Fun with Fonts Tutorial by Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone! Claudia here. I am so excited to share one of my favorite techniques, when scrapbooking digital, with you! I have been scrapbooking digitally for a couple of years now, and I absolutely love it! I am a clean and simple kind of scrappers, so I get really excited when I learn new techniques, and this was definitely one I was doing the happy dance with. I call this technique... Fun with Fonts!

Ready to get started? Here is my layout. That is my beautiful sister and her fiancé. I took these pictures when they were recently engaged last summer. I used Samantha's Tea Party Tomato papers; I can't get enough of these colors!

As you can see, my title looks kind of blah. It doesn't really stand out within the layout. I am not great at journaling in my layouts, so I really need the title (and the photos, of course) to tell the story.

Ok, here we go, I have the layout and the paper I am going to use open in Photoshop Elements 9 for Mac.

Drag the digital paper on to the layout; make sure you have the text layer highlighted so the paper layer is right above it. The digital paper will cover the whole layout until you clip it to the layer below.

Now you are going to clip the two layers. Clipping masks is another one of my favorite techniques. It is so easy. Just highlight both layers, go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. See how the font looks textured and different already?

Next, I like to merge the two layers together; it will make adding a style much easier, I think. Just highlight the two layers again, left click on your mouse, and click merge layers from the list.

I love adding strokes to my titles; gives it a sticker like feel, and really makes the font stand out. All you have to do is go to Edit > Stroke (outline) Selection, and this box will pop up. Here I select a color (using the eye dropper) from the papers in the layout so the stroke matches nicely. I like to use a width of 8px; not too thin, not too thick.

Click ok, and presto!

Now the title needs a little depth, don't you think? Go to Layers > Layer Styles > Style Settings.

Here are the settings I like to use for the drop shadow:

Lighting angle: 45 degrees

Size: 7px

Distance: 10px

Opacity: 70%

I also set the color of the shadow to match one of the darker colors in my layout (the default is black, and it doesn't always work); in this case I used the eye dropper to select a brown tone from the photo on the left.

Here is my final layout.

What do you think? Easy peasy, right? I hope you will try it too. It really does add so much life to just about any font.

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Teapot Card Set Tutorial by Karen

Hi there! It's Karen here, sharing how to make a quick "TEAPOT PARTY CARD" SET using  Silhouette dies designed by Samantha, and some gorgeous Tea Party 12x12 designer papers!

So, let's begin...

First, you will start with cutting the Teapot Party Card Silhouette file using your Silhouette machine.

Before ungrouping the set, I used these measurements for each card: 10.36L x 8.055W.

This is what I cut for the base and leave swirls...

Next, take your 12x12 Tea Party designer papers Tea Service, Floral Plaid, Blue Pansies, and die cut these Silhouette files using the Teapot Party Card  and  Flower file as in photo below.  The flower measurements I used for each flower: 2.33L x 2.515W.

Then, using my Ranger distress inks (bundled sage, vintage photo, peeled paint, and old paper), I inked everything up like this...

Lastly, assemble the flower and adhere everything together, and now you have a sweet little Teapot Party Card Set!!   Now, it's time to celebrate with your best girlfriends!!

Here's the whole set on display below...and guess what?  I used the inner section of this Silhouette Doily Flower die file to prop each card!!  Wouldn't it be sweet to use those cut doily's for the Tea Party now!  Makes me want to have a party real soon!!

That wraps it up!  Hope you've enjoyed and it inspires you to pull out your Silhouette machine to cut some dies and to create fun projects!!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Samantha's Silhouette die cutting files in the Silhouette on-line store because there are new files being added all the time!

Have a fabulous day!

3D Scalloped Cake Box by Eva

Hi there, it's Eva today with a fun tutorial.  Samantha has so many fun treat box Silhouette cutting files that I decided to highlight one of them.  With June here, there are so many weddings, so I thought it would be fun to play with the 3D box scalloped cake and 3 flower sprig with butterfly cutting files.  Here is what I came up with.

I started by cutting out my flowers and I used white card stock for that, 

so I can paint my flowers .

Once I painted them, I dried them.

  Once I cut out the file I assembled it with Scor Pal tape.

I added some pretty lace to it and adorned my cake with the pretty flowers, and butterfly and added the Congratulations sentiment from Samantha's stamp collection.

Here is another view of my final project.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and perhaps it will entice you to create some party favors for a special occasion.

You Light Up My Life by Joscelyne Cutchens

Hello Friends!  It's Joscie here to share a 3D card I created using Samantha Walker's 3D Chandelier shape. I resized the Chandelier in the Silhouette Software so the finished shape was about 3.5"x 3.5".

I cut it out of white textured American Crafts Cardstock.

I put it together.

I added the rings to hold the pieces in place.

I also wanted to cut 2 8.5"x 11" sheets so I could fold them to make a stand up card.  

I started with a new file in the silhouette software.

I drew an oval 3.6"x 4.5"

I created another oval by selecting mirror above. 

 I used the arrow keys to move the ovals to the outer edges of the cutting area.

I did my best to line up the papers on the cutting sheet and loading the cutting sheet into the silhouette so the ovals would cut nearly in the same spot.

After I cut both sheets, I trimmed them to 8.5"x8.5"

I folded them in quarters.

If you can't get these to cut in the same area or you don't want to fuss with lining it up, you can always use a ruler, xacto knife and cutting matt to get the openings evenly spaced.

In Photoshop I created a line of text that read You light up my life.

I duplicated this two times and changed the colors so I would have options to choose from once it was printed. 

I printed the first copy on plain paper.

I placed one of the ovals I cut out earlier over the printed area and used a piece of washi tape to hold it in place.

I ran it through the printer again.

I cut the sentiments in to strips.

I used a scissors to cut a notch into the end of the one I liked best.

 I added adhesive pearls from Creative Charms to the Chandelier.

 I used a piece of sheer ribbon to hang the Chandelier in the window.

I would recommend using a skinnier piece of ribbon or twine or embroidery floss for your card, my ribbon seems like it may cause my chandelier to tear.

I cut 2 - 2" x 8.5" strips of paper.

I folded in quarters. 

I used my ATG adhesive to stick all the pieces together. 

 I used foam adhesive to stick the sentiment on one panel. 

I hope you've enjoyed my tutorial.  

Please feel free to leave me any questions you may have.

Thanks!

Joscie