How to Do HTV Applique with Your Embroidery Machine - Ripaway Technique

Did you know you can use heat transfer vinyl instead of fabric for embroidery applique?  A lot of people don't realize this is a thing and once they try it are completely hooked! 

If you already have HTV at home from your Silhouette Cameo projects, you have everything you need to get started (aside from an embroidery machine, of course). 

This technique uses a ripaway (also called tear away) applique method that gives you a beautiful finished satin stitch edge - and it is way more beginner friendly than cutting fabric.

I'm going to walk you through the whole process from start to finish, including what all those stitch types mean why you don't need to contour cut your HTV at all! 

Why the Trace Tool in Silhouette Studio Isn't Working (And How to Fix It)

I hear it all the time: "the trace tool isn't working."  

You found a graphic you want to cut. Maybe it's a sticker sheet, maybe it's a design someone sent you, maybe it's something you pulled off Pinterest or made in Canva. You bring it into Silhouette Studio, click Select Trace Area, adjust the threshold, and either nothing is yellow or everything is yellow and it looks like a mess. 

read on for tips on how to trace to get clean cut lines on hard to trace images. 

Laundry Room Freebie Friday Silhouette Cut File

It's Freebie Friday and you guys know what that means - time for a freebie!

This week's design is for all of you who are looking to add a little farmhouse charm to the most hectic room in the house.

How to Set Up Multi Color Designs in Silhouette Studio

If you want to create multi color designs, this Silhouette Studio tutorial will give you some tips on how to set it all up in the software for easy previewing and cutting! 

Creating multi color designs is fun and creative and another way to add value to the products you create (and sell, for all you small business owners out there)! 

Why Canva Designs Print Wrong Colors on Roland (and the one fix)

If you design in Canva and print on a Roland BN2, you may have experienced frustration when you pull your file into VersaWorks and the colors look nothing like what you designed.

Your design is beautiful in Canva. Then VersaWorks shows the PDF preview and you're wondering if your file is corrupted or if the colors did not export correctly. 

The good news is there's one setting that fixes this instantly. Read on for the 10 second fix! 

Embroidery Machine for Beginners - Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

Machine embroidery is not nearly as intimidating as it looks.  As someone who was only moderately comfortable around as sewing machine, I know when you first see an embroidery machine it can feel overwhelming.  

I've been there. My mom gifted me a sewing machine for my 16th birthday (that I still have), but an embroidery machine just seems so much more advanced (and scary). In reality though, embroidery machines are in some ways even easier. Did you know you don't even need to use a pedal?

A few years ago, I started as a total beginner and I have made every mistake in the book - including spending hours trying to fix a "broken" machine that turned out to just be a screensaver. I'm sharing all of it so you don't have to go through what I went through. 

This is your complete beginner's guide to getting started with a machine embroidery machine - from choosing the right machine to your first finished project.

Shop my recommended beginner embroidery machine here

EufyMake E1 UV Printer: White Ink Not Printing? (How to fix it)

If your EufyMake E1 UV printer white ink stopped printing - I've been there. And I want to save you the hour-plus of frustration I went through figuring out how to get it printing white again. 

The EufyMake E1 is a desktop UV printer that prints directly onto objects - tumblers, wood, acrylic, stickers and more. And white ink is hands down the most common problem EufyMake E1 owners run into.

In this complete guide to testing and fixing the white ink, we'll go through all the steps you need to take to make sure your Eufymake E1 is printing correctly. 

Congrats Grad Freebie Friday Silhouette Cut File

It's Freebie Friday and you guys know what that means - time for a freebie!

School is coming to an end and graduation season is in full swing. 

How to Make DIY Big Head Cutouts at Home

DIY big head cutouts are all the rage right now. Graduation parties, sporting events, birthdays, senior nights...you'll always see a big head on a stick!   

The good news is you can make them at home and add them to your small business (even just seasonally).  What I love about this method is they come out super high quality - they're not blurry or pixelated, but are crisp, full-color, cut-to-shape big heads on corrugated plastic that look completely professional.

I made a set for my daughter's graduation party (can you believe Olivia is graduating?!) and I am SO excited about how they turned out. So let me show you exactly how to do this.

Craft Plastic Sheets for Laser Cutting - Settings and Tips

I had never cut craft plastic sheets on my laser before and I honestly wasn't sure what I would use them for. But when I was making photo booth props for my daughter's graduation party, they turned out to be perfect! 

This material is thin, slightly flexible - almost rubbery - and it cuts beautifully on a CO2 laser like an xTool P2s or Flux Beamo.  You can also cut it on a diode laser or even a craft cutter, like a Silhouette CAMEO or Cricut. 

I had my laser up and running already for some DIY big heads, so that's why I opted to laser cut the plastic sheets. Here's everything you need to know before you cut.

How to Prep a Photo for Laser Engraving (And Why Most People Get It Wrong)

Photo engravings on wood either look stunning or look like dull, muddy mess. It's not actually the laser itself - it's the prep work you do on the photo before you send it to be laser engraved. 

Most bad engravings are directly related to the image that was sent to the laser.  If the photo is low contrast, has a messy background, or is the wrong file format, no power or speed settings will fix it. Here's how to fix photos before engraving.