Hey everyone! I’ve got a fun (an easy) tutorial using the Silhouette Cameo and their metallic sketch pens to create a background element and a title for your page.
When creating a background element for a page in Silhouette Studio, it can be hard to know exactly where your photo will fall on your page, but there is a very easy trick for this! Simply use the Draw a Rectangle tool to create a box that is a little bigger than your photo (this will allow for a photo mat). With that on your page, you will be able to work on your background and title without worrying about your photo covering it up once you actually start building the layout.
To create the arrows, I simply used the Draw a Polygon tool. The gridlines and the rulers in the Designer Edition make it very easy to create them to just the right size. After I made one triangle, I was able to just cut and paste the other ones so they would all be identical and once again the grid lines made it very easy to line them all up.
For the title, I started by simply writing “PLAY” in Chaparral Pro and got it to a size I liked. Then I used the Draw a Line tool and just started filling the letters with random lines. I zoomed in really close to make it easier to do. That probably seems time consuming, but it really only took me about 15 minutes and I liked the random pattern that it gave to the letters.
Once those were done, I deleted the photo stand in and had my Silhouette sketch out the arrows and the title. I used the Copper Metallic Sketch pen. I really like the subtle shine the metallic pens give and they write beautifully on colored paper. You will notice that the P in Play is a bit different. My sketch pen ran out of ink right before finishing the title – I will be getting a new one and once it comes in, I will be adding in lines by hand to touch up where the pen simply couldn’t put down enough ink.
The Silhouette sketches beautifully and smoothly and once it was done I was able to add my photo and a few embellishments to finish up the layout. I really like the detail of the title and the little element of the arrows directing your eye towards the photo.