Easter Candy Cage

It was a beautiful warm day here today - a great day for walking and yardwork!  I had an email from a regular blog reader who wanted to cut the cupcake holder I shared on Thursday (here is a LINK to that post).  She does not have the George cartridge and needed help to convert the file.

I took a bit of time to change all of the George rectangles to Plantin and test the new file.  These little holders will work nicely for Easter candy and they go together very quickly after cutting.

You can even use them as a "cage" for small animal figurines.  The link for the Plantin version of the file is below.  The assembly directions are in the original post linked above.

Have a Happy Easter!

Cupcake Holder (Plantin Schoolbook version)

Twelve Scallop Chipboard Book

There is just something about the dollar bins at many stores - so many irresistible items that you know you can use to make some great projects. There are spools of ribbon, stamps and small chipboard album sets that appear from time to time. It is easy to spend a lot of money in no time at all.



Back in February I found these albums and decided to try to make a .cut file to make it easier to cover them. Here is a LINK to the post. I know a lot of people were happy to use the file to speed up their album making. Several people asked if I could do files for other albums they found, but, without having the actual chipboard to work from, I didn't want to make files that "almost" worked.



Recently, I came across this version of the scalloped circle chipboard album - it is made by the same company but has twelve scallops instead of eight. The packaging is slightly different with a blue top instead of a black one.



Here you can see the difference between the two chipboard shapes. The book with eight scallops looks like a flower and the twelve scallop version is more of a circle.



Here is a photo of the finished eight scallop album that I made in February.



I made this file as an adjustable file so you can copy and paste and resize it to suit your other projects. I found that my chipboard book was just under six inches - five and 15/16 inches to be exact - so I made the original scalloped circle in the file that size. As you can see in the screen shot above, this file will be useful for many other projects since you can easily resize the shape and have graduated circles.



It took a while to work it all out, but once I got the file finished I was able to cut out all of these pages in less than five minutes.



I used some paper in muted shades for the first test cuts but I decided it was too "serious" looking for the flower shaped books.



I remembered that I had this pack of Debbie Mumm paper. I have always liked her designs - in fact, I have a stash of Debbie Mumm quilting fabric that is "too pretty to use"!.



This paper has bright designs and I thought it would be nice for a child's album.



Here are the five papers I chose for the album. The little bugs are so cute!



Since you need to have the Expression to cut these shapes at the proper size to cover the album pages, I used Plantin Schoolbook for the file. You can fit two shapes on a 12 x 12 page and there will be some paper left for mats and titles to coordinate for each album page.



For more information about how I put the album together you can look back at the post for the first album (here is that LINK again). I hope that many of you will be able to use this file - even if you don't have this chipboard album, scalloped circles are always useful!

Twelve Scallop Circle for Chipboard Album (A)

Spring Cleaning Serendipity

I did some spring cleaning in my studio today - I have a bad habit of letting all of my test cuts and leftovers pile up everywhere, so it was time to get some of them sorted out! It was fun to revisit some of the designs I have made over the past few months.

As I was stacking some of the finished cuts to store in a plastic case, I happened to layer the large scalloped frame on top of the tulip mesh. What a great combination this turns out to be! I have a photo that will look wonderful on this background.



Here is a LINK to the post about the Tulip Mesh. There are a few tips about using the "hide contour" function in that post.



Here is a LINK to the post about the full page scalloped frame. The file can also be cut for a solid full page square.

Sometimes, it pays to be messy - I hadn't thought of putting these two cuts on the same page, but I am glad I found out how well they work together. If you use this combination for one of your projects, I'd love to see a photo.

Finally Filigree!

I know some of you have been eagerly waiting for me to get this file posted. I have to tell you that this has been one of those "troublesome" files -I kept running into problems in the test cuts and I really don't know why some of the problems occurred. I will explain some of the issues I had so you won't be surprised if you have problems too (please let me know if you do - maybe we can figure out why there is such erratic behavior by these bugs!). As of tonight, I have successfully cut everything multiple times and I hope that you won't run into any problems.



Above is another variation of the full card topper. I used "hide contour" to "fill in" the ovals at the edges of the topper. Unfortunately, the element I used has only two contours, so, each time you want to cut the "filled in" version, you will need to re-hide the inner ovals. Perhaps a future update will fix this glitch of contours not staying hidden - my fix (described in the post linked HERE) will only work if there are three or more contours in the design.



I wanted to keep this card very simple since the filigree design is so elaborate, but I thought it needed just a bit more so I added a butterfly made with the Martha Stewart monarch butterfly punch.



The sentiment was cut with a Cuttlebug using the die from the "With Gratitude" A2 cut and emboss set.



In an amazing bit of serendipity, the letters align perfectly with the scallops!



Above is a photo of the card from a few days ago - that border cut perfectly the first time I tested it (and made the card using the test cut).



Tonight, I tested the cut again and you can see the result above (!) I was using the Expression instead of the Original Cricut for this cut - but that shouldn't make a difference.... I checked my blade assembly (took it out and looked for any paper bits stuck in the blade housing but there were none) re-tightened the assembly, checked to be sure that the paper was firmly stuck down on the mat and tried the cut again.



This time it cut perfectly - I can't say what made the difference since I hadn't discovered any problems in my checks after the first cut....



A few days ago, when I was testing the file I had the "Cricut mysteriously stops cutting at X % problem" - 62% in the example above and 90% in the example below.



Once again - this is something that used to happen frequently but it hadn't happened to me for quite a while. Everything "freezes" and you have to turn off the Cricut, and close and restart the Design Studio program to try cutting again. In both cases, the file cut perfectly the second time. I have no explanation for why this would happen but it did "clear" by restarting everything - whether or not it could happen again is unknown (I am just trying to give full disclosure so you know what "could" go wrong).

You will need Mini Monograms for either file. I did two separate versions with George and Plantin Schoolbook - the file will cut on the 6 x 12 mat so it is "baby bug compatible."

Filigree Card Toppers (George)

Filigree Card Toppers (Plantin Schoolbook)

Scallop Half Circle Card

In February, I shared a file for a large circle (nearly a full 12 x 12 page) with small scallops. Here is a LINK to that post with more explanation about the design and the file download link. The file uses Plantin Schoolbook since it must be cut on the Expression.

If you cut that file, cut the circle in half, then score and fold the half circle in half again, you can make an interesting shaped card.

My test cut of the scalloped circle was in a lilac. I thought it looked a bit "Springy" and used it to make the card. I cut some strips of dots from a DCWV glitter mat stack from last summer and rounded the ends to fit the scallops. Then I added three flowers with "gem" centers in colors to coordinate with the dotted strips.



I haven't added a sentiment yet - I am not sure what I will use the card for. This is an oversize card and will fit in a square envelope for a 6 x 6 card (remember, if you mail this in the US it does need extra postage). Of course, you can always hand deliver it.



Above is one more photo looking down into the card. What is it about scallops that just seems to make people happy?

(I wanted to share the filigree card topper file tonight, but I am having an issue with some of the test cuts. I think the problem is between Design Studio and my baby bug, but I want to be sure before I share the file. I also managed to misplace the cuts I made to photograph - I was finishing some swaps and I think they got lost in the shuffle. Tomorrow I will be clearing things up in my scraproom - I have illusions that order will be restored (!) So the filigree file will be here soon....)

More Scout Frames...(and how to change them)

I have had a few requests lately for help with changing the Scout frames I did last year. I originally designed an Eagle Scout frame for my son's display table at his Eagle Scout ceremony - here is a LINK to that post.



Above you can see the table in the reception hall and below is a photo of one version of that frame.



At the same time, I also made a plain fleur-de-lis version of this frame (here is a LINK to that post).



Well, one thing led to another and I had a request for a Boy Scout frame so I did that...



Then a request for a Cub Scout Frame...so I did that...well, you get the picture!

In the past few days I have helped Leslie with the Cub Scout ranks and also had a request for a Cub Scout Frame in an 8 1/2 x 11 format for some albums a Cub Scout Den had already created in that size.

I am posting links to download the files for all the variations of the Scout Frame that I have done and here is a quick lesson on how to change these (in case, somehow, we missed a rank!).

Start by opening the file you want to adapt and do a "save as" to create a new file (name it with the new rank you will be adding/changing).



Then, select the words that need changing and check the Shape Properties Box to see the size of the letters. Move your cursor to the left side of the mat (by double clicking or using the arrow keys on your keyboard) and type in the new word after setting the sizing slider bar at the proper size.

Grab the new word by the free move handle (top left) and place it over the original word. At this point you may want to use the single direction stretch arrows (bottom center and left center) to perfectly size the word to fit in the space. When you have it adjusted to fit the space nicely you can delete the original word. Be sure that you check weld on the new word. For these frames I make sure that the top and bottom of the letters are touching the "bars" but I do not nudge the letters together - I think it is easier to read this way. I also adjusted the large fleurs-de lis on the sides of the word, making smaller ones that are welded to the bottom bar only since the word I added is longer than the one it is replacing and there was not enough space to leave them as they were.




If you follow these steps and then preview, you will probably get something that looks like this - the welds are not operating as they did in the original frame. This is due to the way the software reads the design. You need to build from the center outward and make sure that the outer frame is added last.

In this case, since you simply substituted a word, the upper bar of the frame is "older" than the new word so you need to replace it or "burp" the design. (The term "burp" was coined by a Cricut Message Board member, by the screen name of sboz and it really helps if you think of this process as "letting the air out")



Select the bar at the top (as shown in the screen shot above) and then click Copy-Delete-Paste. The buttons are shown in the screen shot below.



By replacing the bar with an identical bar that is "newer" (added after the word) you have restored the order of elements for welding.



Above is a screen shot of the top of the frame after "burping" the design.



Make sure that your new letters are slightly overlapping the bars above and below - on my test cut I realized that I had moved them a bit too low. so the letters did not connect at the top (I have corrected this on the file I am sharing). You could use it this way but the frame will be a bit stronger and easier to stick down if the words are welded top and bottom.



Here is one more photo of the resized Cub Scout frame - I needed to change the length of the bars and adapt the numbers and placement of the fleurs-de-lis to get this to work.

This is a full sheet design and, depending on your individual machine, you may have to adjust the placement of the paper on your mat slightly - you can read about the issue I had and how I worked around it in the original Eagle Scout post (LINK)

I hope this explanation has helped - let me know if you have more questions. Have fun with your scouts!

Frame files:

Tiger Cub

Cub Scout 8 1/2 x 11

Cub Scout

Wolf Scout

Bear Scout

Webelos Scout

Boy Scout

Eagle Scout

Cards with Gate Fold Pop-Ups

In the demonstration videos I have seen for a product called "The Ultimate Crafter's Companion," there is an interesting card which is formed by inserting a gate fold card with a reverse center fold inside a regular card (hard to say it in words but easy to understand if you look at the photos!).

To cut a shape opening in the insert, the demonstrator uses the board to score a shape and then hand trims around the score line. I have tried this tool and I found it a bit difficult to get the score lines for the shape in the correct place - when I tried the butterfly - I ended up with two sizes combined in one!



I went ahead and assembled the card with the oddly shaped butterfly and added a few personal touches. I put some lining paper behind the opening, punched the sides of the insert with a border punch and set the insert back into the card a bit from the edges to show off the borders. You can see the unembellished card center in the photo above.

I was thinking about the difficulty with scoring & hand cutting and also about the limited number of designs available on the tool. It occurred to me that with the Cricut and my Scor-Pal I could easily make interesting cards with many shapes to choose from for the center cut-out.

You need to choose a simple shape that works as a silhouette since there will be no interior details to define the shape. To cut the shape in the proper position for an A2 card, you can set up your mat in Design Studio with a rectangle that is 5.5 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide. Then add additional rectangles to help you center your image, one at 2.125 inches wide, one at 4.25 inches wide and one at 6.375 inches all aligned at the left side as you can see in the screen shot below.



By using these guidelines, you can choose the appropriate size and placement for the shape you will cut for the pop up. In this simple example, I chose a flower from Plantin Schoolbook. Delete all but the largest rectangle when you are ready to cut the insert.



After cutting the insert, you can use the special score lines for a gatefold of an A2 card that are found on the Scor-Pal - they are marked by a small dot just beyond the 2 inch and before the 6 1/2 inch lines. If you don't have a Scor-Pal, you need to score at 2.125 inches (2 1/8), 4.25 inches (4 1/4) and 6.375 inches (6 3/8).



You score the 2 1/8 and 6 3/8 lines on the back of the paper (just flip it over) and the center line on the front - remember, you should fold toward the "mountain" not the "valley" so you just have to think for a minute to get the folds right. (Don't worry, if you fold it in the wrong direction you can refold it so the end result looks like the photo above!).



To add some interest, I used a border punch on the outside edges of the insert - in this case a flower border that is similar to the center cut-out.



I also cut a 2 x 5 1/2 inch piece of patterned paper to adhere to the center of the card (folded right sides together and then adhered it in the folded card.



Then I adhered the insert to the card, setting it back a bit from the edges to show off the pretty punched border. I used the edge of the patterned paper liner as a guideline for adhering first one side and then the other side of the insert.



Above is a view from the top of the card to show the construction more clearly.



Here is one more photo so you can see how it all fits together.



When the card is closed the insert collapses along the fold line.



I cut a piece of the same patterned paper for the front - cut at 4 x 5 1/4 inches and centered. I used the cut out flower from the insert as a decoration on the front of the card with a gem for the center of the flower. The card is now ready for a sentiment and some additional embellishing. If you want to ink the edges or stamp or use Stickles on the insert it will be easier to add these to the flat insert before you assemble the card.

There is no file to share today - just follow the directions above and you can make a card with a pop up insert and a cut-out in any shape you would like!