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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Cameo - My Own Handwriting Cut & A Layout Share

I was asked how I used my own handwriting to create the title of the below layout.  No I am by no means an expert on tutorials so I threw this one together as best as I could.  If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it.

Okay so here is the layout....I used the remains of my August kit from Studio Calico and you can see it over there in the gallery as well, right here







 The part that I made using my own handwriting was obviously "First Day".  I am sure others do this or have done this and in fact I do believe I have see it some where.  I have done it before, using the same technique I made the Swing frame for this layout...I just cut it twice using black and a cream cardstock.


 Okay so on to how I did it, I used my iPad, I used an app called Skitch and I am pretty sure it was free or maybe less than a dollar. I opened the app up and wrote exactly what I wanted, the app looks like this:


You can use your finger but I use a stylus, I love this thing.  I got it at best buy for like $14.00 over a year ago. 


When you open the app up it looks like this, you can pull in a picture to draw , a webpage, a screen shot, there are so many options but for this type of thing I just choose a blank canvas.
When it opens you get a screen like this and you can choose the color (which doesn't matter really for this), one thing that I do choose is the thickness of my pen.  I like for the actual cut to be thick, a bold if you will. Once I write what I want then I select email and email it to my computer.  You can also save it to your photos and move it via iTunes or Dropbox, etc.  Email works just fine for me for this.


Once I pull it up in my email I simply save the attachment, usually to my desktop because I delete it after I create the studio file.  I go to my Silhouette software and open it ( I do not use the designer software, just the basic one) and it will look like this.
I choose the trace button, it looks like a little blue fat X in the top right, lol.  I adjust the high pass until the whole thing that I want cut is yellow.
Then I select trace and ta da I'm done.....almost.  I delete the actual PNG file that I opened and will be left with just the red cut file.  I size it to the size I want and then cut it.
And this is what it looks like after it's all cut with the cameo.

I hope this explains it well enough and like I said if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!




53 comments:

Barbara said...

That is so freaking awesome! I'm going to have to try this! TFS.

Valerie Bishop said...

Tfs!! I want to try this! Love your layout!

Madeline said...

That is so cool!!! Now I need an ipad so I can do this too!

Heidi said...

Awesome layout! Love the title.

Mary Pat Siehl said...

oh wow this is just so incredible!!!! I LOVE this! very cool

Erin M said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to put this tutorial together! I love all the screen shots--it will make it much easier to follow along. Can't wait to try it out!

Erin M said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this tutorial. The screenshots are going to make it a lot easier to follow along. Can't wait to try it!

Mary Jo said...

I love how you did the title!
And the tags with their grade.
Very cool! :)

Andrea D. said...

Wow, what a great little tutorial. Skitch on the iPad here I come. Thanks so much for sharing this. I can see myself doing this a lot.

Nirupama said...

Awesome technique and great layout!!! Your kids are so cute :)) Thanks for sharing.

laura said...

This is so cool! Now I don't have to buy those digital files of those popular handwritten words.

Sharla said...

Woah, that is so very cool. Now I need an ipad, a stylus, this tutorial and a cameo!! ;)

Art By Lakisha said...

Thanks for sharing this app/tip.

Jackie xxx said...

Thanks April for sharing this with us, now I know I NEED a ipad - lol x

holly* said...

OMG! 1st off, love the layout! the tags and title and photo and everything is wonderful! 2ndly, thank you so much for the tip! i love using skitch (and my stylus for that matter) but i NEVER thought to use it for a cut file!! GENIUS!

Fleursbydesign said...

Grew tutorial can't wait to try it :)

deb duty said...

Thank you so much for this explanation. I haven't bought a cameo yet, but I'm considering it. Your layout is so awesome! Pinning this just in case I decide to get one!

Sparklin said...

Oh wow! I love everything about this layout! It's so so cool!

renee said...

What a great tutorial. Can I pin this? I would love to be able to come back to it. Great teen layout BTW!

April Michelle said...

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you all like it.

@renee sure pin away doll

Patricia Roebuck said...

Thank you for sharing. I have all of this to do it...and will definitely give it a try. I never have played with my own designs n SIL, but this would be great. Amazing LOs!

Patricia Roebuck said...

Thank you for sharing! I will definitely try this. I have everything to do it. I have never played around with my own SIL designs, but this I would use! Amazing LOs too!

pattyg said...

AWESOME! Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it so well! Can NOT wait to try this!
Patty G. in NJ

pattyg said...

This is awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to post such clear directions! Can not wait to try it!

Sheri Twing said...

Thank you so much for sharing this! I already had Skitch on my iPad but never thought to use it for this. I just tried this and it worked so fast and easy!

TracieClaiborne said...

Well aren't you the clever one?? I was just telling someone tonight, who was admiring my title cut with my Cameo, that people use their own handwriting to make titles. Lisa Dickinson is one who I have seen do it. I said to the lady, "I have no clue how she does it!" Now I know!! Now if only you could give me a tutorial on how to get an iPad. LOL!!

Tina said...

Thanks for the idea and tutorial! I have a cricut and used SCAL and it works too!

Johanna said...

That LO is nothing short of awesome, I LOVE IT!! And what an amazing way to make a title :)

Jennie M said...

UM, awesome! I don't have an iPad, but I do have my handwriting as a font, so I think that this is a great idea! :)

Rowie said...

wow!! so so cool :) i so want to do this.. great tutorial, thanks so much :)

Tracy said...

This is pretty neat :)
Great layout !!

Michelle McClure said...

What a great idea, thanks for sharing your technique. I've got to try this. Your layout is totally gorgeous, love those tags.

Anonymous said...

Love the look and the tutorial. But what kind of file do you save it as when you send the email to yourself? It seems to be some kind of weird file extension that I cannot open.

Thanks.

Nicole K/GothamGal said...

I am going to be trying this with my SCAL 2 software. The skitch image I made I am really happy with.

Also, love what you did with the layout.

Thanks for sharing and teaching!

Unknown said...

That IS freakin' awesome. I am going to try it as soon as I update my IPad...which I need to do according to DD. LOL! Thank you!

Nicole K/GothamGal said...

I DID this today--super excited. I really liked how it turned out. And I just want to say thanks again!!! You got me to drag out my Cricut Expression for the first time in almost 2 years, LOL!

Welcome to Embellees said...

Thank you so much this was great and much appreciated for this cameo newbie from OZ!

Dayna Sabrina said...

Great tutorial! Thanks so much for sharing. Off to download that app.

Kirsten said...

Thanks so much for this! Very cool; saves wanting to buy the hand-written files from silhouette or ali E. and the like, if you can do your own. Must say tho...your handwriting rocks!

Robyn said...

Does anyone know of a droid based app like skitch?

Xanthippe said...

You are AMAZING. Thanks for coming up with this and sharing with the rest of us!

Janelle Shultz said...

@ Robyn...I just downloaded skitch to my droid via google play. it works :) however, I will need to get some sort of stylus I think (I tried a Nintendo DS pen w/o success). you can use your finger & it does automatically round out your shapes to make them uniform & smooth. going to try to upload to cameo next :) thanks for such a wonderful tutorial!!!

Eydie said...

Hello!

I just found this tutorial and wanted to thank you for making it available for the rest of us! This is the first that I found a tutorial that deals with converting files to GSD files that is easy to follow and made sense!. Thanks to you, I cut my very first file converted from a regular PNG.

You are my new BFF, thanks again.


Eydie said...

Thank you VERY much for putting this out. For the first time ever I was able to follow a tutorial on how to convert to GSD files and SUCCEEDED at it!

Thanks again to my newest BFF :-)

Paula B said...

i'm kinda late seeing this post but thanks! I was trying to figure how to do this!

Angel said...

Oh my goodiness! This is amazing!!! Thanks for sharing and your layout is fabulous!!!!

emfancy said...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this. Thank you for sharing with us!

emfancy said...

LOVE,LOVE, LOVE this. Thank you so much for sharing. So cool.

Anonymous said...

Wow! amazing, thank you so much for sharing this. It's next on my things to do!

Unknown said...

Wow! This is awesome! I have nominated you for the Liebster award over on my blog. check it out: http://creativecarnivalcreations.blogspot.com/2014/03/have-you-filled-bucket-today.html

Unknown said...

Amazing! Going to try this tonight!

albina N muro said...

I threw this one together as best as I could. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it. how to improve your handwriting

A Fondness For Circles said...

Holy DOODLE! Thanks so much for sharing!