Turns out I can do two brainless activities at the same time: watch people pass out on American Idol, and glue small stacks of paper together. I made these pendants last night. Like the pixel heart version, I created a design in Adobe Illustrator, cut a dozen shapes out of cardstock using my Silhouette cutting machine, and glued them into a stack. When the glue dries, the pendant is hard and strong. Each of these is about 2" tall and 1/8" thick. See here for a slightly more detailed how-to. In the geometric pendant in the first photo above, I sandwiched two "filler" shapes in the center of the pile to add some solid areas.
To download the template files (PDF, .svg, and .dxf for the Silhouette machine), click here.
Love them Jessica! My favorite is the stacked cubes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man!
ReplyDeleteNo way I can cut these by hand (and a Silhouette is not in the budget right now). Any chance of adding them to the store?
ReplyDeleteAww... how cool!! Where'd you get all those brains, anyway?! I think they bypassed me!
ReplyDeleteCarrie, if you mean my Etsy shop, it's been closed for a long time. Sorry about that!
ReplyDeleteMum, what are you talking about? You send email from your iPad with one hand while operating your sewing machine with the other.
These are SO cool!
ReplyDeleteHaha... that's almost true! (I'm hand sewing a mouse at the moment, though.) But I always have to have a pattern... you make up your own cool stuff.
ReplyDeleteNot sewing patterns. That would make my brain explode.
ReplyDeleteMine, too, for that matter! I'd never be able to MAKE one!
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing designs and so creative. Great work!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.etsy.com/shop/sweeteststrawberry
Oh, the possibilities. Might look into a Silhouette. You sure have fun with yours!
ReplyDeleteJess and Grandma G, my mum and I have bought a book about drafting your own sewing patterns. It's by Cal Patch, and it's meant for amateurs. We haven't actually done any yet but we've both had a read through and it looks do-able without any neurological pyrotechnics.
ReplyDeleteThe card pendants look very cool!
At this point, I'm quite content letting somebody else make the patterns, but who knows down the road? ;)
ReplyDeleteThe big question, though, Nina, is.... has your mum made that Hipster for you yet??? ;)
This is so great ! Thank you for sharing ! I think I'll make my own soon with my own geometric doodles ^^
ReplyDeleteThose are so cute! You're really making me want a Silhouette.
ReplyDeleteAmazing.. totally gonna make some for myself :)
ReplyDeletethank you so much for inspiration and I just want to say that your blog is the most awesome blog I have ever seen :)
Wow, thanks much!
ReplyDeleteWhen the DVR cut the show off before the girl fell offstage last week, my boyfriend and I were like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Because of course they wouldn't show an entire hour of previews of this happening and then not actually show it, right? But they did. And it was so frightening the next night when they actually did show it. But then she was fine. And I was pretty disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI would like to order you and your mom. You could sit in my kitchen, have entertaining conversations and make your fabulous stuff.
ReplyDeleteSilhouette cutting machine? wow I'll google it.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Wow, I've never had anyone want to order me before! Order me 'around', maybe..... ;)
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty expensive as a team, though. ;)
So true. You'd need really big box, and the shipping might be exorbitant.
ReplyDeleteLove your ideas. And who knew there was a machine that cut your ideas out of card stock?
ReplyDeleteI made the stacked cubes and two hearts after work waiting for my ride. I cut with scissors and a thumb tack.... I was waiting for a while. When I got home I colored them with highlighters and nail lacquer. They look great!! Thanks for the fantastic idea!
ReplyDeleteHow cool!! Glad I found your blog ~ I'm a new follower! Best,
ReplyDeleteAnne
Wow, these might push me over the edge to buy a Silhouette. I've been wanting one for a while now. Really simple and lovely! One thing I've been wondering about...is it really as easy as saving designs from Adobe Illustrator to a .svg file? And how does one make a .studio file (like in your pixel heart post)? I'm computer savvy, but a few pointers in the right direction would be appreciated! I love your blog - thanks so much for brightening our days!
ReplyDeleteI love them! Without the cutting machine, these would be madness-inducing to make ;)
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog even MORE now that I met you at Alt. And can picture your head above the shoulders in the photo. :) Such a cute necklace. Would make fantastic and affordable party favors for kids. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThese are fabulous!
ReplyDeletegisstudio, I have a free plug-in I downloaded that lets me cut directly from Illustrator to the Sihouette machine, bypassing Studio completely.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, you can save an Illustrator file as a dxf and Silhouette Studio will open it and cut it. (This gets a little glitchy sometimes, so be sure to ungroup first in Illustrator and then paste your design into a new document before saving as a dxf. Don't know why this works, but it does.)
In the pixel heart post, I made the .studio file a different way. I filled the heart with black (including the hole) and saved it as a png from Illustrator. I opened the png in Studio and used the trace function to make the outline. Then drew the hole back in using the rectangle shape tool in Studio. Grouped them and copied them.
A note--the trace function only works decently on shapes that are filled. It goes haywire when you try to trace an item with holes cut out of the inside. You have to trace the holes separately and put them back into the main shape.
Tracing a png results in red cut lines with vector points. Opening a dxf file will show black lines with no vector points, but they will still cut.
Hope that helps!
What lovely pendants!!
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't got a silhouette machine...
ReplyDeleteTry making these from shrink plastic (shrinkles is one brand name).
You draw them 3 times the size, cut them out, shrink them in the oven, they'll be small and perfectly formed.
Colour them with pencil before baking or paints after.
That is a very excellent idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I love the bubble one best!(black bubbles) so cute!
ReplyDeleteThis make me wish I had a Silhouette..
ReplyDeleteThese are so neat!! You are VERY talented! What type of glue did you use to put them together?
ReplyDeleteTombow Mono Aqua. You can see it in this post.
ReplyDeleteLove these so much, Jess! Can't wait to try them out! Thanks a bunch! :)
ReplyDeleteJessica
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed answer on the file types! -Ann
This is so cool. Pinning it.
ReplyDeletebeautiful!
ReplyDeleteI have a Silhouette, but am struggling with opening the file to print it. I read the posts above, but am still confused. Please help if you can! Lynette
ReplyDeleteHi Lynette,
ReplyDeleteAfter you download and unzip the zipped folder, inside you'll find .pdf, .svg, and .dxf files for the various designs. Launch Silhouette Studio, then File > Open and choose a .dxf file. The shapes should appear in your window (the lines will be black, not red this time).
If you're not sure how to unzip a file, this should help.
http://www.netsquirrel.com/articles/zip.html
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2289/2363982079_b775f34530_z.jpg
ReplyDeleteCargolux logo fans... nice.
Hey, what do you know!
ReplyDeleteThe pendants look gorgeous! I love the patterns and the colors! They would even make a good scrapbooking embellishment! Heading to the detailed tutorial! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnnabella Merlin
Creative Photo Albums
I'm thinking of buying a silhouette cameo. Mostly, I'm seeing really positive reviews but I've also been seeing some negative. Mostly they center around the blades and mats not lasting very long. What has your experience been? Do you love your machine?
ReplyDeleteI don't use it all that often, so I haven't had to change a blade or mat yet. I can imagine that happening, though, esp. if you cut multiples of the same shape. The mat gets grooves etched in it where the blade travels. I do think it's a really cool machine and lets you make things that would be impossible to cut by hand. I like it a lot.
ReplyDeleteGeniales creaciones con PAPEL!!
ReplyDelete