My inspiration from this card came from a project I saw in “Creative Cut Cards” by Lark Crafts (not an affiliate link or paid endorsement)
I usually create my Adobe Illustrator file to be the same size as the panel I am creating for the final piece. That lets me see how much room I have to work with.
When making cards, you need to think about your envelope first. Unless you want to create your own envelopes, go with a standard size.
In this case, I have some colorful A2 envelopes already. The internet says a 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch panel fits in that envelope.
I usually start my projects by finding a piece of clip art that is similar to the final design I’m going for. Most people (myself included) insist they cannot draw. And it’s kind of true. I can’t. But I can trace, and I can edit. Once you look at digital clip art image you can break it down to the parts you need.
Above, you can see I only wanted the outside petal part of the flower. And I duplicated and adjusted so that the cut lines didn’t touch – I want the petals to be curled out, not cut through the stock.
After I set up my artwork, I exported it as a DXF file. The basic version of Silhouette Studio® doesn’t support SVG files, but it does work with DXF files.
Switching to Silhouette Studio, I set up a Studio file that used the standard 12 inch x 12 inch Cameo mat with a 8.5 inch x 11 inch sheet of paper. Setting those two items up first makes it less likely to forget before you send to cut.
I drew a rectangle vaguely the size I needed for the outside of my card cutline, and then switched to the Scale Menu, where after I unchecked the “Lock Aspect” box I could put in the exact size I wanted. A folded A2 card is going to be 8.5 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide.
I then drew a line just a little narrower than 5.5 inches wide. With that line selected, I switched to the Line Style Menu and chose a dashed pattern. That’s going to create a simple score line for my card.
Scoring is the process of lightly cutting or denting card stock so that it folds without cracking.
I then selected the outline of my card shape and holding down the shift key, also selected the score line. From the Align Menu I chose center, which puts the score line centered to my card outline.
I then merged in my DXF file.
Choosing File > Merge brings the new artwork into the existing file. If you choose File > Open, then that artwork opens in another window and you’ll have to cut and paste it back into your card file.
Once my flowers were in the Studio, I moved them to where I wanted them. I switched to the Cut Settings menu to make sure everything I wanted to cut had a red line on it. And then I changed the cut settings for the card stock I was using. I used 80# cover stock, and lately, cutting on a blade of 4, speed of 3, thickness of 25 has been working well. My blade is getting old so your settings many vary.
I put the paper on the mat, loaded my Silhouette Cameo and then sent the file to cut. When it was finished, I unloaded the mat and began weeding.
Weeding is the process of removing the extra material from your design.
The paper outside the card cutline peeled away easily. I often find it’s easier to remove the mat from smaller pieces (instead of the more traditional remove the pieces from the mat technique). To do that, flip the mat over and peel back slowly – you might need a spatula to get it going.
Once I had the final piece weeded, I cut an inside front panel from colored paper. You can use the Silhouette to do this, or a paper cutter. Cut the colored panel a little smaller than the inside front panel to give yourself a little wiggle room when applying.
I used double stick tape around the edges of the colored panel. I find it helpful to use the hook tool to get the carrier paper peeled off the tape. When you adhere the colored panel to the inside front of the card, go slow, because you only get one shot at getting it centered.
Finally, carefully curl the flower petals away from the card and let the colored panel show underneath.
