It's Here! It's Here! It's Here!

Finally! The Silhouette Cameo is in the house! I've had it for a whole week, and I am seriously in love with this machine! My husband calls it a romance, and I guess that is a fair description. I have been spending every spare moment  learning the software and playing with its capabilities. So far it has been a good experience. There is still so much to learn, but I feel like I am starting to get the hang of the software well enough to do some simple designing. I am so happy with this machine I am almost glowing :) Now if people would just quit talking to me, I could get some real work done! (It's a joke! I home school 4 children, my oldest is home from college, and life feels like one big never ending commotion!) To the inconvenience of everyone, I have set up shop on the kitchen table. My answer to dear hubby's question-- "Why are you up here when you have two tables in an office downstairs?"--"I need to at least half-way keep life and school and home going" (while I spend every moment I can with my new toy). The kitchen is "command central" in our home...so I set up shop in the middle of it all. Good thing the Cameo is so easy to set up and put away! I do not have it on the table when food is anywhere close!  And yes, my family thinks I have a mental illness :). If you craft, you understand!

First up are two cards from the Silhouette library. I like to see how other people put (design) things together...it is an easy way to learn (by copying).

This was the first card that caught my eye:

Isn't it amazing how much of a difference paper makes? The blue and teal combo looks similar to the color combos used on the example in the library. I did that one first, and then tried my own combo once I had thought through the process. That is my preferred way to learn and do...unless something just really jumps out at me. I added the "hello" sentiment to the card. I believe this is a Lori Whitlock design if you are interested. The pretty striped paper is  Echo Park "Le Ballet Du Grande". The rosy pink paper is the opposite side of the stripe paper. All the other colored paper is from the Echo Park "Hello Summer" 6x 6 paper pad. I cut out an extra square shape in white for the inside (since the inside of the card is the strip pattern).

This morning I found this tree cut out card by Alaa' K. I made one that looked like the example, and then thought...this would be way cuter done this way...

So the first is cut out of white cardstock and lined with the green Lily Bee Designs polka dot paper, and the second paper is the opposite...the green paper is cut out, with a white liner. The brown tree trunk paper is from The Little Yellow Bicycle "Saturdays" collection. The birds are something new for me...wood veneer shapes (from Studio Calico) that I colored red with Ranger Distress Ink in Fired Brick. Both sentiments on the two cards are rub-ons from SU! I love this card. What a great design!

Last, I have my first attempt at designing! It is very simple, but it makes a fun design. Most importantly I had fun designing it! This is why I wanted a Silhouette!

It's a flower...are you surprised?! :) That is the only thing on this card that is "mine", but all cuts are done with the Silhouette. So the flower is my design, the notebook border is by Echo Park (so is the yellow patterned paper, the butterfly is by Silhouette (one of the free images on the machine), and the "thanks" is Annabel Script. In six months I will probably look back at this card and wish I had never posted such an embarrassingly simple design...but today I am so proud of it I can't help but pat myself on the back! ;)

Thanks for humoring me as I begin playing with my Cameo! I haven't decided what to do with my Cricut and Gypsy, and shelves of cartridges...so much money tied up in it!

Comments

[Rebecca]

I love the two tree cards. What a great way to make the most of your paper. I'm thinking of several other cuts that this would work for. Thanks for the inspiration!