Thanks Card with Make The Cut

 

This is a card I made using Jin Yong's tutorial at Under A Cherry Tree.  She has done an entire series for the beginning Make The Cut (MTC) user.  If you're new to this software you should check out her blog, it's very useful and she does some amazing stuff!  The point of the tutorial was to show how you can align and center shapes or text as well as weld.   I wasn't even aware of the "stack" feature on MTC until I saw Jin's tutorial.  This allows you to have shapes or as in this case a shape and some text to be aligned and centered with each other.  The difficult part about this is I used a different font from the one Jin used, called freestyle script .  This made it difficult to create the same thing.  The first problem I encountered was that the "a" was closed. So when I cut it you couldn't read the word on the label.  Then I also noticed the "n" was too close to the "k" so I had to move that.  In order to open the "a" I used the boolean join feature of MTC with the slice tool.  This is just a very small rectangle you can create and put over the "a" which allows you to remove a piece of it. (I learned this on the MTC forum, of course).  I love this feature!!  For the "n" I simply moved it over and rotated it slightly so the word could easily be read.  I then welded, aligned and stacked, and then joined.  It took me 3 tries to get the label right!

So, I wasted a little paper.  But I learned something along the way!  I love how versatile this program is, and I'm looking forward to making plenty of more cards and projects with it! Here are some more pictures:

So what do you think?  I like how simple and clean this card looks.  I plan to send it to my mother to thank her for sending my kids some gift cards for Christmas.  Yes, I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?  Thanks for checking this out and if you have anything to say please feel free to comment!

Be Mine Valentine Card with Make The Cut!

This card was inspired by Jin's tutorial at Under A Cherry Tree.  She is doing an entire series on how to use Make The Cut!(MTC) software and Lettering Delights images with your Cricut.  If you're new to this, you should check out her blog.  Since I don't have the SVGs and font from Lettering Delights that Jin used, my card looks a little different.  The heart is from the shape library in this amazing program, and the font, Monotype Corsiva, was already on my computer. The Martha Stewart border punch is called Doily Lace.  I also used an i Rock gem for the dot on the i.  One of the wonderful features of this software program is that you can print directly from it.  That's what I did with the "Be Mine".  I typed it into MTC and put it exactly where I wanted it to print.

This is so convenient and it's one of the things I've gleaned from Jin's tutorial.  I've had MTC for a few months now and I'd not tried doing this before.  I like the way it works, it seems much easier than using Word.  Another fabulous thing which can be done with MTC is importing textures or patterned paper!  Then you can print them and cut them- sounds like a more economical version of the Cricut Imagine to me!!  Here's a picture of my preview page in MTC with the papers I used applied to the shapes.

This is so helpful when you want to visualize how something will look before you cut (and possibly waste) anything!  One thing that is absolutely necessary when doing this is to make sure the paper image is under 512KB.  I found out this little tidbit at the MTC Forum.  When I just brought in digital papers as they were, it caused my computer to lag. In order to make them smaller I used Photoshop Elements (PSE) and resized them.  Once I did that everything worked fine.  Since I didn't actually print these papers I don't know what that will do to print quality- it's something I plan to test out.  I used the actual papers on my card and then just scanned them into my computer.  I really enjoyed making this card, it's so much fun to learn something new!  One note I should mention is Provocraft for some odd reason does not approve of third party software and using it with your Cricut will void your warranty.  My Cricut is out of warranty, so this poses no issue for me, but even if it was still under warranty I would use MTC with it.  I've never experienced any problems using MTC.  This is just my personal take on it, you have to decide for yourself.  I think this software was money well spent!  I know I haven't even tapped into all the things MTC can do!  See you next time............

Boo To You Card with Lettering Delights

Here's 2 quick cards I made using some Lettering Delights elements.  This is one of the first digital cards I've ever made, so I know there's room for improvement, but I'm happy with the outcome.  The one on the right is the first one and I decided I didn't like the white around the witch's hat so I deleted it quite simply in Adobe Photoshop Elements.  As much as I like using paper and adding dimension to things, I also like how fast this came together!  I couldn't resist some paper crafting, so I used the Martha Stewart spider web punch on the bottom and double matted the front.  Here's the inside.  I used a stamp from the dollar bin at Joann's.

These were so much fun to make, I know I'll be doing more.  I'm still learning how to use PSE, there's so much you can do in there!  Next I plan to try cutting Lettering Delights images with my Cricut like Jin does on her blog Under A Cherry Tree.  She does some inspiring work over there!  See you next time!

Both my father and I have a birthday this week, mine is tomorrow and his is Friday, so I made him a card. I haven't made one for myself yet! (Truly I'm beyond the age of celebrating!) This is an S Fold that I saw over at Cardztv. It's quick and simple, just the way I like it! No cricut, I just used a small CB puppy embossing folder on the front with a little chalking and the MS loop border punch. For some reason these pups make me think of my dad. My husband looked at me funny when I told him that, like I must think my dad is some poor pathetic looking puppy, but that's not it! I made him a card last year with a cut from the paper pups cart, it just seems to work since making a card for a man can be tricky. Next I've got to come up with some valentines for my daughter's kindergarten class and then it's what I call "birthday season"! March, April and May, three kids and DH all have their birthdays! Guess I'd better get started! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hi! I am back. I haven't been in my craft room too much since it is a bit chilly in there! We are experiencing some really cold weather here and I do NOT like it! I've also been learning a new craft. My DH bought me a Knifty Knitter for Christmas and I've been playing with it a bit. I made a scarf, but I don't think it's worthy of display!! If I make anything I'm proud of, I'll post it, but I think I'm going to need a bit more practice! I've also signed myself up for a crochet class. I'm a little worried since I have no experience with crochet, but I really want to learn how to do some of those little flowers and I wouldn't mind some of those half finger gloves (useful in my chilly room-LOL!). Anyway, here is a card I finally finished making for my mom and dad to say thank you for the gift cards they sent my kids for Christmas. The most difficult part was getting my kids to sit still long enough to take a picture!! I really like the easel cards, and I thought this would be perfect for them to display a picture of their grandkids who they haven't seen in 2 years! Not much Cricut, the "thank you" and the oval are cut from Beyond Birthdays. The paper is from the SEI Bissette pad I got at Michael's on clearance. I used the MS loop corner punch which I really love and I added some jewels and stickles. I inked the edges with some walnut stain distress ink and I added a little dimension with brown foam so you really can't see it on the card(love that idea- did I get that from you Donna?). Sorry for the poor photography, I am no photographer!! Hope you like it and thanks for looking.