Creative Guest: Silhouettes Tutorial by Twiddle Thumbs

Hi, it's Anisa from Twiddle Thumbs. I am so excited to be the Creative Guest on UCreate this week! Right now I have a new obsession that I would like to share with you. It all began when I found a cute frame at my local thrift store and painted it to go in my craft room. I put a piece of patterned scrapbook paper in the frame and it was cute... but something was missing. Then it dawned on me... I could put a vinyl image on the glass. I love owls (almost as much as Kari), so with the "Storybook" Cricut cartridge I cut this cute owl frame out of white vinyl and voila! Super cuteness to sit on a shelf in my craft room.

Later, on Black Friday, I went shopping for Cricut cartridges. I had 2 specific cartridges that I wanted, but the sale was 4/$100. In trying to find which others I would like, I came across "A Child's Year" and fell in love!!! It is full of silhouettes of kids. I went crazy and made a bunch these vinyl frame items that I sold at a craft boutique. You can see pictures of them here. And just recently, I made 6 of them for my boys' playroom. Vinyl Silhouette Tutorial Step 1: Get a picture frame, remove the glass and clean the frame. I purchase my frames from my local thrift store. Why pay more than $1 for a picture frame? Typically, I use 8x10 frames, but you could do any size.

Step 2: Spray the frame with primer. I don't like to sand, so I always use primer first. I usually use the Krylon brand. They sell a black primer that is perfect for me because I paint so many items black. It is hard to find, but I have found it at my local Smith's Marketplace.

Step 3: Paint the frame. I use spray paint.

Step 4: Distress the frame by sanding the edges.

Step 5: Spray a layer of clear spray paint over the whole frame.

Now for the vinyl part... Step 1: Select your image. I have a Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter, so I cut my vinyl with that. I like to cut my image on a scrap of paper first so that I can make sure it's the right size. Once you cut out your image, peel the excess vinyl off the outside and throw it away.

Step 2: Cut out a piece of transfer tape the size of your vinyl. Carefully peel the backing off the tape. Starting at the top of the vinyl, carefully lay the transfer tape on the vinyl and smooth down as you go.... This is a little tricky because you don't want to get bubbles in your vinyl.

Step 3: Once the transfer tape is on the vinyl, you should be able to peel the backing off the vinyl. Then, you can kind of eyeball where it's going to go on the glass. Then, starting at the top again, you're going to want to place it on the glass and smooth as you go down. You can just use your hand or something flat like a ruler or popsicle stick.

Step 4: Peel your transfer tape off and you image will be on the glass. If you did get any bubbles, those can usually be worked out with your popsicle stick or just by rubbing with your hand.

Step 5: Put the glass back in the frame. Then choose any type of patterned scrapbook paper to put behind the image and you're done!

Here is a picture of my boys' playroom with the silhouettes...

Here are a couple of close-ups...

As a thank you to Kari for letting me be a Creative Guest on UCreate, I will be sending this adorable Owl Silhouette out to her:)

-Anisa