I've been working on a VERY large project lately -- a forest of trees and animals for the children's wing at our church. We're going up 10 feet on the wall and it's 45 feet wide. Plus we're working around the entrance doors. How do you do something … [Read more...]
How’d they do that? Shattered technique
Have you ever seen a design and wondered, "How did they do that?" That happens to me all the time, and I usually don't rest until I've figured it out. If you can understand the techniques someone used, you can use on other designs. Today in our How'd … [Read more...]
Flawed design from the Silhouette Design Store: how to get the corrected version
Last week I shared several ways to alter a design to fit your project, and I used the Silhouette Design Store's free weekly design as a sample. I pointed out several problems with a design and showed how to fix them. You can find that post here. I … [Read more...]
Modifying this week’s Free Design to fit your project (and fixing some mistakes in it)
This week's Free Design in the Silhouette Design Store is a great one to teach you some concepts about how to modify a design to fit your project. It also is a teaching tool for how to fix messed up designs. I want to point out the mistakes and show … [Read more...]
How to use a roll feeder
I'm currently working on a HUGE vinyl project for my church. We're creating a forest scene with animals on a wall 45 feet long and 10 feet high. This is the perfect time to use a roll feeder, since the pieces are really large. What is a roll … [Read more...]
Cutting paper to match a precut chipboard shape
I've shared with you recently a couple of things I made for a baby shower -- some table decorations in which I used a custom plaid pattern I created. There's one more thing I want to share. I bought some large chipboard letters, cut patterned paper … [Read more...]
Adding a multi-color design element into a school mascot
My son's girlfriend coaches high school soccer. Of course, that means I just HAVE to make her some spirit swag. But I didn't want just any old design. I wanted to find a way to incorporate soccer. I love the final result, so thought it would be good … [Read more...]
How to create a custom plaid pattern
Recently, I was helping with the decorations for a baby shower. The organizers wanted a sports theme with an emphasis on University of Tennessee. If you know that school at all, it's main color is a rather bright orange. The trick was to find … [Read more...]
Drawing filled shapes or text: 2 ways to select attributes beforehand
I don't know about you, but I always work with filled shapes. Unfilled shapes are harder to move around, you can't easily see front to back order, and you don't know if you have groupings or compound paths (which makes a HUGE difference when you use … [Read more...]
Right where you want it — how to move a shape precisely
I have to be truthful -- I'm not always super-precise as a crafter. I don't typically find that spending an extra 30 minutes to affect a change of .001% is worth it. If I'm moving my images around on the Design area in the Silhouette Studio software, … [Read more...]
How to assemble a Silhouette pen holder
The first time I looked at the Silhouette brand pen holder, I was completely confused. There are 5 different pieces in the package, and the instructions made no sense to me. I had to have someone else show me. So I'm going to return the favor and … [Read more...]
Hack to make sure text around a circle is centered
Today I want to share a quick tip with you about getting text in the right spot when you wrap it around a circle or arc. (If you don't know how to do that, see this post). It's not hard to do, but one thing that I used to struggle with was making … [Read more...]
Frugal Friday: Making the most of expensive HTV and vinyl material
As I told you in my first Frugal Friday tip, I hate to throw away scraps of expensive or beautiful material. I like to try to find ways to reuse the bits and pieces whenever I can. That’s certainly the case with any patterned adhesive vinyl or HTV. … [Read more...]
Frugal Friday: Using margin scraps of white tattoo paper
I admit it. I’m a craft hoarder. That means not only that I have probably way more craft materials than I could use in 3 lifetimes, but also that I HATE to throw away bits and pieces of materials that are leftover after I make a project. My brain … [Read more...]
Knockout designs made easy
For my first project in my Spiritwear series, I want to teach you how to create a knockout design. This is a fun way to combine a school mascot with the team name or another phrase.I promise it will be easier than any other knockout method you've … [Read more...]