Cherry Blossom Watercolor Tutorial

I’ve been really into watercolors and the versatility of them. However, I have very little skill in drawing, which makes watercoloring difficult…or so I thought. I recently started watching Art Impressions tutorials on Youtube where they use their watercolor stamps with water-based markers to stamp with. Then they go in with a waterbrush and just smudge out the lines to color in the structures. The end result is a gorgeous watercolor scenery that took minimal effort to make. They make it look so easy.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any Art Impressions stamp sets but I did pick up “Birch Land” stamp set from Altenew (one of my favorite brands!!!) on a previous haul. This stamp set features a beautiful tree with branch pieces and different sized arrays of leaves.

The details in this stamp set is beautiful, the lines are super crisp and the stamp set was meant to be layered. I love the sentiments in this stamp set and how I can mix and match words to make a custom sentiment.

I used Tombow Dual Brush pens in the Landscape Palette to stamp the tree, branches and bird house. I also used Distress Inks to stamp the leaves.

And this is what I came up with!

I started with a long strip of water color paper that I had left over from another project.

For the tree and branches I used Tombow N25. Then taking a waterbrush (a wet watercolor brush will work fine too) I went over some of the inked parts on the tree and branches and started pulling some of the ink towards the centre of the tree to color it in. I made sure not to color the entire tree “grey” so that there are some dark spots and some light spots to add additional dimension. This part may need some practice as pulling too much ink inwards could blur the lines and lose detail in the work.

For the birdhouse I used Tombow 899. Again I used the waterbrush to color in the birdhouse.

The blossoms were stamped using a mix of Distress inks in work lipstick, tattered rose and fired brick. Layering these worked really well just keep in mind that if you’re unsure of where to begin, always start with the lightest color first. You can always stamp over it with a darker color later.

The basket was stamped in Distress Ink dried marigold. Then I stamped the same ink pad on an acrylic block and picked up some of the color with a damp brush and started coloring the basket in, leaving a bright/light spot in the middle to give the basket more dimension.

Finally, I finished the wet media part by stamping a sentiment.

To finish everything off, I cut the top white space of water color paper off the top and adhered it onto a grey piece of cardstock. Then I added a silver eyelet at the top and strung some strands of pink ribbon through.

To preserve the watercolor and prevent it from fading and smearing, spray it with a light mist of cheap hairspray to seal everything. Learned this trick from my watercolor instructor when I still took art lessons.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, let me know what you think in the comment box below. And let me know if you tried this or if you have any questions about what I did!

 

Copic marker-colored Christmas cards

It’s been some time since I made a post, almost half a year in fact. My time flies! Life has been eventful in many good ways and I’m looking forward to sharing with you all many of my creations these past few months.

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But first off, I’d like display some of the Christmas cards I’d made for my friends and family this past Christmas. Copic colouring has become a new hobby of mine and because they’re so pricey, I managed to snag a few cheaper knock off alcohol markers on Aliexpress. I’ll put up a blog post about that soon but from my initial foray into alcohol markers, they seem to work quite well!

I wanted a cute and wintery theme for my cards so I used my Hampton Art Stamp and Die set – Penguins.

In order to use this die you need to have a Sizzix or cuttlebug die-cutting machine.

I stamped the image of the penguins using Memento in Tuxedo black by Tsukineko which is one of the best dye inks for alcohol marker coloring. After coloring the penguins, I cut them out using the penguin die.

To decorate the cards I used a few different kinds of backgrounds, here are a few:

1. staggered snow fields. I used foam dots to create dimension on the snow fields. I used a blue cardstock as the background and stamped white snow flakes .

2.  A fat ornament on an embossed background. I purposely made the ornament enormous so that it would take up half the card. I cut the ornaments out using my silhouette cameo to the size I wanted. Finally I decorated the ornaments with rhinestones or ribbons.

Finally I used a banner with a white embossed greeting and attached the penguins with a foam dot to make it 3D.

I loved the rhinestone-embellished ornament so much that I made card featuring just the ornament on an embossed background!

Well that’s it I hope you enjoyed these cards and stay tuned for more!

 

 

Hack: Prevent wet paper from wrinkling when dry using a sticky mat

As a lover of multiple forms of media when I do my crafting, I thoroughly enjoy using Tim Holtz’s distress mediums, adding water, watching the inks react. I also enjoy water coloring on my cards and projects. But the worst thing is when your wet media wrinkles the paper you’re working on.

Here’s another trick I discovered to prevent your paper from wrinkling.

1. Obtain a Silhouette Cameo, Cricut or Sizzix adhesive cutting mat.

1. Use either watercolour paper or multimedia paper. These can be purchased from any art store.
   
   Here is an example of a watercolor pad. I recommend getting the ones without the coil binding or getting the ones with the easy to rip little dotted cut marks on the inside. I forget what those are called.
2. Apply your watercolor paper to the sticky mat. Make sure the edges are tacked down. If your mat is old, use a little temporary double sided adhesive on the underside of your paper to stick down the edges. Make sure ALL THE EDGES have adhered to the mat otherwise you’ll get wrinkles. The body of the paper does not need to be sticking to the mat so don’t worry if you have an older mat.
3. Apply wet media. Inks, paints, water, etc.
4. Let dry completely.
5. Carefully remove the sheet from the sticky mat.

Troubleshooting:

1. The paper wrinkled when I applied wet media.
   Solution: This is normal, the paper will wrinkle as it absorbs the liquid and expands. Just let it dry, it will contract and shrink back to be flat again just as long as you do not remove the paper from the mat before it fully dries.
2. The paper is still wrinkly even though I let it dry completely on the mat.
   Solution: Always ensure the edges of the paper are all completely adhered to the mat. Check the paper you’re using. Watercolor paper is a heavier weight paper, unlike most cardstocks that don’t work very well with wet media even if you use any variety of methods to prevent wrinkling. The paper just wasn’t designed for media work like watercolor artist paper is.
   Solution: Try ironing it with a cloth between the paper and the iron to prevent burning.

Post a comment below if you have any questions or need help with this method!

Hack for the Silhouette Cameo Print and Cut – Read Registration Marks Fail

09-13-15 UPDATED SOLUTION AT THE BOTTOM
To avoid making the same silly mistake I did haha!

I don’t know why after the recent Silhouette studio software overhaul to version 3 there have been so many issues with my print and cut feature that I never experienced before with the old Studio software. Even with the most recent update V3.36 I still encounter the same issues. Looking around on the web hasn’t really fixed my problem because most people claim something magical and random happens when they try a combination of different things like load and unload or turn the machine on or off.

But with my issue, I found that the laser scanner just wasn’t moving the cutting mat far enough to even read the registration marks.

I’ve tried to do the whole manual registration function but I’ve never managed to get it to work, I’m not sure if I’m just doing it wrong or if this manual read function is just bogus.

Regardless, I found a solution to my problem and here’s my hack for getting the silhouette cameo to read the registration marks every time:

1. Select image to print and cut.
2. Print image with registration marks.
3. Adhere printed sheet with registration marks to cutting mat.
4. Feed/load the cutting mat into the machine.
5. Turn off the machine. Yes, turn off the machine. Do not remove the cutting mat from the machine when you do this.
6. Once the light is off, turn the machine back on.
7. Press “enter” to load the cutting mat again. This will feed the mat a little further in, tricking the machine to think that it’s feeding it the first time around but this time the mat will actually feed more than if you unloaded and loaded again.
8. In the Silhouette Studio software, press “send to silhouette”.
9. Sit back and watch the magic happen.

I hope that this hack is useful to some of you who are having a heap of trouble with the print and cut feature like I was. There must be a solution to this problem that I’m missing, perhaps a calibration issue. I’ll keep doing my research and once I find out a solution, I’ll post it.
But in the meantime, if you were having the same problem as I was, perhaps this will solve your issues.

Another thing to consider is that I had to calibrate my cameo to work with my Pixscan mat as well which may have dislocated some virtual limb inside the machine.

Post your solutions/hacks to the Silhouette Cameo print and cut – registration marks fails below!

*UPDATE September 13, 2015
I figured it out.

Turns out on the machine before you even feed your material into the rollers, you use the up and down arrow keys to select whether you want to feed the cutting mat or other media not requiring cutting mat.

On cutting mat option, the rollers feed the mat into further than with the “media” option. The “cutting mat” option is required for the print and cut function to work. I had selected the “media” option by accident and didn’t realize it, that’s why the rollers weren’t feeding my cutting mat far enough into the back of the machine for the registration marks to read. So there you go. If ever you run into the same problem as me, just double check your selection on the machine control screen. (See where that big black dot is on the upper left side of the screen? That’s the option you’ve currently selected.) Use the arrow keys to change it to the correct type of media.

I’ve tried manually reading the registration marks. I don’t quite understand why they have this function because it has never worked for me even when I have the correct feeding function selected.

Romantic Vintage Valentine’s Card with Textured Embossing

With valentine’s day just around the corner, I wanted to share my most recent card creation with you all. I bought some gesso a while ago and I hadn’t really had a good chance to use it so I decided to use it in this card.

I’ve titled this card Romantic Fairytale Dream, doesn’t it look like a fairytale from a little girl’s dream? When I was much younger, I used to dream about what it would be like to be a fairy tale princess, to rule over all the land, protect my people and save prince charming. Yes, I know it’s typically the other way around, but I had a lot of strong females as my role models growing up. Us girls can take care of ourselves, and then some.

I started out with a 5 x 4.5 inch white sheet cardstock which I embossed using a sizzix embossing folder. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the folder but it has diamonds with vintage damasks within each diamond.
To make the damask image really pop, I sprayed a sponge with glimmer mist and gently rubbed the sponge across the surface so that it only stains the raised parts of the embossed image.

 

To mask the border because I felt it looked a little strange that it was just empty space, I used gesso, or otherwise known as embossing paste, all around the edge and merging partly into the embossed image. Using my fingertips I dabbed with an up and down motion to give the paste some texture. Embossing paste typically takes a few hours to dry completely depending on how much was used. If it’s a really thick layer, I’d wait until overnight which I did in this case. It wasn’t a particularly thick layer but it I just wanted to be sure.

I proceeded to make my centrepiece now that the background was complete. Using a piece of pink vellum, I cut out a circular shape with rounded border using a Spellbinders die. I then used a carriage stamp to stamp and emboss the vellum with Versamark and champagne coloured embossing powder.

*note: Vellum is really delicate and it’s really easy to over heat and warp the vellum. Don’t put the heat tool too close to the vellum and switch from heating the front to the back frequently.

Using my Crop-a-Dile, I applied eyelets to the top and bottom of the vellum and threaded pink ribbon to attach the vellum circle to the card. I made a bow with the flapping ends of the ribbon at the top of the eyelet.

Using a Tim Holtz crown stamp, I stamped using gold ink on kraft cardstock. I fussy cut out the crown and applied it to the edge of the fancy embossed carriage.

I then stamped a rounded rectangle with the words “Dream” and applied that to the corner of the vellum circle using 3D foam dots. Then I used gesso to go over the edges of the sentiment piece. Finally using Liquid Pearls in Platinum I made little droplets on every other circle in the border. Then I let everything dry overnight.

So there you have it, a fancy vintage valentine’s card. Reminds me of a fairy tale of princes and princesses riding in pumpkin carriages, being carried to their magical destiny.  

 

So there you have it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this card as much as I’ve enjoyed making it. Hope that this Valentine’s day, you can spend it with someone you love, whether that be your beautiful self or with someone who’s dear and special to your heart.

XOXO~

New Year’s sticky toffee pudding recipe

The only way to bring in the new year or the holiday season in general is sticky toffee pudding! I had my first taste of this sweet gooey goodness was at a craftfair where a burly Scottish brute of a man decked in full kilt attire shoved an enormous mouthful of the stuff in my face. When a big burly scotsman shoves pudding in your face, you don’t say no! But I fell in love instantly…with the pudding, not the scotsman haha!

So I rushed home to search for a recipe that would capture the intricate mix of flavours I tasted in that pudding for the satisfaction of my enjoyment all year round. But most of the recipes I found were brown sugar-based but I wanted the deep and intense flavour of molasses. Admittedly some recipes did have some molasses but only a tablespoon or 2 in the whole recipe which in my opinion…is just weak sauce.

So I made my own and adapted it from a few different recipes.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe – Scrapaperdoll Edition

Cake

1 cup chopped dates

2/3 cup hot water

1/4 cup butter – softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg – room temperature

4 tablespoons dark molasses

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cake flour (very important to use cake flour, not all purpose flour)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp dark molasses

pinch of salt

1/2 cup heavy cream – heated slightly so as not to be as cold as the fridge

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 4 small baking cups. I recommend the Michaels ceramic baking dishes.

   

2. Add hot water to chopped dates to soften the dates. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and brown sugar using a spatula until well combined.
4. Beat the egg, add the molasses and vanilla. Combine with the butter mixture.
5. Sift Flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Mix well. Gently fold the flour mixture with the butter/egg mixture until the batter is just combined.
6. Use a blender or food processor to purée the dates and hot water. It doesn’t have to be the consistency of butternut squash soup, just smaller pieces with a few chunks is fine. The chunks add a bit of texture differences in the cake but not too much so that it interferes with the normal chemistry of the cake-baking.
   Fold the dates into the cake batter.
7. Pour batter into the ceramic baking dishes and set the baking dishes onto a baking sheet. Pop into oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean.
8. While the cake is baking, make the sauce. Add the brown sugar, butter, salt and molasses to a sauce pan and cook the sugar mixture on medium heat with gentle stirring every 30 seconds until the mixture thickens. It’s difficult to tell when the sugar caramelizes because it’s already dark coloured but use your nose. You can smell when it begins to caramelize but be sure not to burn the sugar.
9. Once the mixture thickens to your liking, gently stir in 1/4 cup of the warmed cream. Reserve the other 1/4 cup. Don’t use cream directly from the fridge because it may cause the sugar to sieze. Heat the cream in a separate sauce pan slightly to bring it to room temperature.
   Gently add 2 more tablespoons of cream after a few minutes from the reserved 1/4 cup. Once the mixture has thickened, bring it off the heat and let it sit until the cake has finished baking.

   Troubleshooting: If the butter separates from the mixture, gently stir in more of the reserved cream on the stove one tbsp at a time until the butter incorporates into the sauce and it thickens again.

10. When the cake is done baking, invert while still hot onto a plate and generously pour the hot sauce over the cake. Serve with a piping mug of coffee…or spiced rum haha!

This cake is the softest moistest cake I’ve ever made, even without the toffee sauce, this is an amazing cake, the sauce just pushes it over the edge! I can definitely use the cake with a glaze or ganache. It is just so flexible! Instead of dates, I can even use figs or cranberries as well.

Enjoy and leave your comments below!

Review on silhouette stamping material and Silhouette haul

Today I wanted to review some of the products in my latest Amazon and Silhouette America haul. I drove all the way down to the states to pick it all up since prices for shipping to Canada is what I personally consider thievery. Taking advantage of the free shipping to the US and 30% off heat transfer material I grabbed a whole bunch of different supplies:

1. transfer material: yellow, glitter black, more white (because it’s so generic and useful) and this lovely teal colour that I’m sure is going to match so well with the yellow and white!

2. Stamping material and the perforated mat

3. Silhouette Fabric blade – which BTW is supposed to be the same as the normal black blade, just a different colour so you don’t get yourself all mixed up. You’re not supposed to cut fabric and paper with the same blade because it dulls the blade that way. That’s also why you never cut paper with your fabric shears.

4. thumb notch punching tool from WeRMemoryKeepers for my project life needs

5. project life photo pocket pages in design G and a WRMK one #50032-3

6. pick me up tool – for rhinestones and very small pieces of paper my chubby fingers are too indelicate to handle.

7. the much raved about pixscan mat which I personally raved about in my earlier blog post.

So the first thing I did with all my brand new loot was create a pretty stamp using the silhouette stamping material.

My BFF requested a stamp to personalize her creations so I created a logo for her using the silhouette studio software which you can take a look at below:

Cut-out stamp mounted on an acrylic block and inked with red pigment ink

Stamped red on white cardstock with the cut-out stamp below it

So here are my thoughts on the silhouette stamping material:

Who would benefit the most from creating their own stamps using the silhouette:

In general, I think that anyone who is comfortable using the basic functions of the silhouette studio free software and the usual troubleshooting involved would be able to handle cutting the stamping material.

The individuals who would benefit the most are those who are comfortable using the more advanced functions of Studio, both free and designer versions. For example, if you understand how to weld, cut, trace, then you could make some pretty cool personalized designs.

PROs:

1. Make my own stamps to suit my crafty needs.

I really love the idea of being able to create my own stamps to use with whatever project I want. For example making a personalized logo which I can just stamp on all my projects before I give them away or as a way to promote my brand.

2. Cool and unique stamps can be made even using the free studio software.

I only have the free version of the software and I managed to make that really cool stamp design by welding the words, editing points, cutting and merging where necessary. All of these tools were available to me through the free studio software.

I would love to get the designer version of the software but unfortunately, it’s a little too expensive right now so I’m waiting for a sale.

3. The material inks up and stamps really well!

As you can see above, I get a clear, crisp image which I was not expecting. I thought it would be just a little blotchy or irregularly shaped as the cut isn’t perfect. But upon stamping, it was totally fine and those little areas where the cutting wasn’t as smooth didn’t even show up after stamping on cardstock. I am using Colorbox pigment ink. 

Despite the ink also inking up on the acrylic block, when I stamped, none of the off-target inking transferred to the cardstock which is amazing! Even commercial stamps I get frustrated sometimes because if you press just ever so slightly harder than the sweet spot, you get a big splotchy image. But not with this stamp.

3.  Designs are fairly intricate.
The box instructions do say “Make sure all cut lines are 1/16 inch apart“. I didn’t measure it exactly but as you can probably tell by the ruler in the photograph, the stamp I cut out was about 4 cm in width and 2.5 cm in height. I’ve got some pretty thin lines in this image. I’m not sure if I could get it any thinner than that but I probably could since I’ve seen other people do it. I just haven’t tried yet since this was my first shot.

But not bad for my first shot eh?

4. Fun!

It has been a lot of fun learning how to use the silhouette studio software, the user interface is very much like adobe illustrator (but not as complex) and lots of people actually use it to design commercial products/projects.

It feels very rewarding to come up with a creative idea and then have the tools to make it come to fruition. I thoroughly enjoyed every step from the initial brainstorming and vision to creating my design to actually cutting it out and stamping with it.

CONs:

1. There’s a limit to how small a line you can cut and sometimes for the smaller pieces like holes in the “O’s” etc. the pieces of stamp material get stuck and you have to rip them out. That ripping part created a jagged edge and sometimes causes tears in the stamp itself.

For example, the first time I made this stamp, I made it about 3.5 cm in width and when I ripped out the centre part of the “O” which was stuck pretty firmly, it ripped the top part of the “O”. So it looked more like a “U”.

After some troubleshooting on size of stamp to cut and careful extraction procedures using a combo of nails and exacto knife, my second stamp attempt resulted in an intact “O”.

2. Stamp material flimsy.

So it’s great that the material is soft enough that you can cut it with the silhouette but afterwards it’s flimsy and flexible. Unless you have an acrylic block with grid marks on it, it would be near impossible to have a stamp mounted straight. So I suggest investing in a good acrylic block with grid lines so you can align your stamp to the grid to make it actually stamp the way you want to. I suggest the one offered by Martha Stewart with the little foam pads (as shown above).

If you ever remove your stamp from the block and then put it back on, you won’t get the same stamped image twice unless you cut out a rather chunky and solid stamp. If the material were a little sturdier that would be nice. Not a huge deal if you aren’t a perfectionist.

3. Choice of inks is limited to the pigment variety.

The best type of ink to use with this material is a nice pigment ink. Not even the distress inks will do because it will just bead up on the stamp. Use something like colorbox pigment ink or there is also the generic Michaels brand pigment inks. Tsukineko also makes some good ones as well.

Avoid the archival dye inks because those will just create beads and you’ll get a stamped image of bubbles…unless that was the look you were going for.

Anyone else try other types of inks that worked?

Anyways, tons of possibilities and I’m just starting. Can’t wait to try out my Pixscan mat so stay tuned for that!

Hacks for the Silhouette PixScan – creative ways to use it!

Silhouette PixScan

As most people who own a Silhouette Cameo or Portrait already know, Silhouette America just came out with a new addition to their versatile cutting systems: the PixScan.

Honestly I’m surprised that this iconic machine didn’t come pre-built with the PixScan technology. But being the crowd-following individual I sadly am, I never questioned why it never existed even though I have, countless times over, tossed an idea in the trash because this technology wasn’t available in my moment of need. Therefore I am experiencing that sensation when you discover a new paper pad or Martha punch and you feel and overwhelming urge to just have that item in your possession. Yes, this is exactly how I feel about the PixScan mat.

So you might be wondering…what has gotten this crazy girl all obsessive about?

Well there are plenty of resources out there such as this fine blog which outlines the basic requirements for a Silhouette user (or non-Silhouette user if you so unfortunately happen to be one). Or check out the video from the Silhouette America website:

In short, it’s a sticky PixScan mat with registration marks already on it, you put your desired material/picture on it and then take a photo or scan it. Transfer the image file to your computer and import the image using the Silhouette studio 3.1 or higher software. The Software automatically detects the registration marks and makes a virtual flattened image of your picture (adjusting for angles, lopsidedness, overall shaky photography skills) at which point you can then proceed to create masks, outlines, shapes of every size, etc. etc. etc. to cut out of your material already tacked on to the PixScan mat. Just don’t readjust your picture or you’ll have to start all over again…

So why I’m excited about it…but first a little background on my experiences with cutting images out of paper…

It takes me forever to fussy cut a stamped image and I have never been able to master the detailed precision cutting that only my cameo could manage. And being the perfectionist I am, it is often frustrating when I can’t achieve the perfect cut of nice image from pretty printed papers. I always envied the crafty ladies who could cut such beautiful figures from their G45 papers or delicate flowers and whimsical animals off of a thin magazine page.

I remember one time when I was making a birthday card for my BFF and I had stamped a Tim Holtz’s stamp of a bird…I spent nearly an hour cutting out my stamped image…those little tiny legs and delicate feathers. Using a combination of scissors, xacto knife, sweat and blood, I finally managed to pry the wretched thing away from the cardstock. At any point during that one gruelling hour, I would have done anything for the PixScan technology…

Okay, so why I’m REALLY excited about the PixScan for the Silhouette:

1. cutting out stamped images

Instructions: Stamp an image using preferably medium to dark ink. Use PixScan as demonstrated above. Cut. Apply as desired.

You can probably use lighter inks as well but if you wanted to create a mask over your image to make an outline around it and cut around your irregular shape as close as possible (like print and cut), the software may not be able to pick up inks that are too light (like yellow).

You might be wondering now, how to cut around an image of choice (ie. print and cut)? Look at this video from UnderACherryTree.

I always admire the stamp and die sets that you can purchase from places like Simon Says Stamp and more recently at my local Michaels store. That is until you look at the astounding price tag and have a heart attack. Such a tiny stamp…with such a tiny die…for 50 dollars??? I could eat out for lunch and buy groceries for a week with 50 dollars! However cute the projects you could create with such a set, the notion of using one of these stamp/die sets is exactly that…a notion. It’s not easy being a student with an expensive hobby…that’s why I always have to be careful of how I spend my money. Which brings me to my next point:

2. It’s economical.

Instructions: buy a PixScan mat. And a Silhouette cutting machine if you don’t already own one.

Martha Stewart makes these little stamp and punch tools where you stamp an image and cut around the shape precisely. However they’ll run you for about $25 bucks a piece. As mentioned earlier, the die and stamp sets go anywhere from 20 dollars to 50 dollars.

The PixScan mat is 14.99 USD. almost half the price of other stamp/die sets. Buy it here.

However the Silhouette Cameo is $270 at Michaels.For a cheaper option, consider the Silhouette portrait which goes for $129 when it’s on sale. Check Amazon, they usually have good deals.

3. The possibilities are endless.

Instructions: Select ANY cute image for a project. Now use the PixScan to cut it out. Apply as desired.

You aren’t limited to just one image or just one shape to cut or just one type of material. You can try so many different things!

If you had a piece of patterned paper with say…many different stars of different sizes. You find that you don’t have the right paper punch and you need to cut out 2 dozen for cupcake toppers. This would take forever cutting out by hand…No problem, just send them through the PIxScan. Done in likely 5-10 mins.

4. Sketch precisely at any desired location on your patterned paper.

Instructions: Use Pixscan with desired paper. Sketch in appropriate location on paper.

I don’t know why Silhouette never really showcases their sketch feature but it’s actually quite capable of many different things. I have to say at this point, I do not know whether or not the software allows you to use the sketch feature with the PixScan but I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t allow you or why they wouldn’t implement this ability in the future.

For example, if you wanted to sketch something on patterned paper or a die-cut piece, you can do so using the PixScan.

I imagine this would be really popular for things such as invites, greeting cards, place cards, tags, etc. Or maybe you just have ugly writing and you’d rather your recipient be able to read your heartfelt sentiments on your irregular shaped paper. You can’t print on non-standard papers in the shapes of stars, moons and heart. Believe me…I’ve tried…it’s not pretty. But you can sketch on it with the PixScan! Cool huh?

5. Cut out your photographs with utmost precision!

Need to precisely cut a photograph to fit in a project piece like a specific frame? Or need to cut out your child’s head to paste on every imaginable surface within reach? Inanimate or animate? (Disclaimer: I do not have children, but I certainly admire the creativity, and sometimes voraciousness, exhibited by women who do).

Look no further, you can use the PixScan!!!

Okay…now I’m tired out from being overly excited about this. So now I’m going to put a damper on this technology as a warning of the possible pitfalls:

Why the PixScan may make you rip out your hair: 

As much as I love the Silhouette Studio software, I can’t say it doesn’t come with its limitations. Even being an advanced user of Adobe Illustrator, I sometimes struggle to make the perfect line, curve or outline using the studio software. Perhaps the Designer edition would diminish some of these frustrations but most Silhouette users will own only the studio software.

Therefore, take the PixScan technology with a grain of salt:

There is a learning curve to using the PixScan and adapting it to do what you need it to do for your projects. There are tons of youtube tutorials out there that teach you how to use the Studio software to its full potential but it’s not going to be a walk in the park and it will be time consuming. Hopefully the satisfaction you receive from creating a masterpiece exactly as you imagined it (or even better) will be reward enough for you to take the leap and learn a new skill. I personally feel the end result is worth the effort but it’s up to you what you feel you can do. You can still create beautiful, unique and one of a kind results with even just basic computer skills using the software  if handling some of the more advanced features are a little over your head.

So don’t be shy, hop over to youtube and get your brain juices on.

And don’t forget to comment below your thoughts and questions on the new PixScan from Silhouette.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Silhouette America, I just love their products and I want to share my wonderful experiences with the world. I have owned a PixScan for about 3 years now and have used it a few times but I haven’t taken advantage of the full capabilities of it which I am really looking forward to doing very soon!

How to prevent wet paper from wrinkling when dried

One of the things that I hate about using wet media when scrapbooking or crafting is that afterwards, the paper dries all wrinkly and ugly. As much as I like the wrinkly look for SOME projects, I don’t necessarily like it for ALL of my projects. So, I’ve adapted one of the techniques I normally use for watercolour painting to prevent my paper from curling, developing ridges and overall looking anything other than smooth.

Measure out a piece of cardstock for your project and add 1/2 inch to each of the four sides. Cut it out.
I’ve printed a picture of a calendar for a birthday card project and cut it down to size.

Tape that piece of cardstock to something hard, like a big fat heavy textbook or encyclopaedia. Or tape it to your craft table.

You can use washi tape or masking tape. Masking tape is better but whatever you have lying around is just fine.

I’m using washi tape in the above photo because I have this really terrible washi tape from K and Company’s Smash album. Terrible Terrible stuff. With a capital T. Thankfully, it won’t go to waste because I can just use it for taping stuff down like when I’m die-cutting for example.

MAKE SURE YOU TAPE DOWN EVERY ONE OF THE FOUR SIDES COMPLETELY.
This is essential to ensuring you have your desired final product free of wrinkles. If you miss even a little bit of the paper, you’ll have an imperfect paper after it dries. But hey, maybe that’s what you were going for?

Spray your favourite glimmer mist or use your distressing inks or water colour pencils, etc. Have fun, go crazy, make a mess, it’s all good!

Mine looks like this after:

Now let it dry completely.

It should look like this!

See how flat it looks?

And this is how it looks after I’ve cut it out!

I’m using a rectangle piece of cardstock for my project, but your project may need a different shape. Just use this method to ink up a larger sheet of cardstock and cut/punch out your desired shape after the paper dries. So simple right?

TROUBLESHOOTING

1. Tape lifts up from page after applying wet media.

Possible reasons why:

– Your tape is probably not suitable for wet media projects. Try masking tape, it’s awesome!
– You didn’t press your tape down firmly and there was a gap somewhere. It’s ok, just remove the piece that became unstuck, try to blot the wet area with a paper towel and then stick another piece of tape over it.

2. The paper dried wrinkly

Possible reasons why:

– Your cardstock was too thin. This technique doesn’t work with paper unfortunately because paper is so thin it’s flexible and can stretch a bit when wet. Try using a thicker cardstock next time like Baziill. I’m using Recollections cardstock here which works ok, not the best but ok…it’s cheap.

– Your tape may have come loose upon applying wet media or during the drying process. See above solutions.

And that’s it! Post a comment below if you have questions, this technique allows me to create vintage yet neat projects which I really love!

Have fun with all your wet media!