My First Silhouette SD Project: A Gift Card Holder

I wasn't sure what I wanted my first project to be. I have several ideas, but I need some additional media for most of those ideas. As I was sitting in front of my laptop contemplating my next move, my eyes fell on a gift card we purchased for a friend of ours whose wedding was over the summer (I believe that qualifies us for the category of SUPER slack). After pondering for a moment, I decided to search the online store for a gift card template. There were several, and I chose a scalloped version (gift_card_holder_-_scalloped_C20090930133857_20509 09/30/2009 ). I also downloaded a group of 3 hearts that I thought were pretty (3_hearts_with_swirls_C00435_19210 01/04/2010 ), with the thought of adding at least one of them as a simple embellishment to the gift card holder.

Then I had the task of selecting paper. I flipped through a few multi-packs I had and decided to use a somewhat masculine patterned paper. It is green, blue, and brown stripes on one side, and it is more of a solid green on the back. I thought that would work well to cut both the gift card template and the hearts out of one sheet of paper (the gift card holder would be the striped side, and the hearts would be the solid side).

Once I made all of my selections, I set up my templates in the Silhouette Studio:

I trimmed the paper down to about 8 inches wide so it would fit through the feeder (it started as 12x12).

I loaded the paper onto the carrier and fed it to the machine (please say it with me: "nom nom nom nom nom"). One of the trickiest things for me at first was lining up the paper on the carrier. I've gotten better at it. Part of my problem originally was probably the fact that I was using printer/copier paper to test out the machine before I started using good paper. It was thinner and seemed to stick to the carrier more than scrapbook paper does.

I left the lid open so you could see inside the Silhouette SD. It looks a lot like a printer, but there is a blade that moves around rather than ink.

I'm going to be honest. I am not incredibly pleased with how my images came out. The cuts look great, but the paper tore. After I wasn't pleased the first go 'round, I decided to try a second time. That time I selected the option to double cut. It didn't seem to make a difference. Perhaps the problem was the paper I used? I'm sure there will be a lot of trial and error, and I'll learn all the little in's and out's soon enough.

Because the paper tore in some spots, I decided to forego using the hearts. The gift card holder seemed good enough. I added a little double sided tape to assemble it (super easy because the Silhouette marked where I needed to make the folds and perferated them a little). I put the tape in the wrong spot on one side, but the gift card still fit. It just isn't centered. I'm trying to let that go.

I thought the outside was too plain without any embellishments at all (since I decided to forego on the hearts), so I opted to add a couple of the pre-fab embellishments that came with the scrapbook paper. The Mother Teresa quote seemed appropriate enough. :O)






The perfectionist in me wishes it were at least a little better. The sleepy, sleepy girl in me thinks it's just fine!

Erica, if you happen to be reading my blog, sorry to spoil your gift! And sorry we didn't give it to you in June. :O)