Silhouette

After creating the JOY Book Page banner over Christmas I couldn’t wait for Valentines Day to get around, so I could run with the idea again! So, if you are thinking this project is looks familiar, you are right. The last banner was so simple and lovely…why not make another?

If you would like detailed instructions for how to create your own you can visit this post. However, you can look and see it’s pretty simple. I used dictionary pages again, but added doilies and washi tape this time around.

It’s final resting place is above a little Valentine vignette in the kitchen that includes this LOVE printable and a cupcake liner topiary from back in the early blogging days (please don’t judge the terrible photography, I hadn’t met my friend Nikon yet).

Have you created any projects lately with book pages? The possibilities are endless!

More Valentine Ideas from A Step in the Journey

Enter an extraordinary giveaway here!!

. . . . .

I am EXCITED about this post! This discovery could be life changing for me…I don’t know if anyone else out there has made it, but if you have you can understand my JOY!

I love stenciling backgrounds onto my painted wooden signs. It gives each piece an extra dimension in mere minutes! In the past I’ve done this with vinyl. Each time I want to stencil a design, I’ve cut it with my Silhouette, peeled away the excess, used the transfer tape, and then peeled it away before painting.

This is the technique I used on this end table.

This is a great strategy if you ask me. However, it feels wasteful because once I’ve painted, I have to throw the vinyl away. And if I want to paint a new sign with the same patter,

I must start ALL over!

Well my friends, NOT ANYMORE

) Can you see my ear to ear grin????

While in Hobby Lobby the other day I came across a product I had NO IDEA exsisted. I’m not sure whether I’ve been living in my own craft bubble or it’s a new item, but I snatched it up immediately.

Stencil ~~SHEETS~~ Blanks from Show Offs!

And do you see that price?????

ONLY $2.99 for FOUR sheets!

Now, at the time I wasn’t sure if the Silhouette was up for the challenge & at first, well to be honest she wasn’t. However, she tends to blame it on user error!

After a couple of efforts I found the recipe for stencil success!

First, you’ll probably need the new Silhouette blade. It has the ability to

REALLY DIG DEEP! I twisted to a level 6.

After choosing your design in Silhouette Studio, choose the cut setting for the magnet paper.

(Make sure when choosing a stencil you remember at some point all the areas need to be connected, for example letters might not be the best choice due to random fill-ins like the circle in the middle of an O.)

After choosing the magnet paper, you’ll need to up the thickness to 30 & click the blade over to the 6.

Cut.

Now in some spots it has cut all the way through, where other spots it’s close but not there quite yet! However, lucky for us it is perforated enough that it will pull away pretty cleanly.

So….peel away slowly. Sometimes I used my exacto knife to get things going…