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

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)

Home Accents Large Medallion

The addition of the "Hide Selected Contour" feature to the Design Studio software opened up many appealing design possibilities. I used the hide contour feature to create this medallion which could be used for a title page or to mat a special photo. This cut could not be made without the hide contour feature.



Above is a screen shot of the element as it appears when selected from the keypad at about 10 inches tall. The width is approximately 11 inches.



I resized the element to be 11 inches wide and 11 inches tall and rotated it 90 degrees to place the flowering arms at the top and bottom of the page.



This screen shot shows the shadow cut of the element as it is designed on the cartridge.



Above, you can see how this shadow looks behind the original cut, in a preview of the cut.



This screen shot shows all of the center contours hidden to create a large central area in the shape with the delicate outer sections still set to cut in full detail.



By hiding the center portions of the cut (they appear in pale blue in this screen shot), I created a different medallion image with the large central area for a title or a photo.



This screen shot shows the blackout version of the cut - the center is not solid but has a solid shape behind each section of the design.

Since the shadow cut and the blackout cut available on the cartridge did not give the effect I wanted for this page, I used the "Hide Selected Contour" option to produce the cut.

***Remember, to hide a cutting line, you left click exactly on a line of the design to select the line you want to hide - it will turn into a red dotted line. Then you right click and choose "Hide Selected Contour" from the bottom of the pop up menu - the line will turn pale blue to indicate that it will not be cut.

I made several test cuts and have added some photos below.

My first test was done on paper that is an orange shade on one side and a design that looks like damask wallpaper in yellow orange and green on the other side.



Above and below you can see the offcut from each side of the paper placed on a brown background paper.



The strong contrast makes the medallion shape very distinctive.



Here is the actual cut medallion layered on pale multi colored wash paper - the look of the cut medallion or the offcut sheet layered on a backing sheet is nearly the same.



It is important to choose papers with a good contrast between the shade and intensity of the color and background. Very busy patterns in nearly the same color value should be avoided since they easily confuse the eye and make the design very difficult to see and appreciate.



The second test cut was done on paper that has a busy daisy pattern on one side and a subtle pattern in a bright pink on the opposite side.



I think the pink and pale green work well together.



Above and below are photos of the the offcuts layered on contrasting papers



The busy pattern makes the design harder to see.

This design is one of many that you can create easily by using the "Hide Selected Contour" feature. I used this same shape with the contours hidden for another project that I will share very soon.

It is fun to play around with the hide selected contour feature - all sorts of interesting patterns can be created. I'd love to see some of your creations using this designing tool.

Full Page Tiny Scallop

I wanted to make a full page for a layout with a very small scallop on the edge. I have done lots of scalloped shapes using many individual circles aligned around a shape. This time I made the file using a quick and easy method.

Earlier this month I explained how to make a scalloped rectangle using scalloped squares ( here is a LINK to that post). The same method works for combining many small scalloped squares to make a full page with small scallops.



For this file I used a scalloped square from the Storybook cartridge which is highlighted in the screen shot above. If you don't have Storybook, you can use a scalloped square from another cartridge.



I created a row of welded scalloped squares and copied and pasted it to fill the page. I tweaked the sizes a bit to make the design fit the page, filling the "cuttable" area as fully as possible while maintaining the square shape.



Above you can see a close view of the overlapping squares. The scallop at the corner of each square is slightly shallower. If I had nudged the square over two "bumps" the scallops would be exactly the same depth.



Above you can see the squares overlapped by two in the preview screen.



This screen shot of the preview on the blank preview page, clearly shows the slight difference between the double overlap and the single corner overlap.



In the photo above, you can see the cut from the file with the scalloped edge made with just one overlap. The difference in the one scallop is noticeable but I decided that it was not noticeable enough to go back and change the file (I guess I was in a hurry!). Just think of it as a "design choice" to add a bit of interest...



Here is the full page with the tiny scalloped edge. Due to the limitations of the "cuttable"area of the mat, the cut leaves a narrow border when layered on a sheet of 12 x 12 paper.



Above is one more close view of this edge. By using this method you can make a scalloped page with scallops in your preferred size quickly and easily.

Full Page Square with Tiny Scallop

Bubbly Background (patience required)

I did some cleaning up today - in my house, in my scraproom and in my computer. I found a file that I made quite a while ago but had never cut and decided to test it. It is done with one element from Mini Monograms repeated and welded for a background mesh.

As it was cutting, I remembered why I didn't test the cut when I first made it. This takes a long time to cut. You will have time to read the paper, clean the kitchen and make a few phone calls while you are waiting for it to finish!



The good news is that it cut perfectly so I didn't have to do a second test! Above you can see the cut on the mat after I removed the outer edge of the paper.



When I lifted the cut from the mat, most of the diamond shapes and some of the small dots stayed stuck to the mat.



I saved the diamond shapes - they actually fit perfectly with the leftover diamonds from the cathedral window cut (and if you have been reading my blog for a while you know I never toss these offcuts but save them for future projects...) Here is a LINK to the Cathedral Window post and a photo of the full page cut from that file.



As I said, this design takes a long time to cut and you will also need some time to clean the cut by pushing out all of the little circles that didn't stay stuck on the mat. I did this over the trash but the little circles still went flying everywhere!

I wanted to take a photo of the mesh on a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock but I had trouble getting it to stay flat - so I put a tiny piece of adhesive on the back of each circle with my Creative Memories tape runner (it has a control wheel that allows you to dispense one or two tiny strips at a time).



Here is a close up of the pattern - I have plans for this design - I wonder if any of you can guess what I am going to do with it?



If you have a baby bug, you can cut the half page version which is also in the file (I didn't do a separate test cut because it is simply the same file with the lower rows of circles deleted).

Bubbly Background