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 Album & 12x12 Layout Instructions

Hey guys! July 4th is this weekend and in honor of the upcoming holiday I've added a 2 instructions to my shop! Both are retired kits - one is an album and the other is a 12x12 6-page layout!





The July 4th Album and 12x12 layouts will make wonderful keepsakes for your memories. They're perfect for firework displays, family gatherings, parades, neighborhood parties, festivals and all your holiday fun.


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 (product links below).



The album has 20 pages (10 double-sided) that include scrapbook pages, chipboard tab pages, journaling pages, and pockets. To see more pictures of this album and to purchase these instructions, click HERE.

Next, my July 4th 12x12 Page Layout Kit ...


To purchase the instructions to make this album 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!

They were designed with the same Doodlebug, Yankee Doodle Collection but ... you can substitute with similar supplies.


To purchase the 12x12 page layout instructions click HERE.

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

Supplies: 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 ....


 
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