Silhouette Studio Tutorial: The Beauty of The Right Click!

Have you ever been frustrated in the Silhouette Studio software, trying to find a certain file, category, artist, or you want instructions on a given file without going to the store to find the instructions there. Well...there's a way to bring that information up easily. It's the beauty of the "right click" when you are in your library of the Silhouette Studio software. If you know about the right click already, great! I bet it has become quite helpful for you when using your Silhouette Library. If this is news to you...you will love this feature.

First, launch Silhouette Studio, then access your library by clicking on the symbol in the left side bar that looks like a book. That will bring you to your library.

Next, find the design you want more information on, and right click on it. It will highlight it and bring up a box on the side of it.

 I'll enlarge the area so you can see the box in the picture below.

The box has a few different options in it we will focus on "Show Properties" first, then I'll go over the other options. Click on show properties. It is circled in red in the picture above. 

When you click on that, it magically brings up a box at the bottom of your screen that shows you details about that particular design. This will bring up instructions and sometimes even links to tutorials (this is a new thing...we've been able to add website names in the past, but they weren't hyperlinked. they are hyperlinked now. Yeah!!!) 

Next to the properties, where I have circled in red in the photo above, you see a list of keywords associated with this particular file. These become helpful when looking through your library for certain themes, this is how it knows which files to bring up.

Okay...now for the other things in the Right Click menu...

The first option is delete item. 

This is a good option to know when a file has been updated in the store (sometimes we designers make mistakes and have to update files once in a while.) In order to get the new file, you must first delete it from your Studio Library and then upload the updated version for free. 

The second option is rename item.

You may want to rename an item something other than what it is known by in the Silhouette store. But by doing so, it may be harder to find the file later...just be wise in your naming.

The third item in the list is Sort By. Click on this to bring up a fly out menu of different options for sorting your file. 

The third item is "sort by."

When you click on this, it brings up a flyout menu with the options to sort by name, size, date downloaded, artist, and category. Click on any of these options to sort your library by your criteria of choice. Cool, huh!

Okay...here's another thing...just learned it today from a friendly lady in a Facebook community that I'm in...You can also look at your library as a list instead of icons. Just click on the icon that looks like three boxes with three lines by them. I put a red arrow by this and circled it. It will show you "view as list" when you hover over it. Notice to the right of it, the box that says "Search." If you put the search criteria you are looking for in there, it will bring up the files that have those key words associated with it. 

 For this tutorial, I typed in my name to bring up my files. The now show up in the list below. You can use other search terms like Christmas, Birthdays, animals...etc. Whatever you are looking for, there's a good chance there is a keyword that will bring it up.

That's all I have for you today. I hope this tutorial was helpful!

Snow Globe cards: Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Carousel snow globe card.

You may have noticed a few snow globe cards appear in my portfolio at the Silhouette online store this week. With all the fun little pieces in these files, I thought I would help you with setting up your file in the Silhouette Studio software for ease of cutting. Also note, the you can use the pieces independently of the card, should you want to use just the snowman, or just the Santa, etc.

I will lead you through the steps with this Santa snow globe card first. The directions apply to the other snow globe cards as well.

First open the file in your Silhouette Studio software. Select the pieces in your file. Then in the Object menu, select "ungroup." The pieces will then be separated, so that you can move them around.

 Move all of the pieces off of the live cutting area except for the main card piece. Cut this using the settings appropriate to your paper type. I cut my main card piece out of double sided card stock. One side was pink, one side was blue.

Now move the main card piece off of the live cutting area, and move the other pieces onto the cutting mat. Arrange them so that they are grouped in areas that would be cut out of the same color of paper. Also take note when arranging them, to make sure that they are between the grid lines. This will make it easy to determine what size to cut your paper down to fit onto the mat directly over those cutting areas.

Now cut down your colored card stock to fit over the areas of your cutting mat according to where they are on your mat in your software. Remember to cut a piece of transparency film for the circle that makes the "glass" in the snow globe. (if you don't have transparency film...don't fret...just leave it open...you'll still get most of the same effect. You can glue the snowflakes onto the background instead if you go for that option.)

Depending upon how many times your mat has been used, you may wish to also use tape to secure your paper to the areas, to ensure that it doesn't shift during the cutting process. You can see from the photo above that I'm using a "well loved" mat.

If that didn't make perfect sense, in the photo above, I overlaid both the computer screen shot with the photo of my cutting mat to show you exactly what I mean. A picture is worth a thousand words...right?

Assembly:
First fold the trifold card with the scene behind the snow globe, and then fold the snow globe layer.

Then layer the pieces in the following order...(While this portion has specific instruction for the Santa Snow globe, the other snow globe cards are similar in construction...start with base silhouettes first, then work your way up.)

Main card base:
1. White snow hill layers onto the middle section of card. Leave the blue scalloped edge showing as a decorative feature.
2. white scalloped piece with the two knob "feet" gets layered onto the right flap when folded. This will create the "snow" that santa's sleigh sits on.
3. OPTIONAL white panel gets glued onto the front of the card beneath the snow globe.
4. glue trees to the snowy hill...make sure you look at where Santa's sleigh will be when folded so that your trees are visible.

Snow globe:
1. Glue the edges of the snow globe on the main card piece then layer on the transparency film.
2. Glue the edges of the snow globe piece, and layer it over the transparency film and onto the card. The transparency film is now "sandwiched" between paper layers. Cool, huh!
3. add large snowflake embellishment and wind up key to the snow globe.
4. add small snowflakes to the back of the transparency film with a teensy tiny pin-prick of a dot of glue in the center, and on the points. Lay the snowflake glue side up on the background where you want it to be, then close the transparency layer over the snowflake to adhere it to the backside of the transparency film.

Santa: 
1. Black silhouette of the sleigh onto card background.
2. Green sleigh onto black silhouette.
3. Red santa silhouette onto black silhouette.
4. Skin colored beard onto red santa silhouette.
5. White beard with face window, onto skin color beard.
6. mustache onto white beard.
7. belt onto red belly of santa.
8. silver belt buckle onto black belt.
9. white mitten overlapping belt and red coat.
10. white fur of coat layered onto black silhouette of sleigh just below red coat.

Shaker box Snow Globe Optional method...
Consider building an actual shadow shaker box (old school scrapbookers may remember this technique from the hey day of scrapbooking.) Here's a great Youtube video by June Campbell that gives you the basic technique of putting together a shaker box--you can adapt her technique to this project.
Before you start, cut two circles out of the transparency film, and set them aside.

1. Glue one transparency circle to the card base as detailed above.
2. Then attach the second piece of transparency film to the back side of the snow globe piece.

3. Get some double-sided foam tape, and cut down the foam tape into a few thin strips that are the width of the snow globe edge.

4. Working carefully, remove the backing from one side of the foam strip, and adhere it to the card piece around the outline of the snow globe, arching it around as you go. Do this with strips of foam tape until you completely seal around the circular edge of the snow globe--even the bottom portion of the circle, where it meets the base portion. You should now have a complete circle of foam tape around the snow globe edge with no gaps or your snow will escape. Please note, it may be harder to make the foam turn the curve with the paper backing on the adhesive tape--so when doing curves, you may opt to take the second backing layer off.

5. Now fill the circle with a small amount of "fake snow". You can use glitter, sequins, tiny foam pellets, beads or cut snowflakes. (Make sure the other backing tape is still on when you do this step, as you don't want it to stick to the foam tape.)

6. Now get the snow globe piece. Put a few pieces of foam tape onto the snow globe stand--this does not have to seal like the edge of the circle, so a few pieces to support the corners and a few in the middle will be sufficient.

7. Carefully remove the remaining backing from all of the foam tape...on the circle on the base card, as well as the backing from the tape on the snow globe piece, then lay on the second transparency film circle, and sandwich that fake snow between transparency layers..
8. Put a small bead of glue on the snow globe around the circle, then it up on the card base, and carefully attach it to the main card.
9. Now test out your shaker snow globe, and watch the pretty snow fall.
Happy Crafting!