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...]
Cut Doctor: Lesson 9 — Line Segment Overcut
You know that CPR can literally save a life. Penicillin and other antibiotics revolutionized medicine and saved countless thousands of lives in the past century. In today’s appointment with the Cut Doctor, you are going to learn about Line Segment … [Read more...]
Frugal Friday: Using up scraps of textile foil
I recently shared a Frugal Friday technique for using foil scraps or "damaged" pieces of textile foil. Today, I'm going to share another simple way to use scraps. It's a tip that's pretty logical, but something you may not have thought about. Often … [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...]
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...]
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 without the mat without losing your mind — Tip #14
So you’ve followed all my tips and are now a pro and cutting without the mat. There are still 2 more things to keep in mind after your successful cut. To start with tip #1, go here. Tip #14: What to do after the cut Don’t forget to reset the … [Read more...]
Cutting without the mat without losing your mind: Tip #13
Even if you follow every tip and have given yourself the best chance for success, sometimes things just go wrong when you're cutting without the mat. You can often save your project or at least some of it by keeping a cool head and following some … [Read more...]
Cutting without the mat without losing your mind: Tip #12
I told you in tip #10 that it's difficult to load materials like vinyl and HTV because they are floppy. I also said I'd let you know another reason they are tricky. That's today's tip. Because these materials are often on a roll, they become curled … [Read more...]
Cutting without the mat without losing your mind — Tip #11
Today, I’m going to show you how, before you even start the cut, you can tell if your machine is going to keep a grip on the material throughout the whole cut. You can actually roll the material all the way through the machine by using the arrow … [Read more...]