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: quick wedding table numbers
Today's Frugal Friday tip is another project for a wedding. I did this one recently for a young friend using leftovers from projects I made for my own daughter's wedding. It's frugal because it doesn't require many materials and took us little … [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...]
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...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #10 – Vinyl Wall Quote
Are you ready for your final beginner project? If you haven’t gone through the Software Basics series and the other Successful Beginner Projects yet, I recommend you do those first because we will build on the skills already taught. In this project, … [Read more...]
Silhouette Summit 2018: Upcoming New Products and Software Features
Every year in May, Silhouette America holds a summit in Hawaii to announce new products and software features coming in the next year (nope, I didn't get to go). There are some VERY exciting things coming down the pike. Here’s a preview of the … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #9 Baby stroller vinyl layering decal
Today’s project is another one using vinyl layering. We're going to learn about doing our vinyl layering before we put the vinyl on our project. I’ll also teach you about cutting 2 colors in the same pass, some new weeding techniques, and another way … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #8 Snowflake decal with vinyl layering
In today’s beginner project, I want to teach you about simple vinyl layering and show you a new application technique. We’re also going to learn a bit about working with small designs. Let’s get going! To start with project #1 in this series, go … [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...]
Cutting without the mat without losing your mind — Tip #10
This tip is probably one of the most important to remember when cutting without the mat, and it's one many folks don't ever recognize as causing an issue with their vinyl shifting. It's all about getting things started straight so the material stays … [Read more...]