Resizing with the Gypsy

Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment on yesterday's post for Scott.  He was very proud of his project and I think he really enjoyed hearing from so many of you.

I practically wrote a novel yesterday with all of the bits and pieces to catch up with and I still didn't manage to include everything.  I wanted to share the "Flights of Fancy" file that I did for a reader request from George  (here is a LINK to the original post if you didn't see it the first time).

George had asked me for help with a design he had in mind and I created a .cut file in Design Studio on a 12 x 12 mat for a full page result.  He wanted a version in a smaller size as well - about 5 1/2 inches.

In order to resize the design, I moved it to the Gypsy which has the grouping ability that is missing from and has been one of the most requested updates for Design Studio. It is possible to group many designs in Design Studio.  I figured out how to do this right after the up and down nudging arrows were added to Design Studio in August of 2008.  Here is a LINK to a tutorial I prepared at that time - I called these "adjustable designs."  This is an old tutorial and I do a few things differently now when I make an adjustable design, however,  the basic information has not changed.

In order to keep items in the same group, you must plan out the sizes carefully.  It is not possible to keep the items all in one selection box once you have flipped or altered the proportions of a shape.  The latest update to Design Studio does allow you to select a series of images that have been rotated, altered or flipped by pulling a phantom box around them but if you resize the group the items will not stay in the proper relationship to the other shapes.

When I took the file over to the Gypsy, I could group the frame, the butterfly and all of my letter keys as one large unit.  Then it was quick and easy to resize the entire design to a card size.  My original design had three words that were grouped, a butterfly and a frame.  When I brought the resized file back over to Design Studio each letter was individual  - the word groupings are not retained.

There is also an issue with the welds when the file is transferred back to Design Studio.  The issue is the common welding in a frame problem and you need to "burp" the frame to take care of the inaccurate welds.

To "burp" the design, simply select the frame, copy it, delete it and paste it back again.  Now the welds will work and the cut will be complete.  The frames in this file have all been "burped" and are previewing correctly.

George had cut the smaller version and placed it in this display tray.  It seemed a bit too small so I have taken the file over to the Gypsy again, enlarged the frame to 8 inches square and brought the file back to be saved as a .cut file for non-Gypsy users.

Flights of Fancy (3 sizes)

If you make something with this file George and I both would love to see how it turns out!

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Flights of Fancy

One of the things that I enjoy about having a blog is reading the comments and messages that readers send me.  I have "met" some really interesting people through my blog.  They are from all over the world and their ages and crafting experience vary widely.  I get lots of questions and requests for help with specific problems and I do my best to answer everyone.  If you send me a message and do not have an answer within a few days, please don't hesitate to send it again.  I sometimes have pages of email to get through and things do "slip through the cracks" on occasion.

The design at the top of this post is one that was requested by a reader from the West Coast.  He is 80 years old and just got a new Expression (moving up from a smaller machine).  His name is George (a funny coincidence considering the name of the original Cricut cartridge!).

George was having the problem that I hear about frequently.  He wanted to weld words inside a frame and the welds were not working correctly.  I did a video quite a while ago explaining how to do this - here is a LINK. 

I loved his idea of placing a butterfly and the words "Flights of Fancy" inside the lovely frame on the Home Accents cartridge.  He gave me a list of the font cartridges he has and the Ashlyn's Alphabet font seemed like a good fit for this project. I started working in Design Studio but then switched to the Gypsy to finish the file because it will group items and then will allow me to change the size of the group while keeping the relative position of the elements the same.  I wanted to expand the original cut into a larger file that George could cut on his new Expression. 

I found a few quirks while working back and forth between the Gypsy and Design Studio.  When I did my original Design Studio file the frame and butterfly were separate elements and I put each word in a group (by typing all of the letters in the same selection box) so I could adjust the size easily.  When the file is moved to the Gypsy, the letters all show up independently and must be regrouped.  Then, when the file is brought back to Design Studio, the letters are all independent and can not be grouped.

I have also had a little trouble getting used to the differences in the way the two programs "see" the mat.  In Design Studio, the location of an object on the mat is determined by the "x" and "y" values and the "0" for each axis is at the top left corner.  On the Gypsy, the "0" is at the bottom left corner.  The Gypsy also considers the bottom of the 12 x 12 mat to be the equivalent of a 6 x 12 mat.  In Design Studio, the baby bug mat is seen as the top half of the 12 x 12 mat.

For my first test cut, I used the DCWV Luxury stack.  The file cut perfectly but it is rather delicate and you must be very careful when lifting it from the mat. The bone folder was handy and I used it to help lift the design.  A better choice would be the Cricut spatula, or, my all time favorite, a wide plastic putty knife (currently lost in the clutter on my table!).

I test cut the Design Studio version of the file  as well.  I will share these files in a day or two.  I want to let George have "first dibs" on cutting his design!

I adhered the smaller version (5.5 x 5.5 inches) to some solid burgundy card stock cut at 7 x 7 inches and mounted on a piece of 8 x 8 metallic gold cardstock, also from DCWV.  I added some tiny pink pearls to accent the flowers and the two letters "F."  The pearls are from Creative Charms.  This would be pretty framed on a wall or placed on a tabletop easel.

There are just a few days left to get the "deal of the month" for June at Creative Charms.  You will get all of these items ($23 at regular prices) for just $6.99. For lots of ideas and projects using these and other Creative Charms embellishments, visit the Creative Charms blog HERE.  I am excited to be part of such a talented Design Team!

I had another great surprise from a blog friend today.  Marilyn Mae sent me a special package and I was thrilled with what I found inside!  I'll share what it was and what I am doing with it in a day or two...

The weekend is almost here - I have lots to finish up before it arrives!

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Full Page Eyelet Lace Mesh

I have been spending a lot of time on figuring out technical issues for my new computer and trying to decipher the updates to Design Studio.  I needed to take a break and create something to cut out!  I haven't made any lace cardstock for a while so I decided to make a full page design. 

I used this one element from Ashlyn's Alphabet to create the intricate design.  Some images make wonderful patterns when they are repeated and combined in rows.  Ashlyn's Alphabet has a quite a few interesting medallions and flourishes.  This cartridge has a very European feel and there are welded phrases in several languages.

Here is a better view of the element I used - the keypad image for this is so tiny that it is difficult to see.  This image is not perfectly symmetrical but it is close enough to work for this design.

By creating overlapping rows of this one image, and carefully aligning the rows, an entirely new pattern is formed.  I think of this type of design as a mini-quilt since the same principles apply for the creation of secondary patterns.

I set the file up with four pages.  The first is the actual welded design to cut. The second and third pages have the unwelded design and a plain 12 x 12 square to experiment with various color combinations in preview.  If you leave the preview on the first page, you will see the dark black welded outline.

If you turn off the preview for the first page you will see something closer to the look of the final cut.

 To choose the preview color for a mat and to turn the preview on and off, right click anywhere on the mat and select the appropriate options from the pop up menu.

 My test cut worked perfectly.  Be sure to use a good crisp cardstock that is not too thick.  The design will take a long time to cut since it is so detailed.  When you lift an intricate cut like this it is a good idea to work at a 45 degree angle.  Most of the offcuts will stay on the mat if your mat is sticky enough.  There will be some that you need to remove by hand.

The outer section of the cut cardstock will work as a frame for another page.  You may want to trim the edges to even up the borders.  It is nearly impossible to get the paper perfectly loaded to keep a design that is symmetrical centered on the mat the way it appears on the screen

 You will also have 16 "suns" and 25 little flowers to use for other projects.

 As you can see above and below, the color of the background makes a big difference in the finished look.  You can also cut this design from patterned cardstock for an interesting variation.

I was able to use the new selecting feature in Design Studio to combine all of the rows of images and then checked weld just once for the entire group.  I have been trying to decipher more about the way the update has changed Design Studio and I will add a few more videos if needed to show you the changes.  Thanks to Kate who has been doing some testing with her computer and reporting back (see the comments to yesterday's post HERE). 

Eyelet Lace Full Page


A couple of notes...

The Gypsy Update that was expected to take place on Thursday was put off and now will be available on Friday morning (Utah time).  It sound like many positive improvements have been completed - here is a LINK to the official release by Provo Craft for all of the information.


 Also, I want to remind you about the "Deal of the Month" at Creative Charms.

For a few more days you can purchase this collection of embellishments for only $8.99 - 65% off the regular price of $25.50.  If you tried to purchase this already and found an unusually high shipping charge this was due to an error in their system which has been corrected.  Shipping should be $3.99 or less depending on your location and size of the order. I recently joined the Design Team for Creative Charms and I have really enjoyed working with these beautiful embellishments - they often have given just the right "finishing touch" to a card or project.

I hope you have a safe and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!


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How to make the Butterfly cards

Thanks for your patience - today I can finally give you the details and the file for this card design.  I went to the doctor today and the vertigo I had is due to fluid in my ears from my cold/sinus infection.  I should be fully recovered soon - thanks again for all your kind words and thoughts.

The medallion border is made from this element on the Ashlyn's Alphabet cartridge.

Here is a closer view of the design.  There are a lot of lovely flourishes on this cartridge.

 I welded two images together and then created a square by rotating and aligning the four sides.  I made two variations - one as a frame and one as a solid shape with a fancy edge.  The outer rectangles are simply guidelines to indicate the size of an A2 card and are not cut.

Here are the two images on the mat after cutting.

When removed from the mat there are three usable pieces.

 In order to create the solid shape, I used this rectangle, which is actually a blank card shape.  When cut at 5.5 inches, this image will cut an A2 card with two tick marks for the score line.  (If you read my blog regularly, you know I always remove those tick marks since I think they give the card a messy look - you can easily score an A2 card in the proper place without tick marks to guide you!).

In this case, I needed a square to fill in the opening and weld to the frame.  I always try to use the smallest number of cartridges possible to create a design (I consider it a challenge!) so I adapted the rectangle to a square and used "hide selected contour" to eliminate the tick marks.

In this closer view you can see the adapted square added to fill the center of the frame and create a solid shape.

Here you can see the two shapes I created on the A2 base cards.

You could also use the center remainder for a card element turned on a diagonal.  (I would probably add some more details to emphasize the edges - this was just a quick photo to show placement).

 

Here are the keypad locations of the butterfly image (above) and the butterfly shadow (below).

The shape of the butterfly was not quite right for my card - however, Design Studio makes it easy to adjust the shapes of images to suit your idea for a project.

 

On the right are the original butterfly shapes as entered from the keypad - I made them taller and skinnier by using the "handles" at the center right and bottom center.

  

Here are the images after cutting- I must have had scraps in these sizes ( it has been a while since I made these cards) - I could have just placed two three inch strips of paper in each color on the mat.

  

You can see that the interior cuts on the top layer are very thin.

I had a bit of trouble with the cut on the green butterfly but I was able to use a sharp pointed tool to poke out the sliver.

Here are the assembled butterflies - before I added the Stickles glitter glue for some bling!

The offcuts are a bit off center - sometimes I trim leftovers like these and use the negatives for another project.  You can also save these and use them as masks for use with ink or chalk.

I added Stickles on the heads and bodies of the butterflies along with lots of small dots on the wings.  I also added some dots of Stickles along the border.

You know how I hate to waste anything (!) so I save the edge pieces from sheets of foam squares.

 

They work perfectly to lift the body of the butterfly and keep the wings free.

I "auditioned" the butterflies on the opposite colors but I decided there wasn't enough contrast with the pale green butterfly on the pale pink solid medallion.

Here is one more view of the two card variations.  By using different colors, patterned papers and varying the combinations you could make an entire set of these cards in coordinating scheme - they would make a lovely gift set.

Medallion with Butterfly A2 Card Topper