Love you to the moon and back, Doctor Who version ~ Silhouette Cameo

Here is a tutorial on how I made this "I love you to the moon and back" Doctor Who version. I am using Silhouette Studio software, and a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine.

I used 12x12 craft boards for this piece. They are thin, easy to work with, and easily are hung on any surface with Command Strips! 

The paint colors I used are as follows

All purchased from Lowes in Val-spar brand

White – ULTRA WHITE

Grey - CITY STORM

Yellow – GOLDEN FLAME

The Vinyl I used for the Tardis (Brilliant Blue) and Text ( Black)  is Oracal 651.

The Tardis SVG I found online. I do not own rights to the file so I cannot share it. A Google search should pull one up for you!  

Font is Aintzane Script

Let's Get started! 

First, I painted the craft boards my background color. Let that dry fully before using a stencil.  

While that was drying, I went in to my Silhouette Studio software and started designing! I am going to walk you through my whole process, hopefully you pick up a trick or two along the way. 

Lets work on the "Love you to the Moon" board first. 

I used a design set  from the Silhouette Store called " Alien Planet Set" for the moon and stars. 

Here it is, I like to color in my designs while I am working. It helps me get a better grasp of how my end result will look. Right click on the set, UNGROUP the design, then color them in. 

So as you can see, we will not need that swirly thing. Go ahead and delete it. 

Now you are going to set your stars aside and we are going to make our moon. Did you notice when you colored it in, it looked a little weird? Lets fix that! Select all of the moon, right click and MAKE COMPOUND PATH. 

Grab your moon, rotate it, and size it up to achieve your desired look. The green circle that appears above your selected object allows you to ROTATE a design. The little squares that pop up in each corner allow you to adjust your size. 

Here is what I ended up with! 

To get your moon cut in half, follow along. 

Select your slice tool. See the three RED areas I have circled? Make sure that option is selected before you start. Now, HOLD DOWN SELECT while using your slice tool. This will ensure you get an exact straight line. I went a little below my page line, just so the stencil will overlap.  After you make your slice, delete the bottom half of the moon. 

Next we are going to curve our text for the "love you to the" part. 

First, draw a circle that is the same size as your moon. Remember to hold down select while drawing it to achieve a perfect circle. 

Select your text tool and type out " Love you to the "

The font I used is called Aintzane Script

If you want a cute free font, try Janda Stylish Script

Like I mentioned earlier, I always color in my designs as I go along. Color in your font if you choose and size it up to the size you like. 

Now we are going to curve the text. Grab that circle we drew, and bring it up to the area you want your text to be. 

Double click on your text until you see the green box around it. 

Do you see this little arrow thing circled below, select that, and drag it over your circle.

You will have to move it around just a little bit to get it centered. If you look at what I have circled below, you will see two options. The option all the way on the left that goes up and down give you the option to slide you text above or below the object you are trying to wrap it around. I liked how it looked as is, so I didn’t mess with it.

Now, I don’t know if you noticed, but some of the letters separated a little too much once they were curved. To fix that you need highlight your text and to take the “Character Spacing” (Circled in red) down just a tad. I took it down just enough to where most of my letters were overlapping again. Also, if you want your text bigger or smaller, now is the time to adjust it.

While I was adjusting everything, I noticed my words ended up a little too close together. So, I went in and added an extra space between each word and between the L and ove in Love. I think this made it much better.

 Next, select your text.

UN-GROUP your text.  Delete that circle we used to curve the text. You will not need it again.

Now, select one word at a time, and WELD (Circled in red at the top). 

I also like to “group” each word if it doesn’t weld all together. Do this for each word. Welding makes your objects cut as one solid word. If you skip this step in a cursive font, you will end up with each letter cut out individually. DO NOT skip this step. After you weld each word, group the whole phrase.

Next use your text tool again and type out “Moon”. Ungroup it, and weld it just like you did above. Size it to your liking in the moon.

Next, open your Tardis file. Like I mentioned earlier, I didn’t design the file so I cannot share it. A google search of “ Tardis SVG” should pull one up for you!  Fill it in blue and bring it into this page. Mine is sized right at 3.2 x 1.7.

Now select everything you have ON your page. ALL of it! Click on your align tools that I have circled in red, and ALIGN CENTER them all. This just makes sure all your objects will be centered nicely on your page.

 After I got my Tardis on the page, I moved things around a little bit. You can move things around to your liking but make sure to keep things centered. Repeat the centering step often. 

Now on to your stars. Select all of them, right click, and Duplicate the whole set. Place them wherever you want to your liking around the design space. Delete any extras you don’t use. Voila! Done designing! Now onto the fun stuff.

Select and GROUP the moon and stars. You don’t have to do this, but keeping things grouped helps them not get knocked around accidentally.

Select the phrase and Tardis and move them off to the side of the design space. We will use those later. 

  

Time to make your stencil!

Since the board I am using is 12x12 I went ahead and altered my Design Space settings and told it I was cutting a sheet that is 12x14. Having the overlapping helps when transferring the stencil. I also went ahead and selected “None” for my cutting mat so I could cut larger than 12x12.  

Showing your cut border will help you keep everything in the cut space. Go ahead and select that as well. (I have it checked and circled in red)

Load a sheet of your stencil material (I used Oracal 651, you can use contact paper, or whatever stencil material you prefer) on to your machine and cut it. Yes, you are cutting the moon and stars all at once.

   

After it is cut, weed your design as follows. Remember we are using this as a stencil, so we are KEEPING the background and weeding the stars and moon.

 You will notice the whole moon didn’t cut on the bottom corners. I used an Exacto knife to complete the cut on the edges.

 Unfortunately I do not have pics of how I continued the process. I decided to make this tutorial AFTER I got a huge response from posting the pictures. I didn’t have any more boards at home so I decided to just guide you through the rest. I am using the back of the boards I already made to show you a few parts.

This step is up to you how you choose to continue. More experienced folks may choose to just peel the stencil off and place it carefully over your craft board. The bottom of the stencil/ moon WILL come off. It’s ok, you don’t need it. You will have to manually place the inside of the moon craters. That is how I did it.

If you are not as experienced in this area, you might want to use some transfer paper to transfer the design. PAPER transfer material is ideal here. I know it’s a little harder to work with, because it is not clear, but it is easier to transfer the stencil with it.

You can always use a little bit of painters or masking tape to overlap your edges if you need.

After you have your stencil transferred, RUB RUB RUB into the edges of each shape. You want the vinyl or whatever stencil material you used to really stick to the board. If you leave any areas not properly stenciled, your paint will bleed and look sloppy.

Now, paint your stars yellow, and moon grey! Let it dry, and do another layer. When that is dry remove your stencil slowly and carefully.

Go back to your Software and cut out the Tardis and Text. Apply it to your board and you are DONE! If you wanted to create a stencil and paint these, you could use the same process. I liked the look of vinyl and paint stenciling mixed.

For the “and back” board you will be using the SAME EXACT process as before!

The houses scene I purchased from the Silhouette Store and the design name is “Christmas House Border”

I won’t be walking you through all those steps, but here is a pic of how it looks in my software.

 I hope you have found this tutorial helpful! If you recreate this design, PLEASE share with me your results or any issues you may have had. I could have missed a step or two and not realized it.

As always, thanks for taking a look and have fun and craft on!

Original design by Ashley Duhon, One Rockin Mamma. 

All photos are Property of One Rockin Mamma. You may not use my photos.