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...]
Cut Doctor: Lesson 2 — Actions
In our first appointment in the Cut Doctor series, we talked about purchasing materials and choosing the right one in the Send area. I also showed you how to create and save your own custom settings. You can find that lesson here. Now we're ready for … [Read more...]
Cut Doctor: Lesson 1 — Materials
One of the most frustrating things with using a Silhouette machine is when you have a great design and materials, but can't seem to get a good cut with them. Maybe it's that the cut doesn't go all the way through your material. Or perhaps it's … [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...]
Wedding welcome sign
I’ve been helping one of my daughter’s friends make some items for her wedding lately. She was struggling to figure out a cost-effective way to make a Welcome to our Wedding sign. We liked the idea of a plain black canvas with white letters. The main … [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...]
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...]
First Steps in HTV: Project #1 — Polka Dot Heart Tea Towel
I didn’t realize when I bought my first Silhouette machine that I could use it to make custom shirts, or that heat transfer vinyl would turn out to be my favorite type of material to work with. My boys (and their friends) seem to have several new … [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...]