Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Color a Cut File with the Silhouette Cameo

New today in the Silhouette Store I found these adorable little girls that were line drawings style, cut files. I really like them and I was trying to figure out how to use them. So, I bought a few and played around a bit and I decided the best thing would be to color them in and cut them like a paper doll.



Supplies I used for this project
(They are available in different designs)

Here are the files I used
girl_with_flower_headband_C01560_23067
accessories_C01561_23067 
whimsical_oval_frame_C20090824134849_20387
rickrack_set_C00069_31857


This project begins by ungrouping the girl to her smallest shapes. In order to fill the shapes you have to ungroup them first, and then to ungroup them even further. First you have to make a compound path, and then release the compound path. Object > make a compound path. Next Object > Release Compound Path. Make sure there is a bounding box around the entire design each time. This breaks down the design into the simplest shapes. Sometimes you may need to do it a couple of times to get it to release everything. When a shape is a compound shape it is completely flat, when you release the compound shape it becomes divided up into separate layers. You can then fill the separate layers with color. 

Use the fill Color window, select the shape and click the color you want from the Fill Color palette. When you have a layered designs, fill the background color first and make sure that color is in the back by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+[, now you can fill another shape on top of that one. When coloring this girl I filled black first, moved it to the back and filled the second color on top with out moving the shapes.


Here's everything all colored. I printed and cut 3 girls, 2 frames to layer them with foam tape.

After doing the layers, I add some bling and a border I welded together.
Object > modify >Weld and I cut the extra edges off with the knife tool. For the title I added glitter to a piece of chipboard.
That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed this project.

10 comments:

  1. Super cute!

    I seen these too and wondered how to use them. Seeing what you did I think I may go back and snag them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to say, that is amazing! I LOVE what you did here. Your explanation of Compound Paths is the first one I've heard that "clicked". Makes sense now. Awesome work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. How cute!I love your blog, you have such talent. I purchased a few of the girls and was successful to a point.I am new to the cameo so I am not familiar yet with all the different things that it will do. I could not get the lines to be black, thy showed up as red. I was not sure how to change it, I will try again tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Christine, the lines color doesn't show so don't worry about the color. just fill the shapes and when you print you shut off the cut lines. let me know if you need more help. Hugs, Lisa

      Delete
  4. Thank you for sharing, you've made this task look easy with your simple to follow instructions.
    great blog beautiful card by the way. x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please hop over to my blog where I've left you an award. Thanks for sharing these instructions. I love my Cameo xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome job and great explanation of what you did. TFS!!! I am new to the Cameo to and this is great:)
    ~Madison funkycards.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like these little girls. Too cute.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Too cute! I was wondering how to best use these too!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awe so SWEET! The bright and happy colors are really eye catching!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting, it's great to hear from you!