Hello everyone!  Carrie here and I’m going to demonstrate how to use the versatile tool kit for your projects. I chose to make a 3-D picture frame featuring my two adorable boys.

Fun Fact: I just had my second son on March 19 so I’m a sleep-deprived “mombie” at the moment.  The hospital has a photographer come around to take pictures in your hospital room and our photographer captured an amazing shot of one of the first times the boys met.  I knew I wanted to feature this picture in my home—especially because I recently had a spot open up on my built-in shelving unit due to an incident with a decorative clock and my two-year-old.  Let’s just say one of them didn’t survive the encounter . . .

Well enough about me and on to the crafting tutorial!

I found this 3-D frame and quote in the Silhouette Design Store and wanted to combine them all together into one project.

 

You Will Need:

  • Decorative cardstock, 2 sheets
  • White cardstock, 2 sheets (I used 110 lbs. weight)
  • Silhouette printable cotton canvas
  • Silhouette tool kit
  • Silhouette CAMEO®
  • Silhouette Studio®
  • Glue stick
  • Silver heat transfer vinyl
  • Heat press or iron
  • Silhouette cutting mat
  • Printer
  • Hot glue gun

 

Step One: Edit Files in Silhouette Studio®

First things first is opening up all the files into your work space. To do this:

 

(1) Double-click on the 3D frame and quote. (They will automatically both open in the same work space.)

(2) Go to “File > Merge” and find your image you want to use.

 

You can resize the quote and the photo but the frame parts should just be moved off to the side for now since that is size-specific.

overall 648 ss

 

I wanted my frame to be larger than the 4 in. x 6 in. so I needed to scale it. Here’s how you scale a shape: 

(1) Select the group of shapes.

(2) Go to the scale menu and change it to 125%.

(3) Click apply.

NOTE:  Make sure if you do resize the shape instead, it will fit on your paper.

resize frame ss

 

Next you will want to ungroup it so you can work with the individual frame parts as needed.  I wanted to use some fun wood grain cardstock I had so I didn’t need the wood grain texture cut into the cardstock.  You’ll need to ungroup that part again to release the texture from the frame shape.

Here’s a quick shortcut to ungroup:

(1) Right click (or CMND + Click on a Mac®) to bring up the command menu.

(2) Select “Ungroup.”

ungroup ss

 

I found the easiest way to delete the wood grain texture was to click on the frame portion and slide it up out of the way so I could select all the texture at once and hit delete.

move frame ss

 

Now our designs are edited and ready to place.

 

Step Two: Adjust Page Settings

Since I’m using a decorative cardstock, I needed to separate the frame parts and fit them on the paper so I could get those cutting while I worked on the photo design. Only the outermost parts of the frame needed to be the decorative paper and the innermost parts I wanted in white.

My decorative paper was 12 in. x 12 in. and my white was 8.5 in. x 11 in., so I had to make sure I set up the page settings correctly while laying them out to be cut.

outer frame shell ss

 

Notice that I have the one section slid down a little bit in the top left hand corner. There is a reason why—TEST CUT!

Since I had never cut this paper before with my CAMEO I wanted to make sure I had the settings correct before sending the full design to be cut.  Please save yourself wasted paper and time and test all new materials first.

paper cut image 648

 

Now sit back and listen to the soothing sounds of the machine working….

Let’s get the white portions ready to be cut.

 

Step Four: Arrange Cut Files on Page

My paper is 8.5 in. x 11 in. so I remembered to go in and:

(1) Change the paper size.

(2) Move the shorter parts around so they fit on the page.

inner space cut ss

 

Repeat this with the frame image too.

frame cut ss

 

Because this paper was so thick I chose the chipboard cut settings and (of course) did a test cut to make sure it worked.  (I wanted the frame to be nice and sturdy so that’s why I went with such a heavy weighted paper.)

 

Step Five: Separate Media from Mat

Now here’s where the tools start coming into the equation. You have your first piece of cardstock cut and you need to remove it from the mat to cut the other pieces out. To do this, I used the spatula tool.

To use the Spatula Tool: 

(1) Slide edge of spatula around and under all of the edges of the cuts.

(2) Delicately separate the paper from the mat.

This helps prevent the unfortunate tearing that might occur if you simply just grab and pull, especially if you have a nice new and sticky mat.

spatula 648

 

Repeat this process for all of the cardstock cuts and set all of the pieces aside.

 

Step Six: Place and Print Image

Now for the fun part of designing the image for the back of the frame!  My photo is square shape and I wanted that fun quote to fit underneath.

To add the image and the quote to the frame:

(1) Move the frame cut file onto the page with your image. (Cute photo, right?!? Not that I’m biased or anything . . .)

(2) Resize image to fit just a little bit over the inner-most line.

 

I love using the align tools in the software to help make sure I have it all centered on the page right too.

photo align ss

 

(3) Move quote from gray holding space onto your page.

(4) Resize the quote to fit underneath the image.

quote photo ss

 

Because I was going to be printing this on Silhouette printable cotton canvas and making the quote with silver heat transfer vinyl, I needed to print the image without the quote.

To print the image without any cut lines:

(1) Move quote to the grey holding area outside of your live cut area.

NOTE: Your live cut area is indicated on your page by a thin red line, about 1/8 of an inch from the edges of your page. Anything outside these edges, even if it is on the page, will not cut.

(2) Delete the inner frame.

(3) Send to printer.

 

I left the outer edge because once this is printed I’m going to run it through the CAMEO to cut the canvas to the correct size.

photo background cut ss 648

photo cut ss 648

 

 

Step Seven: Cut and Weed Heat Transfer

Okay, the final part to be cut is the quote in heat transfer.

To cut heat transfer:

(1) Flip words horizontally.

NOTE: Heat transfer must be cut with the words flipped. 

(2) Right click to pull up the menu.

flip words ss

 

Time to set up the cut settings.

(1) Navigate to Cut Settings panel.

(2) Select the heat transfer settings.

HTV cut ss

 

(3) Adjust blade according to settings given.

NOTE: Don’t forget to do a test cut!

(4) Click “Send to Silhouette.”

Step Eight: Use Your Tool Kit

Ready to use another fun tool?  The Silhouette hook is essential when working with any type of media that requires you to weed out the excess material, leaving the design on the carrier sheet.

hook tool 648

 

Because this design is so tiny, I also used the Pick-me-up® tool to get those little tiny pieces. Both the sticky end and the plastic pick side are great.

(1) Use the sticky end to pluck the tiny pieces away without killing your finger tips.

(2) Use the plastic pick side to slide any stray scrap off.

pick me up 648

pick me up 2 648

 

Once it’s fully weeded you’re ready to press the design onto the canvas.  This is where the Ruler Tool comes in handy, helping you line up your quote perfectly.

ruler 648

 

I used my heat press to adhere the vinyl to the canvas but I understand that most of the world does not have this device in their craft room. Since this design is so small a home iron will work perfectly fine with minimal effort.

 

heat press 648

 

To adhere heat transfer with your iron:

 

(1) Place heat transfer on your canvas with plastic side up.

(2) Cover heat transfer with a press cloth or scrap of fabric.

NOTE: This will save your iron! Otherwise, the plastic will melt and you’ll have a mess on your hands.

(3) On a hard surface, press iron with lots of pressure and no steam.

 

Voila! 

finished canvas 648

 

 

Step Nine: Piece Project Together

 

It’s assembly time! I followed the tutorial link that was in the design store for the 3-D frame, but most designs are simple enough to follow without any instructions. The best tool to use with 3-D shapes is the Scraper Tool. To create tight creases for your folds:

(1) Fold along perforated or scored lines.

(2) Run Scraper Tool along crease, being careful to use an equal amount of pressure on each portion.

scraper 648

 

I’m not going to overwhelm you with all of the folding and gluing shots.  All it takes to piece it together is:

(1) Craft glue stick to hold all of the paper parts together

(2) Hot glue dabbed around the edges to attach the canvas to the back of the frame.

Here is the finished product!

finished 648