Four Ways to Use Leaves & Acorn Digital Cut File | A Silhouette Cameo Tutorial

Welcome and Happy Monday! Today, I'm sharing a short tutorial on four ways to use my new Leaves & Acorn Digital Cut File (which you can find in my 17turtles Etsy Shop) and my Silhouette Cameo. Some of these techniques will also work well with some of the simple shapes that I know many of us have. Here is the file when you first open it with the Silhouette software.

Digital Cut File Leaves & Acorn by Juliana Michaels 17turtles

SEPARATE LAYERS

When you start to separate the colors you will see that there are two layers for each image. I made this file to be used so that you could cut out each piece and layer them with different patterns or colors of paper.

Separating the layers of a Digital Cut File Leaves & Acorn by Juliana Michaels 17turtles

COMPOUND PATHS

Another option is to separate each image but keep the two layers together. Next select both of the layers and right click with your mouse. From the menu select Make Compound Path. This option will only be available if you have selected both layers.

When you click on Make Compound Path, it will "erase" the area where the top layer covered the bottom layer and give you an outline shape. I used this method when I created my Fall Favorites Scrapbook Page, shown below.

Fall Favorites Scrapbook Page by Juliana Michaels Leaves & Acorn Digital Cut File 17turtles.com featuring 3 Birds Design

WELDING

Another fun option is to remove the top layers from each of the shapes. You will notice that the acorn has two pieces. Place the top onto the bottom of the acorn and select both pieces.

Next, right click and select Weld from the list of options.

It will "weld" the two pieces together to create one shape.

BACKGROUNDS

One final use of simple shapes is to group them together and create a die cut background paper. Begin by positioning all of the images in a group. Then select all of the images.

Grouping images of a Digital Cut File Leaves & Acorn by Juliana Michaels 17turtles

Right click and select Copy. Then place this second group next to the first group. You can now rotate this group or flip it vertically or horizontally.

Copying images of a Digital Cut File Leaves & Acorn by Juliana Michaels 17turtles

Continue repeating this process until your background is complete. I used a combination of the rotating and flipping to create this pattern. This would be great to use as a background paper. I would probably cut if from one color of paper and then back each of the open shapes with a different color of paper to create a fun and colorful background.

Creating a background with a Digital Cut File Leaves & Acorn by Juliana Michaels 17turtles

So there you have it. Four ways to use one cut file! Does this make you stop and look at your digital cut files a little differently now? I sure hope it inspires you to play with them and use them more too!

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