Eyelet Border Card with the Gypsy

I love to use border punches but it can be tricky to get them perfectly lined up for a nice card edge.  Some border punches are not sized to fit neatly on a card front.  With Design Studio or the Gypsy, I can create card blanks with "punched" borders that are a perfect fit and save my hands from all that punching!  I started making bordered cards this way a couple of years ago and I have learned a few helpful tricks along the way.

I had my Gypsy along on the trip to Virginia so I worked on a few of these designs while I was flying back and forth.  I decided to make a design using only the preloaded Gypsy cartridges.  This is the image I used.  The keywords identify it as "watermelon, half circle or grapefruit" - I thought of it as a lemon slice!

I added a group of seven of the images to the mat.  I prefer to make borders with an uneven number of images so there will be an obvious centerpoint to the design.  On the Gypsy the kerning I applied was -.12 and the scallops were evenly spaced when the kerning was applied.  In Design Studio you usually need to fix the kerning by nudging a few items in order to get even spacing.

I then changed the length of the group to 5.5 inches so it would make a border for an A2 card.  On the Gypsy the sizing can be locked to stay proportional or unlocked to allow the height and width to be individually adjusted.  Design Studio does not have this proportional sizing and there is no way to lock the aspect ratio when you change one dimension.  I generally use the lower right "handle" to get the size as close to my intended size as possible and then type in the final values.

To create the base of the card I needed to use this square from the Gypsy Font cartridge.  There is not a perfect square on the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge (I discovered this on another project - it doesn't really matter since both of the Gypsy cartridges are preloaded on the Gypsy so you will have a square).

I used one guideline rectangle to figure out the sizing for the card with the "punched" border.  I placed the 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch rectangle on the mat, added the border section and then added a rectangle adjusted to the width to fit with the punched border.  The border and this rectangle are then welded to create the card base.  The guideline rectangle should be moved to another page or deleted before the design is cut.

I am using Design Studio screen shots to show you the steps but you can not cut this design from the computer - it uses the Gypsy cartridges so can only be cut with the Gypsy.  You can click on any of the screen shots to see a larger version.

 I set up a 12 x 12 mat to cut two card bases with eyelets borders at once.

I cut the card base from Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock in opal.  I used multi cut 2  times to be sure that the eyelet sections would be cut cleanly.

I scored the card at 4 1/4 inches on my Scor-Pal  to create a neat fold in the heavy cardstock.

Once I had the card base cut I could quickly pull together a card by adding a layer, a sentiment and some gems.

I added some glittery striped cardstock from the DCWV "Linen Closet" stack.

The "Thanks" sentiment is from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  I cut the top layer in the same opal Gemstone cardstock and the shadow layer in a darker tan cardstock.

The card was quite simple but also shiny and pretty- it just needed a little something more...

 I added some Creative Charms small gradient gem stickers in blue along the eyelet border.  I put one more on the tail of the "s" just for fun!

I can use this same card base cut over and over.  I can even prepare some of these bases when I am not very busy and then have them on hand to decorate.

There are many more images that will work to create a punched border effect for your cards.  I think I gave enough details about how to create your own file that you should be able to make one of your own.  If you have trouble and want me to post the file (after I "clean it up" a bit!), please leave a comment and let me know you need it.

Link to Gypsy file added 9/30 - 


A2 Eyelet Edge Card


There are just a couple of days left to purchase the Creative Charms Deal of the Month for September  - this deal comes in a boy or girl version and includes $24.00 worth of product for just $7.99 - here is a LINK to the page on their site.  New deals for October will be announced soon...

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Variation on the Gypsy Star Card

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to test the file for the card I posted yesterday.  I actually took a bit of a break today and did not have a chance to send the file out - but I did retest it and it is ready to share.  I left the first page in the file - that page shows the element I used and has my original design which I resized to fit an A2 card.

I don't think I explained yesterday that the star cuts on page three of the file could be layered on the card for another effect so I put together another card to demonstrate this today.

Here is the card base after you cut and score the card.

The layer is made from the same star that I used for the cut out in the card so it will fit perfectly on top of the cut out.  You do have to pay attention to align the layer to the star because the design is not perfectly symmetrical.  Just try various points at the top until you find the perfect fit and then put a pencil dot on the back of the top point to help you find it again once you have added adhesive.

I usually add a liner to make this type of card more practical for sending a message.  I cut a piece of good quality, text weight paper at 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 and fold it in half.  Then I put a strip of adhesive near the fold on the back of the card.

I place the folded paper on the front side of the card, making sure that it is centered and aligned with the fold.  Then I fold the back of the card to the front and press along the fold to be sure that the liner is adhered.

This method gives you plenty of room to write, stamp or print your message and preserves the impact of the cutout image on the front of the card.

Here is another view from the top.

The contrasting star has a nice impact but could be "fancied up" a bit - with pen stitching, Stickles...

...or gems!  I added these tiny diamonds at the tips of the star and a slightly larger gem at the center of the star.

You can download the .gypsy file HERE.


I wasn't online much today so I am a little behind on answering email and comments.  I'll do my best to catch up tomorrow.  I hope you are enjoying the long weekend.



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Star Card - Hiding Contours with the Gypsy

I have been having fun exploring the "new" Gypsy.  The features that have been added are some that I have been waiting for ever since the launch last year.  I designed these stars and a card with a star cutout using the Gypsy and the two exclusive Gypsy cartridges.

I started with this kite shape on the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.

With a little bit of calculation (yes - math is helpful sometimes!) I determined that I could create a five pointed star by rotating the shape in 72 degree increments (360 degrees divided by 5 points equals 72).  Then I aligned the shapes, using the outer edges as a guideline.

For the star shapes, I welded the five kites together.  With the Gypsy, I was able to group the five shapes (even though they were at different degrees of rotation) and then quickly copy and paste ("duplicate" in Gypsy lingo) the entire group.  This ability to group images that have been individually altered is one of the "missing" capabilities in Design Studio.

Here are the test cut stars - I was thinking of the Fourth of July when I made these but the stars could also be used for Christmas.

I used the "hide contour" function to create this card with the star cutout.  In order to make this sort of design you just have to look at shapes and imagine the cuts that would result if the outline line of the design was not cut.  This is one of my favorite types of card.

This screen shot is from Design Studio - the light blue lines are the hidden lines.  On the Gypsy, the hidden lines will be gray.

I originally chose this shape to use for the base of the card.  It appears to be a rectangle but I noticed it looked a bit odd on the Gypsy screen.

After I cut out the card and put it on my Scor-Pal to score I found out that the shape is definitely a bit off kilter.  So I went back to look for a true square or rectangle that I could use to cut the card shape.

I found this square on the Gypsy Font cartridge (I was trying to create something that could be cut by anyone with a Gypsy and the two Gypsy cartridges are preloaded on every Gypsy).

I was able to trim the first card I cut to even up the sides making it just a bit smaller than standard A2 size.  When I substituted the square from the Gypsy Font cartridge and cut the card again the size and shape were correct.

To hide a cutting line with the Gypsy, select an image and then tap on the icon that looks like two corners at the lower right of the group of buttons.  The button can be selected if there is a purple line showing.

This screen will appear - the image is shown with one of the lines or contours in red.  If you want to hide that line, tap "hide" on the right.  If you change your mind the button will say "show" when a hidden line is selected and you can tap it to bring the line back.  You can use the "prev" and "next" keys to scroll through the lines or click on the top left silver button to select each line in turn and then hide the ones you do not wish to cut.

Another great improvement in this Gypsy update is the ability to name the tabs for the layers and to "turn off " the layer so the images will not show while you are working on another layer.  To do this you simply click the little eyeball on the tab to open or shut it.  You can drag the tabs back and forth to rearrange the layers (the tab that is being dragged will turn green).  The blue tab is the active tab and the pink tabs are the inactive tabs.

To label the tab, put your stylus on the tab without moving it and two choices will pop up - rename or delete.  Rename will take you to the keyboard screen to type the tab name.

I have transferred the file back and forth between the computer and the Gypsy using the Gypsy Sync.  I believe that the file is correct but one time I needed to redo the grouping and weld for the star cutouts.  I am happy to share the file but I would like to ask for someone to test it before I put the file up for general downloading just to be sure that everything is working correctly after the transfers.  You can just leave a comment or send me an email or message on Facebook.


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Shadowing a word on the Gypsy

While I was on vacation in Italy last month, I used the Gypsy to get a head start on titles for my scrapbook pages.  I liked the look of the Gypsy Font, so I used it for most of the titles.  Shadowing a welded word on the Gypsy is very easy to do.  It is similar to creating a shadow for a welded word in Design Studio with one key variation.  In Design Studio you simply open another page in the file to work on your shadow - with the Gypsy you need to save the word in a file and then use "Open as Template" to start a new file and create the shadow. Here is a LINK to the blog post with a video I made showing how to shadow a welded word in Design Studio

It is important to choose a font that has a shadow option available on the cartridge.  It is nearly impossible to create a perfect outline shadow by stretching a word - the center cut outs in letters like "o" and "g" will not stay in proportion.  A shadow of a word is not just a larger version of the word.  If the font does not have a shadow option, you can cut the word twice and offset the words when you adhere them to the page or card and create a "sun shadow" instead of an "outline" shadow.

I always create the top layer first and then create the shadow.  By doing this I can be sure that the top word is fully welded and fit the shadow around it.  When you make the shadow on the Gypsy you will be able to move each letter independently and will not have to "nudge" everything into place.

I will try to do more videos to show how to do the shadowing on the Gypsy - I am not able to get good resolution and a sharp image with the video of the Gypsy screen as opposed to doing a computer screen capture video for Design Studio but I'll keep working on finding a better solution.  If you'd like me to post some more Gypsy videos please let me know by leaving a comment.


(I still have a sore throat and have been doing lots of sneezing but I had some naps and drank lots of tea and other liquids today.  I hope I can get downstairs this weekend and cut some of the things I have been designing on my Gypsy!)