Tea Party Card (file and directions)

 

 I hope you are enjoying the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog hop - there is a lot of inspiration to be found on each of the Design Team blogs this week.  For all of the details and to leave a comment for a chance to win the prize on my blog please click HERE to go to yesterday's post (only comments on that post will be used for the drawing).

As promised, I have a bit of explanation about how I made this file to share with you today.  I also have the .cut file to share.  I'll add the .gypsy file as soon as I have a chance to do a test cut.

The background of the card is made using these images from the Mother's Day cartridge.

The medallion shape is adapted by using the right center handle to change the proportion to fit an A2 card.  The shape was entered at 5 inches tall and the width changed to 3.75 inches.

The two lines in the center of the medallion are hidden using "hide selected contour" - since there are two lines hidden they will stay hidden when the file is closed and reopened.

The lace design is also adapted to fit the shape of an A2 card and centered within the medallion.

In order to create the lace cutout, the outer contour of the lace image must be hidden.  Since there is only one line that you want to hide,  you need to use a workaround to keep the file ready to cut.  You have to hide at least two lines for the lines to remain hidden.

For one lace image the outside line and one small cut are hidden.  For the second image, everything but that one small cut is hidden.  By placing two images in exactly the same position (use the x and y values to confirm this) the file will cut properly and you won't have to remember to hide the outer line each time.  This work-around is not needed when using hide selected contour on the Gypsy since a single line will stay hidden (you can also copy and paste images and retain the hidden lines).

I hope that Design Studio will be updated to fix these issues with hide selected contour - it will be a huge timesaver!

The tea set image is from the Heritage cartridge.  It is cut at 2 inches exactly as it appears on the cartridge.

The same lace image from the Mother's Day cartridge is adapted to a much smaller scale to be drawn before the tea set is cut out.

I used the preview of the tea set to plan the exact placement of the design on the cut.  Do not unload the mat between drawing and cutting to be sure that the design will be in exactly the right position.

The word tea is from the base alphabet on the Lyrical Letters cartridge.  It is simply welded and sized at about one inch tall.

The lace background is very delicate.  I cut it from a shimmery piece of cardstock from the Luxury Stack by DCWV.  For delicate cuts like this it is a good idea to do a 2 x multicut.  This will eliminate most of the "trouble spots" where the blade does not quite cut through on the many twists and turns and you should be able to lift the cut easily with most of the negative cuts staying on the mat.

I hope you enjoy making this card - it would be lovely for a special party invitation or a thank you card.  I'd love to see your version - you can add it here using the link (this is my first time trying this - I hope it works!)

Tea Party Lace Card





Subscribe to Capadia Designs       

Blog Hop Day 3 - Boston Tea Party

Welcome to Day 3 of the Scrappy-Go-Lucky "Round the World with CRI-Kits" Blog Hop. It is Wednesday already in Australia, so it is my turn to show you something to do with "my part of the world" and a part of the world that is special to me.

I live just outside of Boston, Massachusetts now, however, we spent five years living in England and I have very fond memories of our time there.  So, I thought about the both the Boston Tea Party and my time in England where I enjoyed the rituals of tea drinking and came up with this fancy tea party card.

Here are all of the elements that I used to create this card.  I am partial to blue and white so I used that color scheme for my card.  It reminds me of many sets of dishes and a special teapot that I got in Germany when we lived there.

For the background of my card, I adapted a design on the Mother's Day cartridge using "hide selected contour" to embed the lacy cut in a medallion shape.

I used the CRI-Kits blue glitter pens to draw another adapted version of the design on a piece of beige and white patterned paper.

Then I drew the tea set from the Heritage cartridge with the pens.  I changed to the blade and cut the design.

I hope you can see the amazing sparkle on the design - the glitter pens are fabulous!

To give more definition and another layer of sturdiness to the tea set cut I cut a shadow in dark blue Core'dinations cardstock.

Here are the assembled layers ready for the card.

I welded the word "tea" from the base font on the Lyrical Letters cartridge.  The word was cut at about one inch and the letters are very thin but they did cut nicely.

When I placed the word on the lace background, I tried to line up the letters along lines of the lace design.

I used foam squares from Creative Memories to lift the teapot from the lace background.

If you push down on the back of the square with a tool (in this photo the Cricut hook tool) the backing will pop right off.

Here is a close view of the tea set on the card.  These foam squares are fairly low and give a lovely subtle dimension to the tea set.

I think this is one of my favorite cards that I have made lately - I hope you like it!  I'll share more technical details about the design and the file in another post soon.

Here is the exciting part of the blog hop!!!!

Mandy has some fabulous prizes that you could win.  The Grand Prize is a set of four of the newest Cricut Cartridges - Cindy Loo, Freshly Picked, Mini Monsters and Wall Decor & More.

You also will have a chance to win a set of CRI-Kits pens (and a holder if you need one) on each blog.

To be eligible to win on my blog, simply leave a comment on this post.  If you are not already a follower or subscriber or a fan on the Capadia Designs Facebook page, I'd love to have you join, but it is not required to enter.  Comments can be left even if you don't have a google account - just check anonymous.  To be fair, one comment only please.  Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if your comment is chosen by random.org on June 18th.

To be eligible for the Grand Prize you will need to visit each blog in the hop and collect the letter clue in the blog hop post.  Combine these letters with the clues on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog and solve the anagram, then email the answer to Mandy at comp@scrappy-go-lucky.com.au
by Friday, June 18th (remember - that's in Australia!) when a winner will be drawn from all of the correct answer using random.org.


Here is my clue

Here is the full list of the Design Team blogs and the schedule

Monday, June 7th - Mandy - Scrappy-Go-Lucky

Tuesday, June 8th - Jane - Scossie Jane

Wednesday, June 9th - that's me! - Diane - Capadia Designs

Thursday, June 10th -  Tracey, Trace Elementz

Friday, June 11th - Tereesa - Up Late 2 Create

Saturday, June 12th - Enfys - Going Buggy

Sunday, June 13th - Mandy - Scrappy-Go-Lucky

I hope you have fun seeing all of the projects this week and I wish you Good Luck for a chance to win one of these great prizes sponsored by Scrappy-Go-Lucky!



Subscribe to Capadia Designs       

Sweet Treat Thursday at Cuttlebug Challenge

 

The Sweet Treat Design Team was asked to use Cricut Color Inks for our projects this week.  For some tips and tricks for using the markers and to see all of the Design Team projects, please be sure to visit THIS POST at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot.

 

I used the red pen to outline the scalloped doily I posted in January (here is a LINK to the post).  The doily is made with the Mother's Day and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges.  I framed the doily in an inexpensive scrapbook page frame to use for a table setting as a serving piece for desserts or for candles.

 

I also designed a card using the Give a Hoot and Mother's Day cartridges.

I used this charm element from Give a Hoot to create the cut out portion of the card front.

 

 

I hid the outline and the hole of the charm after I sized it to fit a standard A2 card.  I also hid some of the very tiny places in the design to avoid having the marker leave a blob of ink.

 

 

I used the markers to draw the design and then cut out the card.  The markers draw a thick line and the blade cuts in about the center of the line, leaving a nicely outlined cut.  The effect is similar to inking but with a sharp edge that would be difficult to achieve by hand.

 

When you use the markers with Design Studio the software will draw/cut in exactly the same place.  DO NOT unload the mat between the drawing and cutting steps.  It is a good idea to put a piece of scrap paper beneath the blade carriage when you are changing from blade to marker to prevent accidental marks on your project.

 

 

I decided to add the "Mother" word art with the lovely flourishes - there is a shadow and a top layer on the Mother's Day cartridge as shown in the screen shot above.

To determine the proper size of the cut, I put the shadow version on the same mat as the card to check the fit.  Then I moved the shadow and a top layer in the same size to another page in the file for cutting.

 The top layer is very delicate and needs to be handled carefully when you remove it from the mat.

I added a liner of pink gemstone Core'dinations cardstock to the front of the card.  This provides a good support and nice contrast to the delicate cut.

For the finishing touch I used one of these sequin flowers from Creative Charms.  You can see these HERE on the Creative Charms site. 

The flowers come in various colors and are very sparkly and elegant.

My first set of markers came in a bundle with my Expression.  I got that machine in 2007 and I discovered in working on these projects that the markers do eventually dry out.  If you have some markers that are sitting around your house, why not pull them out and give them a try while they still work!

Just for fun, here is a LINK to one of my very early blog posts when I first discovered how well the markers work with Design Studio.

Mother Card with Cricut Inks

Scalloped Lace Square

This beautiful lace can be found on the Mother's Day mini cartridge.  The image on the cartridge has plain  edges.  A friend from the Cricut Message Board was have difficulty trying to add the scalloped edge. I put together a file and thought it would probably be helpful to others to show how to do this.  Remember, you can click on any of the images to see  a larger view.

The scalloped edge can be created quickly if you start with this element on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  Start with the size at 1 inch (the smallest that can be set on the slider bar).

The lower image shows the shape as it is entered from the cartridge.  You need to switch your mat size to 12 x 24 in the program to allow enough space to add three of these in one selection box.

 

Here are the three sections as they will appear on the larger mat.

  

Use the nudge arrows to move the second and third sections to the left and overlap the scallops.  Be sure to check weld while the border is selected.

Then resize the border using the handle in the lower right to keep it in proportion.  After you have created the border you can copy and paste it three times, rotating each side to create a scalloped frame.

Pay attention to the corners to be sure that they are evenly aligned.

Once you have formed the frame preview the file - it will look like this.  If you want to create a blackout version of the design you can add a square to the center of the frame.  Be sure to check weld on the square.

If you add the square after the frame is complete and preview you will see something like this.  The weld is not working correctly but you can quickly fix it by copying, deleting and pasting back one of the borders.

This is how the correctly welded shape will appear in preview.  If you place three sides, then the square and then the fourth side border you will not need to "burp" the frame.

This is the lovely lace image on the Mother's Day cartridge.  

The same principle applies to adding the lace square inside the frame.  If you add it when the frame is complete you will need to "burp" the frame again.

After "burping" your framed lace will look like this.

I made a test cut of the design using this paper from SEI.  The Michael's store near me had it on sale for $4.00.  The paper is called Madeline and has lovely soft colors and lots of shimmer.  There is also some solid cardstock in the stack.

After cutting the lace, the outer edge of your 12 x 12 sheet of paper will look like this.  Notice that the sides are slightly uneven - this is due to the small discrepancy in the accuracy of placing the mat into the rollers.  Even though your cut is perfectly centered on the computer screen it will usually be a bit off center.

If you trim a little sliver (about 1/8 of an inch) from the two fatter sides you can use the frame on a plain 12 x 12 for another layout.

The full frame on a dark gray page from the stack.

Here is a closer view of the corner.

 

The paper has a beautiful sheen but it is tricky to photograph.

 

The background color makes a big difference in the overall look.

You can even layer the cut on a tiny overall print - this one is also from the same stack.

You could use the frame and the lace to make a two page layout.

This photo shows the shine of the paper a bit more clearly.

If you have welds that don't work out the way you pictured them you should always stop and think whether you may need to rebuild the design or "burp" a frame.  The order in which the elements are added to a design can make a difference in the final results. 

Scalloped Lace Full Page

Mysteriously and miraculously my computer decided to recognize my Cricut again today so that was a big relief!  I restarted the computer several times yesterday with no luck, but today when I turned on the computer and plugged in the mouse all was well - go figure!  Thanks for all of the help suggestions.