I love everything about Christmas trees: the fragrance, the lights and the ornaments of course! The Silhouette Challenge Facebook group organized a handmade ornament swap and I knew I had to join. We were paired up with a partner and encouraged to get to know our partners so we could make them the perfect ornament. My swap partner Karen owns several cats and volunteers at cat shelters so it was easy to come up with an idea for her ornament.

If you follow my blog, you know that I LOVE puns so I decided to make Karen “a purrfect Christmas” ornament. I know you just laughed!

Supplies:

• cat shaped metal cookie cutter (affiliate link)
• 3/8 inch width holiday ribbon ( I used slightly more than 3 yards)
• glue gun and glue sticks
• ribbon to hang the ornament
• white cardstock
• Glossy Accents with precision tip (affiliate link)
• Silhouette Portrait (affiliate link)
• Silhouette mat (affiliate link)
• Silhouette Studio software
• flatbed scanner
• Adobe Illustrator software or a pencil

Directions:

1. Wrap ribbon around the cookie cutter. I found it difficult to push the spool of ribbon through the cookie cutter so I removed the ribbon from the spool and just gathered it up in a big ball. The ball of ribbon was much easier to work with. I added hot glue where I started the ribbon. I pulled the ribbon very tight and overlapped it slightly as I wrapped it. I used hot glue every once in a while and definitely anytime there was an abrupt change in the shape of the cookie cutter such as peaks or large angles. The bottom right photo in the collage below is how close I got to finishing the ornament with 3 yards of ribbon.

Just the wrapped cookie cutter looked so pretty that I almost wanted to send Karen this simple wrapped ribbon cat.

2. Create an outline of the ribbon wrapped cookie cutter. One side of the cookie cutter is designed to cut the cookie and is thinner than the grip side. We want to use the grip side DOWN in this step. There are two methods you can use at this point but both involve a scanner scanning at 300 dots per inch (dpi).

• Pencil method – Place the grip side of the cookie cutter down on white cardstock and trace around it. Scan the white piece of cardstock with the traced image.
• Adobe Illustrator method – Scan the ribbon wrapped cookie cutter (grip side facing down). Import the image into Illustrator (File->Open) and then use the pencil tool to trace the outline of the pencil. I traced in the middle of the ribbon. Delete the scanned image but keep the pencil tool tracing. Export the file as a JPG at 300 dpi (File->Export and select JPG file type).

3. Create the cut file.

• Open the scanned image or the JPG file in Silhouette Studio (SS). The image should be true to size. The grip side is going to be the back of the ornament so we need to flip the image along the horizontal by selecting Object->Transform->Flip Horizontally from the SS menu.

• I want the text to be straight when the ornament hangs from the tree so I had to think about how the ornament will hang. My ornament has a natural peak for the cat ears so I rotated my cat image so the peak is at the top.

• Open the Trace window by choosing Object->Trace from the SS menu. Click on Select Trace Area and then outline the area around the cat. Adjust the Trace Settings until you get a good outline of the cat. I usually uncheck High Pass Filter and go from there. Then choose Trace Outer Edge to get a cut line. Delete the original JPG or scanned image.

•  Add the “a purrfect Christmas” text. I used the Branboll Fet font.
• Turn on registrations marks by choosing File->Registration Mark Settings from the SS menu. Then check Show Reg Marks. Reposition the cat and text if needed so that they don’t overlap the registration marks.

4. Print the cut file and cut the paper with the Silhouette. Here are detailed print and cut directions for Silhouette Studio (SS) version 2.

• Open the cut file in SS.
• Place cardstock into the printer.
• Select File->Send To Silhouette from the SS menu.
• Choose Click here to print in the Print Image window.
• Select Continue to cutting page.
• Place the printed paper onto a Silhouette mat and load into the Silhouette.
• Select Continue.
• Select Detect Automatically. The Silhouette will now detect your registration marks so it will know where to cut the design.
• Select Cut.

5. Add the ribbon to hang the ornament. The ornament has a peak so it was natural to attach the ribbon there. I ran the ribbon through the ornament and made sure that both sides were even. Then I crossed one piece of ribbon over the other perpendicular to the ornament. This will ensure that the ornament hangs correctly on the tree. Double knot the ribbon on the ornament and then tie the ribbon ends together.

6. Adhere the paper to the ornament. As a scrapbooker, I am picky about adhesives. The cookie cutter isn’t that wide so I wanted to use a permanent adhesive that can be precise in its application. Glossy Accents is perfect for this with its precision tip.

I quickly applied the Glossy Accents on the grip side of the cookie cutter and then pressed my paper onto it. I checked closely to make sure that the paper was flush with the ribbon.

Voila! This purrfect ornament is ready to hang on your cat lover’s tree!

I hope you liked the ornament I made you Karen! If you liked this ornament, you might also my other DIY ornaments. Click on the photo to be taken to its post.

I also have two gift tags projects with free Silhouette cut files. Click on the photo to be taken to its post.

   

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Pineapples and Pinecones // 2. Simply Kelly Designs // 3. Architecture of a Mom // 4. Just a Girl and Her Blog // 5. Two Purple Couches // 6. Chicken Scratch NY // 7. Creative Ramblings // 8. One Dog Woof // 9. Ginger Snap Crafts // 10. The Thinking Closet // 11. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 12. Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body // 13. weekend craft // 14. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 15. Practically Functional // 16. Living My Given Life // 17. My Paper Craze // 18. The Kim Six Fix // 19. Home At Eight // 20. Queen of Everything // 21. Tried & True // 22. McCall Manor // 23. unOriginal Mom // 24. Create it. Go! // 25. From Wine to Whine // 26. GetSilvered // 27. It’s Always Ruetten // 28. Nearly Handmade // 29. Mama Sonshine // 30. Silhouette School // 31. It Happens in a Blink // 32. Create & Babble // 33. Sowdering About // 34. Where The Smiles Have Been // 35. My Favorite Finds // 36. Lil’ Mrs. Tori // 37. Designed Decor

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you order through the links I receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting Simply Kelly Designs.