Snowflakes in Circles - again

Last year I made a lot of files where I put snowflakes in circles - I got started and just couldn't stop!  They look like snowballs with the added interest of the snowflake shapes.  I really am fascinated by snowflakes - when I checked the labels I found that there are 16 posts about snowflakes.  Here is a LINK to see all of the posts.  The first few are quite recent but you can keep scrolling down to see some of the older designs.

I made the snowflakes in circles files as "adjustable" files so they can be easily cut in various sizes.  I did a words and pictures tutorial showing the step-by-step directions for these.  You can do some "grouping" in Design Studio - you just run into trouble if you want to turn things at an angle or flip, stretch or skew a shape.  Of course, if you have a Gypsy, you can do the grouping there and then create the sizes you want and cut from the Gypsy or bring the file back into Design Studio for further editing (such as using "hide selected contour").  It will be great when both programs do all of the same things!

Here is a LINK to the tutorial on making adjustable circled snowflakes.  I had planned to do a quick video for those of you who prefer videos and post it today, but I spent the day driving to New Jersey (to get ahead of the snowstorm) and I think I will have to wait until tomorrow to do the video.  Making a screen capture video when you are tired is a bad idea.  I am here for my son's music composition concert at his college tomorrow night - a quick trip and then home and back again next week to bring him home for winter break.

If I get a second wind tonight, I think I will try doing a few more files using some of the newer snowflakes and use one of these to make the video.  I brought my baby bug along so I could have some creative time with my sister while I am here.  It sure is nice to have a sister living close to our son's college - I hope I don't wear out my welcome before he graduates next year.

Just a couple of quick notes about the EZ View Desk Giveaway

1.  There is a chance for two charities to benefit from this giveaway in addition to the individual blog winners of an EZ view Desktop and the grand prize winner of an EZ View Desk.  We need to get 12,000 people to visit the Original Scrapbox site for the first desk to be donated and if we reach 25,000 visits a second desk will be donated to a charity chosen from groups nominated by readers.  I am updating the click count daily - see the box at the top right of my blog.  If you could help spread the word through your network of friends so they will go to visit The Original Scrapbox site we will be able to generate more clicks so that both desks will be donated.  Thanks!

2.  Please be sure to leave a way to for me to contact you when you leave an entry comment.  If you don't see your comment posted, it is because the message did not include an email address or a link to a google profile with an email address or a link to an active blog where I can leave a comment to reach you if your comment number is selected.  There is a short time frame for me to notify the winner who will then be entered in to the grand prize drawing on Rachelle's blog.  If I let a comment slip through that has no contact info available I will reject that comment and take the next number from the random number generator.

I Love it When a Plan comes Together!

Tonight we got the second and third bookcases assembled and ready for the next stage of construction. You can see in the photo how I will set them up with the two that are 2 x 4 cubes back to back and the 2 x 2 cube case on one end. The other end will be inaccessible (perpendicular to a fixed glass sliding door) so I didn't add a case for that end.



My very handy husband went to Home Depot this weekend and bought all of the lumber and wheels to make the platform that will make this a movable island and also the wood for the top work surface. I may have a piece of tempered glass cut for the top but we will see how the painted surface works first.

I spent a little time thinking about the containers for some of the shelves and I was happy to discover that my large Creative Memories Power sort boxes will fit perfectly in the cubes. I plan to get a few more of the plastic cubes that fit perfectly and we have some matching Expedit two drawer inserts from IKEA to build as well. This island on wheels will replace a folding table that is just a bit shorter and narrower with limited space for storage beneath it due to the leg mechanism. I am so excited to have it getting closer to being done and I just can't wait to "move in" to all that storage space!



It was a busy day and I had lots of new projects to think about! I find it relaxing to work on a complicated design when I have a lot of things going on - it helps me to focus my thoughts. So I worked a design that I have had in the back of my mind for some time now - with a lot of variations. Above you can see a screen shot of the preview of the design I was working on - I haven't even had a chance to test the cut yet. There are 50 elements to this design and, since I made it "adjustable," that means 49 of them needed to be nudged into position - which took a very long time.



The first screen shot shows the design as a nearly full page cut (eleven inches square) and the screen shot above shows the same design "adjusted" to a 4 and 1/2 inch square which can be cut on the baby bug mat. I like to make adjustable designs so many people can use them but they are very time consuming and tricky to make. I dearly wish that the Design Studio software would be upgraded to include "select all" and "group/ungroup" functions. I use these functions all the time in my Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software and they make it much simpler to create intricate designs quickly and accurately.



Thanks for letting me share the progress on my birthday project - next time you see these units they will be riding on a platform with wheels (and they will be out of the family room and in my studio space).

I will try to test cut the design I showed you very soon - maybe even tomorrow. In the meantime, can anyone guess what cartridge or cartridges I used to design it? (just leave a comment if you think you know).

If you were waiting for our next classes to be posted, we have added a word book class for this week and one for next week as well. There is also another Basic Cards session next week. I have had a request for an evening "Getting Started" session for Tuesday, July 7th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern - if there is enough interest we will add that to next week's classes. You can sign up by following the directions on the LMSYHTDT blog. We only scheduled one class this week due to the 4th of July holiday.

A Whole Lotta Love - Paper Pups designs for cards

While I was experimenting with my "new" Paper Pups cartridge I made a variety of card topper designs - very simple but fun for Valentine's Day coming up. I thought that this would be a quick blog entry today since I did all of them in the same file as the "Love, Love, Love" title from yesterday's post. However, I decided that it would be a good idea to divide them into two separate files for A2 and 5 x 7 cards and to move the designs to the top half of the mat so they could be cut by baby bug owners. All of this took a bit of time, but I think it will make it easier for you. If you have an Expression, and don't want to wear out the top of your mat too fast, remember that you can flip the mat around and load it with the arrow facing toward you instead of the machine to balance the wear and tear.



Here are all the variations for the A2 cards. The three row open heart mesh and the three row love in a heart mesh are not adjustable but were sized to fit the card comfortably.



Above is the three row open heart mesh - some of the hearts are flipped so it is not possible to do this as an adjustable file.



Above is the mesh of "love in a heart" in graduated sizes. This is very delicate but did cut cleanly, just take your time as you remove it from the mat.



I decided to have some fun with glitter and this design. First I ran a piece of 5.5 x 4.25 inch red cardstock through my Xyron.



Then I gently placed the mesh on the adhesive. I have had my Xyron a long time and I think my refill cartridge has deteriorated a bit - the adhesive is not perfectly even (it is a bit hard to see but remember you can click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look).



I poured Martha Stewart glitter all over the card front - a big sparkly mess! It is a good idea to use cardstock in a color close to the glitter in case the coverage is not perfect - having the same color in the background will help to camouflage any missed spots.



Here is the card topper after some shaking to get off all of the excess glitter. I didn't get the mesh stuck down perfectly the first time, so I went back and added a bit of glue here and there to try to get it stuck down and then I reglittered. I am not so sure if I like this but it was worth a try!



Above and below you can see the various cuts for 5 x 7 cards (they would not all fit on a single 12 x 12 page to photograph). I did not actually cut the separate rows of "love in a heart" but they are in the file for you.



The design with the large "love" is adjustable and is sized to fit the 5 x 7 card nicely in the file.



Below is the open heart mesh - for the 5 x 7 size I used four rows of seven hearts. Once again, I could not make this adjustable because some of the hearts are flipped.



For the delicate "love in a heart" mesh (which is also expanded to four rows and seven hearts across) the cut was successful until the very last heart! Here you can see it on the mat. The paper must have lifted a bit and the cut did not completely finish. This is also not adjustable but sized for a 5 x 7 card.



Here you can see the cut on a card - I think it is one of those "happy accidents" and I like the idea of having a solid heart in the corner. I will cut one and layer it on top of the cut to "rescue" this card.



Have fun with these - tomorrow I will be posting the newest medallions which combine with some of the files I have already shared for some very interesting effects! Here is another sneak peek!



Lots of Love A2 Card Fronts

Lots of Love 5 x 7 Card Fronts

More Snowflakes!

I made it back home from my trip and tonight we are expecting another storm in Massachusetts - so I decided to share this snowflake file I did last year when I got my Christmas solutions cartridge. I am getting tired of snow but I am still fascinated by snowflake designs!

I welded the snowflake designs together in the "seven sisters" pattern commonly used with hexagons in quilting. The large snowflake design looks like this (on a 12 x 12 page)



I also did the same design but eliminated the center snowflake for a frame - this variation looks like this



Below is a photo of the full seven sisters cut on the mat



After the large snowflake was carefully lifted the remainder bits on the mat looked like this



By placing the frame cut on top of these leftovers you can get an idea of how this would look if you carefully saved all of the cut out bits and adhered them inside the frame (similar to a puzzle and the Indie Art frame from yesterday's post).



Below you can see the full cut layered over the frame



and the frame layered over the full cut



Since I did this as an adjustable file you can copy and paste the design and adjust the size to suit your project. I did a few common card sizes for you to see how they look - below is a labeled screen shot



and here are the actual cuts.



When you cut the large size of the design lifts easily but on these smaller cuts you need to take care - there are many tiny pieces that may need some "help" to come away from the frame. You can see the small slits that stayed "stuck" in this photo



This is the tool I used to help "poke out" the slits



This is actually a tool to use for picking up small pieces and moving them around with a sticky substance that extrudes from the point on the other end but the tip on this end worked nicely to separate the cuts.



Here is one of the card cuts after a bit of "clean up" to remove the smallest interior pieces.



You can trim the center points away to make a more open frame as seen in the photos below





The full page offcuts left from the larger cuts are attractive and could be used as a page background





You could even add back the center from the frame cut for this effect (sorry, in the photo I have it a bit off center but you can get the idea)



Be sure you have a sharp blade and a good mat for these intricate cuts - I had a few problems with the blade snagging at corners but I was able to snip the few small uncut areas (you can see a close up of one in the photo below).



The design shown with two shades of blue for the cut and background.



I hope the snows aren't too deep where you are - but if you get snowed in have some fun with your Cricut!



Snowflake variations (A)

Adjustable Snowflakes in Circles (a step by step tutorial)

I keep getting questions from readers on how to weld the snowflakes inside circles and make them adjustable. Today, I finally had a chance to do a step by step picture tutorial for all of you visual learners!

In this example, I used the silhouetted circle from Mini Monograms and a snowflake from Joys of the Season. Earlier this week I posted a list of carts that have some sort of silhouetted circle - here is a LINK to that post. You can put any element inside the circle by following these steps but since everyone liked the snowflakes I used one again for this lesson.




You can see the highlighted keys above showing how to select the silhouetted circle on Mini Monograms. Since this circle is intended to be used as a layer for the shapes on the lower right corner of the keypad I recommend checking "real dial size" which will make the circle the actual size you select on the slider bar. Since you are only using two elements you can choose a large size which makes it easier to see the details as you work.



Above you see the 4 1/2 inch circle on the mat - notice the "handles" and the light gray line connecting them - this is your "selection box."




Above you can see the keypad showing the snowflake I selected from the Joys of the Season cartridge. You could use many of the other designs as well - I did the menorah, Star of David and dreidel for a friend.




You can start off by clicking somewhere on the mat to deselect the circle and then choosing the snowflake at the same size. You can probably tell at a glance that this is too large to fit in the circle.



Using the handle on the center left you can slide the snowflake over to the side to place it on top of the circle - it is clearly too large to fit (but I think this also would be a pretty design to cut!).



Making a guess, you can try a smaller size - here I "auditioned" a 3 1/2 inch snowflake. Preview this design, making sure that the weld box in the Shape properties box is checked for both the circle and the snowflake.



If you look carefully at the image below, you can see that the dark lines which indicate the cutting lines show that there is not enough overlap of the shapes for a weld to work using this size for the snowflake.



So, try the next size up on the slider bar - 3 5/8 inches. It is important to use the slider bar to set the size because you will not be able to adjust the snowflake you want to weld by the handles since it will be in a combined design box.



Above you can see that the test preview of the 3 5/8 inch snowflake shows that there will be a good weld - the six points all overlap into the circle enough to connect the elements.



Now that you know what size snowflake you need, you are ready to make the design. Leave the trial snowflake in place and click anywhere on the circle to select it.



Then, make sure that the slider bar is set at 3 5/8 and add the snowflake. You will have one large box surrounding these two elements as you can see above. Double check to be sure you have the "weld" function checked (you should still have it on from previewing the circle and snowflake welded as independent elements).



Now, use the "nudge" arrows (shown above) to move the snowflake into position.



Click on the left nudge arrow repeatedly to move the snowflake over to the left. You can hold down the arrow key and make the snowflake move continuously but there is a tendency for the arrow to "stick" which means that the snowflake will become unstoppable! If this happens, click somewhere else on the mat, save your file and then close the Design Studio program. You will need to wait for it to reload, but then you can reopen the file and pick up where you left off.



Once you have nudged the snowflake into position horizontally it will look like this - now you just need to use the "up" arrow to place the snowflake into the final position.



By leaving the "trial" snowflake in position, you have a guide for the final placement - above you can see the snowflake completely nudged into position (it has almost disappeared on top of the trial snowflake).



Using the handle at the center left of the selection box, you can slide the circled snowflake to the right. The circle and snowflake will move as one unit, leaving the trial snowflake where it was placed on the mat earlier.



Above you can see the completed design after hitting the preview key - you can tell by the dark lines that the shape will cut correctly.



Now, you can delete the trial snowflake from the mat.



Next, while the new design is selected, click the copy button in the left column,



and then click the paste button.




A second snowflake will be pasted directly on top of the design. You can see that the lines are a bit darker, showing you that there are now multiple snowflake designs.



Using the left center handle, slide the newly copied and pasted design to the left



Then using the handle in the lower right corner you can resize this design.



Copy and paste as many times as you like and change the sizes to whatever you want - you can now make your own blizzard of matching snowflake designs in various sizes.

Let me know if this explanation helps you make this type of design using the cartridges that you own. Once you have mastered this simple design, you can apply the same principles to make adjustable designs containing many elements. Have fun and let me see what you are making!