Framed Ombre Butterfly Art & Silhouette Promotion

I realized something today that I think is kind of funny. I’m curious if you’re the same way. Whenever I decide on a room to focus on decorating, I come up with a million projects and ideas and cannot wait to get started. Then about two projects in, I’m already dreaming about the next space I want to re-do and get totally distracted from finishing the first room! What can I say… I’m a dreamer. 🙂

So as I’m busting out projects for my living room makeover, I’m already thinking about what’s next… I think my studio/office is due for a major overhaul! The majority of my house is designed for the boys that live here… no white walls, indestructible furniture, and definitely not a lot of glass around. So I want my studio office to be a place where I can enjoy my girly things… pink, ruffles, glam, and sparkles! Okay, there will probably be rustic wood tones and maybe even a deer head included in there too, just to balance out the estrogen-fest, but I want this space to be my little escape from boy-land! Are you as excited as I am about these plans?? Oh, wait… I’m supposed to be working on my living room. Oh, well.

With spring now here and a girly, pink office on the brain, I have a fun project to share with you today that would be perfect for spring decorating, a little girl’s room, or maybe a blogger’s girly office retreat. The choice is yours!

This Framed Ombre Butterfly is such an easy project to do and makes a beautiful, three dimensional piece of art for your wall. I started with this butterfly shape from the Silhouette Online Store.

I opened the shape up in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software and used the Fill Gradient option in the top toolbar to give the butterfly an ombre effect. In pink, of course.

I could just print out the butterfly and cut it by hand, but all those little cut-outs in the middle would make it SUCH a pain. So I tried the Silhouette Print & Cut feature for the first time, and it worked like a charm!

Once I had the butterfly colored and sized the way I wanted, I clicked the Registration Mark button in the top toolbar to show the registration marks on my design.

– Tip: Make sure you adjust the design to the size of your paper first! I printed my butterfly onto a piece of 8.5″ by 11″ cardstock with my regular printer, so I made sure to size my design to those dimensions too.

I printed the butterfly on white cardstock and loaded the page in my Silhouette CAMEO using a mat. When I clicked “cut” in the Silhouette Studio software, the CAMEO machine read the registration marks on my page and cut the butterfly perfectly!

To display this beautiful ombre butterfly, I just used a little bit of painter’s tape (I wanted something safe for walls) on the butterfly’s body and bent the wings out slightly to give it that three dimensional look. The white frame really makes it stand out, and I think a gallery of these framed butterflies would be gorgeous!

Now isn’t this a great start to my girly pink office? Oh wait… living room first.

This project was so easy with the help of my Silhouette CAMEO, and I have an awesome new Silhouette promotion to tell you about!

There are so many things you can do with your Silhouette machine, and the Print & Cut feature is definitely one of my favorites. This month’s promotion features the Silhouette CAMEO or Silhouette Portrait bundled with a whole bunch of fun print and cut related materials, such as adhesive gold foil, white sticker paper, temporary tattoo paper, and adhesive cotton canvas! And if you already own a Silhouette machine, all specialty media is 30% OFF for you!

Here are the details of the sale:

Silhouette CAMEO® Print and Cut Bundle:

The Silhouette CAMEO® and 1 package of:
temporary tattoo paper, printable adhesive kraft paper, printable adhesive gold foil, printable adhesive silver foil, printable white sticker paper, printable clear sticker paper, and printable adhesive cotton canvas for $269.99 (over $87 in savings!)

Silhouette Portrait™ Print and Cut Bundle:

The Silhouette Portrait™ and 1 package of:
temporary tattoo paper, printable adhesive kraft paper, printable adhesive gold foil, printable adhesive silver foil, printable white sticker paper, printable clear sticker paper, and printable adhesive cotton canvas for $129.99 (over $107 in savings!)

Silhouette Specialty Media Sale:

30% off the Silhouette Specialty Media (in-stock)!

Want to know how you can use the Silhouette Print & Cut feature? Here are a few ideas:

To make your purchase, CLICK HERE!

Be sure to use code LOVEGROWS at checkout to receive your discount! Sale ends 3/31/14

Here are some of my favorite projects I’ve created with my Silhouette machine to get your creative juices flowing:

Stamped Tea Towels // Etched Glass Oil Bottle // Easy Chalkboard Lyric Art
Rustic Kitchen Sign // Giant Fall Sign // Bicycle Backpack
Numbered Plate Display // Super Hero Dad T-Shirt // Fall Decorated Vases
Wedding Sign // Mother’s Day Albums

NOT SURE WHAT A SILHOUETTE IS?

The Silhouette is an electronic cutting tool that can be used to create a wide variety of projects. Similar to a printer, the Silhouette machine plugs into your home computer using a USB cable, but instead of printing, the Silhouette uses a small blade to cut designs created in the Silhouette Studio software. The machine is able to cut through many types of materials including vinyl, paper, cardstock, chipboard, fabric, heat transfer, magnet sheets, and more!

Silhouette has two different models for different project sizes. You can read all about the Silhouette CAMEO® here and about the Silhouette Portrait™ here! 

To make your purchase, CLICK HERE!

Be sure to use code LOVEGROWS at checkout to receive your discount! Sale ends 3/31/14

This post has been sponsored by Silhouette.

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