Birthday Candle Card (take two)

Here is another birthday candle border card.  This is my test cut of the A2 size card I wrote about yesterday.  I used the Christmas solutions cartridge to create the border.  For this border the candles can be made proportionately taller than the candles on the Hanukkah menorah on the Joys of the Season cartridge that I used a few days ago.

I cut the card base from this piece of 12 x 12 cardstock from the DCWV Sweet Stack.  I saved the apple border for another project.  I was able to cut two 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 card bases for two A2 cards.

Here is the card topper cut.  I decided to emboss the rectangular section.  I did put a page in the file to create a layer so you have the option to add that if you like.  I also changed the file so that you can cut the pieces using only the Christmas cartridge.  (The file does have some George rectangles for the preview guideline rectangles but you don't need to cut those pages).

I embossed the rectangle with a new Cuttlebug folder I got recently from Oh My Crafts (here is a LINK to the folder set on their site - it is an exclusive set).

Here are the card components.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from ZooBalloo.  You can use a sentiment from any cartridge that you want - I will just show you how I adapted this one to suit the card.

The screen shot shows the location of the "Happy Birthday" sentiment.

I wanted the words welded together vertically to fit on the card topper.  Once again, "hide selected contour" is useful for altering images like this.

I simply placed two of the phrases on the mat, aligned them in the position I wanted and checked "weld" on both images.  Then I hid  all of the parts of the words I did not want to cut.  They are very pale blue in the screen shot above.

Here is one more close view of the candle border.  I used yellow Stickles to highlight the flame tips.  I wonder if I can find some more candles to make borders...

Birthday Candle Border A2 card topper

Floral Bed Deep Edge Punch (more Martha)

This week there is what I think of as "the perfect storm" in the quest for Martha Stewart punches at a more reasonable price.  ACMoore has a 50% off coupon, Michael's will honor competitor's coupons and the everyday Martha Stewart punches are not on sale at Michael's.  For extra bonus points, the ACMoore coupon is good all week (sometimes it is only for Tuesday).  If you don't have an ACMoore in your area I am sorry to tease you with this information!

I really liked the floral vine deep edge punch I got a couple of weeks ago (here is a LINK to the post about that punch).  I stopped at Michael's today on the way to a family dinner (at the home of the triplets) and chose another punch that is similar in style but different enough to be useful (and may work in combination with the first one).

Here is a picture of the punch - one drawback is the size of these punches - they are gigantic!  I just bought a couple of extra shelves for my "Billy" bookcase at IKEA, so I will be reorganizing the punch storage to accommodate a few more of these.

It is often important to center the punch on a strip of paper to get the most attractive results.  I thought I'd show you one way to help do that.  One of my most used tools is the layout and centering ruler at the top of this photo.  I use the clear grid to help align items on a page or card and to get nice even spacing on my projects.  They are inexpensive and can be found at most art supply stores.

There are measurements in standard sequence along the ruler but there is also a "0" at the center with measurements working out from the center to the ends.  If you get the "0" aligned with the center of the punch and then place your paper in the punch so that the ends are equally distant you can start punching in the right spot and work your way from the center to the edges.

The punch has the pattern printed on the base and to get a perfectly even border you simply check to be sure that the silver design shows through the newly punched holes as you work your way punching along the edges.

Here are a few examples that I did quickly when we got back tonight.  For the first one, the original strip of cardstock was 3 inches and I matched the location of the punch on each side of the strip.

This example is from a strip that started at 2 1/2 inches - if you start with a narrower strip the holes will run into each other in the center.  This on is just a touch off center but I thought it looked fine.

This strip started at 2 1/4 inches and is my favorite from these quick experiments.  I offset the design on opposite sides to get a zig zag wave effect.

One more shopping tip - I found this set of scissors at Costco for less than $10.  The scissors are comfortable to hold and very sharp.  The package includes a combination sharpener and letter opener.

The smallest pair of scissors is great for paper work - the blades cut cleanly right to the tip.  I have a pair of scherenschnitte scissors that I use a lot for fine details but I think these will also do a great job on some of the delicate "clean up" I sometimes need to do on a project.


Just a note about the Design Studio classes - Jen was away on a trip and now has had some changes in her son's schedule which we are trying to work around.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner we know many people are busy with family plans so we are on a short "hiatus" while trying to put together a new schedule.  In the meanwhile, if you are interested in one-to-one private classes you can contact either of us to work out the details.

There is just something about punches!

I definitely have a weakness for punches.  I use my Cricut daily and I really enjoy designing my own borders in Design Studio, however, I still buy punches (but only on sale or with a coupon!).

Today I went to the local Michael's store.  I was excited to see that they had hang tags for some new Cricut cartridges - Old West, Pagoda, Designer's Calendar, Paisley and Sweet Treats.  Unfortunately the cartridges had not arrived in the store yet (they are expected next week).  Now I have to decide which ones I really need...

I wandered over to the Martha Stewart aisle and found a lot of the new punches - the Punch Around the Page sets and the Deep Edge punches.  After great debate, I settled on the Floral Vine deep edge punch.  With a 50% off coupon, it was $9 (plus tax).

If you haven't seen these yet here is  a photo - these punches are huge! The new floral vine deep edge is on the top.  I put one of my older border punches below so you can see the relative sizes.

I did a little experimenting and figured out how to make an open top box using a sheet of 12 x 12 paper.  First I tried using a 7 inch wide strip of paper.  The punched design is about 2 1/2 inches so I could fit four punches and part of a fifth punch around the top.  I folded the paper at each punch pattern and then scored, cut and folded the paper to create a base.

I made a second shorter version with the leftover five inch strip of paper.  These would make cute little candy holders for table favors at a shower or tea party.

Next I experimented with  punching the full width of the paper.  First I started at the edge and worked my way across (the blue strip above).  I realized that it was a little off so I tried again - this time starting from the center of the three inch strip.

If you look at the two strips above you can see that the beige one looks neater since it is centered and both ends are at about the same point in the pattern.  These borders started from a plain three inch strip of 12 inch cardstock.

Next I tried  offsetting the designs - starting at the center on one side and moving the pattern to have the ends and the centers opposite one another along the strip.  Once again these started as plain 3 x 12 inch strips of cardstock.

 

Finally, I tried punching in the offset pattern, but I began with a 2 1/2 inch strip of cardstock.  I probably would not plan to use a thinner strip than 2 1/2 inches because the leafy sections come close to touching at this width.

It would take me hours to design a cut this in intricate in Design Studio and my Cricuts would not cut the tiny circles accurately so the punch was a good choice for me.

I have a lot of ideas for ways to use this punch - I think it will be fun to use for Spring projects.

Borders from A Child's Year

I realized that lately I have been posting a lot of cards so I thought I'd share a couple of borders today. These were made when I was first trying out A Child's Year in Design Studio after the program was updated with new cartridges.



I welded together some teapots and added the words "Tea for Two" to cut out from the teapots



I used the initial medallions to put a letter in the center of each teapot. By sizing the medallions to overlap the teapot by just a tiny amount I was able to prevent the scalloped oval from cutting as you can see in this preview.



Unfortunately, the letters in the medallions are not "stencil" type letters which means that you need to keep track of the tiny centers of letters like "o" and "a" and glue them into position.



When working with these tiny pieces, I find this tool helpful. It is from Quick-Kutz and is called the Quick-Stik.



You take the cap of the top and there is a sticky substance that helps you pick up the small bits of paper.



You can then place the bit of paper in the proper position and use the opposite end of the tool to make sure the paper is positioned correctly. (The pieces are tiny - the center of the "A" is that little triangle you can see at the bottom of the photo).



The centers of the "O" were large enough to put the adhesive on the cutout piece, but for the tiny bits for the "A" and the "R" I put the adhesive on the background paper and placed the tiny cut on the adhesive spot.



You can see how tiny the letter "A" center is in this photo!



Even the full letter cut outs are tiny and easy to lose - I have no idea where the "F" is!



Once you finally get the centers in position the border looks like this.



I also did a simple scissor border. I have lots of sewing and quilting photos to use for layouts and I thought this would make a cute page accent.



The cut has a tiny hole for the hinge of the scissors - at this size it is so small that it did not cut cleanly.



I recommend using "hide contour" to eliminate the holes. Unfortunately, there is only one contour to hide so you will have to rehide the holes each time you open the file (I put a note on the page tab as a reminder).



Here you can see the second test cut - the scissors look fine without the holes.



I also test cut the teapot border again. I was using the textured DCWV paper and it did not cut nicely at this size - I find that paper is better for large cuts without a lot of detail. I also do not like the look of the white core on these intricate cuts.

I didn't even bother to place the missing bits in the letters on the second cut. I decided that it would be better to redo the file using a font with a stencil feature.



I chose the "Alphalicious" font using the crown tag option. The two pieces of the design are individually adjustable (the teapots and the letters). When you first enter the "Tea For Two" phrase it is spaced as you see above. I needed to use the kerning control to speed up the process of fitting the teapots and letters together. (Kerning is simply a way to describe or define the amount of space between letters).



I could use the nudge arrows to move all of the letters into position, but, by using the kerning and applying a positive number (.5 as shown above) instead of the negative number I would usually use to bring the letters closer together for welding, I was able to quickly move the letters to something close to the proper position.



Here are the letters after I applied the kerning.



I fine tuned the placement using the nudge arrows.



In this close view screen shot you can see all of the hidden contours that allow just the letter to cut out from inside each teapot.



The stencil letters have "bridges" that hold the centers in place so the letter is still legible. Here you can see the both the "O" and the "R" with the tiny connections to the center.



Here are the "leftover" letters on the mat - they are extremely thin and delicate but could be saved to be used on another page.



I like the look of this border better - and I really like the way the letters remain intact due to the stencil type image I chose for the centers.



I am including files for both borders - the scissors are super simple but it may save you a bit of time. Remember to hide the holes for a cleaner look (you could add a pen dot for the hinge).

The teapots and the letters spelling "Tea for Two" are both adjustable but you will need to align them with each other when you resize. Remember, if you copy and paste the letters, you will need to rehide all of the unwanted contours after closing and reopening the file to make the hide contour feature active.


Teapots and Tea For Two borders (A)

Scissor border (A)