my first silhouette project [a tutorial]
my in-laws visited recently. the kids love doing crafts with grandma. this visit they made sand art in mini wine bottles. luckily, grandma sacrificed and drank all 5 single-serving bottles of wine so each grand kid would have their own container to create their art. ;) tee hee.
here's proof of how crazy things have been: i ordered and received my brand-spankin' new silhouette and i've barely had time to plug it in.
yep, i've officially joined the aren't-you-jealous-of-all-the-things-i-can-create-with-my-sweet-silhouette club and was booted from the i-hate-you-and-your-freakin'-craft-cutter-but-secretly-i-love-looking-at-all-your-awesome-creations club.
i learned the secret handshake and everything.
so, i was fiddling with the silhouette and sent a piece of copy paper through to cut the kids' names...just as a practice. no project in mind. went to bed. [insert sun setting, then rising, and a rooster crowing here]
after grandma and the kids had their sand art fun the next day, we put 2 and 2 together and ta-da...the first silhouette project was born: personalized sand art.
here's how to make yours:
step one: drink wine :)
pick your favorite *mini* bottle of wine, enjoy, rinse, remove label, air dry. this stands about 7 inches tall and holds 187ml. they come in 4 packs at my local grocery stores.
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step two: create sand art
buy a kit (michael's or hobby lobby - don't forget to use a coupon!) or purchase a variety of colored sand and a funnel.
pour the sand to create layers.
push a chopstick or skewer down the sides to add a little detail. hold the bottle at an angle to create diagonal layers. be creative!
tip: run a thin line of hot glue along the inside edge of the screw on top to secure the lids.
step three: cut your letters
this can certainly be done by hand, but the nifty silhouette sd makes quick work of it.
use a name, a shape, initial, anything your little one wants. because we had the names on hand (from my practice round), that's what we used.
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| my first attempt at the silhouette sd (using a free font i found online) |
step four: mod podge it
dry arrange your cut outs before you stick them so you can be sure to like the placement.
tip: try to keep your sand art upright as much as possible. tipping it causes the sand to move and may change your little one's artistic masterpiece.
then using a paint brush (we used a 1 1/2 inch one that was in our junk drawer) to brush a little mod podge on the glass as a base layer.
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| the magic goop |
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| brush on as glue to stick your letters, shapes, etc. |
stick the cut outs on the mod podge being careful to arrange them the way you want. you can move them a bit, but if you use thin (copy) paper like we did, it might tear.
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| the first letter |
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| lookin' good so far |
gently brush mod podge on top of the cut outs. smooth any wrinkles or other imperfections with a skewer, toothpick, your fingers, etc.
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| had to smooth out a few wrinkles as we went along |
step five: touch up
use a wet paper towel to carefully clean up any excess mod podge. get as close as you can without disturbing the cut out. this step is not necessary; the mod podge dries clear. but i found it gives your project a nice finished look.
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| look closely to see the clean edge |
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| this one is ready for wine time, er, i mean drying time. ;) |
step six: drink more wine while it dries
when dry, add another layer of mod podge. repeat step five (clean up with wet paper towel). let dry for a couple hours.
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| adding second layer of mod podge |
optional step seven: repeat step one. ;)
here's how they turned out! awesome, huh? the kids were thrilled!
