Using My Silhouette To Cut Transparencies

Well, I took the plunge a few hours ago and finally used the OHP transparencies I had bought last week.  I was terrified that the transparencies would ruin my laser printer…my new laser printer at that too.  So I hummed and harred (is that really a  word?) for about an hour, loaded the feed with the transparent film twice, and then backed away.  I told my family I was about to do this, and my husband say “here, let me have a look”.  All I thought was, “thank God I have someone to blame when it bursts into flames”.  Then he had a bit of a look and hit the print button and …  no flames!

I printed the pink butterflies first and loved the result.  I just sat there and looked at them for a little while.  Really nice.  If you have a laser printer you have to make sure that the film that you put into it is for laser printers and not not not for ink jet printers.  Okay! You no load inkjet stuff into laser printer.  No.

So anyway, I am using the print and cut feature on my Silhouette Cameo machine.  I have the design software and I don’t really know if you need that software to use the print and cut or if you can print and cut without it.  If you haven’t used the print and cut on your Cameo before you probably should start with a print and cut image that you get from the Silhouette Store.  And when you have practised on that then you should go to You Tube and watch some tutorials on how to make you own print and cut files.  It really is very easy.  That is one thing I would say about the software for the Silhouette Cameo…it is easy to learn, I am serious, I am certainly not good at these types of things but I have picked this up very quickly.

So I created a print and cut file of the butterfly and printed it onto the transparency and cut…well it almost cut, so before I unloaded it I sent it through the machine again to get a better cut and shouldn’t have, because the cutting mat I had it on was not very tacky and the plastic butterflies came off the mat and got stuck in my machine.  It didn’t take much to get them out but I did panic a tiny bit.  I was thinking about how I could fix this as my mats aren’t very sticky, and then it came to me…my very first cutting mat…the mat that I tried to fix by painting repositionable glue on, the mat that became so super sticky that nothing would lift off that bloody thing, nothing…so it would be perfect for this little project.

I ran the next set of butterflies through the printer then placed them on my super sticky cutting mat and it did not move at all.  I am so glad I didn’t through it away, it came in very handy.  So moral to this story…don’t throw out the mat you stuffed up when you were trying to save it…you might just need it one day.

Well, the butterflies became something very pretty.  I cut a notch in the butterfly and attached each butterfly to a tea bag.  They sit magically on the side of a cup of tea and just look super sweet.  And of course they needed a cute little box to put them in, so the butterflies now reside in a cute little pillow box awaiting new homes.  They have been on my Facebook page for an hour so far, and I’ve got three orders for them.  Yay!  Most of my sales come from my Facebook page click here, but I have also put them in my Etsy store too, if you would like to have a look just click here.  Items are made to order, and dispatch in 1 – 2 business days.

Feel free to tell me what you think by comments or message on Facebook as well.  I am thinking about a give away on my Facebook page soon, the give away will be anything from the Etsy store, so hit like and don’t miss out!

Thanks guys.  Don’t forget to like and share and comment.  I am just a Mum trying to make some money here and there 🙂

Have a great week.  Ruby Canoe.