Thank You

 

 

October 22nd marked the one year anniversary of my first pen holder sale on Etsy.  And I just want to say thanks to everyone who has purchased one or is thinking about purchasing one.

 

 

Since the day my son was born, all I have ever wanted to do was stay at home with him.  So I started creating stuff to provide a small extra income that would hopefully someday provide enough to buy his school clothes and allow us to do extra fun things or just to have lunch without having to tap into our single income budget.  Selling pen holders has not only allowed us to do all of that but it also allows me to grow my crafting business, which is my second love.  So thank you.  You think you just purchase a pen holder to do some fun crafting, but what you really purchase is opportunity for my family and me.

 

 

 

 



Sketching on Fabric

I wanted to try something new; to sketch on something I've never sketched on before.  I use paper all the time and I've even tried vinyl and shrinky dinks.  All very fun projects and great uses for my pen holder.  However, I have never sketched on fabric before. 

What you'll need:
Fabric (any size, this is 6.5x6.5)
Pen Holder
Marker (I used Sharpie, but I'm sure there is a thin fabric marker out there that might work better)

So all I did was cut my fabric 6.5x6.5 inches. This is going to be a mini pillow for my daughter's babies but I have a million more ideas circling in my head.

You just load your mat with the fabric on it the same way you would paper or anything else you are sketching on.

Set up your silhouette screen.  I just drew some Xs and Os really quick.  I was originally going to do this 12x12 so that's why there are so many extra. The font for this project is KG Be Still and Know found on Dafont.com. You are then going to want to set your settings to thickness of 1, speed whatever you want, I used 10.  And make sure sketch pen is selected. I also have it double cut but my marker is a little dried up.

 

Then watch it go! This is my favorite part. I always watch my machine work.

All done sketching!  Oh yeah, I should mention.  I grouped the two red ones and told them not to cut first and changed my pen out and reselected them and told them to cut and the black ones not to cut. Got that?

And here it is.  Just cut another piece of fabric and sew it to the back. Sewing would be a whole other tutorial, but it's really easy.  This still needs it's stuffing and the bottom closed, but for you all this is good enough.

 

So yeah, sketching on fabric...who knew?  I love it. I'm thinking muslin bags, more pillow designs, garden flags...got any more ideas for me?

 

Please take the time to visit these great sites for more project inspiration!

DIY Ironing Board Hanger by The Turquoise Home
Silhouette Challenge: Time Zone Bathroom Art by Nearly Handmade
Santa's Christmas Countdown by Tried & True
Nautical Anchor Pillow Tutorial by The Thinking Closet
Christmas Card Ornament with Free Cut File by unOriginalMom
Thanksgiving and Christmas Dual Sign by Architecture of a Mom
Itching to Etch by Get Silvered
Snowman Tag ~ Silhouette Challenge by Whats Next Ma
Thanksgiving Sign by Chicken Scratch NY
DIY Horse Silhouette Pillow by Rain on a Tin Roof
Sketching on Fabric by The Sensory Emporium
Paper Leaf Garland by Lil' Mrs. Tori
DIY Blessing Board - Silhouette Challenge by One Tough Mother
Christmas Pillow by Create & Babble
Glass Painting with Reverse Stencils by Givemeapaintbrush
Chalkboard Thankful Tree by Cutesy Crafts
Bottoms Up! MYO Wine Tag by From Wine to Whine
'Happy Holly-days' Tags for the Swap by An Elegant Touch...
Thank You for Dinner (Card) by Everyday Paper
DIY Flyleafs for Planners or Albums by The House on Hillbrook
Advent Star Christmas Countdown by My Favorite Finds
Geometric Fabric Bowls by Please Excuse My Craftermath...
Paper Carnival by Home At Eight
Silhouette Cameo Tutorial: Dual Sided Business Cards by Black and White Obsession
In Case of Emergency Baby Bag Tags by Tossed Salad Life
Christmas On My Mind by Creative Turn
Jingle all the Way! by My Paper Craze
Christmas Lights Garland by Making Home Base
We Are Thankful by 4 You With Love
Seattle Skyline Silhouette by Sowdering About in Seattle
DIY Stenciled Mugs by Coley's Corner

 

 

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