Silhouette - the electronic cutting tool

I stumbled across this only moments ago

If you don’t know what a Silhouette is, it’s an electronic cutting tool for personal use. Like a home printer, it plugs into your PC or Mac with a simple USB cable.

However, instead of printing it uses a small blade to cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric and more up to 12″ wide and 10 feet long. You can customize the things you want to cut……or purchase images available in their online store.

You can find out more about them here on the company's website:
http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/silhouetteCameo.aspx

For some ideas and tutorials by a crafter who loves this piece of kit go to
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/category/silhouette-craft-cutter-2

Looking at them I am tempted to get one

Buying Local

The web has become a wonderful tool for buying supply's but waiting upto a week for items to come through before you can start making a order you have already got on isn't the ideal situation.

A lot of my fabric and wool comes from two local little shops. You'll find that most areas will have there own wool or fabric shop, sometimes even both. Every time I go in I find myself thinking "oh that will look nice for this design". Jewellery findings on the other hand are a little more difficult to get hold of.

I do admit that there are pro's and con's to shopping local. Sometimes it won't be as cheap as some of the on-line stores (sometimes it will). There is a friendly face to help you out if you do get stuck. I find that I get more choice in my local shops than some of the places on-line and after getting to know the people they now order me things they wouldn't normally stock.

For the odd things I use I use to order from a company called Panduro based in Sweden. Now the UK branch of Panduro has split away to supply the UK quicker and with more choice, they are called creativity direct and can cater for shops as well as home crafters.

You may find that making from scratch is also good. It may take slightly more time and energy but at the end of the day if a customer asks you what is in the product you can tell them exactly, that and it is much more satisfying when you sell that product. You won't be able to make everything from scratch, but even if it is just one product off a long list it is still something and it does give you the opportunity to make that item personal.

Art Fire

What kinds of accounts do you offer?

ArtFire offers 2 types of accounts: a Buyer account, and a Pro Seller account.

Our Buyer account helps to improve the shopping and browsing experience on ArtFire by allowing you to save your favorite items and sellers, leave a seller rating and feedback for purchases, and save your address. As a registered member of ArtFire you’ll also be able to participate in public forum discussions where your opinion and feedback as a buyer is invaluable to the community.

Our Pro Seller account gives you a fully featured e-commerce store that allows you unlimited listings with up to 10 images on each listing. You are also able to participate in Guilds, Artisan Councils, and utilize the Market Hub tool. Additionally, you will be able to customize your shop template, use the Facebook kiosk, create coupon codes and gift certificates, edit all your products easily with our Global Product Editor, earn artifacts and much more! At just GB £7.47 per month, our Pro Seller account is the best way to sell your handmade, fine art, vintage, media, design, and craft supply items online! Click here to learn more and activate your free trial!

How do I sign up for an ArtFire account?

To join our community of talented artisans, simply click the Join Now link in the upper right corner of the ArtFire homepage. There you will be able to choose between our Buyer account and our Pro seller account. Remember, your user name will be your shop name and cannot duplicate another shop name on the site. Your user name may not have spaces or non-alphanumeric characters as this will cause the URL for your shop to break.

Why should I sign up for ArtFire? What makes ArtFire special?

Our Pro account is a great deal at the normal price of US GB £12.50 a month but right now, for just US GB £7.47 a month, you can have access to great features such as the Facebook Kiosk, coupon codes and gift certificates, Global Product Editor, craft guilds, artifact recognition awards, increased search exposure, and more!
Not only do you get all of those features, but we spend money to advertise this site to buyers. How much? Our typical monthly advertising goal is to reach 100 million impressions in 30 days!

In addition, there are no listing fees or commissions charged to you. You can list as much as you want for just GB £7.47 a month. We think that's pretty special.

MOO

When we say 'we love to print', we really mean it. In this section you'll find out more about MOO and the work that goes on behind the scenes. From the paper to the packaging, the people and the press. Pull up a chair and make yourself at home.

Printfinity, what's that?

As you become more familiar with MOO, you'll spot us using the word 'Printfinity' when we describe our products. It's one of the things that makes MOO different, a unique touch to help our customers stand out from the networking crowd. Printfinity is a conversation starter, a promotional tool, and the ideal way to showcase your design or photography.

Find out more about Printfinity

Premium products need premium paper

As you might expect from a company that 'loves to print', we're rather fond of our paper and print finishes too. But there's a small problem. Looking at more photos of our smooth matte laminate or thick 100% recycled stock wont help you understand what it feels like in your hand. So, we've asked some of our customers to help...

Find out more about our paper

Wrapped up and ready to go

We think receiving products from MOO should be something special. After all, it's your artwork, your photography, your event or your business you're promoting. Something to be proud of and something to be shared. So we custom design our packaging for re-use, resale and recycling. If it's worth packing, it's worth packing well.

Find out more about packaging

Getting to know MOO

It's not just the team at MOO HQ who help to make our products better - there's also our online community. Feedback on Twitter, images on Flickr, comments on Facebook... There's lots of different ways you can get to know MOO. Jump in and say hello - we'd love to hear from you.

Find MOO elsewhere on the internet

The MOO Promise

Other companies call this a 'satisfaction guarantee', but it just sounds so... obvious. Printing the things you make and getting them to you in perfect condition is what we do best. Should you ever be less than satisfied, contact us and we'll do everything we can to fix it.

Etsy Fees

20 cents for each item listed

If I list one ceramic mug, it costs 20 cents. If I have three of the same mug and put them all in the same item listing, it costs 60 cents. After four months if the item does not sell out it is unlisted and you may easily relist it if you like (at the same price). For the UK this works out as 0.125015p

3.5% sales fee

When you make a sale on Etsy, you will be charged 3.5% of the total sale price. This percentage does not include the shipping price.

Currency conversion

All fees and items on Etsy are listed in US Dollars. Currency conversion is handled automatically by our payment processing service like our merchant account.

Paying fees

All Etsy fees are paid using either the credit card you put on file when you sign up as a seller, or via PayPal. Each month we add up all your fees, and on the last day we send you an email with a list of everything. You can pay your bill at any time manually using your credit card on file or PayPal account.

Fees FAQ

Can I sell on Etsy if I'm not in the United States?
Yes you can. We already have many sellers in other countries.

What currency are fees in?
All fees are in US dollars. When paying your fees by credit card, currency conversion is handled automatically by those services.

If I unlist an item, is the listing fee refunded?
No, it's not refunded.

How do I become a seller on Etsy?

First you'll need to register for an Etsy account. The username you enter during registration represents you as a person and cannot be changed.

Once you've registered for an account, you'll need to upgrade your account to seller status. To do this, click the Sell link in gray site header and follow the on-screen directions. You will need a valid credit card (or a debit card with a credit card logo) to become a seller on Etsy.

After you register as a seller on Etsy, you will be able to select a shop name that is different from your username. Choose carefully as you will only have the opportunity to change the shop name once. Read more about changing your shop name.

Please be sure to read the Terms of Use and review Etsy's policies about Membership and Shops and listings in the DOs & DON'Ts of Etsy before you register to become a seller on Etsy.

There is more information on setting up an Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/help/article/246

Simple Bow Hair Clips (with no-slip grip) posted by Ashley at Make It and Love It

Would you like to make your own simple little hair bows……with a no-slip grip to keep them in place??

First of all, everyone has their own technique. And there are probably a variety of no-slip grip solutions out there. This is just what I did and what I used. All worked really well for me.

When I was first trying to make a bow that would stay in baby fine hair, I remember seeing bows online that had a no-slip grippy on it. Some of it looked like velvet, other stuff looked sticky. Some people used velcro and others used magnet material. We didn’t have a lot of money and so I was trying to figure out a cheap solution. I remember walking around Wal-Mart one day, trying to decide what I could use to re-create that no slip grip, and I walked by rows of this shelf liner stuff and had an “ah-ha” moment. This liner material keeps things from slipping in cupboards and on shelves…….why not baby hair. So I started using it on my hair clips, and it worked like a charm.

And just when you think you have the best idea ever……..you realize other people have it too. Ha! Because I have seen other people use this stuff to make their own bows since I thought it up for myself that one day. How funny! I swear, we should all participate in a huge think-tank and share all sorts of tricks and secrets. It would save us all a lot of grief.



Anyway, to make these hair bows (without actually tying a bow), I used 3/8 inch ribbon. (Grosgrain works best in my opinion.) I cut 3 pieces that are 4 inches long. I also use a double prong hair clip (I always bought mine at Sally Beauty Supply….and they’re about 1 3/4 inches long). Then I cut a piece of the shelf liner that is the same size as the prong section……so about 1 and a 1/4 inch by 1/3 of an inch. And a piece of felt that is about the same size.

To begin, grab your roll of ribbon and heat seal the end (I use a lighter).



Then hot glue about a 1/2 inch of the end of the ribbon to the very bottom of the clip with the right side of the ribbon facing out (if you have a right and wrong side).



Then add a strip of hot glue to the next section of ribbon…



…..and then fold it around the contours of the pinch part of the clip. (Don’t worry, the clip will still pinch and the glue won’t affect the spring at all.)



Then measure how much more ribbon you’ll need by stretching it to the tip of the clip, then fold it back up the length of the prongs. Cut the ribbon off.



Heat seal this end of the ribbon now too.



Now add a long strip of hot glue down the back side of the rest of the ribbon. Then lay it flat across the top of the top prong, then fold it under towards the bottom of that top prong…..to completely conceal that top prong. Press the ribbon together to seal the glue together, and keep the ribbon in place.



Now, grab your 3 pieces of 4 inch long ribbon. Tie a single knot in the center of one of the pieces of ribbon. Try to make it a neat little knot and keep the two ends flat and laying in the same direction. Heat seal the ends of the 2 un-tied pieces.



Then grab one of the plain pieces and bend it into a circle. Overlap the ends by about a 1/3 of an inch and then hot glue them together (image on left). Then pinch the circle right in the center, creating half of your bow shape, and add a little dot of hot glue to the inside center to keep it pinched together (image on right).



Do the same thing with the other piece of ribbon. Then cross the two pieces together……not into an actual “X”, more like a squashed one. Add a dot of glue between the two, to keep them together.



Then place the piece of ribbon with the knot in the middle, right in the center of the squashed “X” (image on the left). Place a dot of hot glue right under the knot, so it doesn’t move around. Turn the bow over and cut off the long ends just a bit and glue them down on the back side (image on the right).



Now, glue the piece of shelf liner to the piece of felt. Press the two layers together.
CAUTION: this can get hot. Test it with your fingers and wait until the glue has cooled from hot to warm and then squish the 2 layers together. Glue will most likely ooze out. Just peel it off your fingers and continue on!!
Trim off the excess along each edge, making a nice clean line around all sides.



Then hot glue the felt side to the top prong.



Then glue the bow to the very top of the clip…..right to the ribbon.



Why I do the bows this way:
I make the bows in parts so that the bow looks very clean and even. You can always tie some ribbon into a bow and then glue it onto a clip……but it’s hard to get a nice even bow that way. It’s totally just preference though.
I don’t wrap ribbon around the bottom prong because it’s hard to slide it through hair (like for older girls pony tails and such) if there is ribbon on the bottom. If you leave it bare, it can slide into hair much easier.
I don’t put the shelf liner on both sides of the prongs because of the reason mentioned above…..I want to keep the bottom prong bare.

And that’s it.

Now make more…….you may need some for every single outfit your child (or friend/granddaughter) has.
(And while you’re at it, make doubles of every color. They look so darn cute when their hair is long enough for pig tails.)




Enjoy.