How to Decorate Your Silhouette CAMEO in 8 Minutes or Less

So a few weeks ago when I should have been using the 10 spare minutes I had to write another few lines in the ebook, I instead decided to decorate my Silhouette CAMEO. As an original Portrait owner this wasn't possible (come on SA, share the love!), but since I added Ms. Cami to the family in November I've been wanting to make her all purty!

Seriously this couldn't be easier since one of the FREE shapes you get with the Silhouette CAMEO is for the machine's control panel. Have you seen this yet?
Just open up Silhouette Studio. Go to your library and type in "control panel" in the search box.

Ta DA!

There's literally nothing more to do except cut it on paper or vinyl because it's already sized perfectly. Actually, you don't want to resize it or it won't fit on the CAMEO control panel correctly.

So go ahead and cut...I did test cuts on both paper and vinyl. Um...stick with the paper if you have some pretty paper you like! It's much easier in the next steps....

I've had this pretty vinyl for.ev.er and I really needed more of it in my life so I decided I'd give it a try too. I know you're going to ask me where I got it. If you knew how much vinyl I have (just ask my UPS man!) thanks to orders, free samples, and more you'd understand why I honestly can't remember where it came from.

If you cut on paper, you're job is practically done. Just pop off the clear plastic control panel cover..(Didn't know that was there, did ya? I didn't either until my vinyl stuck to it and pulled it right out of place!)

Place the paper piece around the control panel and then put the plastic control panel cover back to hold the paper in place.

(Sadly, this won't work for the newest CAMEO model since the touch screen replaces the buttons.)
Now...if you cut on vinyl, your job is a little more tricky because you need to line the vinyl up exactly on the control panel. During my initial attempt, I tried to do this directly on the machine and that's when the vinyl stuck and off popped the plastic control panel cover. Whatdoyaknow that makes things like 10 times easier. #happyaccident

I actually found the easiest way to put the vinyl onto the control panel cover this was to put transfer tape on my cut design. Then I flipped it over so it was upside down on the table. I then carefully laid the plastic control panel piece right on top. Finally, flip the whole thing over, burnish it and peel off the transfer tape. Sorry not enough hands for a photo op during all that flipping, burnishing, and lining up.

There's not much room for error...but there is a little wiggle room. Mine wasn't perfect (as you can see)...the vinyl hung over the side in one area. I just used an x-acto knife to trim it. Then pop that puppy back into place.

And since that took 8 of my 10 free minutes, I decided to use the other two to cut a little HTV reminder for the inside cover of my CAMEO. I've forgotten to flip my designs more times than I care to admit.

And that's how you decorate your Silhouette CAMEO!

How have you decorated your Silhouette? Leave me some comment love below or share and tag Silhouette School on your Instagram photos.

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Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School. If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!