Do you fancy a wee bit of crafting before Christmas? Or maybe you’d in like to make a last minute personalised gift? Well, I figured I’d share a few of the fast and easy projects I’ve been making for my friends and family this year. I’ve even uploaded the files for you to help get you cracking straight away - click here.

I’m a big fan of gin, so the current craze suits me well. You’ll notice that gin features heavily in my projects ;)

Edinburgh based Pickerings Gin sell these super cute gin baubles. You get 6 multi coloured baubles in a pack and each bauble is a double measure. You can refill for next time too! I bought mine from local wine shops Cornelius on Easter Road and Valvonna and Corolla on Elm Row for £30 but I’ve noticed John Lewis and other shops have them online - JL currently have them at half price, kerching!

To personalise, I choose the Magnolia Sky font which has the benefit of being jaunty so you don’t have to be too precious when placing on the bauble (great time saver). The font size is 36 and I did a 0.01cm offset which both welds the letters together and makes it ever so slightly bolder and easier to cut and weed.

Another time saver is the vinyl you choose. Picking a vinyl that cuts and weeds beautifully even on small and intricate designs makes your task a joy instead of a tribulation. My favourite vinyl for this hands down is crafty cutter premium rose gold. This stuff is a-maz-ing.
I tend to place the the letters so that the highest point sits at the top of the liquid level.

I got some little advent boxes from Sainsbury's - 24 for £3 which the baubles and socks fit perfectly into )

A while back I posted a tutorial on foiling with a laminator and laser printer. Here’s a really effective way to make your own prints and you don’t need any artistic ability either! Simply snap a photo and use a free app that converts your photos into a sketch such as this one. Then it’s just a matter of printing your image and foiling it. Boom, you’ve got yourself a lovely foiled print in under 10 mins for the cost of a sheet of hot foil and piece of paper or card!  I've included my gunpowder and jawbox gin prints here if you'd like to jump straight to the print and foil step :)

I've been AWOL for quite a while, but don't worry I've been crafting like crazy.  I have also doing lots of home improvements, so I've lots to catch up with you about!

As its wedding season, the first project I'm sharing is my geometric papercuts, including a free cut file that you can download here.  I've included the file both in SVG and also GSD format (for those who use the basic Silhouette Studio software).

I couldn't decide whether to have the papercut floating or edge to edge within the frame, so I've included both options.  I ended up cutting both and I included the smaller papercut on a greetings card to give the choice.  For the perfectionists amongst us, the border around the smaller papercut allows you to perfectly centre the papercut within the frame.

Crafty cutter is the queen of speciality effect vinyl and she has a massive range of rose gold self-adhesive and heat transfer vinyls.  Here's the unboxing video of a giant order I did at Christmas time if you're interested in seeing more:

She now sells a new high shine rose gold vinyl which is also rose gold on the reverse - great for glasses etc.  Charlotte kindly sent me a sheet to try and I'm in love.  It cuts and weeds like a dream and I think it looks ace on this project.  It's currently priced at £2.50 per A4 sheet.

FRAME: I got the frame for £6 from BHS, which I've just seen is closing down again:(  I have seen the same frames from Boots and Paperchase, albeit at a higher price point
PAPER: I used 125gsm hammer paper from Paperchase
CARD:  I used 300gsm hammer card from Hobbycraft for the greetings card
FONT: I used the Strong Glasgow by Hero Fonts which is free for personal use

I'm very excited to bring this tutorial to you today as I've been a foiling-mad woman for quite a while now!  I've recorded a video which shows you how to foil your own prints.  I've also covered foiling stickers and how you can layer foiling on top of inkjet printed backgrounds. I compare the different foils and give tips on the best printers and card. 

To help get you started, I'm giving away a bumper pack of free printable designs - links at the bottom of this post.

Laser printers don’t use water soluable ink, instead they use tiny granules of black plastic called toner.  Laser printers uses static electricity to arrange the toner onto the page and then the hot rollers melt it and fuse it to the paper.  If we heat the page again, the toner will melt and become a perfectly precise glue that the foil will stick to.  Any parts of the paper that are white stay white, whereas anything printed black will be covered with foil.

Inkjet printers will not work, but the fact that they aren't reactive can be used to our advantage.  We can print any design, using black or coloured inks as a background, safe in the knowledge that the foils won't stick to them.  We can then take the inkjet printout and run it through the laser printer, this time printing the design that we want foiled. 

Mono laser printers that only print in black and white are better than colour ones as apparently the formulation of the black toner is different.  I originally bought a Canon printer from John Lewis but had to return it as it kept getting paper jams.  In the end I bought a Samsung MD3220ND from Printerland, currently £117.58 as it was the only printer I could find under £500 that could take cardstock up to 220gsm. 
If you don't want to buy a laser printer, you can get your local print shop or chain such as Staples to print you copies.  Photocopiers also use toner if you have access to one.

The Minc Rose Gold foil comes in a roll which is handy.  I bought mine from Amazon UK for £7.37 and it shipped from America (there is no import taxes as the value is under the threshold).

The Deco Foil Rose Gold foil comes in 6 by 12 inch sheets of 5 or 20.  The 5 sheet tube is £6.42 and comes with free next day delivery if you have Prime.  The larger pack of 20 is £7.16 but ships from America, also no import tax.

Patsy May, a UK company sell 15m rolls of metallic foil in widths of 10, 20 and 30cm for £6, £10 and £15 respectively.  They also sell holographic and patterned foils in the same sizes and prices.  The postage is £2.70, but even adding this, these foils work out the cheapest.

My favourite is the Deco Foil, but in the video, the Patsy May foils actually performed really well on stickers.

My favourite white card to use is Color Copy by Mondi, its bright white and super smooth, especially formulated for laser printers but also works well with inkjet for those layered looks.

I also like the super smooth card from Anna Marie Designs which is £5.99 for 50 sheets.

I'm a massive fan of an innovative paper from Italy called The Tube, sold by Paperstory, both for foiling and for paper cutting.  It has a latex like finish and 10 sheets are £3.10.  There are a variety of colours, my favourite are the matte black, petrol blue and graphite grey.

Stickers look great foiled, I particularly like to make foiled return address labels.

For those with Silhouette Cameo cutting machines, the Cameo 3 having two blades is great for stickers.  I do a light kiss cut which cuts the circles but not the backing paper (blade 1 force 5) using the left blade.  It then automatically moves on to cut with more force (blade 2 force 27) through the full sheet using the right blade.  Once you've cut the stickers and removed the registration marks, then you can foil as normal.

Please feel free to download and use the following PDF printable freebies that I have designed (personal use only).  I've also included SVG and Silhouette Studio Compatible formats (GSD) if you'd rather cut the designs instead of foil them.  The PDFs are black and white, I've just shown them in gold to help envisage the final product.  Click on the images to open the download links

This year, I went for a dark blue and rose gold theme for my christmas tree and got a wee bit obsessed making origami baubles!

I've got some free PDF printable templates.  For those with cutting machines, I have included a folder with Silhouette compatible cut and score files and also a folder of SVGs for Cricut users.  Link for free files

I've previously shared a written tutorial for the diamond and pear shaped lanterns on Silhouette UK - here.  I think origami is definately something which is easier understood with a video though, so here's my YouTube tutorial:

I also did a video on how to construct the origami spheres

The paper I was using was my favy-fav pearlescent 120gsm paper from Anna Marie Designs. 

I cut with a blade 2 force 27 and scored with a blade 2 force 2. I really recommend experimenting as it will vary massively depending on your paper and also blade condition.

Most of the time, I just cut and score everything on the same side of the paper.  The spheres however have an interesting feature that all the diagonal lines fold one way (mountain) and all the straight lines fold the other way (valley).  So I decided to score the diagonal lines and cut the outside edge, then pause the machine.  I didn't unload the mat, but just flipped over the paper, fitting it back into it's rectangle so I knew everything was still aligned.  The machine then resumed - scoring the vertical lines and cutting out the circles for stringing.  Here's a screenshot of my send menu.

Here is an easy technique for making your own raindrop and teardrop shapes in Silhouette Studio.  I've also included a free Silhouette Compatible cut file which you can download from here.

The key, is to start with a circle and simply point edit the top node.  Double-click on the circle to show nodes and drag the top one upwards.  Change the node type to a corner and drag into the shape you like.

Duplicate the shape in exactly the same position by holding down the Alt key and clicking on the shape.  Flip the shape by right-clicking and selecting Flip Horizontally.  Then select both shapes and chose the Intersect option within the Modify window

If you want a rounded tip, I find the easiest way is to use the Offset tool.  If you want your shape to remain the same size, simply internal offset and then external offset y the same amount.  That way the shape will be identical, but just without the sharp tip

Designer Edition owners can use the rotate copies option within the Replicate window to turn their raindrop shapes into flowers.  Simply drag the centre of rotation to the top or bottom and click replicate.  Alternatively the new Object to Path functionality can do this too and it's available to all users.  I'll post an another video soon. 

Want a selection of raindrop shapes to use immediately?  Download my freebie and you'll have all these shapes to choose from (click the image to download).

I've been neglecting the wee blog recently, but don't worry I've been crafting hard, so I have lots of things to update you with.  In the next few weeks I'll tell you all about my kitchen revamp, screen-printing and enamelling workshops and my paper weaving hot air balloon project.  If you have any requests for tutorials, let me know and if know how to do it I'll certainly rewrite a post.  If I don't know how I'll try my hardest to find out!!  'Til next time, Nadine

Bows. Like many crafters, I have a love-hate relationship with them.  I would hate to count the hours I have a faffed with a bit of ribbon that is tormenting me with it's wonky loop or tail.  That said, I wouldn't be without them - whether on cards or in hair, made with ribbon, paper or fabric, there is something so prim and pretty about the perfect bow.

I started a little bow factory at Christmas making lots of shiny and sparkly bow hair clips as presents for the little kiddos in my life.

I bought my supplies from GlitterGlitterOnTheWall.  Beware, this site is amazing and you may find your cart growing uncontrollably!

Download your free SIlhouette cut file or PDF here

I thought I would be able to cut the chunky glitter fabric with my Silhouette Cameo, but no dice.  I could barely even cut it with my crazy sharp big fabric scissors!  Instead, I printed out my templates onto A4 sticker paper, stuck this to the underside of my fabric and cut out by hand. 

Other felt back fabrics, leatherettes, paper and card are of course fine with the Silhouette.  Below are photos of some bows I made from a fab glitter wallpaper that cuts like a dream.  I haven't even gotten around to buying a full roll yet as I'm still going strong with just the couple of small sample strips I got from my local B&Q store!

Now let's move on to ribbon.  A friend that I met on my favourite facebook craft group makes the most adorable bows.

We pestered Karen for the secret to her perfect bows and she kindly photographed all the steps, so I converted them into a wee video:

One of my favourite ways of decorating a gift is by faking a bow with a reef knot.  It is quick, uses very little ribbon and is simple and stylish.

Here's the video that I follow.  My brain annoyingly refuses to store these simple steps, so I have to watch the video every single time!

I decided to have a shot at making an origami bow and found a good YouTube tutorial.  The steps are easy once you've practiced them a few times, but I found it a bit more complex than other origami designs.

If you're short on time and would rather buy a fabulous bow instead of making it, I have a few shops that I can recommend.  Karen from the ribbon tutorial runs Karamac Krafts, Margaret Read owns Daisy Dots Boutique and Laura Patterson runs L & A Bespoke Designs. 

Hi gang, I'm a member of a few facebook groups for Silhouette users and they are amazingly friendly and helpful places to ask advice about suppliers, techniques and software. Today, there was a question about how to take one shape away from another and my friend mentioned that not many people know how to use the tools in the modify window.

I had a quick example which people found very useful, so figured I'd share here and also give you a pdf link in case you want to print it out. 
Click here for the Mastering Modify Tools PDF

In the example above, crop and intersect do the same thing, but if more than two shapes are selected then they behave differently.  Here's an example with three overlapping rectangles:

In case you're looking for it, the Modify button is just to the left of the Trace button.  You can also navigate to it from the Object menu at the very top.

I hope this helps, any questions just holler :)

My inner kid and not so inner geek were very happy with this quick little project.  Hop over to Silhouette UK if you'd like to make one yourself - it takes just 1 sheet of acetate and within 6 mins from clicking download you can be playing with your new toy :)

I created a dingbat font from scratch!!! Permit me to be a boring boasty-boaster pants for a moment please as I'm seriously chuffed with my wee self!

I'm a HUGE fan of the blog Clever Someday and found Kay's Border Bits font really changed how I used Silhouette Studio.  It allows you to curve cicles, hearts and more snazzy shapes such as fleur-de-lis around any Silhouette Studio shape.  This is not normally possible, but because it is a font, you can use the text-to-path functionality.  This frees you to to do way more with your own designs and I use it alot.

So, when making fabric appliques with HTV edging for my niece Emily, I thought it would be nice if I could do embroidery style edging.  I looked around but couldn't find anything, so with another tutorial from Kay, I took the plunge and made one myself.  I'm such a geek, I stayed up through the night one Friday to make it, I'm so rock and roll haha!

Here's my Silhouette UK blog post which has a free link to download and it shows you hints and tips for using.  Next week, I'll have another blog post which will show how to use it with htv to make some baby rompers.

Hi guys, up on the Silhouette UK Blog today we have a step-by-step tutorial for a papercut that I made for a wedding gift for my friends Emily and Callum.

This combines with the tutorial from last week, which is a guide to how to design many different styles of papercutting.