Hybrid Interactive Layout using Silhouette

On a vacation in Wyoming we had a ton of fun trying on cowboy hats.  We didn't get pictures of all of the hats that we tried on (believe it or not), but we did take a few.  I just had to create a scrap page to remember all the fun that we had.  When I started to lay it out, one page got to be too crowded. So I made it a double page.

I designed the layout in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software. I set my design size to 12"x24" to accommodate the 2 12'x12" pages.  Then I set out the photo blocks and elements that I wanted to include. 

The digital kit that I used is a collab by the designers at The DigiChick called Howdy Ma'am. It's a great kit for travel, outdoors, edgy,  camping, hiking, you name it.

When I look at each of the photos, I think of a western "wanted" poster. That's where the title of the page came from "Wanted Cowboy Hats". I used a few western and cowboy inspired shapes from the Silhouette online store to create the title. The letters for the word "hats" is a font called Outlaw. I typed the letters in the Silhouette software, then filled them with a color to match the digi papers.  I then used the offset option in the software to create an edge around the letters, like a sticker.  I turned the cut lines off ("no cut") for the actually font, but kept them on for the offset. I then print and cut the letters.

I also print and cut the swinging saloon doors.  My Cameo cuts pretty spot on for print and cut (yes I have calibrated it), but sometimes it might be off just a tad, especially if there isn't enough light when it reads the registration marks. So rather than just fill the door shapes with the digital papers, I create a box shape around the shape I want to cut. I then fill that box with the digi paper and turn the cut lines to "no cut" for the box, but let the shape still be set to cut. This way I get the color/pattern paper all the way to the edges of the shape that I'm cutting.

To get the look of metal for the hinges, after print and cutting them, I coated the top of them in Top Emboss. I then covered them with copper embossing powder and heat embossed them until it melted all nice.  A little bit of ink on the edges gave them a worn look.

Here's a look at each of the 2 pages

Left side

Right side

And here's a peak at the photo behind the saloon doors