Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Bending Text with Silhouette Tutorial

Good morning friends! Today I'm sharing a couple of projects I created using a fun cutting technique. This Silhouette tutorial will show you how to bend your text to fit into or around a curved shape.
 
Here's a card I made using one of Lori Whitlock's Hot Air Balloon files where I cut a curved "Thank You" to wrap in the center of the balloon's banner. See how the letters bend with the shape of the balloon?


Here's another example - a page layout of my silly boys where the text is wrapped around the outside of the sun. 
 
 
 
So here's how you do it ... First, pull up the shape you want to place your text in and resize it if necessary.

 
If there are multiple pieces to your shape, ungroup them and move everything to the side except the piece you want the word in.  Zoom in on your shape a bit and chose the text option on the left tool bar. As you type your word or phrase a green box will appear. Note that there will also be a little circle with a cross in it, along the green line.
 
 
If you place your cursor over this circle and click, you are able to drag your word into your shape. When you hover the word over a line, the letters snap to the shape of the line. To move your word up into the center of your shape you will use the grey sliding bar that appears through your letters. If you place your cursor along that bar and slide upwards, your letters will move up. However, in some cases the spacing on your letters will also move in and start overlapping.
 
 
To prevent this, move your word over to the left so that you can see how much room you will have to increase your character spacing.
 
 
Play with the character spacing (found toward the bottom of your text style window) until you like the way the word looks.


Now you should be able to go back to the sliding grey line and move your word up into the center of your shape without the letters bunching up together. You will notice once you’ve done this though, that your original shape line is now grey (no cut line). This would be okay if you just wanted to cut out the bent word.
 

But, for this tutorial we want to cut out the banner shape for the front of the balloon so I will need to make this a cut line (red) again. Highlight your shape and click on the Cut Style icon at the top. In the Cut Style window, click the button that says “Enable Cut Style”.
 

Now your entire image is red and will be cut.


This is also a fun technique to use for cutting a phrase to wrap around a circle.  You would just snap your phrase on the outside line of the circle, rather than inside the shape. 
 
Embellishments:  Echo Park A Perfect Summer

Hope you have fun with this and thanks so much for stopping by!
 

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Monday, June 29, 2020

July 4th Scrapbook Album and 12x12 Layouts

Hey guys! The 4th of July is this weekend and in honor of the holiday, I've added new instructions to the shop for my July 4th Mini Album and 12x12 Layouts. They are perfect for photos of fireworks, family, friends, a parade, neighborhood parties, a BBQ, festivals, and allllll your holiday fun!  

First up, July 4th Scrapbook ... 

July 4th Scrapbook Mini Album with fireworks, stars, flags, cute houses, and flowers

To purchase the instructions for this album visit:

I designed this with the Doodlebug Design, Yankee Doodle Collection and a red 6x8 inch Simple Stories binder album (product links below). This collection is so cute with its patriotic images of fireworks, flags, flowers, and plenty of stars and stripes!

July 4th Scrapbook Album Page with flowers, stripes, hearts, stars, and a pocket with journaling cards

The album has 20 scrapbook pages (10 double-sided) that include 1 flippie, 1 fold-out page, 3 pockets, chipboard tab pages, and lots of space for journaling and saving your memories. Above is one of the pockets and I added a few cards for notes or photos.

July 4th Scrapbook Album Page with flowers, a paisley print, and a pocket with a tag and twine

Did you see this collection also has two pretty paisley patterns? I love the hometown feeling it has ... kinda country and very Americana! 

July 4th Scrapbook Album Page with metallic stripes, a red truck, fireworks, and a photo mat

And check out the silver foil accents! The album is filled of hints of silver. I love the metallic stripes in the paper on this page.

Next up, my 12x12 July 4th Layouts ...

July 4th Scrapbook Page Layout with flowers, fireworks, stars, and flags

To purchase the instructions to make these visit:

Whether you're having family and friends over for backyard BBQ or just gathering the kiddos for an evening of fireworks ... these 6 scrapbook pages will highlight your photos perfectly.

July 4th Scrapbook Page Layout with Uncle Sam's hat, fireworks, stars, and flowers

They were also designed with the Doodlebug, Yankee Doodle Collection. For these layouts, I added a few Petite Prints in linen, some Blue Jean card stock, and Classic Red Bazzill card stock. 

July 4th Scrapbook Page Layout with flowers and stars

All of my instructions are simple, step-by-step, and include full color photos of each page, so ... anyone can recreate these

Below are links for the instructions and the products used to make these projects. Thanks for stopping by the blog and have a great day! 😊  

 
SuppliesAs an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links are used in this post at no additional cost to you. I receive a small amount of compensation when you click through and shop using the provided links. This helps me to continue building my small business. Thank you!

And for the 12x12 layouts ....