My Silhouette Cameo

Although I was perfectly happy with my Silhouette SD, I just couldn't resist the temptation and went ahead and purchased the Silhouette Cameo last November. Great decision!!! As good as the Silhouette SD was, Silhouette America found ways to improve the great machine. For one, I find it much quieter. It does cut better. And the wider cutting area gives me so much more flexibility for larger designs such as boxes and envelopes. And it helps me save on paper as I use 12" x 12" paper pads a lot. I just love the 'pause' button on the machine, for one, to put my cutting on hold while checking the initial cuts so I can adjust my cut settings if necessary. You can use both the 12-inch and 8-inch mats. 

I always use 2 books, one at the front and another at the back, to level my mat while cutting to keep the paper stuck on the mat. Without these, there is a tendency for the paper to separate from the mat. 

Just like my Silhouette SD, I made a cover for my Cameo. My next post will feature a tutorial on how to make your own cover to protect your machine from dust.

Don't forget to check out my new cards on my previous posts. 

UPDATE: October 30, 2013

Wheeew, I can't believe that it has already been 2 years since I bought my beloved Silhouette Cameo. I can proudly tell you that I'm still loving it as much as I did two years ago, if not more :-). I'm really very happy with this machine. Just take a look at all the cards that I have created with it. And with my CB09 blade holder, my Cameo produces amazing clean and perfect cuts.

For my followers in the Philippines, you will be pleased to know that I do sell the Silhouette Cameo machine and its accessories along with other craft tools and machines like the Sizzix Big Shot machine, the Cuttlebug machine plus other craft supplies like cardstocks (solids and pattern), lots of dies by Spellbinders, Marianne Designs, and Quickutz, Martha Stewart punches and whole lot more. For inquiries, you can email me at ligayatg at yahoo dot com (no spaces) or just leave a comment on this post with your email address.

For the Silhouette owners in the Philippines, please join our Facebook group where you can enjoy valuable tips and information on the use of the different models of the Silhouette machine and its software, both the basic Silhouette Studio and the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition (SSDE).

For more resources on the Silhouette machines and its software Silhouette Studio, visit my Pinterest board for tons of tutorials.

Ornate Heart Frame

I was struck by the beauty and elegance of the original of this card the minute I saw it that I ended up doing something I've never done before. I just wanted to have exactly the same card so I ended up recreating the card 'as is' copying every detail from its color, size and down to every detail on the card. This is my very first copycat card! I've done mono-chromatic cards before and I love them. I saw the original of this card from Pinterest on Gerry Brow's board which led me to the blog of its creator:
http://creativemomentswithsandy.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-02-01T11:13:00-05:00&max-results=10

The beautiful ornate heart frame is a punch by Cheery Lynn Designs called Celtic Heart. I came up with the idea of putting a sentiment on the negative of the punched heart. I applied the 'faux chipboard' technique on the heart frame by gluing 3 layers of the cutout to make it sturdy, thus, creating a great 3D effect.

Items used for the card:

1. Card stock - very light peach, with a bit of
    shimmer (purchased from a local store here)
2. Heart Frame - punch by Cheery Lynn Designs:
                         Celtic Heart
3. Embossing folders used:
    a) Top:  Fiskars Texture Template - Hearts
    b) Bottom:  Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Musical Flourish
4. Border - Silhouette store: lace_border_C00277_17986
5. Flourish (leaves) - Silhouette store: leaves_corner_set_C00262_21585
     I removed the ring in the middle and cut the leaves in half to save on paper space when cutting
     so the 2 leaves are actually 2 pieces instead of just one  - the joint is covered by the silk flower.
     I used the manual embossing technique to add dimension on the leaves. This technique is
     explained on my Mother's Day card posted last year:
    http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2011/04/mothers-day-card.html
6. Flower - is just an ordinary silk flower that I bought from a local store here

I recreated the card using pattern paper by K & Company. Both the old rose color scheme and the yellow color scheme are from the same paper pad called 'Julianne'. Please note that K & Company carries another paper pad by the same exact name 'Julianne' Designer Paper which has more blues in it and comes in a pad of 54 double sided sheets. The 'Julianne' pad that I used is called Specialty Paper and has only 28 double sided sheets.

The designs used for the yellow scheme card:

 1. Flower - Silhouette store: flower_0108
2. Flourish - Silhouette store: combination of 2 designs:
                    a) decorative_leaf_cluster_C00530_19210
                    b) house_of_3_swirly_flourish_C00073_23444

I used the same manual embossing technique (mentioned above) to add dimension on the flourishes.

The bottom paper of both the old rose and yellow card were embossed using the same Cuttlebug embossing folder Musical Flourish' used on the mono-chromatic card.

Please check out my new previous posts. I'm most definitely back!

Thanks for stopping by.

Camera Card

My dear goddaughter asked me the favor of making this card for her special friend for the 7th year that they have known each other. She wanted the perfect card for the occasion but couldn't find anything close to what she wants. I just couldn't say no when she asked me although I was a bit apprehensive as I don't really enjoy making cards for men and worse, I don't even know the guy. She mentioned that her friend is just crazy over a camera that he recently purchased and I thought of evolving my design  concept with the camera.

I created a JPEG file of the particular model of the camera from the Olympus website and printed the photos of the camera, front and back, and inserted an actual photo of the two of them on the camera display. I created a backing with a fold that I inserted between the front and back of the camera so that the camera can easily be flipped to show the back just as you would with a real camera. She gave me the exact wordings for the sentiment of the card which I put on a simple tag hanging on the front just like a price tag. The 'Picture Perfect' sentiment was my idea which was my original design to give more emphasis on their beautiful friendship.The camera alone was too plain so I added the corner borders, the simplest I can create. The biggest challenge in creating this card was how to make it simple and 'manly' without making it look boring which is always the difficulty in making cards for men. It's no fun making a card without all the frills and embellies that we all love to add.

I was actually very pleased with how the card turned out and more importantly, my goddaughter was extremely happy with the card. 

More Graduation Cards

It's graduation season once again so I've been very busy with graduation cards. For those who have not seen my graduation card, please see my post http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2011/04/graduation-cap-card.html

For the color of the cap, I always use the actual school color of my recipient or sometimes the actual color of their graduation cap. here are some of the cards that I recently made:

I Chose The Silhouette Cameo!!!

I can't believe that my last post was last January! I've been getting some e-mail inquiring what I've been up to as I haven't had any activity on my blog for 3 months. I actually have not stopped creating cards, in fact, I've actually been keeping my Cameo quite busy as I've been enjoying it sooooo much! 

Yes, after the long struggle between the Zing and the Cameo, I ended up with the Cameo and I just love it! I just think that the Cameo cuts so much better than my replaced Silhouette SD. I'm still not giving up on the Zing though as I still want a stronger cutting force to be able to cut thicker materials. I simply chickened out while reading all the negative reviews about the Zing by the early owners late last year. I'm impressed by how Sandy and her group were handling the situation and how diligently they were addressing each and every issue. I've also heard about a lot of happy owners and like I said, I haven't given up on it yet :).

Before I purchased the Cameo, I made a research to make sure that my CB09 blade holder, otherwise known as the aluminum blade holder, which worked perfectly with the Silhouette SD, would also work just as well with the Cameo. I was told by a couple of Silhouette dealers that it does. And the GREAT NEWS is, I've tried it myself and it REALLY DOES work with the Cameo!!! Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance! I've been using my Cameo since November and have always used my CB09 blade holder with it. PLEASE NOTE that although I did have a problem with the ratchet blade that came with my Cameo, I was able to get a replacement for it immediately and I never had any problem with the replacement blade sent to me, in fact, I actually love the much improved Silhouette ratchet blade holder as it cuts just as well as my aluminium blade holder. It truly cuts like butter. I’m inclined to think that the kind of blade used in the Silhouette ratchet blade holder is just the same as the blades used for aluminum blade holder. The only reason why I opted to use the aluminium blade holder is because the blades are a fraction of the cost of the Silhouette blades and last longer. I reserve using my Silhouette ratchet blade for cutting 'sticker paper' which I use for labels. The setting of "1" is perfect for cutting the sheets and other very light paper. I don't want to bother adjusting the setting of my CB09 blade holder which I use for pretty much the same weight of card stock for my card making, from 180 gsm, mostly 220 gsm up to 230 gsm.

I've compiled all the information regarding the aluminum blade holder and will be writing a separate post detailing all the information. I know that this will be greatly appreciated by a lot of Silhouette SD and Cameo users who want to know more about alternative blades for one reason or another. I know that I promised this a long time ago but never got around into doing it until now. I'll just be posting some of the cards that I've been doing and then I will work on the aluminum blade holder post.

Hello everyone..... I'm definitely back :).

UPDATE: October 30, 2013

I completely forgot about this post, sorry! For those wondering about the CB09 blade holder, I did post a detailed report on this aluminum blade holder.

Wheeew, I can't believe that it has already been 2 years since I bought my beloved Silhouette Cameo. I can proudly tell you that I'm still loving it as much as I did two years ago, if not more :-). I'm really very happy with this machine. Just take a look at all the cards that I have created with it. And with my CB09 blade holder, my Cameo produces amazing clean and perfect cuts.

For my followers in the Philippines, you will be pleased to know that I do sell the Silhouette Cameo machine and its accessories along with other craft tools and machines like the Sizzix Big Shot machine, the Cuttlebug machine plus other craft supplies like cardstocks (solids and pattern), lots of dies by Spellbinders, Marianne Designs, and Quickutz, Martha Stewart punches and whole lot more. For inquiries, you can email me at ligayatg at yahoo dot com (no spaces) or just leave a comment on this post with your email address.

For the Silhouette owners in the Philippines, please join our Facebook group where you can enjoy valuable tips and information on the use of the different models of the Silhouette machine and its software, both the basic Silhouette Studio and the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition (SSDE).

For more resources on the Silhouette machines and its software Silhouette Studio, visit my Pinterest board for tons of tutorials.

Christmas Card 2011

Sorry, I'm very late in posting my Christmas card for 2011. I actually finished the card early December and was able to mail them on time. I was so worried about snail mail and was very relieved to be told by the recipients that they did get them before Christmas.

I used acetate (also called transparency film) for the base of the card to which I adhered the bling-bling embellies. The Christmas ornaments design is a set from the Silhouette store. The flourish is originally from the Silhouette store, too, which I recreated by duplicating the design and mirroring it and welded the 2 sides to a tag to turn it into a flourished tag. I used DCWV Mango Frost for the ornaments.

A Decorated Keepsake Box

Everybody just loves the decorated index card box (http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html) that I made for my friend and my niece requested me to make one for her. So here is another decorated box that I made for my niece, Tata, which she will use for her keepsakes.

I used my new Silhouette Cameo for all the designs on this box. I just love my Cameo!!! I used the same daisy flower design (tutorial on my post:  http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2011/04/3d-flowers.html) that I used on Benjie's box. I used plain cream card stock for the flowers which I sprayed with my homemade glimmer mist (http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2011/04/homemade-glimmer-mist.html) to match the colors of the pattern paper (DCWV) that I used to cover the box. I used the glimmer mists that I made back in August and I was impressed that the quality and consistency of the mists remained the same. 

I would like to be able to make keepsake boxes for my other nieces, too.