Silhouette Project #1: My New Mailbox!!

I love gifts that keep giving/doing, like what came this Christmas: a Silhouette Cameo machine.  I've been tinkering, trying out a bit of this and that, experimenting with cardstock, scrapbook paper and vinyl.

Today, I'd like to share my new mailbox with you!  Ours is...well... dead.  It's "seen better days" as in PRIOR to being hit by the snowplow and a baseball bat... and the door won't shut.  So, I sent off for a new, VERY plain one, with the intention of creating my own masterpiece.

I was VERY pleased with the results!

Let's start at the beginning:

Here's our new mailbox via Amazon.

This is the end you open BEFORE I add our street number.

Here it is WITH our number!

Our name JUST fits!  YIKES!!

Now, since I DIDN'T think to photograph the process (was a bit nervous) I did a bit better job with the "how to" for the decoration.  Yay!

First, I cut a piece of the vinyl and stick it down.

Next, I feed it into the Silhouette and tell it to "Cut" via my laptop.  It is a bit noisy, but as long as no one is watching TV (sorry, Whitt) it's okay.  I let it do it's thing and go about my business till it's done.

After the cutting is done and I removed it from the machine, I pull off the excess vinyl and the design is left.

This next part didn't make sense to me till I actually did it a few times ago: you need transfer paper to actually put the design on anything!  You have to peel the gridded transfer paper apart, but once you do, you stick it ON the design.  It holds the design while you pull it OFF the paper the vinyl WAS on.

Using a great little scrapper, you press over all the design and then lift the transfer paper up.  Viola!  You have your design ready to apply.  (**See the scraper in the image below.)

Next, figure out exactly where on your project (me, on my mailbox) where you want the design.  Lay it down and use the handy dandy little scrapper again to apply it to the project.

Ready for some magic?  Peel off the transfer paper and YOU'VE got it!  OMG... isn't that cool????

Here's the new mailbox, ready for mail!

In hind-sight, I would have made our name just a wee bit smaller, so it wasn't scooching off the end, but I LOVE the white on the black!

You can take a look at what I got HERE Silhouette Cameo Starter Kit Bundle Cutter. If you decide you just HAVE to have one, I get a wee bit of cash back from Amazon - keeps the blog rolling!  If you have questions, ASK!  I'll let you know what I've learned so far.  I'll be posting that info, as well as time goes on.

Ready for some more projects?  Keep your eyes here!
Have a great day,
Carrie