Home is where the heart is

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First I disassembled the frame and cleaned it, and set the glass and frame aside. I placed the mat on a piece of trash paper and traced off the available image area.

In Adobe Illustrator

In Adobe Illustrator, I drew a rectangle the same size as that image area, and with a  little math figured how large each circle for the map cutout could/should be. The Align/Distribute panel is your friend here to get everything straight and even.

I exported my file as a DXF, since the basic version of Silhouette Studio® doesn’t support SVG files, but it does work with DXF files.

In Silhouette Studio

Setting up the mat size in the Design Page Settings area of Silhouette Studio first prevents cutting problems later. I’m going to cut this on some 80# smooth cover stock that is 9 x 11 inches. My frame is larger, but the heart cutout will be covered by this size paper, so it will be OK.

After bringing in the artwork, I centered it on the page, changed the cut settings for cover stock, and sent the file to cut.

Using the spatula tool, I carefully removed the excess paper circles- I save those, because you never know what they can become (fun fact – I have a glass jar on my desk labeled “weed” because that crafty double entendre will never stop being funny to me).

Actually, I found a use for those circles right away. I used them as my guide for cutting the map sections. I placed the circles over the city name on the atlas, and then drew a pen line wider all around to give me wiggle room when taping them to the back of the circle cutout panel. I cut them as square-ish shapes because round is more difficult, and the back will never show.

Since this isn’t an archival quality project, I used clear packing tape to hold the squares to the back of that panel.

After I reassembled the frame, I went back to Silhouette Studio and set up a new file to cut self adhesive vinyl. My vinyl is 12 x 12, and I don’t use a mat when I cut it, so that’s how I set up the design page settings.

I used the type tool to set the word “Home” in a big, pretty script font.

Quick tip #1: Don’t make life difficult for yourself by choosing a thin typeface with lots of squiggly details. Those are difficult to cut, and even more difficult to weed and transfer. My adhesive vinyl mantra is go big or go home.

 

Quick tip #2: When you cut self adhesive vinyl, add a box around your work. Weed that first, and then go back and weed any counters (the inside of letters like “e”). That helps keep big pieces of vinyl from sticking to your work in progress.

Before sending the vinyl to cut, make sure to move the right guide on the Silhouette Cameo in so that it rolls on the vinyl. It’s smaller than the cutting mat and if you don’t move it, the vinyl will roll in very, very crooked.

Use transfer tape to lift the vinyl off the carrier sheet. Be patient during this step. I use a scraper tool and rub everything several times. And then I lift carefully, rescraping/rubbing anything that isn’t lifting correctly.

Glass needs to be squeaky clean to have vinyl adhere to it easily. Isopropyl alcohol works great (and I happen to have a bunch of those little foil packets of alcohol wipes left over from a medical drama). Wait for the alcohol to dry, and then position the lettering where you want it.

Getting vinyl straight can be a bummer. Staring at crooked words on an otherwise lovely craft is an even bigger bummer. My trick here – Don’t Do It!

I purposely placed this art at an angle so I wouldn’t have to worry about it being straight.

 

Patience is required again here to get the vinyl off the transfer tape and onto the glass. It’s basically the same work as before – rub, rub, rub and rub some more. And then carefully test, and rub even more if necessary. I often use the other end of my hook tool to rub really stubborn parts when needed.

This just now needs to be hung on a wall and enjoyed. And if we ever move again, I’ll just take it apart, add another cutout circle and reassemble!