Welcome back! If you haven’t started with Lesson 1 of this series on tracing, you’ll find it here. So far we’ve covered when you need to trace, selecting images, what’s in the trace panel and how to trace simple, solid shapes of 1 color. Today, … [Read more...]
What in the world??? — No points to edit on a design
In this series, we’re uncovering the mysteries of the universe. Well, at least the Silhouette universe. I’m covering topics that can really stump you no matter how long you’ve been using Silhouette machines. Today, we’re going to talk about what’s … [Read more...]
Tuesday quick tip: what to do when text on a path messes up as you mirror
The day I learned about placing text around a circle was a great day! I had been doing it manually before that. LOL! And then my mind was completely blown when I found out you could put text around ANY shape. (If you don’t know how this works, you’ll … [Read more...]
When not to use a compound path
If you’ve read many of my tutorials, you know I love compound paths. Maybe it’s because when I explain them, I use a donut as an illustration. LOL! Understanding compound paths and how they differ from groupings is KEY to designing and altering … [Read more...]
Mask with printable fabric
So, yes, I’m still sewing masks. I had finished those for my extended family when my daughter let me know her boyfriend didn’t have one. We talked over some ideas, and because she’s a TOTAL goofball we wanted to do something fun. He’s been growing a … [Read more...]
How’d they do that? Adding spacing between elements
Today’s tutorial is helpful for those of us, me definitely included, who have trouble lining things up perfectly. By creating an intentional spacing gap between different elements, you give yourself some wiggle room. This is helpful for any material, … [Read more...]
Dispelling Text Myths in Silhouette Studio: 30 misconceptions about words, letters and fonts (Part 6)
Here we are in our last post about misunderstanding folks have when working with wording in Silhouette Studio. If you need to start back at the beginning, you can find Part 1 here. Today’s 5 myths cover some miscellaneous topics about working with a … [Read more...]
Point Editing: taming all those little black dots (Lesson 6 Part 1)
Today we’re digging even deeper into the world of Point Editing in Silhouette Studio. We’re going to look at the concept of breaking and joining paths. We’ll talk about when you need to use these techniques, plus what open shapes are and how to close … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #5 — Action by: Line, Fill or Layer
Now that you know the basics of the Send area, it’s time to get into advanced options with Action by: Line, Fill or Layer (Advanced Cut Mode in version 3). In these modes, you choose your cut settings for each shape based on its line color, its fill … [Read more...]
Pancakes and Donuts: the key to understanding the difference between a grouping and a compound path
To truly understand using and creating designs in Silhouette Studio software, you need to have a good understanding of Groupings and Compound Paths — how they are the same, how they are different and how they respond differently to modifications. You … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #4 Christmas Tree Gift Tag
We’re going to create another gift tag today. I mean, I can never have too many Christmas gift tags in my house come holiday time ????. In this project, we’ll learn to draw another type of shape, use control points, resize disproportionately, space … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #3 Initial Gift Tag
In today’s Successful Beginner Project, we’ll learn to add text, draw a simple shape, create an offset and a compound path, use more scale and align features, and cut by fill color. This tag is great for any time, but especially Christmas. By putting … [Read more...]
Announcing my new Craftsy class!
It's here! I'm officially announcing the launch of my Craftsy class. If you've never heard of Craftsy, it's a website where you can purchase and view video classes on all kinds of crafts. You can get classes in 2 different ways: Purchase a … [Read more...]
Software basics (version 4) — Lesson 12: Adding shapes to the page and basic manipulation
You’ve got your free shapes in your library and you’ve learned how to get around in the Silhouette Studio software. Let’s learn how you put those images on the page and start working with them. (If you need to start with Lesson 1 of the Software … [Read more...]
Why I never weld cursive text (& why you shouldn’t either)
Did that title surprise you? It sounds insane, right? I mean, we hear all the time from other users that if we don’t weld text the letters won’t all be connected and you’ll get little tiny pieces at the overlaps. It’s true that you need to do … [Read more...]