Portrait 3 Print and Cut Gift Labels

Hi Everyone! Only a few more days until Christmas and I’ve still got quite a bit of gift wrapping to do! I always seem to run out of the little sticker gift tags very quickly. So this week I’m going to share a quick way to make your own using my Portrait 3 and the Print and Cut feature.

To do this project you will need the following: (links below may be affiliate links)

Some clip art (you can download my snowflake here for free)

Printable Sticker Paper (I’m using this one from Online labels)

Inkjet or laser printer

Silhouette Portrait 3

Autoblade

I’m going to open Silhouette Studio and create a new file. I’m using the business version, yours may look slightly different if you do not have the business version.

I turn on the registration marks so I know where to place my artwork and these will also be printed to the machine knows where to cut.

I’m going to do these matless (I love being able to cut stickers matless!) So under the Design area menu my Cutting Mat will be set to None. My Media size is Letter 8.5 x 11.

I load my snowflake PNG file (it’s pretty big when I first bring it in) and I scale it down to about 2 inches. You can scale it to whatever size you wish. I’m also going to change the red lines around the snowflake to transparent so they don’t print later.

Then I’m going to create an offset around the outside of the snowflake, this will be my cut line. I make my offset 0.125 inches from the edge of the snowflake.

Next, I’m going to make a rounded rectangle so I can add a To and From area onto my label. I make my rectangle approximately 2 inches wide by 0.75 inches tall.

The I’m going to Weld my rectangle and the offset cutline together so I have one continuous shape to cut.

I add the To and From text in the rectangle area. I’m using the Lucida Grande font at 10pt. You can use whatever font you prefer.

I’m going to group everything together and now my label is ready to be duplicated. I can fit 9 of these labels within the print and cut area. Make sure your artwork is NOT falling into the grey mesh areas too much, it can mess with the machine when it’s trying to scan the registration lines.

Now it’s time to print my labels! First, I tried printing directly from Silhouette Studio and I got some glitchy lines in the To and From letters. So instead of printing directly from Silhouette Studio, I’m going to save my design as a PDF and print from Photoshop.

To save your file as a PDF from Silhouette Studio, click on the printer icon. Then in the bottom left corner, click on the dropdown menu and select Save as PDF. Name your file and save it to where ever you want on your computer.

Open the PDF that you just saved in Photoshop, or other application the can print PDFs if your don’t have Photoshop. Make sure you DO NOT scale the file when you print it. Now everything looks like it’s supposed to!

Back in Silhouette Studio, I’m going to the Send tab and I always like to cut my files by Line color. My cut lines are red, so I make sure the box is checked next to the red square. I want my stickers to be kiss cut so my setting are as follows - Material is Sticker Paper, White; Blade depth: 2; Force: 14; Speed: 3.

I load my printed sticker paper with out the mat and press Send in Silhouette Studio.

My machine scans the registration marks and starts cutting. Once it’s finished I have a set of little snowflake gift labels to help me finish my gift wrapping!

Foil Quill on Acrylic with the Portrait 3

Hi Everyone!

It’s hard to believe it’s already November! This month I’m going to be focusing on projects for the holidays. Today’s project will be acrylic ornaments decorated by using the WRMK foil quill. Let’s get started!

Supplies:

(Links below may be affiliate links)

Silhouette Portrait 3

Standard Grip Mat

Chipboard with 3” circle cutout (optional)

3 inch round 2mm thick acrylic ornament blanks

Medium Tip Foil Quill

Gold Foil heat reactive foil or any foil color of your choice

9-12 inch length of ribbon or twine

Project:

I created a 3 inch circle in Silhouette Studio and I centered one of the snowflakes from my Snowflake Single Line SVGs

I added 2021 at the bottom using the font La Bohemienne.

I am going to send this to my machine by line color. Everything in Yellow will foiled.

My acrylic blanks are already cut into 3 inch circles, so I won’t need to actually cut them.

I already had a piece of chip board with a 3 inch circle cut out so I will be using that to help align my acrylic pieces on the cutting mat. I have it placed pretty far down on my mat so I can easily remove the foil and the ornament without removing the mat from the machine. (I will create a post later showing you how to make a chip board pattern and how to realign it to use it if over and over again.)

Plug in your Medium Foil Quill tip so it has time to heat up. I’m using the D adapter that came with the foil quill.

Remove only one side of the clear plastic coating from the acrylic blank - this is the side you will have face up to foil on.

Place the acrylic blank inside the circle in the chipboard with the side that still has the plastic coating is face down against the mat.

Tape down your foil over the acrylic round, make sure it’s nice and tight. My foil piece is about 4 inches x 4 inches

In Silhouette Studio, I have just the Yellow line selected. For my material I chose Craft Foam since that’s a thicker material. My Action is Sketch, Tool is Pen, Force of 5, speed 2.

I load my mat and press send.

After the machine is done, if you plan to make multiples, DO NOT unload the mat.

Carefully remove the foil and ornament from the mat, without taking the mat out of the machine.

I put a piece of metallic twine through the top hole and now you have pretty ornament to give as a gift or use it to jazz up your gift wrapping!

The metallic foil sticks really well to the acrylic, the heat from the foil quill kind of melts it into the ornament. It’s so pretty, I can’t wait to try this out with different artwork on different foil colors!

Tips for Using the WRMK Fine Tip Foil Quill with the Silhouette Portrait 3

(Links in article below may be affiliate link)

Hi Everyone!

This week I was fulfilling an Etsy order for my snowflake gift tags, I typically make these on my Cricut Maker, but I wanted to try making them on my Silhouette Portrait 3 to see how they turn out.

I make these gift tags using my snowflake single line SVGs, heavy 100lb cardstock, the fine tip WRMK Foil Quill, and WRMK foil in gold for the white cardstock and silver for the black cardstock.

For the Portrait 3 and Cameo 4, the adapter A for the Silhouette machines doesn’t work. So I use the adapter D that came with my foil quill set.

In the Send screen set my Portrait 3 to sketch, Coverstock, Heavy (105-122lb), Force 2, Speed 2.

Initially I started out using an off brand mat with my Portrait 3, they’re a little thicker and stiffer than the Standard Portrait 3 mat.

I load my mat and press Send from the Silhouette software.

Almost immediately my foil starts ripping!!!!

I switch to my Silhouette brand Standard grip mat, it’s thinner and floppier that my off brand mat. I also switch my material to Chipboard, Force 2, Speed 2.

Reload my mat and press Send. This time the foil didn’t rip and the results are beautiful!

So here are my top 6 tips for using the WRMK Fine Tip Foil Quill:

1. Use the D adapter that comes with the Foil Quill set

2. Use the Silhouette brand Standard grip mat

3. Place something like a book or a small box in front of your machine to help keep the mat level while it’s foiling. You want something that is roughly the same thickness as the front of the machine.

4. Select a material that is thicker than the material you are foiling. For example, I was using heavy cardstock (overstock) so I selected chipboard.

5. Select a lower force and speed. The default settings for Chipboard were Force 7, Speed 5. I got the best results with Force 2, Speed 2. Your settings will differ depending on the materials you’re using.

6. Don’t try to foil everything at once. I can typically get 8 gift tags out of one piece of cardstock, but I cut the cardstock down into smaller pieces and foil the smaller pieces instead of one giant piece at once. That way, if something happens while foiling, I’m not wasting an entire piece of cardstock and a big piece of foil.

Embossing with Glue Pens and Silhouette Portrait 3

Hi Everyone!

This week I want to share another technique I like to use to embellish gift tags and cards. I will be using the WRMK glue quill with embossing powder. If you buy the glue quill set, it comes with 2 small jars of embossing powder. Or if you already have some embossing powder on hand, you can use that too.

I’m going to do this technique with a clear embossing powder that I already have and the gold powder that came with the glue quill set. I will also need my heat gun.

I already set up my file in Silhouette Studio, my blue lines will be drawn with the glue pen & the red lines will be cut. I’m using 65lb Recollections cardstock, and I will be drawing and cutting all of this matless, yay!!

First, I will draw all the lettering with the glue quill and the Silhouette pen adapter. When I open the send tab I select “Line" and check the box next to the blue square.

After it’s done drawing, I uncheck the blue box & select the red box to cut. I choose auto-pop out since I’m doing a matless cut.

I did need to send my cut through twice, it wasn’t quite deep enough to pop out the tags nicely after the first cut.

I remove my tags from the cardstock & now i’m going to apply the embossing powder. The glue from these pens stays tacky for a little while, so don’t worry if the glue looks dry, the powder will still stick.

I’m using an old jar of Recollections clear embossing powder, I’ve had it for a few years and it still works! I apply the powder pretty thick and move it around so all of the glue gets covered. I dump the excess powder back in the jar once I’m done applying it to all the tags.

(Top) Clear Powder applied, (Middle) Clear Powder being applied, (Bottom) No powder applied, only glue

I apply some heat to it with my heat gun. The powder melts and I’m left with almost like a clear gel-like finish. It’s raised and also very shiny.

Next I tried the gold powder that came with the Glue Quill set. I applied it the same way as the clear powder. This one is kind of disappointing. I was expecting a pretty metallic gold, but this one is very drab and not metallic at all. I will be on the look out for a better gold embossing powder.

But this is another way to add some texture and dimension to gift tags or cards using your Silhouette machine!

Foiling with Glue Pens

Hi Everyone!

This week I want to share a little foiling technique that doesn’t require any heat or a cutting mat! I will be using my Silhouette Portrait 3, a glue pen, and some reactive foil (I’ll be using a Minc brand roll of foil that I already have).

I’ve been working on some holiday single line SVG files for gift tags and cards, so I want to test them out using this technique.

I already set up my design to be drawn and cut matless. Each operation will be done according to line color - the blue lines will be drawn with the glue pen, the red lines will be cut. Make sure your design is set up so it is between the rollers on your machine, you don’t want to get glue all over the rollers!

First, I’m going to start with the WRMK Glue Quill. (there are other brands of glue pens you can try, but this is the one I have on hand.) Before loading you pen into the machine, be sure to scribble your pen on a little piece of scrap paper to make sure the glue is flowing. I am using the pen adapter that is made for the Silhouette machines.

I’m going to do the drawing with the glue pen first (the blue lines). I select the heavy coverstock as my material. I’m going to slow down the speed from 5 to a 3, so the glue flows from the pen evenly.

After the machine is done drawing, DO NOT remove the cardstock. I’m going to let the glue dry for a few minutes. It dries pretty quickly and still remains a little tacky, which is exactly what we need to apply the foil.

After the glue is dry, I’m going to cut out my gift tags. I check the box for the red lines & use the Pop out cut.

I cut some small pieces of foil to fit the gift tags. I lay the foil over the gift tag, making sure all of the glue areas are covered by the foil.

I use an old credit card as a scraper, but you can also use a small squeegee. I smooth the foil down in all directions, vertical, horizontal, etc.

Once I see the letters starting to appear, I lift the foil to check my progress. If there are a few spots missing the foil, you can continue to go over it with the squeegee, you can even reposition to foil if needed and continue to squeegee.

Once it’s done, I carefully brush off any foil dust and you have a foiled gift tag! This technique gives the lines kind of a vintage, distressed look.