Adding a Watermark to Silhouette Studio Mockups

If you use your Silhouette to create items that you sell, chances are you've needed to make a mockup for a client at one time or another.

It's best to add a watermark to mockups to protect yourself and your business - you don't want the client taking the design elsewhere to have it created or have a rough draft of a printable printed before fully paying (you are asking for at least a partial deposit up front, right?).
   
It takes just a few minutes to make the initial watermark, and after that you can save it to your Silhouette Studio library so it will be just a single click any time you want to add it.

Silhouette Friendly & (mostly) FREE Fall Fonts and Halloween Designs

 
It's the first day of fall and we're celebrating here on Silhouette School by sharing a bunch of FREE fall and Halloween-inspired designs, fonts, and dingbats.  You know my favorite source of free designs is PicMonkey and when it comes to holidays the monk' does not disappoint!

Chalkboard Style Subway Art Tutorial

Almost as popular as the recent Ice Bucket Challenge is the Chalkboard Style Subway Art.  I've had several people ask how they are made and so today I thought I'd share how you can make one with birth stats, first day of school info, or a milestone birthday.   I'm making one for my daughter's first day of school, but you can do whatever theme you'd like - the process is the same.

There are several programs you can use to create these, but I think the easiest, most user-friendly and best graphics package is PicMonkey. So we're actually going to start in PicMonkey - you can design the entire chalkboard subway art there, but I want to incorporate a few 'extras' so we'll be using Silhouette Studio, as well.  If you're not familiar, PicMonkey it's a free photo editing and design website that offers tons of fonts, designs overlays, graphics and more.  You can get the upgraded Royale version which I think is more than worth it for $33 a year, to gain access to ALL of the graphics and fonts...but it's definitely not necessary for this project.   Royale features are indicated by a little gold crown in the program. 

8 FREE (Silhouette Friendly) July 4th Fonts, Dingbats, & Designs

July 4th is just around the corner since the holidays are a often a busy time for paper crafts, cards, and DIY home decorations I thought I'd share some 4th of July-inspired fonts and designs.  All of these designs or fonts are free for personal use and they're Silhouette-friendly.   They are a combination of free designs, dingbat fonts, and regular text fonts.

Silhouette Print and Cut Heat Transfer Iron On Tutorial

A few weeks ago I shared a tutorial on how to make print and cut wall decals using Square1 Printables.  I briefly mentioned another cool product from the same company called Square1 Iron Ons.   I got a few questions about the Iron Ons so I thought it was worth a post of its own to address a few of your burning questions...and it's perfect timing since at the time of publishing these babies are on sale at the lowest price they've every been: $1.50/sheet. 

Let's start from the beginning though.  The Iron Ons come in 8 x 11.5" sheets that can be run through your inkjet printer.  They're great for more complex and colorful designs that would be hard, if-not impossible to achieve with regular heat transfer vinyl.  For instance, this pair of shades has a slight grading effect in the lenses.  You're not going to get that on regular HTV, which is where SQ1 Iron Ons save the day.

I found my design on PicMonkey.  PicMonkey.Com > Design > Overlays (butterfly) > Sunglasses.  The little crown next to the glasses indicates they are part of PicMonkey's paid upgrade service, Royale. If you're not into paying $33 a year for access to all the designs, fonts, and layouts that's cool - just pick another one of the FREE options - there are tons!

Polaroid Father's Day Card (Free Silhouette Studio Cut File)

I can't believe it but I'm already getting requests for Father's Day. I guess it is less than a month away already!  My husband hates spending money on cards so we rarely buy cards for each other, but that's not stopping me from making cards!

I designed this card based on a similar Father's Day DAD card I found on pinterest.  I put my own twist on it by adding the Polaroids and I think that really 'makes' it!   Once I had an idea I got to work creating the cut file (which you can download at the end of the post).  I think it turned out really cute and it's totally customizable.

Just a few tips about this design and putting it all together...

10 Places to Find FREE Silhouette Cut Files

Call me cheap, call me tricky...call the trace feature my BFF! It's true...pretty much the last place I look for Silhouette cut files and design is the Silhouette Online Store.   There are so many other places you can find free designs and cut files, why would I spend my .99 there if I don't have to?  I'd rather save my craft fund for supplies I can't get for free!

Today I'm going to let you in on my 10 favorite places to find FREE Silhouette Cut Files and Designs!  

#1 Google Search - I always stop by Google first and do a Google image.  Just a few key words and I can usually find something that will work for the design I'm looking for. Any JPG, PNG, or GIF can be brought into Silhouette Studio and traced to be made into a cut file which means the possibilities are pretty much endless!  Here's an example of a google image I found and then traced in Studio for a print and cut file project.  
 
#2 PicMonkey - When I want to design my own images instead of using a stock image from Google I turn to PicMonkey.  There are a huge selections of free fonts, designs, labels, decals, shapes, and overlays. that you can use to make a custom design.   You can get access to all of the designs and fonts by upgrading to the Royale package - it's just $33 for the year.  PicMonkey designs are great for both print and cut projects as well as cut files - just save a jpeg and bring into Studio to trace. Here are a few examples of ways I've turned PicMonkey designs into Silhouette cut files.  

How to Turn Any JPEG Into a Silhouette Print and Cut (also works for PNG files)

We've shared the basics on Silhouette's Print and Cut feature and even how to modify and customize print and cut designs that can be purchased in the Silhouette Online Store.  But today I'm going to go one step further and show you how to turn a PNG or JPG into a Print and Cut.

10 (Silhouette Friendly) FREE Easter Fonts and Designs

Easter is just a few weeks away and since the holidays are a often a busy time for paper crafts, cards, and DIY home decorations I thought I'd share some Easter-inspired fonts and designs.  All of these designs or fonts are free for personal use and are Silhouette-friendly.   They are a combination of free designs, dingbat fonts, and regular text fonts.

Stop Wasting Silhouette Vinyl: Get 3 Projects from 1 Cut {And a Giveaway}

If you follow our sister DIY site, Two It Yourself, you may recognize that chair.  It found the chair along the side of the road months ago and recently made it over in about 15 minutes.  Not even joking.  I may only be slightly exaggerating when I say it took me longer to weed the vinyl design than it did to paint this chair.

Anyway, after the chair was painted black I wanted to add a vinyl monogram to the seat.  I created the design - for free - in PicMonkey.  Click here for details on cutting PicMonkey designs in Silhouette Studio.

When my design was all ready to go I put my vinyl - with the backing still on - onto my cutting mat.  You do not need to use a cutting mat for vinyl, but I like to when I can.

11 Must-Know Silhouette Tips, Tricks, Shortcuts & Work Arounds {March Month in Review}

March was only Silhouette School's second full month since our January launch...and it sure was a busy one. In March, we got schooled on a lot of tutorials, shortcuts and work-arounds for those pesky problems that creep up in Silhouette Studio. Everything from how to turn free PicMonkey designs into Silhouette cut files to making perfect shapes, installing new fonts in Silhouette Studio and cleaning a dirty cutting mat.

(Free) DIY Photobooth Props using PicMonkey and Silhouette

I posted a little sneak peek of my photo booth props on the Silhouete School Facebook page last week and was immediately asked where the design could be purchased.  Guess what peeps - it's FREE courtesy of PicMonkey!

Have you caught on by now?  I love me some PicMonkey. If you aren't familiar with the monkey swing on over and check out the most fabulous and FREE photo editor and designer on the web.  I'm not even joking.  PicMonkey has tons of free designs and since you can save them in JPEG format that means they can be converted to free Silhouette designs, as well.  (More on importing JPEG and GIFs to Silhouette Studio in a minute.)

Today, I'm going to share a fun tutorial on making DIY photobooth props.  Photo booth props often include mustaches, beards, hats, glasses, tiaras, lips, thought bubbles and the list goes on depending on the theme of the party, wedding, or celebration (or perhaps you're just making them for your kiddos for no reason other than you're a rock-star mom)! Guess what...PicMonkey is totally at rock star status, too! Let's get started.