More Artist Trading Cards - Sewing

It was my month to choose the theme for my large ATC group in February.  We made the list when the swap started so those that wanted to could work ahead.  I don't work ahead usually - I prefer to have the time to experiment and try new techniques that I might use for a swap project.

At any rate, I did not do these early and then February turned out to be a month when I had a very hard time getting everything done due to our neighbor's house fire and illness.  For the first time, I had to ask to put this off until another month and I finally caught up and sent in my cards for February this month.  I chose the "Sewing" theme because I wanted to experiment with sewing paper in my crafting.  It was easy and fun - I don't know why I waited so long to try it!

The base of the card was the usual 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches and I cut a 3 by 2 inch layer to sew to the base.  I chose paper from the DCWV "Crafty" stack.  I did a simple zigzag stitch around the edges.  I need  more practice to keep everything straight and even - it is different than sewing on fabric.  I did like doing this and I think sewing will be something I'll start to do more of on my cards and layouts.

I wanted to add a sewing related cut to my card.  I chose this needle and thread from the Happily Every After cartridge.  The Disney Princess cartridges are fun to have - I don't make very many Princesses but I use them quite often for the great extras.

I used Design Studio to set up a mat with 14 of the spools and 14 of the thread layers.  I was able to conserve paper by flipping and alternating the rows.

I used the Core'dinations cardstock for both the spools and the thread.  The orange gemstone cardstock was a good match with the colors in the background "fabric" and the shine was perfect for the thread.  My mat was not very new and I have had the gemstone cardstock slip on occasion, so I used a bit of masking tape to make sure it stayed in position.

When I added the spools and thread layers I used my CM Precision Point Adhesive and let it dry to clear.  This made it easy to align the delicate thread cut.

I was happy to be able to do the backs digitally again.  I chose a gingham background paper from the Creative Memories "Recipe Book" digital kit. - Here is a LINK to the page on my CM site that shows this kit (you can click the image to see the full contents of the kit).

Here are all of the ATCs just before I got them ready to mail.  The color combination was a bit different for me but I really liked it.

It takes a while to sign and number the ATCs - it is so convenient to have most of the information printed for each back.

It was a very busy day.  We had a nice evening celebrating our neighbor's birthday and I spent a fair bit of time shopping and cooking to get ready for the party.  I have a lot to catch up with on email and questions and I hope to do that this weekend.  I noticed last week that my "follower" box has gone beyond 1,000 so I think another blog celebration is due - very soon.....

I hope you have a great weekend!

Apples and the Gypsy

Today I cut a couple of the designs I created using the Gypsy on the car ride to and from the farm this weekend. I originally made a design with just the words "apple picking" using the Lyrical Letters font with two apples (from Doodlecharms and Happily Ever After) welded to the words.



I updated my Gypsy and my Expression machine (be prepared - this takes quite a while). I found that a new feature was added which allows you to add additional items to the mat and cut them after you cut the original design. I had a lot of leftover space so I added six apples in three sizes from the A Child's Year cartridge to use up the paper. This is a nice feature and worked like a charm - each set of additional items was placed exactly to avoid ruining the original cut.

Once I had everything cut and off the mat, I tried lots of different arrangements on a 12 x 12 page - I haven't decided on the final layout for the page yet...







































































I spent a lot of time designing a full page mesh of apples on the Gypsy. I think that it is much easier to do this sort of design using Design Studio. There are six rows of eight apples in this mesh (the apple is from A Child's Year) for a total of 48 objects that are welded together.

The design was relatively easy to create since the "duplicate" function was added in an update to the Gypsy software, but the preview process for this number of welds is very slow. At one point I thought the machine was frozen, however, after between 10 and 15 minutes of preview building time, I could finally see the full design and check the welds. There were a few places that I would have changed slightly but I was too impatient to go through the process again.



When I went to cut the design the time needed to send the file to the machine was quite long. As the items to be cut are read and transferred to the Cricut for cutting they turn gray and it took about 20 - 30 seconds for each apple to change color. So, with all the waiting it took a very long time to cut the design but in the end it did cut nicely.



When "hide selected contour" becomes available in the Gypsy software I will hide the hole in the top of each apple stem (they are actually intended for use as tags).



I did my test cut on some double sided paper and I really like the effect of the argyle pattern on the opposite side.

I am sorry that I can't share files yet - when the software is updated to allow transferring of the files between Design Studio and the Gypsy I will have to have a major file sharing post!

It is interesting to see how the Gypsy and Design Studio compare - I think each program has certain advantages. It will be wonderful if all of the best features of both programs can be combined to make it possible to do the same sorts of designs either at home on the computer or on the go with the Gypsy.

If you would like me to try to make some more videos to explain how I made these files, let me know - I think I may try my regular video camera instead of the Flip to see if I can get a clearer image (and I will definitely try to keep it shorter than the last one!)