December Diva Blog Hop--Christmas/Winter

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

If you're joining me from Amy's Blog, I'm the last stop for today.  If you just started here, feel free to head to Sue's Blog and start from the beginning to hop thru all the sites!

My house has been a flurry of activity in getting Christmas gifts made/out, and while I 'could' show those items, since they ARE gifts (and some of my family does check out my blog from time to time!), I thought I'd show a couple cute ideas I made using my Silhouette Cameo (electronic cutter) and My Digital Studio (MDS) instead!!

Now, a lot of the files in MDS are now .svg files, and if you have the 'Deluxe' version of the Silhouette software, you can open those files up directly and use them in the e-cutter!  BUT, often times, I find that I like to play around with my design in MDS and then just create a jpeg of my page, which I can then 'open' and 'trace' in the Silhouette program.  I won't get into too many details on that today--but feel free to contact me if you'd like more information on how to do that!!

So for these first two, I used the Project Life Holiday Cheer digital download and since they were .svg files, it was really easy to open them up, and then manipulate them to fit the floating frame (I decided to use 6"x8" floating frames on these first two).

PL Holiday Cheer Digital Download

Another little tip--if I'm making a design to go in a 6"x8" frame, I limit my design size to 5"x7"--at least 1/4" all the way around will be hidden by the frame itself (since the glass needs to sit on a lip), which gives 1/4" of a 'blank' border.  Now, you won't see that 'exactly' in the photos that I'm showing, since these were some of my first attempts at cutting vinyl and adhering to glass, but on subsequent projects, I learned my lesson!!  I also went thru my files and found a free 'checkmark' download that I had, and set that up to get cut out as well.

Naughty/Nice in Floating Frame 6"x8"

Cutting the vinyl (which is adhesive-backed) went pretty slick, and I also realized later that I wouldn't necessarily need to add the checkmark--you could use a dry-erase marker on the front, and use it at home as a naughty/nice barometer with your kids if you so chose!

Baby, It's Cold Outside in Floating Frame 6"x8"

I had fun also putting both of these designs in white and silver frames--all of them look really cool!!!

Now, for this next one, I did spend some time in MDS designing/cropping images to create the look I was going for.  First of all, I used the tree from the Project Life Holiday Cheer digital set again. . .  then I went looking thru my files for a 'Countdown to Christmas' option, and finally settled on the 'Daily December Memories Digital Photobook Template' download (which has DSPs, stamp brush sets, LOTS of embellishments, and a Photobook template all included!!), as I could find all the the words I wanted, and after a little cropping, had my completed design!!

Stamp Brush Images from 'Daily December Memories' download

Countdown to Christmas image

Once I had the .jpeg above created, it was a simple matter to do a trace in my Silhouette program, clean up a few things, and then send it to cut my various colors of vinyl!

Countdown to Christmas Floating Frame 11"x15"

(And yes, I know we're only about 10 days away now--the above photo has been sitting in my camera since then!)  Knowing that I can use My Digital Studio in conjunction with my Silhouette Cameo has just TOTALLY opened up even more creative possibilities!!

I hope you've enjoyed the Blog Hop stops along the way today!  For quick reference, here are the links to everyone's sites:

• Sue
• Denise
• Sandy
• Autumn
• Amy
• Pam (You're here!!)

Happy Hopping!!  Oh, and we'll be back and blog hopping once again in 2015!!  Keep checking back!

Pam