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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Box of Chocolates

I wanted to send my sister and niece some chocolates, among other things, for Christmas.  I found this really beautiful box of chocolates with matching embossed fabric bag at Costco.  I know nothing of the chocolates inside, but I was really taken by the packaging.  
Before I send the chocolates, I wanted to make a personalized tag.  And since it is chocolate, I decided to use one of my favorite phrases, "Chocolate doesn't ask stupid questions. Chocolate understands."  This phrase can equally be applied to a glass of wine but I digress. 
 I cut out a scrolled frame on my Silhouette from Bird's Cards. Then I printed the phrase using registration marks on a complimentary colored paper.
On the back I cut out a complementary frame on which I printed a Christmas greeting. Once the three papers were glued together I strung them from the handle on the bag.
I am not sure my sister or niece will find this amusing (or even recognize that the card is pretty unique).  But be that as it may, it made me happy.  Now for the rest of the family.

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3 comments:

  1. I too love using the free files that can be found at Birdscards.com. I have a question - for the chocolate phrase that you put on the card, you said you printed the phrase using registration marks on a complimentary colored paper. Can you explain more how you did that? And also how did you attach it to the card once you printed it? Thanks very much.

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  2. Sandy I wrote this really detailed reply and then it evaporated! I am so sad. The registration marks are used for the "print and cut" feature in Silhouette Studio. The official FAQ on the print and cut feature is found here http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/faq/solution/print-and-cut-feature but there are some awesome YouTube tutorials out there.

    Essentially in Silhouette Studio I laid the scroll work piece with the small square opening in the center over the plain square (for the blue/green paper in the middle of the tag sandwich). Once they were lined up just right I typed out my text in a font I liked off to the side. I filled the letters in black and changed the line color to black. Then I centered the lines of my phrase with each other then re-sized the whole phrase until it fit nice and neat inside the center square space.

    Carefully I moved the scroll word piece off the "cutting mat" so that just the phrase and the plain square were left. I changed the mat size to 8 1/2 x 11 which is the size of my blue/green paper. Then I went to the Registration Marks icon (top right, second one in from the right). With that menu opened I check the box "show reg marks". That made my cutting mat have the registration marks and some hash marks. You want to make sure the thing you want to send to the printer (not the cutter) is not touching the hash marks.

    I selected my words, and went to the Cut Style icon (looks like scissors) and set the words to "no cut". I then moved the plain square off without moving the phrase. I had the software print to my printer on the blue/green paper I had loaded into my printer. What came out was the phrase and the registration marks.

    Back on the computer I took the scroll worked piece with the small square center and positioned it around the phrase (careful not to move the phrase). Then I moved the plain square over the scroll worked piece so they all lined up beautifully. I then removed the scroll work piece from the "cutting mat" on the computer screen which left me with the phrase in the middle perfectly of the plain square.

    I put the printed blue/green paper on my mat and loaded my Silhouette Cameo, then I sent the square to be cut on my machine. When prompted by the software, tell it to detect the registration marks automatically. Once it successfully detects the registration marks tell it to cut. The square was cut out perfectly with the phrase right in the middle.

    Once I cut out the scroll work pieces I used a Martha Stewart glue pen to put tiny dabs of glue all over the back of the scroll work pieces. The Martha Stewart pen has a tiny tip so you can get very small drops of glue for this fine little work.

    I hope this is helpful and not to confusing!

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