Easy Frames - Gypsy or Design Studio

 A quick and easy way to make a decorative frame for a scrapbook page or a card is to use a border from one of the many cartridges with prewelded border designs.  Some of the borders will work better than other so just experiment with some of your favorites.

 This screen shot shows the border I used for the daisy frame.  This border is one of the many lovely borders on the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  Below is a screen shot of the border as it appears directly from the cartridge proportionately sized to 11 inches wide.

The height is too tall for the frame effect I wanted so I adjusted the height to 2 inches, as shown below.

 

On the Gypsy you need to deselect the "chain" between the words height and width (yellow when "on" to preserve the proportions and black and white when "off"). This enables you to set the exact height and width you want.  In Design Studio, you use the "handle"  in the lower right corner of the selection box to proportionally size the border.  If you want to set specific width and height just enter the numbers in the Shape Properties box and press "enter" on your keyboard or click on the mat.

This screen shot shows the two together so you can easily see the difference.

Once you have the border adjusted to your preferred size, simply copy and paste (or duplicate) three times, rotate the three additional borders 90, 180 and 270 degrees (which will appear as -90 in both Design Studio and on the Gypsy) and fit them together into a nice frame.

 Here is another example, also using a border from Gypsy Wanderings.

For this frame I used the border design highlighted on the keypad above.

The design at eleven inches wide with no alteration is just over 5 inches tall - much too wide for a frame.

I adjusted the height to 1.5 inches, copied and  pasted (in Design Studio) or duplicated (on the Gypsy), rotated and welded and created a simple and fast frame for a 12 x 12 page.

Here is another view of the same frame - I cut it from double sided paper which gave me two different "looks" to choose between.

To make a similar frame for a card you would simply use sizes that would fit your intended card size.  A few other cartridges with border designs you might want to try are Storybook, Life is a Beach, Celebrations, Doodlecharms, Mickey and Friends, Paper Pups, Sports Mania, and Stand and Salute.

(The drive home went well but I am exhausted with a bit of a sore throat and stuffy nose so it will be early to bed for me...)

Lovely Frame (to fit a large card)

I spent more time sorting and moving things around the house today. I have moved some more shelves into my work area and reorganized some of my supplies. It took a while to move things around, but eventually I got a chance to take a break and try out an idea for a card.

One of my favorite things about the Design Studio software is the way you can take an image from a cartridge and make some adjustments to it to fit your particular project.



This lovely frame is on the Home Accents cartridge. It is designed as a nearly perfect square.



In the Shape Properties Box, you can see the width and height of the frame when I placed it on the mat and stretched it a bit with the lower right handle. I wanted to use this frame for a large card (an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock folded in half). In order to do this I needed to change the aspect ratio - the relationship of the height to the width - and turn the frame from a square into a rectangle.



I knew that I wanted to layer the frame on my card with a contrasting piece of paper so I set the size at 4.5 inches x 7.5 inches. This changed the frame to the perfect size.



Here is a screen shot of the preview of the card design. To test out my design, I set up a rectangle in the card size (5.5 inches x 8.5 inches) on the third mat, a rectangle with rounded corners sized at 5 inches x 8 inches on the second mat and the frame on the first mat. I set preview colors similar to the ones I might use for the card.

I cut the frame and added it to my card. I didn't actually cut the card or the aqua layer with the Cricut. The base of the card is an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock folded in half so no cutting was required. It was also more efficient to cut the 8 x 5 layer with my trimmer and round the corners than to use the Cricut to cut the layer. Everything fit together perfectly - I knew it would since I used the software to set up the card and preview the frame cut.



I wanted to add some sparkle to the design so I "stickled" the flowers. I used untraditional colors - turquoise for the flowers and eucalyptus for the centers - because I wanted to stay with a monochromatic scheme. I haven't decided yet what I will add to the center but the card is ready to customize for a special occasion. This card will work as either a horizontal or a vertical card so I have lots of options.

I didn't post a file for this cut - just follow the directions above to set up your own file if you want to try this idea for one of your cards. You can also choose another frame and set it up for a large card. It is interesting to see what happens with some of the designs - in some cases you may not want to choose a certain design once you see it altered! It is a great advantage to have the ability to preview your design with the software.

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)

A few Home Decor samples (and a chance to use Design Studio!)

After several days of using my Cricut the "old fashioned way" in order to preview the new cartridges, I needed to get back to the computer and do some designing. Fortunately, one of the four cartridges, Home Decor, is already available in the Design Studio program. This is a Solutions cartridge so there is not a booklet for me to photograph for you. However, you can preview the entire cartridge contents in Design Studio. You only need to have the trial version (which you can download from Cricut.com) in order to view the cartridges. Once you see how helpful it is to precisely place and size your cuts, weld your words together and make new designs from existing cuts you will "need" Design Studio too!



I cut the ladybug on the right as it is designed on the cartridge - it has a nice round shape. Then I wanted to make a standard A2 sized card using the ladybug so I did a bit of design studio magic to create a ladybug aperture card - I just needed to "stretch" the ladybug a bit.



Next, I played around with one of the decorative frames. On the cartridge the center of this design is a scalloped circle.



I stretched it a bit so I could size the frame to work on a 5 x 7 card. Then I added an initial in the vertical frame and a monogram in the frame that I turned sideways. I used the Storybook font for the letters and welded them in the frame.



To add some spark and contrast to highlight the letters I cut ovals in the correct size using the Storybook cartridge again for the basic shape.



Above you can see the vertical card with the horizontal monogram. This is just to show sizing - I haven't finished this as a card yet.



Here is the horizontal version of the card with the vertical initial. These will make lovely formal cards with a little detailing and embellishing.



Finally, I took the fancy arrow shape and welded four together into a frame. I did a solid shadow layer and then the ornate top cut.



Here is the "leftover" bit from the center of the shadow frame - I put this aside to use on another layout.



Above you can see the top layer of the cut on a plain pink background page. I looked at this photo as I was writing this post and I realized that a small section that completes the design was missing.



When I went back to look at the file, I discovered that this section will not cut in the blackout version and apparently I used the blackout version for my design.



I'll have to experiment with this a bit more. It may just be one of those "happy accidents" where I got a result that was not what I expected but I end up liking the "mistake" version better than the original design!



I think the remainder of the 12 x 12 paper I used to cut the fancy arrow frame also makes a lovely frame design, as you can see above.

I am planning to do a few more samples using the Jubilee cartridge tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying these sneak peeks - let me know if there are certain things you'd like me to test out and display for you to see.

(After having some sort of medical procedure 4 out of 5 days this week, I am really ready for the weekend! I hope you have lovely weather wherever you are. I am planning to go on a garden tour tomorrow and may have some photos to share).