My Review of Silhouette Stencil Material *spoiler alert: it's amazing!* ~ Halloween Party

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been a little MIA lately...we are still living at my dad's and YEP my craft box is STILL packed up. :( BUT - I'll try really hard to make it up to you with lots of fun crafts when I get my own house with my own craft room (hopefully!). We put in an offer on a home today, but the house is already under contract, so we are just a backup offer. We probably won't get it, so we are continuing to look...hoping we find that one special home soon!

Today, I've got a Silhouette tutorial for you. I originally guest posted this on Get Silvered and am excited to share it with you guys now! For those of you who don't know, I own the Silhouette Cameo and L-O-V-E it. I use it for almost every craft I make. One in particular is the Maternity Countdown Shirt that I sell {SHOP}. I make each shirt by hand and would cut out a stencil for the numbers each and every time. It was kind of time consuming and used up a lot of vinyl per shirt. Just a couple months ago, I found out that Silhouette sells a -- you ready for this? -- REUSABLE STENCIL MATERIAL!!!!!! I pretty much freaked out and immediately bought some to try out. Well, it's AMAZING! It's basically a thin plastic that I use over and over and over again. I make so many shirts with one stencil - it saves me SO much time and money. This post is all about my review and a tutorial for cutting and using it!

The Stencil Material comes in a tube. This is great for storing, but not totally great for the stencil material itself. Mine had a few bubbles (you can see in pic below) which made me think at first that the cutting part did not cut all the way through. I was happy to see when I unloaded it that it did cut perfectly - I just had to pull the stencil off the paper backing carefully to make sure it came off along the cut lines in a couple of places. {addition: since I wrote this review, I've purchased more stencil material, and it didn't bubble. Maybe it was just my first try...!}

Load your stencil material into your Silhouette (no cutting mat - remember to adjust your rollers!) with the stencil material facing UP (paper backing on the bottom). Design your stencil in Silhouette Studio and click "Send to Silhouette." In the Cut Settings, just scroll down and pick your material - which is Stencil. It will then show you what to adjust your Blade & Rollers to. Easy peasy - now CUT!

This is what my stencil looked like after I cut it and removed it from the paper backing. YOU NEED TO KEEP THE PAPER BACKING! You'll put the stencil back on the paper backing after you use it, so you can keep it and use it again! See all of the number "inside" parts? Like the inside of the "8" and the "0" and the "9" - etc. ? I put those in a little plastic bag, to keep, so I don't lose them, since you need them for your stencil. You guys - I seriously can't tell you how much I love having a reusable stencil!!!!!!! It saves me SO much time. It's just awesome. :)

Another awesome part?! No transfer tape! Nope! The stencil is so sturdy that you can just place it directly onto whatever your stenciling by hand. *sigh* Total dream.

Paint your project (remember to put something UNDER your project, so the paint doesn't seep through!), let dry (use a blow dryer to speed up drying time!), and you're done! Remove the stencil - and SAVE IT for your next project. I just LOVE this new stuff. It's seriously awesome, if you can't tell. :)

You have to let me know if you try this out and what your experience is. Here are some more projects I've used a stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo:

DIY Glitter & Gold Heart Sleeves