Converting Sihouette Cut Files to Print and Cut

Last summer, as I was preparing to teach a card class, I was getting very tired of cutting out a bunch of pieces, especially small ones. I still had one more card to create and prep kits for. The cut file that I wanted to use had far too many small pieces. I thought it would make a very nice print and cut file, so I searched online to see if there was a tutorial for converting a cut file to print and cut. There was, and it worked very well for me. For anyone who wants to try it, you can find it here:

How to Turn Cut Files into Print and Cut

I was very pleased with the results, but from then till now, I hadn't thought to use the process again until a post on the RefuPeas site got me thinking about it again. They were talking about ephemera, and one person seems to like Doodlebug designs. The Silhouette site has a lot of Doodlebug designs. They are older, but still cute, so I mentioned it as a potential way to save money. Ephemera packs can be pricey. All Silhouette files are on sale right now for half off, and once you buy the designs, you can use them as many times as you like. The problem: Doodlebug only had 2 that were print & cut, and the rest were tiny pieces needing to be glued together.

I was pretty sure that I had converted cut files to print & cut before, but it wasn't till late last night that I found the video that I had used, and I remembered when and why. So I decided to see if I remembered how I did it, and I did (mostly) succeed. I converted a cute little cat from a cut file to print and cut. I missed one step, but I fixed it as soon as I noticed. It was late, so I set the project aside for the night. This morning, I opened a variety of Doodlebug designs, turned them into cutting files, added them to the print & cut sheet, and here are the results:

After peeling off the card stock excess, this is what I was left with:

The blue behind the images is just colored card stock, so you can see the individually cut designs a little better. If you look closely, there are two different versions of the lemonade stand. I took the lemonade glass, reduced it in size, duplicated and flipped it, and welded them to a duplicate of the lemonade stand. I also duplicated and flipped the ice cream truck. I didn't have any more time to spend on this, so I just wanted to fill the page. And now I have several cute images ready to be added to a layout or to cards, for the minimal price of card stock and printer ink. Yes, I'm cheap, but saving money by creating my own ephemera for a fraction of the cost, with less waste. The money that I save can be used to buy something else, and with the high cost of everything these days, every little bit helps.