeing more of them! Thank you for visiting,

Hexagon box with matching card/envelope set

One of my favorite parts of volunteering at Paper Playful is that it gives me a chance to visit lots of great blogs. While updating the Wednesday winners list last week, I ran across the "Gift Box with Matching Cards" challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies, and was really moved by Susan's heart-felt appeal for entries. I've been trying to think of something special to make my best friend for his birthday, and I felt really inspired to pull out my *new* Silhouette Cameo and make this Hexagon box with matching card/envelope set:

I had so much fun making the cards that I ended up making 12 with matching petal-fold envelopes!

Since this is for a man, I wanted to keep the design clean and simple. I used 3 colors of Kraft paper (Recollections, Jo-Ann, Kraft Outlet), plus a printed Kraft (Recollections). I also used Recollections' shiny brown & gold papers, and some white, blue, and orange cardstock from my stash. He's very social, both personally and for work, so I think these will come in handy.

The cards in the bottom row are topped with handmade papers I have in my collection; wish I could say I made them myself, but I did trace and hand-cut the hexagons. I also used these papers to cover the inside of the box.

Oooh, I love my Silhouette! It was a birthday gift from my Mom, and I've been having fun learning their software as well. It was pretty easy to use Samantha Walker's Hexagon Card Silhouette file base design to create hexagon-shaped overlays, mats, and frames. The overlay cut files are from the Silhouette store, Scrap Your Story, and Bird's Cards. The envelopes were cut using Lori Whitlock's Hexagon Petal Fold Card Silhouette file.

I've gone a bit crazy with buying Silhouette files, so instead of buying a hexagon box cutting file, I used the same base shape to create the box in Silhouette Studio. The lid is the same as the bottom, except just a touch bigger. I folded the sides in half and trimmed the tabs to create fold-over edges.

I included a "pull" ribbon to make it easier to get the cards out of the box. This is one of my favorite twill ribbons, from the Kraft Outlet.

I also made a matching birthday card for my friend to include along with the set. I designed the Happy Birthday sentiment in Silhouette Studio again, using the font Eccentric Standard.

Thank you Susan for reminding me how much fun this kind of project is!
Update: This project was chosen as one of the prize winners for Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #12!

Update: My friend really enjoyed his gift, and sent me this fun photo of the cards lined up on the top of his refrigerator:

Thank you for visiting,