Thank you to Silhouette for sponsoring this post, all opinions are my own

As many of you know by now, I am expecting my third child in less than two weeks. Yes…two weeks! I’m getting excited, but also a tad bit nervous. I always seem to start freaking out about the this time because I am a worrywart.

I have been worried about the birth in general, but also about how my older kids will handle everything. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to make them feel a little extra special once their new baby sister arrives. The day of her birth is about the new baby, but I don’t want my kids to feel like they are being left out or will be attended to less just because we have a new baby in the house.

Big Brother and Big Sister Gifts are hard to find!

Finding a gift bag for ‘Big Brother’ or ‘Big Sister’ was another thing entirely. There aren’t really that many options to be honest, so I figured this would be the perfect time for me to try out my new Silhouette Cameo. I just received the machine a couple of weeks ago and have been itching to try it out.

I have never used a cutting tool before and am very new to these types of projects so I was pretty nervous. I wanted a simple project to start and this seemed perfect. I ended up with some really cute gift bags for my kids that we will give to them as soon as the baby arrives.

Frozen big brothersister

Using the Silhouette Cameo

Trust me when I say, if I can use this machine anyone can! I am not what one would consider an overly crafty person by nature. I like to do crafts and projects as long as they aren’t too time consuming — because lets face it, with three kids and two jobs time is short. I also look for projects that don’t have a huge learning curve. I will admit, when I first got the Cameo I was a little intimidated, but a few YouTube Videos later and I was ready to rock and roll!

Creating Big Brother and Big Sister gift bags with adhesive vinyl

Step 1: Using Silhouette Studio, design your text. You can choose from many font options and I decided to do each lettering set a little different. I also chose to keep the words ‘big’ and ‘brother’/’sister’ separate since it wasted less vinyl that way. You can choose to cut them out in a complete sentence so transferring is easier to line-up, but I hate wasting even the tiniest bit of material, so I chose to transfer each word individually.

silhouette cutting vinyl step 1

Step 2: Insert the vinyl into your Silhouette and let the machine cut out your design. So simple! Once it is cut, all you need to do is remove the extra material from around your lettering by peeling away the large portions. For the pieces stuck in the letters you will probably need a weeding tool to pop out the vinyl. I love the Silhouette hook for this. I purposely chose lettering that wasn’t very intricate for my first design simply so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time weeding, and I wanted to make sure it would turn out since I had never done this before!

Silhouette step 2 weeding vinyl

Step 3:  Use transfer tape or contact paper to remove the vinyl from the backing so you can transfer it. It has been suggested in many of the tutorials I have seen that you remove some of the ‘stickiness’ from the contact paper by rubbing it on a pillow or similar. I didn’t and it worked fine, but perhaps for more intricate designs? Also, you should have some sort of scraping tool to make sure the vinyl is completely adhered to your transfer tape prior to trying to remove it. You will use this same tool when applying to your medium.

silhouette step 3 transferring vinyl

Step 4: Simply take your design which is now on your transfer tape and apply it to your medium. Use the scraping tool to make sure it adheres before trying to lift the tape away. I was simply adding vinyl to some very basic gift bags. It worked like a charm!

silhouette step 4 applying vinyl

I can’t wait to give these gift bags to my kids, and of course for our new baby to arrive! In the meantime I felt really inspired and confident after making this very easy project. So much so that I decided to tackle another right away.

Second Silhouette Project Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek at the custom travertine tile coaster sets I made for my in-laws. My father-in-law is a huge International Harvester fan so I made those for him, and for my sister-in-law I made a simple monogrammed tile with her and her husband’s last initial.

travertine tile coasters silhouette vinyl

With so many great uses for my Silhouette Cameo; from making your own cards, etching glass, to custom apparel and more, I am completely hooked! I just love how functional this machine is and all the great things I can make for myself. I can’t wait to tackle my next project.

To find out more about the Silhouette Cameo or Portrait, visit the Silhouette website. You will find information on the products, project ideas, and so much more!

Super Silhouette Holiday Sale

Check back starting November 28th at 12:01 am EST when I will be posting the amazing Holiday Specials for the Silhouette store. I was told this is the best sale they have ever had so you definitely don’t want to miss it!

 

So tell us… 

What would you create with your Silhouette? Do you already have one…share a project with us in the comments!