Silhouette: DIY Reindeer Lollipop Card

Do you call it a sucker or a lollipop?  I call it a sucker, but the tutorial where I got this idea refers to it as a lollipop so I guess I better do that too.  Maybe it's a regional thing becase the tutorial came all the way from Australia!

So, as I browsed Pinterest last night I came across the Pin for these really cute Reindeer Lollipop Cards from a blog called Missy Mac Creations.  Lately I've been looking for two things when reviewing craft projects: 1.) things I can make with my new Silhouette and 2.) things that will be a Girl Scout friendly craft.  And these little lollipop cards fit the bill perfectly!  With one exception.  The template is a PDF.  That means the Silhouette can't cut it out.  But that's where Photoshop comes in really handy!

First things first, you'll need to head over to Missy Mac and download the template.  I opened the template in Photoshop Elements, which let me have each of the designs (Santa, reindeer, elf) as an individual "page".  Then, I simply deleted the background, cropped the image as tight as possible, and saved it as a .PNG file.  A .PNG file will keep a transparent background.  To make life a tad easier I went ahead and duplicated the image and flipped it so they were mirrored.  It's just easier for me to do that step in Photoshop.



Next, I opened the .PNG file in Silhouette Studio.  Here's where you'll want to find a good tutorial on using the "trace" feature, if you're not familiar.  I got really lucky that I didn't have to do much to get a "cuttable" line for these Lollipop cards.  I selected "trace outside" from the selection menu. 

Then, I used the circle tool to make a cuttable circle for the nose and the tiny little hole for the sucker stick.  I also added a line and made it "perforated" where the two halves will fold.  I did a test cut on a piece of card stock and all went well!

I also wanted to be able to use Dum-Dum suckers, so I rotated and duplicated the card so I could have two per 8.5x11 sheet.  I was able to get three Santas and Elves on one sheet, but the Reindeer antlers would only allow two per sheet.  I'm so tickled with how this turned out!  And I'm even happier that I didn't have to use a pair of sissors!

I would love to share these cuttable files with you.  But, sadly I'm not savy enough to know how to upload these so that you can download them!  I did share them with Missy Mac in the hopes that she would pass them on to you!

Update:  I received an email from Missy Mac and sadly she couldn't open the file!  But, she did say I could share!  If you're reading this and have a Silhouette and would like the cutting files, send me an email and I'll try to figure out if those files can be sent by email!   meetthecottons@gmail.com

Hooray! A DIY School Memories Book

I have been eyeing those cute little school memories books for the past three years but I never wanted to spend money on something I thought I could make for free.  Let's just say I haven't gotten around to making them for free myself.  It's on my mental to-do list, I guess.

Well, I opened an email this morning to see these School Memories pages created by Confessions of a Homeschooler!  Seriously, I am very happy right now. 

I've already saved them to my computer and it's the perfect motivation to get all of my scrapbooking caught up (that's going to be one of my 2013 resolutions!).

Do you have a memories book from your childhood?  I did, but I think it got lost sometime over the years.  But, I remember looking at it and just being amazed.  I hope Patty and JT like their books as much as I did!