Crafting with Andie: Bucket Light for Book Club

A few times a year I host my local Book Club gathering. Because we meet in the evenings, and my street doesn't have street lamps, it's difficult for the first few people to spot my driveway (once it's full of cars, it's a big hint that it's the right location). After hearing about other crafters making lighted buckets as "signs" to help others find them, I decided to make one for myself.

I found an empty white bucket in the garage that was reasonably clean. The bucket used to contain whole wheat grain, but we finally finished off all of the grain recently. I was glad my husband hadn't thrown the bucket away (they can be useful for a lot of things). I washed out the bucket and did my best to scrub off the label. I wasn't able to get all of it off, but I figured that I could cover the writing with vinyl and it would be mostly hidden.

I have shared this project, "Love Books", in Cricut Design Space since I was able to make it using several free images available in Cricut Design Space. It's simple enough that Silhouette users should be able to find a similar book image online and recreate the project on their own.

I first pulled in the book image and resized it to be 11" wide. Since the largest mat width we can have is 12", I wanted the book to be a little bit narrower than the full width to provide some "wiggle" room.

I duplicated the image, then clicked on "Contour". Contour can be used to hide elements of a design. On one copy, I hid the black part, leaving the two pages on their own. I colored them yellow so they would be easier to see on the screen

Next, I clicked on the other image and used contour again to hide the two pages so that it would leave a solid book cover as the second piece.

The result is below. We will, of course, have to align these when finished, but having them in this arrangement illustrates that the machine will cut a full book cover and pages in separate layers.

I then decided that the book needed the illusion of text. I didn't want to write "Lorem ipsum...." to fill it, so I create curved lines for the "text". I selected the Oval shape and stretched it until it was close to the curve of the "pages".

I then duplicated the oval and placed it just below the original oval so that I could select both and hit slice to leave a curved line that would represent the "text".

In the above image, I changed the first oval to red so that the resulting "text" swoosh would be visible. I selected both ovals and hit "slice".

This resulted in a number of pieces I didn't need as well as the one piece that I wanted. I deleted the extra sliced pieces.

I then duplicated the curved "text" slice multiple times and arranged the slices to represent "text".

I also changed the color of all the curves to black. On the left side, I added a heart in red, and then used the rectangle to slice the "text" to remove the left side of it for the "text" that ends just shy of the heart.

If you are creating this in Silhouette studio, the steps are similar, except you would use "Subtract" to remove the top shape from the bottom shape. In the image below, I created a blue oval and then duplicated it in red, so the red is on top of the blue oval. When I hit "Subtract", the portion of the blue oval not covered by the red will be left behind.

Once the design has been completed, select all of the "text" lines in the layers panel and group them using "Attach". This will ensure that the "text" lines are cut in the intended layout rather than rearranged to best fit on the mat.

Although that arrangement will result in more waste vinyl, it's far easier to align the text lines as a set rather than manually arranging them individually.

Click "Make it" and cut out the designs. I used blue for the book cover, white for the pages, red for the heart, and black for the "text".

This design needs to be layered. I decided to layer it flat, then apply it as a complete design to the bucket. I chose that strategy because in sewing it's best to complete as many details as possible while the garment is flat.

First place the book cover on your table.

Lay the pages down on the table.

Apply transfer tape to the "Pages".

Cut the backing of the pages in the center. Lay one side over the book cover and ensure it's in the correct location. Begin peeling back the backing of the side that's still lifted up.

Press the vinyl down on the book cover as you peel back the backing.

Once the first side is placed, lift the other side and slowly peel back the backing and press the page down on the book cover. Remove the transfer tape.

Rub over the top of the "pages" to smooth out any bubbles and to ensure the "pages" are stuck firmly to the book cover.

Next, use transfer paper to take the "text" off of its backing and apply it to the "pages" using the same technique (cut backing in half, align, and remove backing from one side and then the other).