Card shape from simple shape in Silhouette Studio

This year I found myself needing a Father’s Day card and having only about 15 minutes to make it. (Ya, don’t ask). I had bought my husband some golf head covers and a pass to his favorite golf course, so I wanted — you guessed it — a golf-themed card. I had only 1 golf design in my library and had used it to make last year’s card. Thinking quickly, I decided a round card would look like a golf ball if I used an embossing folder to add dimples. You can take almost any shape and turn it into a card using a pretty simple technique. I’ll also show you a cool trick for adding text on both outside and inside that’s perfectly aligned.

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Add the shape to the page

I started by drawing a simple circle using my drawing tools.

HINT: If you hold your SHIFT key as you draw, you’ll get a perfect circle.

Make a duplicate

I used the keyboard shortcut CTRL+↓ to make an exact copy just below. You could also use the Replicate panel or Object>Replicate drop down menu to make your copy. The keyboard shortcut CTRL+c/CTRL+v works to copy and paste, but then you have to align the 2 circles. Save yourself a step.

Overlap the shapes along one edge

In order for your card to fold, you need your shapes to overlap slightly. For this circle, I need them to overlap more than 2 images with flat edges like rectangles.

Weld the 2 shapes

Select both your circles and then weld. Because this is something we tend to do often in the software, there are multiple ways to do it:

There’s an icon in the Quick Access Toolbar just for Weld.

Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+w
In the Object drop down menu, choose Modify>Weld.
Right click and choose Weld.
Open the Modify panel and choose Weld.

Add a score line for the fold

This step is optional, but I like to do it so that I get a nice, crisp fold.

Use the Draw a Line tool to draw a horizontal line across the width of the card right where your 2 pieces met. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect — I’ll show you how to get it in the right spot. Hold the SHIFT key as you draw to get a precisely horizontal line. Just be sure to release your mouse key before the SHIFT key.

Select the line in the Quick Access Toolbar or Line Style panel, change your line to a dashed line. You can also choose to have it score in your cut settings, but I prefer the dashed line. If you choose to use the Score setting, change your line to a different color.

Select your welded circles and line and use the Centralize icon to align the shape and the line both horizontally and vertically with 1 click.

Group the line with the welded circles.

At this point, the design is done. Yep — just that simple.

Finish the card

Cut

Cut your card from cardstock. If you didn’t make your line dashed, cut by line color to Score the fold line and Cut the outside line.

Add wording (optional)

I used my new foil quill to add some wording in a sketch font, but sketch pens work great too (see my post here for sketch pen instructions). If you want to write on both the inside and outside, use this trick (it only works with a symmetrical image). Read through all the steps first so you understand the concept.

Add 2 different text boxes — one for the front, another for the inside. Put the phrase for the front of the card on the bottom portion of your shape and align it. Position your design+text toward the bottom edge of the page.

Put your cardstock on the mat and load the mat. Cut the outer edge and score the fold line. (If you’re using a foil quill, tape your foil on at this point). Draw the wording. The reason you do the front is that you want to fold away from your score line.
After the job is done, do NOT remove the mat from the machine. Just lift the card shape off the mat (including foil). Leave the rest of the cardstock in place.

Flip the card over and rotate it 180°. I forgot that second part and had to redo my card. Put it right back in the hole on your cardstock that’s remaining on the mat. So what you’re seeing in this photo in the inside of the card.

Look in the Move tab of the Transform panel to see where the center of the text box is and make note of that. On a text box, the location won’t show in the Quick Access Toolbar, but you can find it in the panel.

Move your wording for the front away and put your wording for the inside in the bottom circle again. I am MISERABLE at getting things lined up right, so I used another trick. Remember those numbers I told you to make note of? This is where you need that. Move your text to the same location by inputting the numbers in Move tab of the Transform panel. Be sure to NOT move your card shape.
Add your foil as needed. Draw that second phrase, making sure you have the outer edge and score line on No Cut.

Add texture

I used my Cuttlebug to make dimples on the front of the card like a golf ball has, then folded it. Done! It would have been under 15 minutes if I hadn’t messed up that first card. Took me 20 instead. Fortunately, you can learn from my mistake.

A more complicated shape

Now that you know the technique, you can do it with almost any shape. You can see in this post how I made a card from a birthday cake shape that came free with my Cameo 3. Here are more examples:

Keep these things in mind as you design:

If your shape isn’t symmetrical you need to make a mirrored copy. I’m showing that here in the Object>Replicate drop down menu, but there are other ways to do it as well.

Pick an area to overlap that is flat if possible, and that has enough surface area to keep the parts together.
Think about how overlapping and welding might affect the design. On the Christmas tree above, this is how the folded card would look:

If you don’t like the look of that, you’d want to figure out something else.

HINT: You can visualize the outcome by making a rectangle with a white and clear line color over the edge you’ll fold.

You may have to adjust other pieces depending on the design. This butterfly has a filigree piece (blue) that lays over the solid piece (purple). The pink is the mirrored copy. The black line is the fold. See how the blue piece is above that black line? I need to adjust the blue piece in some way so that it doesn’t extend past the fold. I could make an internal offset of the blue piece. Or, instead of using the single filigree piece as intended, I could instead use the holes pieces and glue them individually on the purple base.

To weld successfully, you need to know the difference between a grouping and a compound path. See the full explanation here.

More about Modify

If you’d like to learn more about creating your own designs, I cannot stress enough how important it is to understand the Modify panel. I promise it will completely revolutionize your understanding of design concepts in Silhouette Studio. I had a nice long, video class on a crafting website, but they have since gone under. Keep your eye out for a series here on the site.