DIY Owl Valentines Using Silhouette Glitter

Glitter.  It is my favorite thing to craft with~next to ribbon.  This year for my daughter’s homemade valentines, we made them extra sparkly with some Silhouette Glitter.  That stuff is SO.MUCH.FUN!  I am so addicted.  It’s projects like this that make me so thankful that I have a girl to glitz things up. So this year, we took the Owl Valentine idea I had last year, and made them a bit differently.  Despite the fact that I tried to sway her to bees, hearts, or butterflies,  she wanted owls again.  I tried and tried to show her images on Pinterest of butterflies, bees, and even cute hearts.  None of it.  She wanted owls again, so owls it is!

Now that I am more comfortable with my Silhouette Cameo, I’ve begun exploring the various materials from Silhouette.  For this project, I used their Adhesive Backed Cardstock, Double Sided Adhesive and glitter.  Love them both!  We really dressed up our valentines from last year, and I like these so much better.  Plus, I got to use my pen holder.  Yay!  This is a GREAT project if you like to layer paper and craft to make something fantastic!  If you are a newbie, you need to cut each piece of the owl separately, and then layer it together to make the complete look.

Supplies:

Silhouette Adhesive Backed Cardstock

Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive

Silhouette Glitter

White Cardstock

Directions:

1.  Find an owl cut file.  There are tons of super cute ones in the Silhouette Design Store!  I honestly don’t remember where I found mine….so check out the SIL store for the best bet.

2.  I like to cut the same material until I have enough.  So, I started with the Adhesive Backed Cardstock. I cut out all my bodies from the pink and set that aside.  Then, I cut the eyes and eyeballs and set those aside.

3.  Next, resize your owl pattern so it is a tad bigger.  You are going to write on this and then cut it.  You need this piece to layer the pink body you just cut.  Set up your OWL Always Love You text on your screen so it fits nicely in the center of your larger owl body.

4.  Go to the cut settings.  Highlight the owl bodies, and select “No Cut”.  Be sure the OWL Always Love You text is set to “cut”.  Swap your blade for your pen holder and set the software to Sketch Pen.   Send it to the machine to write your message.  Do NOT unload your mat after it has finished.  Now, swap the pen holder for the blade.  Highlight your text on your software and choose “No Cut”.  Then choose the owl bodies to “Cut”.  Set your machine to Cardstock and send the owl bodies to the machine to cut.  Repeat this process of alternating the pen holder with the blade until you have enough owl bodies.

5.  Now you are going to cut the hearts, flowers, and eye outlines from the Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive.  This stuff is so fun….and the best way to add some glitz!    I started with my hearts.  Lay the Double Sided Adhesive on your mat, yellow side down and choose Double Sided Adhesive from the cut menu.  Set your blade appropriately and send it to cut.  After you have cut all your hearts, set them aside.  Repeat the process with the flowers and outlines of the eyes.

Now you should be looking at your work space and seeing all sorts of parts to assemble for your owl! Here is your assembly order:

Large white owl {print side down}

Pink owl body

Heart {peel off the yellow and stick it to the center of the pink body.  Do NOT peel the white off yet}

Eyes

Eyeballs

Eye outline {only peel off the yellow backing, not the white}

Flower {again, only peel off the yellow backing, not the white}

Your owl should look something like this:

Now is the FUN part……the glitter!  Peel the white off the heart.  If it doesn’t come easy, use your weeding hook to get it started.   Shake some glitter to cover the heart and shake off the excess.  How fun! Repeat this with the eye outlines and the flower.

Finally, add your little one’s signature to the back of the valentine and you are done!  With all this cutting and layering, I can see where this might seem like a lengthy process.  My best tip is to give yourself two days to do this.  One day to do the cutting and assembling, and the next day to do the glitter and having your little one sign the valentines.  It’s impressive what you can make with a Silhouette with a little layering!