Imagine and Create (for a challenge)

This is a project that I created for the monthly challenge in the Cricut Circle.  I joined the Circle, which is Provo Craft's affinity program, when it was first announced.  There are weekly and monthly challenges, a dedicated message board, a private blog and magazine and four exclusive cartridges (one per quarter) that are included in the cost of membership. I am not sure if the membership is open right now - but there are periodic openings when new members can join.  The monthly challenges have great prizes and this month it is a Yudu machine and accessories - something I've been interested in trying ever since I saw it in action at CHA last summer.

The challenge this month was to create a home decor item.  The requirements were to use at least one Cricut cartridge cut, use the Cuttlebug in some way, use felt in some way and to use the color green somewhere on the project.

I purchased this frame a while ago - I think it was during the back to school shopping season in the college/dorm area.  I liked the translucent green color and the multiple levels.  It is meant to be used as a frame but I thought it would be a neat way to corral the supplies on my craft table while I am working on a project.

There are two 4 x 4 inch sections and two 4 x 6 inch sections.  I cut two 4 x 4 pieces in some bright polka dot glitter cardstock from a Martha Stewart stack for the 4 x 4 sections.  For the two larger 4 x 6 sections, I cut white cardstock and embossed it with the large 5 x 7 embossing folder with flowers from the Once upon a Princess Cuttlebug companion set.

The word "imagine" is from the Home Accents cartridge and I stretched it a bit vertically and welded a swirl from the Home Decor cartridge to it to fit the space nicely.  I cut it in green glitter DCWV cardstock and added a tiny pink flower with a gem sticker center - both from Creative Charms.

I cut the word "create" from the Home Decor cartridge in pink glitter cardstock.  I use multicut 2 times when cutting the DCWV glitter cardstock.  I added the felt butterfly in green and blue (also from Creative Charms) as an accent.

I used Design Studio to "squash the pre-welded word art to fit the 4 x 6 spot.  In this screen shot you can see the difference between the original cut and my adapted version.

As, always, I had to keep careful track of the dots for my "i"s!  These were large enough to add the adhesive to the dot and I used my handy Cricut hook tool to help me place the dots on the embossed cardstock.

When the frame is sitting flat on the table the four sections which are each at a different level are a handy spot to place tools or supplies while I am working on a project.

The frame makes a great "landing spot" and is bright and cheerful in my "lower level" (fancy talk for basement!) craft studio.

The challenge prizes are awarded by a random draw from all of the members who create and submit a project that meets the requirements.  So - one lucky person will get to start "Yudu-ing" this month.  I think it would be fun to make matching shirts for me and my "evil twin" Okie to wear on the cruise if my number is drawn!

I have some more projects to share but will do a separate post for those.  I also have a couple of new features that will be appearing on my blog next month - I think you will enjoy them and I can't wait to tell you all about the details!


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Resizing with the Gypsy

Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment on yesterday's post for Scott.  He was very proud of his project and I think he really enjoyed hearing from so many of you.

I practically wrote a novel yesterday with all of the bits and pieces to catch up with and I still didn't manage to include everything.  I wanted to share the "Flights of Fancy" file that I did for a reader request from George  (here is a LINK to the original post if you didn't see it the first time).

George had asked me for help with a design he had in mind and I created a .cut file in Design Studio on a 12 x 12 mat for a full page result.  He wanted a version in a smaller size as well - about 5 1/2 inches.

In order to resize the design, I moved it to the Gypsy which has the grouping ability that is missing from and has been one of the most requested updates for Design Studio. It is possible to group many designs in Design Studio.  I figured out how to do this right after the up and down nudging arrows were added to Design Studio in August of 2008.  Here is a LINK to a tutorial I prepared at that time - I called these "adjustable designs."  This is an old tutorial and I do a few things differently now when I make an adjustable design, however,  the basic information has not changed.

In order to keep items in the same group, you must plan out the sizes carefully.  It is not possible to keep the items all in one selection box once you have flipped or altered the proportions of a shape.  The latest update to Design Studio does allow you to select a series of images that have been rotated, altered or flipped by pulling a phantom box around them but if you resize the group the items will not stay in the proper relationship to the other shapes.

When I took the file over to the Gypsy, I could group the frame, the butterfly and all of my letter keys as one large unit.  Then it was quick and easy to resize the entire design to a card size.  My original design had three words that were grouped, a butterfly and a frame.  When I brought the resized file back over to Design Studio each letter was individual  - the word groupings are not retained.

There is also an issue with the welds when the file is transferred back to Design Studio.  The issue is the common welding in a frame problem and you need to "burp" the frame to take care of the inaccurate welds.

To "burp" the design, simply select the frame, copy it, delete it and paste it back again.  Now the welds will work and the cut will be complete.  The frames in this file have all been "burped" and are previewing correctly.

George had cut the smaller version and placed it in this display tray.  It seemed a bit too small so I have taken the file over to the Gypsy again, enlarged the frame to 8 inches square and brought the file back to be saved as a .cut file for non-Gypsy users.

Flights of Fancy (3 sizes)

If you make something with this file George and I both would love to see how it turns out!

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Flights of Fancy

One of the things that I enjoy about having a blog is reading the comments and messages that readers send me.  I have "met" some really interesting people through my blog.  They are from all over the world and their ages and crafting experience vary widely.  I get lots of questions and requests for help with specific problems and I do my best to answer everyone.  If you send me a message and do not have an answer within a few days, please don't hesitate to send it again.  I sometimes have pages of email to get through and things do "slip through the cracks" on occasion.

The design at the top of this post is one that was requested by a reader from the West Coast.  He is 80 years old and just got a new Expression (moving up from a smaller machine).  His name is George (a funny coincidence considering the name of the original Cricut cartridge!).

George was having the problem that I hear about frequently.  He wanted to weld words inside a frame and the welds were not working correctly.  I did a video quite a while ago explaining how to do this - here is a LINK. 

I loved his idea of placing a butterfly and the words "Flights of Fancy" inside the lovely frame on the Home Accents cartridge.  He gave me a list of the font cartridges he has and the Ashlyn's Alphabet font seemed like a good fit for this project. I started working in Design Studio but then switched to the Gypsy to finish the file because it will group items and then will allow me to change the size of the group while keeping the relative position of the elements the same.  I wanted to expand the original cut into a larger file that George could cut on his new Expression. 

I found a few quirks while working back and forth between the Gypsy and Design Studio.  When I did my original Design Studio file the frame and butterfly were separate elements and I put each word in a group (by typing all of the letters in the same selection box) so I could adjust the size easily.  When the file is moved to the Gypsy, the letters all show up independently and must be regrouped.  Then, when the file is brought back to Design Studio, the letters are all independent and can not be grouped.

I have also had a little trouble getting used to the differences in the way the two programs "see" the mat.  In Design Studio, the location of an object on the mat is determined by the "x" and "y" values and the "0" for each axis is at the top left corner.  On the Gypsy, the "0" is at the bottom left corner.  The Gypsy also considers the bottom of the 12 x 12 mat to be the equivalent of a 6 x 12 mat.  In Design Studio, the baby bug mat is seen as the top half of the 12 x 12 mat.

For my first test cut, I used the DCWV Luxury stack.  The file cut perfectly but it is rather delicate and you must be very careful when lifting it from the mat. The bone folder was handy and I used it to help lift the design.  A better choice would be the Cricut spatula, or, my all time favorite, a wide plastic putty knife (currently lost in the clutter on my table!).

I test cut the Design Studio version of the file  as well.  I will share these files in a day or two.  I want to let George have "first dibs" on cutting his design!

I adhered the smaller version (5.5 x 5.5 inches) to some solid burgundy card stock cut at 7 x 7 inches and mounted on a piece of 8 x 8 metallic gold cardstock, also from DCWV.  I added some tiny pink pearls to accent the flowers and the two letters "F."  The pearls are from Creative Charms.  This would be pretty framed on a wall or placed on a tabletop easel.

There are just a few days left to get the "deal of the month" for June at Creative Charms.  You will get all of these items ($23 at regular prices) for just $6.99. For lots of ideas and projects using these and other Creative Charms embellishments, visit the Creative Charms blog HERE.  I am excited to be part of such a talented Design Team!

I had another great surprise from a blog friend today.  Marilyn Mae sent me a special package and I was thrilled with what I found inside!  I'll share what it was and what I am doing with it in a day or two...

The weekend is almost here - I have lots to finish up before it arrives!

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Moving Day - Family Photo holder

It was a very busy day and I didn't get a chance to finish up the project I had planned to show you tonight.  This weekend, our neighbors (the ones that lost their house to a fire in February) are moving in to their long-term temporary home - right next door!  It will be so nice for them to be on the same street while their home is rebuilt.  I spent a big part of the day doing what I could to help.  The babies are getting bigger - and  more mobile!

Family and friends are so important - especially at times like this.  I thought I'd show you another part of the project I made with the Linen Closet DCWV stack.

I covered a photo holding folder with a couple of pieces of glittered cardstock.  On the front I added a ribbon and the word "family" cut in dark brown glitter cardstock.

 I use my ATG gun to apply adhesive to ribbon that I want to stick down to a card or other project.  It works neatly and smoothly - liquid glues can be messy and discolor the ribbon as they dry.

The word "family" is from the Home Accents cartridge.  I chose the shadow version to make it a bit more substantial.  Several of the letters are welded together which made it quicker to adhere them to the front.  These letters are meant to be layered on a swirl design but they work fine on their own as well.

I used another coordinating piece of cardstock on the back.

These folders were actually intended for Bridal "save the date" and thank you notes.  You can see the box in the lower left corner below the butterflies (I forgot to take a photo of it alone).  Always check the clearance racks - I got the box with 10 folders, envelopes and stickers for $2 and have lots of them to alter now.

This butterfly with a punched circle of dotted glitter cardstock was on the thank you card I sent with the photo folder.

The butterfly didn't have enough of a "body" so I added some gems.

I found that the shade of blue/green in this pack of jewels from Creative Charms was a great match (here is a LINK to the page on their site where you can see the jewels.

 

I used lots of foam squares to raise up the layered butterfly embellishment.  the cardstock layers also were inked in pale brown.

I used the same ribbon on the card.  The word "thanks" is from the Cuttlebug Die and Emboss set "With Gratitude" (I use this one a lot).

I had some of the leftover pieces of cardstock and added a strip to the inside of the card (taking my inspiration from my friend Joy who does this with her cards all of the time).

Here is another card I made using the "leftover" piece of dotted cardstock with the hole punched into it.  This time I used pearls for the butterfly body and the sentiment "hello" is from the Cuttlebug Combo " Everyday Greetings."  I cut it twice and offset the two cuts slightly to create a shadow.

I will be making more of these photo holders and I'll  be sure to show you the inside of one soon.  More moving and settling need to be done tomorrow so I will be helping as I can - I will try to get some Cricut time too!

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Easter Eggs with the Cricut

(This post originally appeared on the Everyday Cricut blog where I was the Guest Designer for the week of March 8-12, 2010)

Happy Tuesday!  It's Diane again, your Guest Designer for the week.  Today I have something different to share with you.  You do not need a particular cartridge, Design Studio or a Gypsy to do this project.  You do need vinyl, eggs, and some time to get creative with your Cricut (egg dye is optional).

If you'd like to find out about a great way to empty the eggs before decorating them (so you can save them to display year after year) you can go to my blog to see the "sister post" for today's project.  I also have a few posts on my blog showing some of my egg collection - I started collecting decorated eggs when we lived in Germany many years ago.  Here is a LINK to my blog.

I started out by cutting some interesting shapes from vinyl. When you are cutting vinyl, you want to "kiss cut" it so that the vinyl is cut but the backing stays intact.  This makes it much easier to remove the cut pieces from the backing.  For my machine, I use medium speed, medium pressure and set the blade depth at 4.  You should experiment to see if these setting work for you - they should be close.  Be careful to keep the vinyl within the paper area of the mat - as you can see in the photo above, my vinyl extended in to the area where the rollers move the mat in and out which created a bit of a problem.

Some shapes will be too large or too thick to be ideal for using on eggs.  This image is from the Mother's Day cartridge and I cut it at 2 1/2 inches thinking that would be about the size of the egg.

I needed to cut some parts of the design to fit it on the egg.  You can see that, despite my efforts, there are still some gaps and puckers.

 

I dyed the egg using pink/red dye.  I added tiny patches at the drilled holes in the ends of the egg to keep the dye from filling the egg.

As you can see from  his photo, I had mixed results.  Some of my eggs looked like they had been tie-dyed but I wanted the crisp clean effect with sharp edges. The vinyl I used for this trial was "Wall-Pops."  I have used this very successfully for wall words and other projects but it seems to be too "soft" for this purpose and the adhesive did not always stay stuck down firmly in the dye bath.

I cut some more shapes using some orange vinyl.  This was the Oracal exhibition 631 vinyl that I got from Oh My Crafts quite a while ago when it was on special for less than $5 a package.  It is supposed to be the same as the Cricut Vinyl.  I used it because I only had black and beige Cricut vinyl on hand (and I paid much more for the Cricut vinyl so I am saving it for walls!).  This vinyl is definitely harder and crisper than the Wall-Pops.  I think that it is thinner and the adhesive is a bit stickier as well.

Here are the eggs after I dyed them.  You can see how crisp the lines are on the butterfly and faith where I have already removed the vinyl.

 I think the word art on the eggs is particularly pretty.

If you visited my blog yesterday, you saw how I cut up the 12 x 12 sheets of Core'dinations gemstone cardstock that I used for the scalloped egg cards.  I will be using most of these "leftovers" during the week.

 

I used the 1 x 4.25 inch strips of cardstock and cut them in half.  Then I punched holes in each end.  By using a decorative brad, you can form an "egg collar" to display your decorated eggs.

  

To help the cardstock create a smooth ring, roll it around a small bottle to "train" it to curve and not kink when the circle is formed.

 

Here are a few of the eggs sitting in the collars.  When I read the directions for the egg dye, I found out that the company recommended rubbing the eggs with "fat" to bring out the colors and give a gloss to the egg.  So, for the first time ever, I buttered the shells of my dyed eggs.  It really works!

You can see how crisp the lines are on this blue egg.

Using the Oracal vinyl and taking extra care to burnish the edges of each image after placing it on the shell  made a big difference in the end results.

Sometimes there are imperfections in the dye or the surface of the egg.  You can always add a few embellishments to conceal the flaws and "dress up" the egg.

You might even decide to leave the vinyl on the dyed egg.  I like the tone-on-tone effect on this egg.

So the tips I have to share are, choose small designs with thin sharp lines, use a thin vinyl that is "hard" and will burnish well to the egg, be careful when you are dipping the egg in the dye so you do not loosen any edges and dry your eggs and rub them with a little fat to bring out the shine.

So what about those delicate eggs I showed you at the top of the post?  I had progressed through my experiments and reached my conclusions about the best sorts of designs to use.  I found some delicate, thin designs on the Home Decor and Heritage cartridges.  I cut them in mint green vinyl and applied them to the eggs - planning to dye these as well.

I decided that the eggs looked so pretty that I would keep the vinyl on as the only decoration!  Of course, you could dye the egg if you want more color.  The thin vinyl  and thin lines of the designs smooth down very nicely.

The basket is from the Easter cartridge (I think I will tempt you into buying this cartridge before the week is out!).  I made it as large as possible from a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and left it plain except for a few pretty embellishments to the handle.  The embellishments are from Creative Charms - here is a LINK to the page on their site where you can find out more about the flowers and butterflies.  The little butterfly brads I used for the egg collars are also from Creative Charms - here is a LINK to the page.  I have been creating some designs for Creative Charms and I really enjoy working with their lovely embellishments.

I love the idea of creating personalized eggs for each member of the family.  By using Design Studio, you could have welded versions of their actual names instead of just the generic Mommy/Daddy/Baby/Grandma.  You can even add your own flourishes when you create your welded names.

This assortment of eggs includes some that I made when we lived in Germany.  They are simple to do and blend nicely with the dyed and decorated eggs.

You can use these eggs to create small wreaths - for more information about this be sure to visit my blog, Capadia Designs, and check out Tuesday's post.

Don't forget to leave comments to have a chance to win the great items that Joy and Melanie are giving away this week.  I'll be back tomorrow with a project that uses paper again!