Four Silhouette Projects for Beginners
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Learn how to make cool stuff with these Silhouette projects for beginners! They’re fun, easy, and will help you learn how to use your machine.
I’ve owned my Silhouette machine for a few years now and it has honestly changed the way I craft. I like to joke and say it makes me look super professional, but it’s true!
A Silhouette machine can open you up to a world of possibilities when it comes to the types of projects you can do with it. I have still only scratched the surface of all the things I can do with this machine and I’m constantly finding out new things I can do with it.
I won’t lie and tell you that there is no learning curve when it comes to using your machine because there always is when you’re trying something new. But it is well worth it to put in the time and effort so that you can start making projects that bring you joy!
When I was originally looking at machines I was trying to decided between the Silhouette Portrait or the Silhouette Cameo. At the time we were living in a small apartment and there wasn’t a lot of room for craft supplies. That had a lot to do with my decision and why I went with the Silhouette Portrait.
Why the Silhouette Portrait was the smart choice for me at the time:
Compact design
Chris and I lived in a very small apartment where I did not have a designated craft room. My “office” was a small nook in our living room and the desk was very small.
I didn’t want to have to worry about the Silhouette Machine being too big for my desk because (at the time) you had to plug your machine into the computer to be able to cut your materials. Since my desk was so small the size of the machine was a factor.
Price
There is a significant price difference between the two machines, and since I was just starting to get serious about blogging at the time I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a cutting machine.
While the cameo offers a bigger cutting area (12×12) I did not feel that justified the $100 price difference between the two. I was content with the idea of cutting smaller designs and paying a little less. It worked out well for me!
The real reason I wish I had gone with the Cameo instead of the Portrait from the beginning
Cutting Mat Size
Even though the Portrait worked out well because of the compact design, I still look back and wish I had went with the Cameo from the start. It would’ve been more money up front but it also would’ve saved me some time and materials.
The Portrait could only cut materials that are 8×11 while the Cameo can cut materials that are 12×12. Because of this I had to cut down every single piece of vinyl I bought because they only come in 12×12 sheets. That meant I wasted 2×4 inches on every single sheet.
That was a lot of cutting and a lot of scrap vinyl.
Project Materials
Imagine that you want to make a large wooden sign but your machine cannot cut the width or the height that you want. While you can cut out a stencil that is larger than your machine (check out the tutorial here for this Hand Lettered Rudolph sign) it is a HUGE pain if your machine can only cut something that is 8 inches wide.
The less you have to cut and piece together the easier it will be for you in the long run.
What materials do you need to start using your Silhouette machine right away?
This is all relative because it really depends on what you want to make and focus on. I really love using vinyl so I always suggest buying a few sheets to play around with.
Materials for Vinyl Crafts:
- Oracle 651 (permanent vinyl) from Expressions Vinyl
- Heat Transfer Vinyl from Expressions Vinyl
- Oramask 813 Stencil Vinyl – the best stencil vinyl for wood signs!
- Weeding Tools
- Cricut EasyPress 2 (only if you’re looking to make t-shirts!)
- Grid Transfer Tape – this is my favorite to help me line up the design
- Paper Transfer Tape
- Scraper Tool
Materials for your Silhouette Machine:
- Cutting Mats – these are the stickiest mats I’ve ever used and I love them!
- Silhouette Deep Cut Blade – I use this blade to cut intricate details and small designs
- Silhouette Pens – these are fun to use to make cards or address envelopes.
- Sticker Paper – I mostly use these to make stickers for my planner but you can also use them to make address labels for holiday cards.
While there are way more things to do with your Silhouette Machine than what I’ve listed here, you can easily get started with just a few of the products above. The best thing is is that you don’t need all of these things straight away, and if you buy a machine bundle you will probably get lots of these items with your machine anyway.
These are all just products that I use often and I highly recommend. But you do not need all of them to start making projects that bring you joy. Pick and choose what you want to do and go from there!
These Silhouette Projects for Beginners are:
- easy to try,
- have easy-to-follow instructions and
- will help you learn your machine.
Try your hand at all sorts of projects with your Silhouette Cameo machine! These four projects are perfect for beginners who want to try something new, whether it's a stencil, vinyl, or heat transfer craft! Did you know you can cut out a quote on vinyl and use it as a stencil? I was pleasantly surprised when I realized I could do that and it made labeling items or adding fancy lettering and sayings to different things around the house. The first time I used it for that was on my coffee tray, and it made the entire project so much more fun! Now I use stencils all the time and even wrote a post on how to stop your paint from bleeding through the stencil. You'll be on your way to more professional looking signs in no time. Just make sure you're using Oramask 813 vinyl. It's the BEST out there and I refuse to use anything else. So I may be a little bit obsessed with monograms and mandalas, and I thought it would be so fun to cut out a decal to put on my coffee mug. They came out great! Using Oracle 651 Vinyl (permanent vinyl) means that you can hand wash your cups with vinyl decals on them and the vinyl won't come off, I love it! I've seen people make window and car decals, magnets, and so many other things for themselves and others. And with the holiday's coming up it might be a lot of fun to make some themed decals for your kiddos! Or you can make a cute hostess gift, like I did here! When I first started making signs I made the mistake of using Silhouette brand vinyl (bad, bad idea!). It's not as sticky and I had a very hard time getting Since then I've used Oracle 651 vinyl because it's permanent and much easier to cut (seriously, so much easier!). My favorite was this Buddy the Elf canvas and it came out perfectly! But did you know you can also use heat transfer vinyl on your canvas projects? I did it on this sweet Valentine's Day sign and I will never use Oracle 651 on them again. HTV is just so much easier (and faster!). Heat transfer vinyl is an obsession and I have made so many things with it! I've done lots of t-shirts with heat transfer but I also love putting it on canvases, wooden signs and other vinyl blanks. Personalizing things with HTV also makes for great gifts for friends and loved ones!Silhouette Projects for Beginners
more Silhouette projects to try!
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Was hoping for a tutorial:(
Hi Shelley, if you click on the links within the posts it’ll take you to the tutorials for the projects.
Thank you just bought the camo ecited but didn’t know what to learn on. You gave me some great ideas.
I’m so excited for you Wendy! You’ll love your Silhouette. I hope you come back and share some of the projects you do with yours, I’d love to see what you create. 🙂
Can you do the same projects with the cameo as you do with the one you have? I want it to make portraits of my grandkids for their parents…plus anything else it can do.
Hi Cathy! I actually upgraded to the Cameo a few years ago and yes, you can do anything with the Cameo that you could do with the Portrait machine.