Thrifty But Glam

From the moment I purchased my Silhouette Cameo I was in love.  The only way I could justify the cost was to start up a business , the only problem with this was the cost of the blades.  I was getting through a blade every few weeks, at just under £16.00 (including postage) for a single blade it was getting very expensive.  I knew that once business picked up I was going to either have to increase prices (never a good idea for new businesses) or take a big knock in profits.  The only solution I could see was be to try and find a cheaper solution to the blades. I was first made aware of using disposable blades by Ligaya's Creativity Zone .  She had had success with an aluminium (CB09) Blade Holder.  This blog was invaluable for advice on the different angled blades available and suppliers of the CB09 Blade Holder. The only drawbacks were the seller was based in Asia (have been stung for import taxes before, and it is a hefty amount) and there were re...

If you are lucky enough to own a Silhouette Cameo and you live in the UK, you probably already know that most of the tips and tricks come from our lovely cousins in the US.  Although very handy, it can sometimes be a bit tricky to find like for like UK materials. After a bit of trial and error I thought I would share my method of re-using mats for the UK market :) It is always handy to have more than one cutting mat - the Silhouette mats are a bit on the pricey side, and in my opinion quite flimsy - it is all too easy to cut straight through the mat with the wrong blade settings (particularly if you are new to using the Silhouette).  I recommend using Cricut mats instead :) They are thicker, more durable AND cheaper!  In fact, you can even buy two 12" x 24" Cricut mats for £19.00 and cut them down to four 12 x 12 mats - this works out at £4.75 per mat, versus £12.99 for a single Silhouette mat. The best place for cheap cricut mats is ebay . I have h...

So you may have noticed that my weekly blog posts have trickled to a stop - the last one was two weeks ago :( I have a very good reason though, and so I am sure I will be forgiven ;) My lovely husband had to undergo a routine operation two weeks ago.  Sadly he developed complications; and what was supposed to be day surgery turned into an eight day stay, and an extra operation.  It was rather stressful and although home now, I have been trying to make sure that all three businesses are back on an even keel - not enough hours in the day! I am pleased to say that we are finally settling back into our regular routine and so hopefully the posts will be back up and running soon - in fact I already have my next one planned!

It seems that most of my friends have gone bike mad!  Every time I check my facebook feed I learn of a new bike ride, or see some beautiful photographs witnessed during a bicycle jaunt.  Never being able to resist a trend, I dusted off my bike and set to work restoring it to full working capacity. £13.00 and a lot of elbow grease later, I had this; My bike may not look very special, but it has led a very interesting life.  In the Summer of 2011 it suffered a flat tyre and was relegated to my parking spot, here it languished unused until a Saturday in October of that year.  I had planned to replace the inner tube and went down to it's usual spot to check the tyre - it had gone.  Our building had suffered a spate of bike thefts and after searching our parking garage from top to bottom I feared my bike had suffered the same fate.  Just over a year later, I was parking my car and saw a flash of metal from the corner of my eye.  On closer inspection i...

So following on from last weeks post, I am still more than a little obsessed with nail art :) I use YouTube a lot for makeup, hair and nail art tutorials and one of my favourite nail artists is CutePolish . I have attempted many different tutorials from her range, and although always tempted I never went ahead with her strawberries. Part of the reason is that I feared it was one that looked easy to attempt but would end up resulting in a terrible mess. I have to say that I am quite pleased with how they turned out! I did struggle to get the 'leaves' to pop, but next time I think I will use acrylic paint rather than green polish.  If you fancy making your own version, the tutorial is here .