Card Display Garland

My son had a zoo theme for his 2nd birthday...he'll be 5 in May.  One of his decorations was this really cute garland with zoo animals on clothes pins and I hung a picture of him from each of the animals. I believe in reusing, so for the last 2 years, we've been using that garland to hang our yearly cards from.  I always had the intention of updating it...but here it is 2 years later...

And you know what?? Those are still cards from my daughters 1st birthday almost a year ago.  So while looking at that the other day, I decided that either A: I'm bored with hanging cards that way or B: I'm bored with it because I haven't updated it.  I decided that A wasn't quite it, so on to B.  Time to change it up.  I looked everywhere for foam shapes that would be good for all year round...didn't happen. So on to making my own.

For this project, I knew I wanted something that was going to last year round and I wanted to use my cameo to do it.  I didn't really feel like paper piecing, so sketching was my next option. 

Next I had to tear apart the zoo animals and decide what I wanted to put up instead.

I decided birds is kind of a running theme throughout my house, so some cute sketchy birds would be perfect!

Source:http://sweetclipart.com/cute-bird-line-art-17



I used this bird, traced him in Silhouette Studio and then duplicated him on top of himself a couple times to give him a more sketchy look and offset so I had a cut line. For a sketch and cut tutorial, click here.

 

Cute right?  I just love him!

 

Just for the purpose of this post, my daughter's birthday cards did go back up, but they will be coming back down soon.  Time for Christmas Cards!!!

 

Sketching Large Files

So you've designed the perfect thing to sketch and cut. Lots of colors, lots of things to sketch but when you go to sketch, your program freezes.  Have no fear! I can help you.  All you have to do is separate the different colors to their own file.  So, you'll make a new document for every different color you have, making several smaller, more manageable files. 

I made these labels today for my Christmas packages.  To view how to sketch and cut, view this tutorial.  This video will just show how to simplify larger files so your program won't freeze.

Cute Postage Labels and Pen Holder Tutorial

Hey everyone! I've had several requests to do a video on how to use my pen holder. So I finally got around to it (read: found a screencast program and got the nerve to do it). I made these really cute labels for my packages. I'm old fashioned and I go to the post office to mail my packages and I thought they needed something to cutsie them up!

These were made using my pen holder and Gelly Roll Gel Pens. So I hope you enjoy my video and now that I know how to do it and have some confidence in it, I hope to bring you more video tutorials.

Project Inspiration--Pregnancy Journal

Okay, it's been a very long time since I've posted. I just haven't felt inspired lately and it's been same ol' same ol'. Anyway, I created an awesome gift for a friend of mine who just found out she is pregnant. I can't wait to give this to her!

This is the cover. I used my pen holder, gelly roll gel pens and scrapbook paper. I also picked up some embellishments from Michaels to help me out a little. I had just today to complete this project, so not a lot of time to create my own embellishments.

Quick look at all the pages. I made some of the pages, pocket pages so she could stick mementos in there, extra journaling or whatever she wants. I created those by first drawing a box the size I wanted it and then extending it about a quarter inch. Then I draw a line that will be perforated on three edges. Maybe I'll do a tutorial for that sometime, but it's pretty simple.

And I can't figure out why some of these are flipped. Driving me crazy today...so tilt your head or your screen. Ha ha. Have a great day and I hope this post inspired you!

How to Fill Double Line Fonts

So you want to write with your cameo, but you don't want there to be double lines or the outline of the words, you want them filled in. And you'll be writing something bigger than 18pt (where most thin fonts look single lined. Check out this post.) This process can be time consuming but it is so worth it! So here we go...

Okay, so you're going to start with something like this. If you sketch just like this, it will look just like this. Even if you fill it with color. It will still sketch just like this. So what you want to do is use the internal offset.

This is what the Offset menu looks like.

Click on your words you want to fill. Use the offset menu and select internal offset, .005, apply. Do not click off of your wording. Keep it selected. You'll do this over and over again.

At first it might not look like it's doing anything, but it is. It is repeating the line font over and over again very closely to the previous line so that it creates a fill. Your pen is going to do the same thing, so make sure you have plenty of ink.

Here is what it looks like all filled in. It looks like I just used the fill tool, but I didn't.

When I zoom in, you can see that it is composed of a lots of little lines. This is how it's going to sketch too. This works great with gel pens. If you're using Sharpie Ultra Fine or BIC Markers, I would not do quite the inset. Maybe keep it to .010 or .015. You'll have to play with the settings depending on the medium you're using to write. Doing this will slow the program down quite a bit, but even if it freezes, it will come back shortly. Don't worry.

These are my business cards I just did with the cameo and my pen holder. I used the above method to fill the branch, bird and The Sensory Emporium at top. (I apologize for the blurriness, this is a cell phone picture with shaky hands).

To order my pen holder please visit, www.etsy.com/shop/thesensoryemporium

If you have any questions on this tutorial, please comment below.

Guest Post from Amelia And Me Crafts!

How do I love my Silhouette Pen Holder by The Sensory Emporium? Let me count the ways…

Hello everyone! Jennifer here from Amelia & Me Crafts. I wanted to show off a recent project I made using the Silhouette Pen Holder by The Sensory Emporium. I purchased my pen holder back in February and it has quickly graduated to being one of my go to tools.

Scrapbooking is my first love, so I want to show you how this pen holder can help you with titles, journaling, details, etc. I have completed a scrapbook for each of my 3 children chronicling their first year. Benjamin, my third child, just turned 4 and I am STILL working on his first year scrapbook – but that is a topic for another blog post.
I like to add a ‘Watch Me Grow’ layout to these special scrapbooks. It includes 13 pictures - a newborn picture and one for each month. I just put the finishing touches on Benjamin’s layout. Ta-Da!



Let’s break it down. How did my Sensory Emporium pen holder help in this layout? It made journaling the month banners easy peasy AND nice and uniform with a black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point. Quick mention, my font of choice for this project is Aunt Jana Sketch, which can be found in the Silhouette Online store (click on Aunt Jana Sketch to go right there.)



For the titles, I switched over to a black BIC Mark•It fine point. I have to tell you, these markers fit like BUTTER in the pen holder. You do have to adjust the height of the pen holder a bit so that the marker does not drag across the paper. It is recommended to put a popsicle stick between the paper and the tip of the marker to get the proper spacing, then lock the holder in. I just eyeball it. Note the space between the pen holder and the blade carriage below. One of these days I will get a popsicle stick that does not have sticky remnants on it.



For the name title, I wrote out Benjamin Joseph in my Silhouette Studio software, then applied an offset. First step is to change the cut style to ‘no cut’ for the offset because I do not want the Cameo to sketch the outer edge. With the cut style set to ‘cut’ for ‘Benjamin Joseph, I loaded the pen holder into my Cameo, made the necessary setting changes and sketched out his name – as shown in the above picture. To cut it out for my scrapbook page, I shut the cut lines off for ‘Benjamin Joseph’ and turned them on for the offset. I loaded my blade back into the Cameo and cut out the name title!



I wanted the ‘Watch Me Grow’ title to fit across the 12” page and I wanted the lettering to be a bit thicker. To achieve this look, I offset the lettering just an itty bit – 0.050” to be exact - so that the marker would be making two passes for each letter. Here is what it looked like designed in the software:



I then applied an offset to the offset (not sure if there is an easier way to say that!), cut around the lettering and applied the title to my page:

Pretty cool, huh? Before I forget, the plain yellow and blue cardstock is by American Crafts (my favorite) and the patterned paper is from the Creative Memories Seasons Designer Prints pack.
Thank you for reading and I enjoyed writing this guest blog for all of you Sensory Emporium fans! Please make sure to visit The Sensory Emporium’s tutorial on the pen holder for additional information.

Be well!
Jennifer
www.facebook.com/AmeliaAndMeCrafts
AmeliaAndMe.com

Sketch Fonts

Today I want to share with you some fonts I use most often with my pen holder. There are a ton of fonts that work great with the pen holder or sketch pens, but these are the ones I use most often. Please feel free to share in the comments the fonts you love to use. I would love to eventually do a follow up post.

I sketched two sets of fonts for you as well as links to where you can find each one. If there isn't a link, it was probably already on my computer. Each font is typed in 36 point. The black set of fonts was done using my pen holder and a Sharpie Ultra Fine marker. The brown set was done using my pen holder and a gelly roll gel pen.



Agency
Allura
Always Forever--http://www.dafont.com/always-forever.font
Andalus
Blackadder
Bradley Hand
Champagne--http://www.dafont.com/champagne.font
Champagne and Limousines--http://www.dafont.com/champagne-limousines.font
City Blue Print
Country Blue Print
Daddy’s Girl--http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=Daddys+Girl
DJB Jacked Up Kinda Luv--http://www.dafont.com/djb-jacked-up-kinda-luv.font
Edwardian Script
Freestyle Script
French Script
Gabrielle--http://www.dafont.com/gabrielle.font
Georgia Belle--http://www.dafont.com/georgia-belle.font
I Love What You Do--http://www.dafont.com/i-love-what-you-do.font
Janda As Long As You Love--http://www.dafont.com/janda-as-long-as-you-love-me.font
Janda Quirky Girl --http://www.dafont.com/janda-quirkygirl.font
Janda Romantic--http://www.dafont.com/janda-romantic.font
Janda Shine Your Light--http://www.dafont.com/janda-shine-your-light-on-us.font
Janda Snickerdoodle--http://www.dafont.com/janda-snickerdoodle-serif.font
Janda Someone Like You--http://www.dafont.com/janda-someone-like-you.font
Janda Stylish Script--http://www.dafont.com/janda-stylish-script.font
Janda Swirly Twirly--http://www.dafont.com/janda-swirly-twirly.font
Jasmine
Jenna Sue--http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=Jenna+Sue
Jheri Curls--http://www.dafont.com/jheri-curls.font
Juice
KG A Thousand Years--http://www.dafont.com/kg-a-thousand-years.font
KG Be Still and Know--http://www.dafont.com/kg-be-still-know.font
KG Begin Again--http://www.dafont.com/kg-begin-again.font
KG Call Me Maybe--http://www.dafont.com/kg-call-me-maybe.font
KG Eyes Wide Open--http://www.dafont.com/kg-eyes-wide-open.font
KG Fall For You--http://www.dafont.com/kg-fall-for-you.font
KG June Bug--http://www.dafont.com/kg-june-bug.font
KG Keep Your Head Up--http://www.dafont.com/kg-keep-your-head-up.font
KG Kiss Me Slowly--http://www.dafont.com/kg-kiss-me-slowly.font
KG Like a Skyscraper--http://www.dafont.com/kg-like-a-skyscraper.font
KG One Thing--http://www.dafont.com/kg-one-thing.font
KG Seven Sixteen--http://www.dafont.com/kg-seven-sixteen.font
KG Skinny Latte--http://www.dafont.com/kg-skinny-latte.font
KG Somebody That I Used to Know--http://www.dafont.com/kg-somebody-that-i-used-to-know.font
KG Strawberry Limeade--http://www.dafont.com/kg-strawberry-limeade.font
KG True Colors--http://www.dafont.com/kg-true-colors.font
KG Ways to Say Goodbye--http://www.dafont.com/kg-ways-to-say-goodbye.font
Lavanderia
LD Dainty From SIL Store
Miss Smarty Pants--http://www.dafont.com/miss-smarty-pants.font
MTF Cindy--http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=MTF+Cindy
MTG Cupcake--http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=MTF+Cupcake
The following Pea Fonts can all be downloaded here: http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/ there is a link to the side that will allow you to download all of them.
Pea Amy Jo Jo
Pea Ash
Pea Britney
Pea Emma Kate
Pea Hannah Vanilla
Pea Heather Michelle
Pristina
Santas Sleigh--http://www.dafont.com/santas-sleigh.font
Shardee
Shit Happens--http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=Shit+Happens
Simply Glamorous--http://www.dafont.com/simply-glamorous.font
Sweetly Broken--http://www.dafont.com/sweetly-broken.font
Tangerine--http://www.dafont.com/tangerine.font
Throw My Hands Up in the Air--http://www.dafont.com/throw-my-hands-up-in-the-air.font
Vivaldi
Valdimir Script