How to design the "pretty mat or frame" with Home Decor

Thanks to all of you who made a guess about the cartridge(s) I used for this design.  As it turns out, the first guess by Linda was correct (and she was actually the only one that chose the correct cartridge).  I used three elements from Home Decor to make this design.

The main element of the design is the crown.  The key is highlighted in this screen shot of the keypad.

I thought the shape was so pretty and I realized that it was close to a quarter circle so I could probably fit four of the crowns together to make a full circle shape.  I rotated each crown by 90 degrees to create the final shape.

This screenshot shows the alignment of the overlap.  Because there is a decorative series of concave curves at the edge of the crown there are some places where the overlap results in a new cut out design.

While the overlap creates these attractive cut out areas there are some problems...

This screenshot shows the preview on the design page.  It can be difficult to see clearly what the cut will be when all of the lines appear in the preview so I always preview the design on a new blank page in the file.

By looking at this preview, I can see that the corner is pretty but there is a problem in the way the "beaded" band on the crowns are cut off by the weld.  I could have added another shape to complete the beaded lines but I chose to handle this problem another way.

To solve the overlap issue, I used "hide selected contour" (one of the best tools in the Design Studio program).  There are a few "glitchy" things about "hide selected contour" - one of them is that if you only hide one line or contour in an image it will not stay hidden when you reopen the file.  If you don't want to have to remember to "rehide" the line each time you use the file, you need to hide at least two lines.

If you have an image with three or more lines you can use a workaround to produce a file where the single line will stay hidden - here is a LINK to an old post where I explained how to do this.  In this case, I decided to hide the center circle and add another shape to make a slightly different design.  If you click on the image you should be able to see this more clearly.

I chose this heart and used the "handle" in the lower right corner of the selection box to resize it to approximately the same size as the circle it was replacing.  The Shape Properties box will not accept values less than 1 inch for the height and 1/2 inch for the width, however, by using the handles you can create tiny shapes (and they usually will cut well).

I wanted to create a solid shape, so I now needed to add something to fill in the center of the design.  I generally try to challenge myself to use as few cartridges as possible for a design so I checked for a useful shape on the Home Decor cartridge.

Home Decor does not have a simple plain circle cut but it happens to have a great scalloped circle with 37 "bumps" so I used this to "fill in" the center of the design.

When "weld" is checked on the scalloped circle the final design will look like the screen shot above.

Here is the test cut.

This is the offcut from the design which could be trimmed and used on another page.

This screen shot shows the design if you do not check weld on the scalloped circle and use it to create a cutout in the center of the design.

Here is the test cut of this design.

The version with the cut out center will produce these offcuts.  All of these could be used for other projects or for the opposite page in a two page spread.

If you do not insert the scalloped circle you will get this design.  I don't have a photo of this cut to show you right now.

The design is not "grouped" because some design elements had to be rotated individually and therefore I could not keep them all in the same selection box.  You could transfer the file to the Gypsy to group the items and resize it but you would then need to bring it back to Design Studio to hide the contours so it is probably easier to just recreate the design in the size you need directly in Design Studio.

You could add any shape you like to make the center cut out but you need to be sure it is larger than the naturally occurring center opening formed by the crowns.

I'd love to see what you create with this file!

Doily Mat or Frame

Fleur-de-lis Mesh (Home Decor)

One of my favorite things to do with the Design Studio software is to make lace cardstock mesh pages. It is always interesting to see the designs that can be created by simple repetition of one design element.



This fleur-de-lis mesh is made from the fleur-de-lis on the Home Decor cartridge.



Here is a closer view of the fleur-de-lis. I think this is a particularly nice shape with great detail. I made a mesh with seventy fleurs-de-lis (seven rows of ten). That is a very large number of welds - the design is complex and takes a long time to cut. You can call a friend, do the dishes, throw in some laundry and have a cup of coffee and then (maybe) it will be done cutting! Be sure that your paper is well stuck to the mat and use medium weight cardstock with a smooth finish to try to insure a clean cut.



I was lucky - this design cut perfectly the first time I tried it. I carefully lifted the outer edges off the mat.



The border design that results from this cut is rather pretty and I will save this to use for a scrapbook page.



Take your time lifting the full page cut from the mat. I find my wide plastic putty knife to be a very valuable tool for a job like this! (you can get these at the hardware store for a dollar or two).



Once the cut is lifted, there will be lots of bits left on the mat. Of course, I did save the larger shapes (I can't throw anything that might be useful away!).



I don't know what to call these shapes - if you look at the one on the right you might see a viking with fluffy pigtails...



I decided to trim off the "horns" and ended up with these shapes that cold be corner accents...



...photo corners...



or even lined up for a border - there are lots of possibilities.



I also like the look of the mesh turned 90 degrees so the flowers are to the sides - you can see a "3" in the design this way.



The paper I used to test the cut was two sided - above you can see the slightly patterned opposite side (remember, you can click on the photo for a larger view). I think I may try this again with a very bold and bright paper and see how that looks.

If you use this file for a project, I'd love to see how it turns out.


(I am not posting a digital challenge this week - there may be one next Thursday. If you wanted to try Challenge #8 you have an extra week to try it).


Fleur-de-lis full page mesh

Bubbly Scalloped Frame (still more Home Decor)

The FCTSC digital challenge I posted last Thursday was a quick and simple one because I was preoccupied with previewing and reviewing the new Cricut cartridges. I did promise to show you how I could use the photo with some text added for a card and I didn't forget about that. I also have been continuing to show cuts and designs from the new cartridges, Home Decor, Jubilee, Simply Sweet and Stand and Salute. (For those who have been asking, I don't have any definite information on when these cartridges will be released, I have been told that it will be "soon").

Today I will share a design I created from an element from Home Decor and show you how it can be used to "frame" the photo for a card.



You can see the element I used in this screen shot - the key is highlighted in green and I put a larger version on the mat and previewed it so you could see the shape more clearly (those keypad images are sometimes really tiny for detailed elements!).



Here is my first test cut of the mat I created - this was designed to fit a 4 x 6 inch photo and then to be layered on a 5 x 7 inch card. You could also decorate this base in any number of ways or add a stamped and colored image in the center.



I decided to turn the cut into a frame by added a second rectangle, cut from the center. You can see the resulting cuts in the photo above.



I was using a chartreuse shade of green cardstock for this cut - I remembered that there was some green in the photo background but the shade is not a good match.



Then I tried using brown card stock. This is DCWV textured card stock. I sometimes have trouble with the way this card stock looks after cutting since any little snag reveals the white core. I discovered that if you place the more heavily textured side face down on the mat you get a cleaner cut (but I still don't care for the white core for most Cricut cuts).



Here is the frame effect with the center rectangle removed. - it works vertically or horizontally.



My original concept was to have the photo on the top of the mat - here is how the card would look if I used the cut this way.



This is the final version of the frame and photo that I prefer for a card. I like the effect of the plain narrow frame around the photo and then the fancy edges.



I tried a quick page layout using both the offcut (I did my test cut on an 8 x 8 inch piece of card stock) and the frame - this gives an interesting effect but I might like it better with different colors and photos (these just happened to be handy on my table).



I decided to try this frame with a "vintage" photo - well, this is from my wedding 28 years ago (we did have color photos "back then" - I had this one printed in "sepia" for another project). If you look carefully, you can see that the edge of my veil is quite similar to the frame).



Finally, I found an even older photo of my parents from the 1940s and "auditioned" it with the "Memories" cut I used in the leafy frame from yesterday's post. I really like the two of these together!



The file is set up to cut the frame version - here is a preview. If you want to cut the mat version, you will need to select the inner rectangle by left clicking on it (the line will turn red), then right click on the virtual mat and choose "hide selected contour" from the bottom of the pop-up menu.



Once you have "hidden" the interior rectangle, your cut will look like this. If you want to cut the frame version again, select the inner rectangle (the "hidden" line will be a very pale blue) and then right click and choose "show selected contour" from the bottom of the pop-up menu.

I did two versions of the file - one with George and Home Decor and the other with Plantin Schoolbook and Home Decor (there is no rectangle on Home Decor).

A quick note for the people who wanted to know about the status of upcoming classes - our card class for Thursday is nearly full - there is room for one or two more students - but we do have openings for the Getting Started class that we will be doing on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern. We need a few more students to meet the minimum for that class to run on Friday - otherwise we will reschedule. We are also planning on setting up another evening class sometime next week.


Bubbly Scallop mat or frame - George version

Bubbly Scallop mat or frame - Plantin Schoolbook version

Memories Frame - Home Decor Cartridge

I have been doing several projects using the Home Decor cartridge - primarily because I can use it in Design Studio and, for me, "a day without Design Studio is like a day without sunshine!" I really enjoy combining elements and making new variations of the designs. I also can accomplish results that are not possible using the cartridge with the Cricut machine alone.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this Cartridge can be previewed in complete detail by looking at all of the cuts in the Design Studio program. You can do this with just the trial version of the software but you really should upgrade to the full version and start having some fun! (You can design with all the cartridges in the trial program but can only cut with the cartridge that is "native' to your machine - George for the Original Cricut, Don Juan for the Create and Plantin Schoolbook and Accent Essentials for the Expression).

In case you do not have even the trial version of the software on your computer, I am including a photo of the images as they appear on the pamphlet packaged with the cartridge. Solutions cartridges have only two creative features, shadow and blackout, and there is not a full booklet included with the cartridge.




The photo in the cartridge pamphlet is really tiny - you can click on this photo to enlarge it for a better view.



When you open the cartridge, don't forget to save the two chipboard brackets for another project (you know I hate to waste anything!).



I started this design by inserting the word "Memories" on the cartridge inside the leafy frame - this frame is one of my favorites and I am sure I will be using it a lot. In the photo above you can see the basic cut. I created this as an "adjustable" design so I can use it at various sizes.



Next, I created a shadow for the frame, adjusting the proportions of the shadow on the cartridge to fit my adjusted design. I cut this in a darker shade of brown.



I decided that the word "Memories" was too subtle so I cut another layer for the word in the darker brown I used for the shadow. I like the look of this darker layer better - the design appears more balanced.



I decided to try filling the center area of the frame. The cartridge blackout option does not fill in the entire central area. By using the "hide selected contour" feature, I was able to create a blackout version of the full frame. In the photo above, you can see it with the lighter "Memories" word (no layer added).



Here is the page with the darker layer added to the word and the blackout version of the frame.

If you would like this file you can download it using the link below. Several people have asked for files for a few of my other Home Decor examples and I will try to post those soon.

For those who have asked about classes, Jen and I are teaching a basic card class on Thursday and another Getting Started class on Friday - check the Let me Show you How to Do that blog for details.

Memories Leafy Frame (A)