A quick "catch up" post

 I wanted to catch up on a few things and to let you know what I have been up to lately.  I am finally getting over the cold that had me moving so slowly for a week or two. 

I know that some people are still having issues with the morning emails having text and images overlapped or arriving with the subject as ${latestItemTitle}.  I am sorry that I haven't been able to resolve this.  As far as I can tell, the issues arise only with certain internet providers - it doesn't seem to matter what operating system or web browser people are using.  Since I am sure you won't be changing your internet provider just to receive the Feedburner emails, my only suggestion would be to subscribe in a reader or become a follower if you want to keep up with what I am creating.  Thanks for understanding that I have no control over this and can't seem to fix it from my end.

I worked out a way to make a pretty eyelet border - I am really excited about this design so watch for it to show up here soon - here is a tiny peek at the edge.

 I have started a new series of post on the Cutting Above blog about Design Studio.  Many people are confused about whether to get the Gypsy, or Design Studio or both.  There are also a lot of people who bought Design Studio and then for one reason or another never really got comfortable with using the program.  Maggie at Cutting Above asked if I could do some posts explaining the basics of using the program - starting from the very beginning.  Here is a LINK to my first post.

On Tuesday, there will also be a short review that I did of the From My Kitchen cartridge on Cutting Above - I'll put a link here when it goes up.  I have enjoyed using the cartridge since I received it as my prize for being featured in the Project Corner and Spotlight in the Cricut Chirp in July.  I have a lot of ideas about things I want to try making with it.  While it is great for cooking and kitchen projects there are many "outside the box" ways to use the items on the cartridge.

I also have a few new projects that will soon be on the Custom Crops website so check my sidebar blinkie to see if they are available to view.  Here is a "sneak peek" at the Halloween card I made - the file and directions will be on the Custom Crops site.  I am ready to move on from Halloween now as you can see from the screen shot at the top of this post!

Finally, we do have some spaces still available in the Design Studio online classes this week so be sure to check the Let me Show you How to Do that blog to see if the times and topics suit you.

Beach Party Card - hide contour makes it work!

I did another test cut of the Beach Party card and it cut perfectly. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I had the file ready to share but then noticed that the line between the "e" and the "a" on my second test cut was very thin (as you can see below).



I am not sure why that second cut was "off." I occasionally have files that cut perfectly once and then imperfectly in the same cutting session. After checking the files to be sure that the design is correct, I can often get a good cut again simply by closing and reopening the program



For this test I used a K & Co paper with a very cute beach theme. You need to add a liner if you plan on printing information or writing a message on the inside of the card.



Since the paper I used for the card was double-sided, I just cut a piece of paper to 4 x 5.25 inches to adhere to the inside front of the card.



The paper was dark blue on the front side. If you use a patterned paper for the card design, it is important to have a strong contrast for the liner.



The multiple openings make a very interesting card front.

I also promised a quick tutorial to show you how I designed this card. The key to making this work is the use of "hide selected contour." I always try to find ways to use my cartridges efficiently and I enjoy the challenge of trying to make a new design using as few cartridges as possible. Since there is not a plain rectangle on the "Life is a Beach" cartridge, I used one of the square cards for my basic card shape. I chose one with only a few contours to hide to keep things simple.



Hide the interior contours as indicated above. Remember, to hide contour you left click on the line you want to hide - it will turn red and dotted to show that it is selected. Then right click anywhere on the mat and click on "hide selected contour" at the bottom of the pop-up menu. The line will turn a very pale blue. I always hide the "tick marks" on the cards which are included in the design for the location of the fold - I don't care for the little cuts that show on the final fold. Once all of the contours are hidden, adjust the size to 8.5 inches wide and 5.5 inches high using the Shape Properties Box.



For the words, use the "charm" feature and nudge the letters together until the circles overlap. Then hide the outer line and the hole of each charm.



For the center of the card, I used one of the images in the charm feature but stretched it a bit to make the opening an oval rather than a circle. You can choose any of the images for the center and then hide the outer line and the hole of the charm again.



In this screen shot you can see the large number of hidden contours (all pale blue lines).



This preview shows how the design will look when it is cut. By previewing on a blank page you can see the design without all of the distracting hidden contour lines visible in the preview.

I have designed many cards using this method - I will share a few more of them soon, but why not try making some on your own? It really is very easy and it is so much fun to think of all of the possibilities.


(We still have some openings in the Word Book Class on Wednesday 7/15 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and in the Basic Cards Class on Thursday 7/16 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern - registration directions are linked HERE).


Beach Party A2 Card

So tired of rainy weather!

Well, it was just one of those days - so many things to do and not enough time to do them all! Jen and I taught two classes today - the first time we have scheduled two for the same day. We were having a few issues with the internet - and I blame it on the rainy weather. A day or two ago the newspaper had a chart showing that this June has had the lowest amount of sunshine since 1903 - when they started keeping track. It has rained so much I think I have moss growing on my toes - everything is just too damp!

We have been having a lot of fun in the classes and we are planning to add a word book class next week. If you have participated in either the Getting Started Class or the Basic Cards Class and haven't received the notes or files, please be sure to send a message to me at capadiadesigns (at) gmail.com so I can resend them. There seems to have been an issue with sending to a group using "bcc" but I did not receive any non-delivery notices (I just heard from a few people today that they didn't receive these so I wonder if there are more of you in the same boat).

I have a group of projects that will be appearing on another site very soon - I am eager to show you a few of the things I have been doing but I need to wait until they are made available and then I will give you a link.

So - about my quest to use my pretty paper - here are a few more simple examples.



I thought this "Taj Majal" stack was just beautiful when I first saw it - I still think it is but I have trouble actually using a page for a layout.



I wanted to use the center of this page to cut out a design in the shiny green damask. I trimmed the sides by cutting 3 1/2 inch strips. I then cut a five inch wide piece from the strip. When I placed this on my A2 card the margin at the top was too wide to match the other three sides.



So I added some beautiful satin ribbon across the top to hide the uncovered area. The areas where it crossed the cardstock at the corners loked a bit bumpy so I added two star eyelets as a design feature (and to hold everything in place). I could use this as a note card or add a sentiment - probably cut from glitter cardstock to match the glittered corner element.



Here is another example of a page from this stack. The papers have glossy, hard finishes and there is lots of foil detailing on many of them.



I cut a seven inch wide by ten inch tall piece from the 12 x 12 sheet. I centered the foiled motifs to fit the card. This makes an interesting base and I can add a sentiment or Cricut cut to the front and start making a special card.



One more example - this card was cut from a 12 x 12 sheet of glittered cardstock from the DCWV Spring Stack from last year. In the area you can't see in the photo (the lower right side of the page), it says "baby." I saved that part for another card and used this section as my base for this Father's day card.



Quick, simple and fun to make. by adding a coordinating rectangle and the Happy Father's Day sentiment I had a card finished in no time at all.

There are no classes tomorrow and the event I had set for the evening has been postponed so I hope to get lots of test cuts done and then I will be able to share more projects very soon

Let me Show you How to Do that.....

Thank you to everyone for waiting so patiently while we have been trying to make our online classes a reality. JenC and I have finished our testing and have finally scheduled our first online class. This is really exciting for us and we hope everyone who has been asking for these classes will be able to participate.

You can check out our new blog dedicated to the online classes by clicking HERE. Since we're not sure yet what times or days will work best for everyone, we have made our first class available next week on two different days and at differing times. Please be sure to read through the entire post to get all of the information you need to take advantage of what we are offering.

Please note: To allow us to offer the best and most personalized classroom environment possible, we will be limiting the classroom size. Requests to participate in each class will be granted on a first come, first served basis. Please make all requests and responses to participate in the class of your choice by sending an email to StudioGoddesses@gmail.com. We will be happy to add additional sessions if we are oversubscribed. There will be more classes on additional topics posted soon so check back frequently to see what we have to offer!

Thank you for your support as we start this new venture!

A pretty little card, and some notes...

Today I made a quick card using the filigree file I shared earlier this year. (Here is a LINK to that post in case you missed it). It is a good idea to cut several of these card toppers at a time and then you will have them handy for when you want to make a card in a hurry!

The topper was cut in plain white cardstock and I used the "stylized flowers" Cuttlebug folder to emboss the plain area above the filigree.



I "fussy embossed" - carefully lining up the edges of the topper in the folder to try to have the embossing connect with the filigree design.

The butterfly was a spare from my very first use of the Storybook cartridge (when it had not been added to Design Studio and I just wanted to cut a sheet or two of images to try them out). I added Stickles to define the body and antennae and attached the butterfly to the card using foam squares for dimension.



A note about the online lesssons -

As I mentioned last week, I have asked JenC to join me in this new teaching endeavor. We have been working hard to get the new blog set up and it will soon be ready to go "live" This new blog is where the schedule, fees and registration details for all of our classes will be listed. You will be able to learn how to use the Design Studio software by participating in a live online classroom. If you like the videos I have been posting, you will love the online classroom - we will be demonstrating in real time and you will be able to ask all the questions you might have about the trickier aspects of using Design Studio.

I will be teaching some classes together with JenC and we each will be doing some classes independently so we can better cover the various time zones. I know that many of you are impatient for us to get started - keep checking our blogs for information about our "Grand Opening" - it will be very soon!



Another note about the videos -

It seems that YouTube was the answer and, finally, everyone can see the newest video (#5). By purchasing the upgrade to the software I was able to make the screen recording in a format that will upload to YouTube. I will go back and redo the earlier topics and post those to YouTube as well as soon as I can find the time.

There was a bit of initial confusion from subscribers to the email feed because the daffodil image that had been a link to the videos in the past was just a title and the embedded YouTube box does not appear in the email. If you get the daily emails, remember you can click the title and it will take you directly to that post on my blog. You can watch the video directly from my blog or on YouTube (by clicking the "YouTube" icon).

When you watch the video be sure to click on the "HD" button at the bottom of the screen (it will turn red when it is "on") - the clarity of the recording will be much improved. It is also a good idea to use the full screen view which makes it much easier to see the details.


Finally, for those of you who say you like to hear about some of the personal details (and particularly for my friend "YO"), I got a "significant" hair cut today - it is much, much shorter!

Design Studio Video #3 - Welding (Method 2)

Today I am posting the video I made to explain the second method of welding a word. After uploading the video, I checked the download and I realized that I called an "a" an "i." I don't have a way to edit these videos yet so you get the little flubs along with the information! I'd like to upgrade to a better program to be able to add images and labels and fix my bloopers but that is not possible at this time. Soon I hope....


Just click on the image at the top of this post to go to the video download.


When you go to the download site you will see a small image of the video which can be played from that screen. You should click on the "Download Now" button. That will bring up the "countdown screen" - when the countdown is over click on "Click here to download this file" and the video should appear in a much larger size on your screen with the triangle play button ready to start the video playing.

For those of you who were not able to see the video, I did a little research online and found that you need to have a browser plugin version of the Macromedia Flash Player, which is free and available online.

Thanks for all the feedback on my first couple of videos - I appreciate any comments, suggestions and information about topics that you'd like to see me cover in future videos. I will be doing shadowing of welded words, aperture cards and word books in the very near future.

Basic Welding with Design Studio - Video #2

I want to thank you all for the feedback on my first video. I have taken your suggestions for topics and the most popular seemed to be help with welding words so that is the subject of my next video. There will be a few more videos on this topic so I can show you the various methods of welding and also explain how to make shadows for your welded words.

I am not sure why some people had problems with the sound level - it could have something to do with individual computer settings. Most people seemed to be able to hear the audio, but I did try to speak more loudly and pushed up the volume control on my headset in hopes that the microphone would pick up a louder signal. I also tried to speak more slowly but I am a naturally fast talker (!) and I am not sure if I was successful. You can always replay the video if you miss something...

I have a five minute limit on the recordings I make right now. I also have to do the entire video in one "take" with no editing, so please forgive the occasional "um" or mistaken word that I have to correct. I am hoping to be able to buy the software that will enable me to make longer videos and do some editing but it is rather expensive so I am not able to do that just yet.

When you go to the download site you will see a small image of the video which can be played from that screen. You should click on the "Download Now" button. That will bring up the "countdown screen" - when the countdown is over click on "Click here to download this file" and the video should appear in a much larger size on your screen with the triangle play button ready to start the video playing.

For those of you who were not able to see the video, I did a little research online and found that you need to have a browser plugin version of the Macromedia Flash Player, which is free and available online.

Click on the image below to go to the video download.



Once again, I appreciate any and all feedback, suggestions and comments. I am still learning how to do these videos but I can already see that they are helpful to a lot of you - I think it is always easier to learn by actually watching someone else demonstrate.

Thanks for watching!


(I took the photo at the top of this post at the Boston Flower Show last year - I love flowers!)