Lace Cardstock with Martha Stewart Borders.

Today is Monday so you'll find another installment of "Martha on Monday" over on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog.  This week I demonstrated how to create your own lace cardstock by welding together several borders.  I have used this technique for many mesh pages.  The Martha Stewart cartridges have lots of lovely borders and there are many other cartridges that will also work (Storybook is one of my favorites for doing this).

There is a step by step explanation and lots of photos showing how to create the flower mesh you can see above on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog at THIS POST.

This leafy mesh is another example of a design created from borders.  This one is much more delicate than the flower mesh.

 Here is the border from the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge that I used for this mesh.

You want to be sure to use a sticky mat - not a brand new one but one that is "just right" to keep the paper firmly stuck during the cut.  It takes quite a while to cut out something this intricate.  Above you can see the delicate cuts in the paper still on the mat.  You want a sturdy paper, not thin text weight but not too thick.  If you use heavy cardstock you might not get a clean cut - I would recommend trying a multi-cut if you want to use heavier weight material.

When the cut is finished, you can remove the outer edge around the design.  

You could save this piece and use it as a frame on another page.

Take your time as you lift the cut from the mat.  The stems are extremely delicate.

 I only had one place where a leaf came apart - I was distracted by something and tugged a bit too hard when I was lifting that section.  It is simple to glue it down so the break won't show.

Changing the background paper gives an entirely different look.

If you'd like to try cutting this mesh you can download my file HERE.  The file for the flower lace is available on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog.  You'll find all sorts of inspiration if you check out the projects my fellow Design Team members have been making so be sure to scroll back through the posts.  

Thanks for all of the advice on the paint color for the garage. I am planning to show you more simple style scrapbook pages soon now that I know that many of you enjoy this type of page as a supplement or alternative to the very heavily embellished and layered pages that are so popular right now.   I hope you have a wonderful Monday.

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Fancy (but simple) Storybook Lace Mesh

Many people have asked me for more information about mesh or paper lace designs.  There are many types of designs that can be used to make these intricate cuts.  Some of the more recent Cricut cartridges have elaborate lace designs that are beautiful at full page size (Mother's Day, Straight from the Nest, Cindy Loo).  You can also create these pages using smaller images and welding them in a pattern.

This delicate lace was made using just four images from the Storybook cartridge.  I altered the width of the image a bit to get a good fit on the page.  The adapted shape is 5.8 x 5.8 inches.

 The four images are arranged to overlap evenly along some of the outer swirls.  This screen shot shows the final image after welding.

To cut a design like this one - with lots of intricate curves and thin sections  - I usually find it better to use a heavy patterned paper instead of cardstock.  For my test cut I used a sheet of K & Company paper with a fairly subtle pattern.

You could use the offcut to create a frame for a page.

Different backgrounds with varying degrees of contrast give very different looks to this lace.

I had intended to give more explanation on how to make this type of mesh and also to share some techniques for making it an "adjustable" design in Design Studio but I ran into another glitch in the new version of Design Studio.  The problem with the nudge arrows getting "stuck" and the selected element moving along the mat with no way to stop it is has come back again.  I opened and closed the program several times but I still had a section of the design that "lost control" and could not be stopped!

This design is easy to make on the Gypsy and I found that the Gypsy is much faster than it used to be with preparing and displaying the design previews.  I did a Gypsy file but I haven't test cut it yet - I'll try to do that tomorrow so I can post the file.  Our oldest son arrived tonight from California for a weekend visit so I did not have any more time to troubleshoot the Design Studio issue.  If you have a Gypsy, you can try making this design on your own - it should be very simple to do.


The message boards are buzzing with news that there are a large number of new Cricut Lite cartridges which seem to be exclusive to Walmart.  If you go to the Cricut Message board you may find some more information from members who have seen these in their local Walmart stores.


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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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More Doodlecharms Hearts

This is another of the designs I made while I was exploring the Doodlecharms cartridge for the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot Sweet Treat Thursdays team challenge.  It is similar to the leaf design I shared last fall (here is a LINK to that post).

This is a preview of the cut.   I set the file up with an extra page where the hearts are not welded so you can try previewing different color combinations (perhaps something less predictable than my preview!). Be sure to cut from the page marked "CUT."

 

Here is my trial cut on the mat.  I used a paper that is a little too soft for a perfect cut but it was good enough to keep.  Remember that with small cuts paper with a "hard" finish will cut more cleanly.

 

This picture shows the pieces removed from the mat.  I added the extra rectangle so you can create another card with the leftover pieces from this cut (you know I hate to waste anything - but I did toss the tiny dots).  The rectangle in the file is from George but you can substitute one from a cart you own if you don't have George. Just check the Shape Propreties box for the measurements and X and Y positions.

 

I used my glue pen to put adhesive in all the twists and turns.  When you put the glue on the frame be sure to add a dot at each point so they won't snag on anything once the frame is added to the card.

 

You have many options for the frame card.  You can add a heart in each corner...

 

Add four more hearts at the compass points for a total of eight...

 

Fill in the sides for a total of twelve...

 

or complete the entire border, using 20 of the little hearts. You will still have 15 hearts left over for other projects.

 

 It is easier to dot the adhesive in the spot where you want the heart and then add the heart than it is to put the adhesive on the heart and flip the tiny piece to adhere it to the card.

 

The frame version of the A2 card looks a bit  like a doily was placed on the card front.  It doesn't matter if the hearts are not lined up perfectly - they have a sort of wonky charm due to their irregular shape and a few crooked ones won't matter. In this example I have placed one heart "backwards" as you might do on a quilt.  (Quilter's sometimes make a deliberate error  for a so-called "humility block."   If you go to this LINK you can read an interesting article about "humility blocks" just scroll down the page a bit to find it)

 

Here you can see the two variations.  The framed card would be a great for a stamped image and you could add another cut with a sentiment to the lace front card.  There are a few other variations you can do with this type of design.  When I get back home, I will cut them to show you.

Heart Lace for  A2 card

Apple Mesh - two Design Studio versions

A lot of people liked the apple mesh I posted and  were eager for the Gypsy file to be "shareable."  Since I have no idea how long it will be before a software update is released allowing files to be transferred between the Gypsy and the Design Studio program, I decided to recreate the mesh in Design Studio.

 By using Design Studio, I was able to make a few refinements to the design, using features that we have heard are meant to be added to the Gypsy but are not yet available.  I used "hide selected contour" to eliminate the holes at the tops of the apple stems (the apples on the A Child's Year cartridge were intended to be used as tags).

One quirk of the "hide selected contour" feature is that if you hide only one contour in a shape it will not stay hidden when the file is closed and you will need to "rehide" the line each time you open and use the file.  The workaround for this is to find another line that you can hide - if you hide two or more lines, they will stay hidden when the file is closed and reopened.  I hid a detail line on the leaf along with the hole.

The other change I made was to flip every other row of the design to create a more graceful "wave" between the rows.  I have two versions of the file to share - one with the flipped and one with all of the rows identical (as in the Gypsy version).  I couldn't flip the rows in the Gypsy and have a successful weld with the flipped images but apparently this is something that was fixed in testing and we are just waiting for an update to be issued so flipped items can be welded together and cut.

Here is another view of the mesh with alternating rows of apples facing in opposite directions (on a black background).

You do need to be careful when lifting this mesh from the Cricut mat - the stems are very thin and it is easy to rip them if you move too fast!


 Apple Mesh

Apple Mesh - flipped rows

 

***REMINDER***

There are just a couple of days left to enter the amazing Workbox Giveaway. One lucky winner on my blog will get to choose a Ribbon box or the ScrapMaBob. The winner on my blog will then be eligible for the Workbox giveaway taking place on October 12, 2009. You must enter by leaving your comment(s) on the original post about the giveaway - here is a LINK for the full details. There are 10 blogs participating so be sure to visit all of the others to make more entries and have more chances to win!

 The deadline for leaving your comment(s) is 11:59 p.m. on October 8th (Thursday).  I will announce the winner for my blog on October 10th and that person will have a chance to win the Workbox.  Please be sure to leave your comments on the original post - that is the only list I will use to draw the winner.