I made a shirt last weekend to cheer on my Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. They made it to the final game -- HURRAH! They didn't win, but it was a great game that went to overtime. Wreck 'Em Tech! … [Read more...]
10 Fun Stocking Stuffers to make with your Silhouette
Is your Christmas shopping done? For once, I got a big chunk of mine done early. But I love to give homemade gifts too, especially as stocking stuffers. Let’s face it – custom is always a good idea! And if it’s also inexpensive, that’s even … [Read more...]
Designer, Designer Plus or Business Edition: How to upgrade your software
Here's a question I get all the time from beginners -- "I bought the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. How do I get that into my software?" They also ask what to do if they get a new computer and need to install it there. That's our topic today: … [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...]
Frugal Friday: Distressed Foil Technique with a time-saving tip
I've just returned from teaching at the All Things Silhouette Conference. One of the ladies asked in the Facebook group for the conference for us to share 1 thing we learned. Believe it or not, the top thing I learned was from a vendor. He showed us … [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...]
HTV Projects Checklist
This post is part of my Checklists series. Each post in the series is a set of brief reminders to guide you while you work on a project. The HTV Projects Checklist helps you remember each step to take when you are cutting and applying HTV (heat … [Read more...]
Trademark and copyright for crafters
I sit here on a Saturday afternoon watching college football, my favorite thing to do (besides crafting). The only bittersweet thing is that my son is no longer playing as he graduated last spring. I've made a TON of spirit items over the years and … [Read more...]
Cutting Without the Mat Checklist
This post is part of my Checklists series. Each post in the series is a set of brief reminders to guide you while you work on a project. The Cutting Without the Mat Checklist helps you remember each step to take when you are cutting something like … [Read more...]
Cutting Checklist
This post is part of my Checklists series. Each post in the series is a set of brief reminders to help you remember the sequence of steps to use as you work on a project. With each checklist, I provide links to more information about the topics. … [Read more...]
Get it together, man! 6 tips to make a project more cohesive
Have you ever looked at a project someone else made and thought, “Why does theirs look so professional and pulled together while mine doesn’t?” Or have you ever liked all your pieces individually, but when you put them together they just don’t look … [Read more...]
7 tricks to make a multi-piece project more interesting
I remember when I first started paper crafting. I would put together a card or scrapbook page and then look at it and think, “BORING!” What is it that makes a project look interesting and finished? It doesn't just happen. Some folks have a natural … [Read more...]
Oh, the offset! Such a handy tool
Do you know about the offset feature in Silhouette Studio? If you’re a beginner, you might not (see my true confession below). But it’s an amazingly cool tool that can save you lots of time and frustration when working in the software. Note: This … [Read more...]
Screenshot and snip: quick ways to grab a picture of your computer screen
Smart phones have revolutionized the way we document the world by making it very easy to take and share photos. For a visual learner such as myself, that’s a great thing. It’s easier than ever to show someone an example of what I’m trying to explain … [Read more...]