DIY Friendship Etched Pendants with the Silhouette Curio

This post is sponsored by Silhouette America but all opinions and ideas are my own. :)

One of my close friends from a few years back asked me if I could stamp some puzzle pendant pieces for her to give to her class friends before they all go off to college. The accommodating person that I am, I said yes, but then she wanted additional things on it - on the back of the pendants, she wanted a word on each pendant that would form a sentence when all the pendants are linked together. I loved the idea, but with the stamped letter in front, there was no way I would be able to make a clean stamp on the back as well - we brainstormed on what we could do about it, and then I remembered - I can etch with my Silhouette Curio! 

Supplies:

• Silhouette Curio
• Silhouette Stippling & Etching Tool
• Silhouette Ratchet Blade
• Metal charms
• Contact paper

Set your mat stack to 6 and adhere contact paper, sticky side up with the backing intact. I did this to add some more stickiness to my mat to give the charm extra hold. You want to keep the backing so you can see where the charm area would be placed when cut.

Cut out your charm (for my contact paper, I used blade 3, speed 4 and thickness 5) using the ratchet blade. Since my charm was irregularly shaped, I first scanned it full-size and then traced it on Adobe Illustrator before transferring it to the Silhouette Program. Remove the backing and then attach your charm to the sticky contact paper. 

Type out your word onto the program and fill. I cheated and used embossing fill for the insides of my words since I wasn't very familiar with the sketch fills yet. I set the embossing fill to 0.04. Set the charm outline to no cut! Use the etching tool and send it to the machine to etch. 

Once I was confident with the settings, I cut multiples of them. If you are nervous, you can use tape to provide additional hold onto the edges of the charm. Add your hardware and you are done!

In my case, I'll be sending these to my friend to finish since she has the matching chain and jump rings. I love the phrase that she thought of - and I'm pretty sure her friends will adore them too! You can make a set for your friends for Valentines or for any occasion, really. I am thinking of making some from my friends from college, too!

Do you like etched jewelry? Hope you enjoyed this short tutorial! Happy crafting, friends!

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DIY: Ornate Faux Leather Earrings using the Silhouette Curio

This post is sponsored by Silhouette America - I have been sent the Silhouette Deep Cut Blade to try out, but all opinions and ideas on this post are my own. 

I've been waiting so long to try out the new Deep Cut Blade from Silhouette. I love cutting leather on my Silhouette Portrait but unfortunately, some just don't cut all the way through even with triple or quadruple passes. With the Silhouette Deep Cut Blade, some of my materials cut nicely - it just takes a bit of practice to get the right settings! Read on to see how I made the leather earrings, download the template and for some tips I have discovered when cutting faux leather and leather pieces on the Silhouette Curio. 

Supplies:

• Silhouette Deep Cut Blade
• Silhouette Curio
• Silhouette Curio Base + Cutting Mat
• Leather or Faux Leather
• Painter's Tape
• Scissors
• Earring hooks
• Jump rings
• Jewelry pliers
• Template (download at the end of the post)

Cut a piece of your leather or faux leather material. For this project, I tried cutting the earring out using real leather and some faux leather with a mesh backing. Back your leather piece with painter's tape - this is to pevent hairs from dirtying your mat really fast and acts as a stabilizer for your piece. It also helps your leather to stick better to the mat. Tape the sides as well to prevent further movement of the piece on the mat.

Just need to poke out those details - but they're all fully cut in ONE PASS.

If you want additional adhesion, spray the painter's tape backing with repositionable adhesive - you don't want to spray this directly on to the leather as it would just absorb it. 

With a regular ratchet blade, the Silhouette doesn't cut all the way through on faux leather (I had to peel off the mesh backing) - but with the new blade, the Silhouette cuts it like butter - you just have to play with the settings! Don't be afraid to test cut on a scrap piece of material first. Experiment on the material thickness - you don't want the material to be dragged by the blade, resulting in uneven cuts. For the faux backed leather, I tested thickness settings 15, 18 and 20 with 18 having the most optimal result  (minimal dragging, cut is truer to real shape). The same speed and blade depth and mat height was maintained (speed 2, blade 20, mat total stack 5). Thickness setting 33 just dragged my material on the cutting mat. 

I also tested cutting real leather - for the piece I used, I used blade 12 and thickness 30 double cut twice, but it doesn't really work for intricate designs. I have cut the same material with a somewhat intricate detail on my Silhouette Portrait with okay results, so I'm pretty sure I just need to play with the settings more.  

Once you have discovered the optimal settings for your piece, cut the template. Attach the earring pieces onto some hooks using jump rings, and you are done! 

I am sure I'm going to use the deep cut blade a lot, since I loved the results. I haven't tried it on other materials yet, but I'm sure I will now that I have broken it out of its packaging and played with it for the first time. What would you like to cut with the deep-cut blade?

DOWNLOAD HERE

Ornate Earrings Cut File (.studio)

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{Styled} by Tori Spelling - Customize your Own Jewelry in Minutes

This post has been sponsored by Darice, Inc.  I was provided these items for review, but all opinions are my own.

I think everybody who reads my blog knows I'm obsessed with jewelry - more than half of my DIY tutorials are about those pretty little things (or big, in-your-face ones, depending on your preference). So imagine my happiness when I received a big box of goodies from Darice - mix-n-match jewelry components from the Styled by Tori Spelling line - available exclusively at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores.

My box of goodies. I nearly died when I opened it.

This line offers everybody the opportunity to be their own jewelry stylist - you can make a necklace or earrings in a few seconds. Mix and match the jewelry parts that you like. You don't even need any tools - yes, friends, even my own little sister can make jewelry on her own. Thinking it's not your style? Don't you worry - these babies come in a ton of different styles to choose from. Anyway, it's really really easy. Do you think I'm kidding? Well, watch  the magic happen:

Isn't it so easy to make pretty dangling earrings? I also love that you can switch it out in a jiffy if you so please.

And the necklace bottoms - they're all so pretty I can't wait to get more to add to my collection (as if I need more jewelry, heeeheee).

You can always use some of the necklace bottoms as bracelets - they make really good statement cuffs. Or use earring components as pendants... or use pendants as earring components. There are so many possibilities! Of course, since I wanted to personalize mine a bit more, I busted out my jewelry making supplies and added a few more chains to this glamorous statement necklace:

I love how the added chain makes it feel less Hollywood glam and more versatile for casual outfits. For those curious about how I added it - I just closed up a 30" length of chain, added my own 'connectors' per segment (eyeballed it) and attached. 

In keeping with the convertibility of this line, I used tiny lobster clasps to attach the chain to the back so it would be easier to unhook the chains if I want my Hollywood glam necklace back - you know, for special dressy occasions. I have these clasps in the middle in case I want to add a charm or an extra something to give my necklace more oomph than it already has.

In summation: For folks who don't have time or skill to make jewelry from scratch, this will give you the option to still make your own. For more experienced jewelry folks, well - this line gives you cute components to customize as you please! And of course, these will make fun giveaways for crafty tween/teen parties. 

But wait, there's more! Darice Crafts is giving away a box of Styled by Tori Spelling goodies valued at $50 - $75 to one of my readers! Isn't that just superb?! Giveaway is open to US residents only. Use the Rafflecopter entry thingy below to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget, the new Styled by Tori Spelling line is available exclusively at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores (Hint: check it out now!). Good luck with the giveaway. And ...that's it for now, folks!

Linking up here:

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