Hi there, it’s Jamaica. I don’t know about you, but I’m totally obsessed with gold lately. The minute I saw the Twenty Fifteen cut file I knew it needed to be gold. This was the perfect project to put the Silhouette Printable Gold Foil to the test.

The gold foil sticker paper is totally awesome. Not only is the gold a beautiful color and has a slightly matte sheen, it’s designed specifically for use with the Silhouette. Using the Printable Foil settings, the Silhouette cut thru just the top layer, leaving the backer intact which made it easier to separate. Plus, it’s surprisingly thick. After peeling the twenty fifteen away from the backer, it had a fair amount of rigidity. It’s not going to fold over and stick to itself while you’re trying to apply it. Thank goodness. 

Inspired by the Catbird packaging I received at Christmas, I added one cut file to a black Moleskine notebook. The gold really pops off the black. You can’t tell from the photos but the gold reflects the light really nicely. For a lower contrast, tone-on-tone look I used a slightly larger version on a kraft colored Moleskine and trimmed off the excess on either side.

While I love how it bleeds off the edge on the second version, the thickness of the foil prevents it from folding around the narrow spine nicely. You can see how the F pops out on the left, refusing to stay stuck. Maybe if I had more overlap on that side it would have worked better? I ended up trimming even more off that side and now I’ve got rough edges sticking out on the T and F where the spine starts to curve. If you’re going to try this one, I’d definitely recommend making it slightly smaller or only bleeding off the right side where it’s lies flat against the cover.

While playing around with my test cuts, I fell in love with the idea of the twenty fifteen wrapping around the front of the notebook to the back. And, I wanted it to be in white.

Rather than try to glue a piece of paper to the notebook or try to spray paint it, both of which would totally work, I went for a more lo-fi solution and colored it by hand. I just traced the cut file in pencil and then colored it in using a white poster paint Sharpie. I outlined it first then went back and filled it in carefully, letting it dry completely before touching up any patchy spots.

The challenge is to prevent the paper from getting too wet while you’re coloring it in. The wetness of the paint/ink starts to lift the tooth of the paper making it fuzzy and more difficult to cover. So think thin while you’re painting and let it dry thoroughly. To be honest, it turned out better than I expected. Although I am interested to see how a different type of pen or darker color would work. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Hope this inspires you to dress up your notebooks for the new year. Here’s to a crafty twenty fifteen!

xo, jamaica

See more of my projects here or follow me online at my blog, on Instagram or see what inspires me on Pinterest.