Silhouette Mat Replacing Tutorial, Home Made Stencils and Cards......

Hello Friends

Before I start I would like to thank my latest followers Denise and Princess Judy.  Thank you both for following me and I hope you enjoy the ride!  You might want to get yourselves a cuppa before reading today's post.

This is a project I was doing just before I fell ill but haven't got round to sharing it with you.  I joined an online class for stencilling - something which I have dabbled in but I don't use them a lot.  The online class is available after the class finishes so I can dip in and out of the course when I feel like (just as well as I fell ill at the start) and it is kept there ad infinitum.  

My choice of stencils is limited, hence why I don't use them an awful lot and I had a brainwave! (Yes it hurt!) I have template plastic (VOS) for creating quilting stencils.  Would it cut on my Silhouette?  Sounds simple doesn't it?  However my cutting mat for my stencil was naff not very good and I wanted to do this there and then.  Also, the mats have become very hard to source and very expensive since I first had my Silhouette.

                                    

So I took a sheet of laminating plastic and laminated it.  Took another sheet of laminating plastic and laminated it with the first laminated sheet inside it.  Are you with me?  Then I placed some masking tape down the long edges of the "mat" about 1/4" in.   

Then I took my Crafters Companion Stick and Spray Temporary glue. (We don't want it sticking there forever do we?)  Something else I bought ages ago and have not used much!  

I then sprayed the mat lightly, covering the surrounding area first, with about 5 thin coats.  I then removed the masking tape and replaced it.  These are where the wheels move the mat along the cutter, so you don't want them tacky.

To protect the mat between uses I took some freezer paper and cut a piece to fit and use it shiny side down.

Then I downloaded a design from Silhouette, placed some template plastic on the mat and watched with baited breath to see if the plastic would cut.

I need not have worried.  It cut like a hot knife through butter and the mat did it's job perfectly.  This design is called "Kite".

Here are some samples I made using just three colours of DI.

And some finished cards....

I used some Snippets of vellum, cut some tags (the snippets dictated that some of the tags are shorter than others), tied some twine and adhered them to the card using a teeny bit of glue behind the twine and another behind the butterfly.

Overall I was extremely pleased with the mat and the stencil.  So much so I went online to a very well known auction site and ordered some A4 template plastic so I could make some larger stencils.  All this came with a bonus - all the materials were already in my craft room.  I love it when two crafts collide (template plastic and freezer paper both being quilting tools).

Whilst I don't suppose Silhouette would advocate making your own mats, when they are getting like hen's teeth to get hold of then what are we supposed to do?  If you decide to try this, do so with caution.  I am no expert and will not be held responsible for any mishaps.

Thanks for calling by.  Sorry it is a little long today but I wanted to show you how I created these stencils. Please let me know what you think!

Hettie