Make a Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Silhouette Studio allows for so, so many design and customization possibilities (woot, woot!) and, in this tutorial, I’ll show you how I made this colorful birthday card using Studio’s print & cut and fill pattern features.  Let’s get this birthday card party started, shall we?

Supplies Used in This Project

The following supply list contains affiliate links. I make a small commission if you purchase through these links, and I really appreciate it if you do!

AMZ = Amazon.com     SBK = Scrapbook.com     DKB = Dick Blick     SSS = Simon Says Stamp

Happy Birthday Digital Patterns
Birthday-versary Digital Stamps + SVG Die Cuts
Birthday-versary Numbers Die Cuts

Silhouette Cameo ( AMZ // SBK )
Silhouette Studio, Designer Edition ( AMZ // SBK )
Neenah Solar White 80lb. Cardstock ( AMZ // SSS )
Gold Foil Card Stock ( MFT )
3D foam adhesive squares
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
a printer
a double-sided adhesive runner
craft scissors

Make a Print & Cut Birthday Card – Silhouette Studio Tutorial

(click on any of the screenshots below to see at a larger size)

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 1 : Open the Birthday-versary Digital Stamps + SVG Die Cuts file in Silhouette Studio (Designer Edition). Go to Object > Ungroup to ungroup the elements, and ungroup the elements a second time to separate the red border cuts from the sentiments. Select the “happy birthday” phrase and press Ctrl / Cmd + C to copy it. Open a new file and paste the phrase using Ctrl / Cmd + V.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 2 : The phrase is a little large for what we’re going for at its original size. Select the phrase and open the “Scale” window from the top right menu. Resize it to 2.75 inches wide, and make sure that the “Lock Aspect” box is checked before clicking the “Apply” button so the phrase will resize proportionally.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 3 : Click on the “Draw a Rectangle” tool from the menu on the left of the screen, and draw a rectangle that’s 5.5 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall. It’s totally fine if the rectangle isn’t initially the correct size because we can easily resize it by opening the “Scale” window from the top right menu and resizing it to the exact dimensions. Make sure that the “Lock Aspect” box is UNchecked for this so the final rectangle is the correct size. Click the “Apply” button to make the changes.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 4 : Position the “happy birthday” phrase where you’d like it to be on the rectangle (aka, the card front). Then, since this is a print & cut piece, we’ll want to set up the registration marks by opening the “Registration Mark Settings” window from the top right menu and choosing Type 1 (if you’re using a Cameo or Portrait) from the registration mark dropdown. You’ll see the marks appear around the edges of the page. Select the rectangle and sentiment and move them to an area inside the marks.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 5 : Next, we want to get ready to fill the numbers that will be on the card (see Step 6) with custom colors. We’ll be using Silhouette Studio’s “Fill Pattern” feature for this since, even though we’re technically not using pattern fills, we are using custom colors from the solids in the Happy Birthday Digital Patterns collection and can use the files in the same way that we would regular digital patterns. Another option is to use Studio’s “Fill Color” feature and set the fills to custom colors in the advanced options.

To add custom patterns to your Silhouette Studio Library, go to File > Import > Import to Library and navigate to the folder where the patterns you’d like to use are. I set up a new folder in my Library called “solids” for these files, so I want to make sure that folder is highlighted (light blue area beneath the “Import to Library” popup window on the left) before I import my patterns.

To import a pattern, either highlight the file and click “OK” or click and drag it into the right window. I did this for each of the solid pattern files. Once you’re finished adding your patterns, click back over to the main Silhouette Studio window.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 6 : Copy all of the number die cuts that you’ll be using in your card from the Birthday-versary Numbers Die Cuts (Ctrl /Cmd + C) and paste them into the file with the print & cut card front (Ctrl / Cmd + V). I copied the numbers “2” and “7” to a new file because I’ll be cutting those (regular cut) from gold foil cardstock later.

I want the numbers to be a touch smaller than their original size so they’ll fit the card better, so open the “Scale” window from the top right menu and, one at a time, resize them to 90% their original size. Also do this for the “2” and “7”, which are in a new file since they’ll be cut separately.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 7 : I want the numbers to be placed on the card in a random fashion, so I thought about what order I wanted them to be in before filling them with color. First, click the number that you’ll be filling. Then, open the “Fill Pattern” window from the top right menu. If you’re using the Designer Edition of Studio, scroll down the window and you’ll see a header called “solids” (or whatever the name of the folder with the files is) and, underneath, a swatch of all of the colors. To fill the shape, click a color swatch from the window. Repeat this process for each of the numbers.

Print & Cut Birthday Card - Silhouette Studio Tutorial

Step 8 : When all of the numbers are filled, it’s time to print and cut everything. Yay! I’ll also be cutting the “2” and “7” from shiny, gold foil cardstock.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 1

Step 9 : After you’ve print & cut and regular cut all of the elements, it’s time to start assembling the card.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 2

Step 10 : First, I’ll position the numbers where I’d like them to be on the finished card.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 3

Step 11 : Next, I’ll glue the numbers (minus the numbers cut from gold foil cardstock) in place, one at a time, with craft glue.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 4

Step 12 : Next, I’ll attach the “2” and “7”. I’ll be using 3D foam adhesive to give these numbers some dimension.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 5

Step 13 : If you’re using foam squares, you can cut them down to fit the numbers. I like cutting each of the larger squares into 3 or 4 thin strips, and I cut them down further from there, if needed. After you cover the back of each number with foam adhesive, peel the protective backer paper from the adhesive and adhere the number in place on the front of the card.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 6

Step 14 : Turn the card front over to the back and carefully cut off any overhanging number pieces.

Print & Cut Birthday Card Tutorial with Silhouette Studio, Step 7

Step 15 : To finish the card, cover the front of a pre-cut and folded A6 (5.5 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall) card base with double-sided adhesive. Line up the card front and press in place.

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