Amy Latta Creations

Silhouette Sketch Pen Promo and Portrait Giveaway!

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Friends, I have some great news for you!  Not only are we halfway to the weekend, I get to share a fabulous promotion with you, show you a fun new project, AND offer another Silhouette Portrait giveaway!  Are you ready?

First, THE PROMO!

sketchpenpromo

This month, Silhouette is featuring their super-cool sketch pens…including the new Glitter Sketch Pens!  Yep, you read that right.  GLITTER!  Seeing as how our motto here in the Artsy House is, “Glitter makes everything better,” you can imagine my excitement about these.  Here’s how the promo works.  There are three sales going on; the first two are great deals if you don’t already have a cutting machine.  The third one is for those of you who already have a Cammie or Portia, but haven’t yet explored the wonderful world of sketch pens!  Here’s what you get with each bundle:

(1)    CAMEO plus sketch pen starter pack, metallic and glitter collection packs, plus a $25 gift card and a pen holder for $269.99 ($88.96 off the retail price)

(2)    Portrait plus sketch pen starter pack, metallic and glitter collection packs, plus a $25 gift card and a pen holder for $129.99 ($108.96 off the retail price)

(3)    Sketch pen starter pack, metallic and glitter collection packs, plus a pen holder for $19.99 ($13.97 off the retail price)

Those are some seriously great deals, especially with the $25 download cards thrown in!  If you’re on the fence about the pens, wondering how you’d use them, let me share with you one of my most recent “sketchy” projects!  Take a look…

THE PROJECT: My Project Life Card

Project Life Card

Back in June, my friends Christina and Eva got me hooked on a new addiction.  Project Life.  It’s an easy-peasy method of scrapbooking that has no mess and takes about 10 minutes per spread.  I bought a core kit and pages, then every weekend, I sit down and combine my favorite photos from the week with the pre-designed cards to capture the highlights of the previous week.  To see some of my spreads, take a look at Project Life: What Is It?

I love the kit I have {the Honey edition}, but sometimes I want to add a little extra personalization to the patterned cards.  So, I pulled out my new Glitter Sketch Pens and made exactly what I wanted!  Here’s how I did it.

Materials:
– Silhouette Cameo or Portrait
– Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Software
– Sketch Pen
– Project Life Card
– Cardstock
– Crayons or colored pencils {optional}
– Adhesive

Step 1: Choose and sketch a design.
I chose this fun little camera, which I believe was the free shape of the week a few months ago in the Silhouette Online Store.  I opened it in my software, sized it, and sent it to Cammie {my beloved Cameo}.  Make sure that when you send the design to your machine, you choose “Sketch Pen” instead of Blade so the machine knows to draw instead of cut!  

sketch pens

Step 2: Place your sketch pen in the blade holder, tighten it, and load your cardstock and cutting mat.
I chose the black glitter pen for my design.  Once everything is loaded, let your machine do the work…how great is that?!  Now, if you want to cut the image out, do NOT unload your machine.  Just leave the mat and cardstock exactly as they are and switch the pen for your blade.

sketch pens

Step 3: Go back into your software and trace the outline of your image.
To do this, select “Trace” from the dropdown menu, select the trace area, and choose “Trace Outside Edge.” Then, be sure to click on the original sketch image and move it off your page so that your machine doesn’t try to cut that too.  Make sure you don’t move the outline from the original spot of the image or it won’t cut properly.  Send it to your machine and be sure to switch your settings back to blade.

silhouette

Step 4: Your machine will cut out your image.
Nice, huh?!  How cute and fun is that?

sketch pen camera

Step 5: Type your word{s}, convert it to a sketch, and position where you want it to appear on the card.
There are several things you need to do to make this happen.  First, just type what you want in a font you like.  If you’re using a script font, you’ll want to go to Modify, then Weld, so that the letters get joined together.  Then, choose the “Sketch” option {this is only available in the Designer Edition Software; the regular software doesn’t have this feature}.  I chose a plain edge effect, and it turned my text into a sketch design.  Finally, I positioned it exactly where I wanted it to be when I loaded my pre-cut Project Life card into the machine.  I made the grid visible so I could see where the 3×4″ card would be and moved my text to the lower right corner.

silhouette software

Step 6: Load your machine with your Project Life card and your Sketch Pen.

sketchpencamera4

Step 7: Send your design to the Silhouette, remembering to change from blade back to pen in your settings.

sketch pens

Step 8: Assemble your card.
I adhered my camera just where I wanted it.  At this point, if you like how your design looks, you can stop!  But, I personally wanted a little more color…so I broke out the crayons.

PL Card

Step 9: Add color!
Yup, I went old school.  I broke out some regular and metallic crayons and got to work coloring very carefully to add some accents to my design.

projectlifecg3

I absolutely love the way it turned out!  So fun, so personalized, and so perfect for an album filled with photos, right?  Look how cute it is in my spread!

Project Life

It’s so easy to use the Silhouette Sketch Pens for all kinds of projects.  If you want more inspiration, check out my Easter Gift Tags, my “You are my Sunshine” framed art, and my “Do small things” wall art projects!  Then, go get yourself some!  Really!  Remember, Sketch Pens are on sale, along with the cutters if you happen to not have one of your own yet.  Don’t miss out on this super deal.  The promo ends August 29!  And *super important* don’t forget to use the code ARTSY at checkout to get the discounts!

Now, what you’ve all been waiting for… THE GIVEAWAY!

portraitgiveaway

One lucky ducky will win a Silhouette Portrait!  Hooray!  The winner will be announced Monday morning.  Rafflecopter will walk you through the entry process; good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hugs & Glitter,

P.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a paid affiliate with Silhouette America, meaning that I make a small commission from each sale during this promotion using the code ARTSY.  However, all tutorials and opinions are my own; I honestly love this stuff.  And hey, if it helps send Little Crafter to the most fabulous school I’ve ever heard of, so much the better, right?  Thanks!

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Comments

  14. What a fantastic giveaway! I have so, so, so many projects that need a “silhouette” finishing touch and the pens…..THE PENS!!! I had no idea they even existed. So cute and clever. Btw, I also just discovered the Project Life products. I was an avid scrapbooker years ago and now my photos live in my camera or on my hard drive. Need to load up on some of their stuff and start catching up.

    Reply

  22. I love the pens…. I want to use them for many things, cards, labels and tons of decorations… Maybe also use them to add to my daughters homework presentation.. There are a lot of options!!!

    Reply

  42. Wow… not only do I not have pens, I don’t have a Silhouette or any other cutter! Sooo dying for one, and crossing fingers like a madwoman, because a cutter would add so much to my little jewelry business. AWESOME giveaway!!!
    Hugs & Hope,
    Rachel

    Reply

  43. Ugh, every time I see the projects people are making with the Silhouette Cameo/Portrait it makes me want one ever more! Darn you Pinterest! I would definitely use sketch pens, that’s pretty cool that you can draw with it, and not just cut – I’d use them with scrapbooking and card making, cute birthday decorations and invites, home decor ….. 🙂

    Reply

  44. I do not have sketch pens but would definitely use them if I had them. While reading your post I was actually thinking that they would be great to have when I started making Christmas cards this year.

    boylaneely at hotmail dot com

    Reply

  46. I do not have any sketch pens, nor do I have the machine, but I had either one the possibilities would be endless. I would use them to create decorations for parties and for my kids rooms.

    Reply

  51. I hope I am not entering twice, I keep getting a error message…hmm. Anywayyyy… I really need to win this :o) I have entered so many and never win…I tried to save for one and something always comes up…I am newly on disability and really need something constructive to do with my time. :o) Its so aggravating to see all these truly wonderful projects that are all done by machines, I would definitely use the pens!

    Reply

  60. Uh-oh! Just went to click on “I commented” for the contest and saw there’s a specific question I’m supposed to answer. Please ignore my earlier comment and use this one… Yes! I would definitely use the new pens. And no, I don’t have any yet.

    Reply

  65. I would love to win!!! The sketch pens are awesome! I would use them for greeting cards and decor! It would also be awesome for addressing on invitations!

    Reply

  66. I have the sketch pens. I haven’t used them as much as I want to yet…too many other projects to do first! But the time I tried them, I liked them. I want to get the pen adapter next so I can have more flexibility with what I sketch.

    Reply

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