CRICUT: Creating a shadowed word with Chalkboard Fonts

If you liked the Thank You card project that you made during the set up of your Cricut Explore here's how you can make a similar card using the Chalkboard Font cartridge.

If you don't have the Chalkboard cartridge you can purchase the individual font you need for $4.99 through Design Space. Or you can purchase the full cartridge for $39.99 or digital for 29.99. (The digital is currently on sale for $19.99)

(The other font used above is from the Art Nouveau cartridge.)


Here's what you need to do:

Type your word

Change to Chalkboard Fonts - Extended. (That's the yellow font)

Select your word and click Ungroup from the Layers menu

 Click on the eye next to the Shadow layer to Unhide it

  

The blue shadow layer will appear behind your word.

With just the Shadow layer selected click the Delete button.

Select your word again and click the Duplicate button from the Layers box

Move the second word below the first then using the X position move each word so that they are left aligned.

Select the top word then click on its letter in the Layers box. Click Write from the Line Type box.

Leave the second word set to Cut

Select the first word and click Ungroup. Then repeat for the second word.

Both words will now be split into individual letters.

At this point you can fix the letter spacing if necessary. I'm not happy with the R and the Y so I'll fix those.

Drag your mouse around the 2nd R in both words. Use your arrow keys to move them to the left slightly.

Repeat for the two Y's

Much better!

Click on the M in the top word, then click Contour from the Layers menu

Move your mouse over the letter and click on each of the "shadow" pieces to hide them.

 

When you have hidden each piece of the shadow click anywhere else on the canvas to turn off Hide Contour. You'll be left with just the outline of the letter

Repeat for each letter in that word.

Next select the first letter of the second word. This time you are going to hide the actual letter and leave the shadow.

Click on Contour then click on the letter.

Click back on the canvas and just the shadow parts will remain.

Repeat for the remaining letters.

 Select each word in turn and click Group from the Layers box

Move the top word down over the second word and align. Because you left aligned them earlier you will only need to move the word down. Use the figure in the Y properties box to make small adjustments if necessary.

When you're done it should look something like this..

When everything is aligned select both layers and click Attach.

In the example at the top of this post I added a card size rectangle behind the words, selected everything and then clicked Attach. Now your word will stay in the correct position on the card.


Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I will receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional. If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to Cricut.com and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from Cricut.com. :)

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥

Cricut Halloween Giveaway

(Sponsored Post)

While Halloween isn't really a big thing here in Australia (although its popularity is growing) I still enjoy seeing all the amazing crafting projects that it inspires!

Enter to win the Cricut Halloween Giveaway, where you could win a Cricut gift card for $50, $75 or even $100! Winning designs will be posted on the Cricut Facebook page! 

Do you have any spooky crafts you have made with your Cricut? Why not enter them? Haven't started yet? You have until October 30 so get busy. ☺

Here are some designs from the Cricut website to get your creative juices flowing. If you need to stock up on your Cricut supplies in order to give your designs that extra bit of spook, great news—Cricut offers Free shipping on orders $31+ with code HALLOWEEN31.



Good luck, and may the best ghost or goblin win! Submit your Entry to Cricut's Halloween Contest here



Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I will receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional. If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to Cricut.com and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from Cricut.com. :)

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥

CRICUT: CTMH Artfully Sent image codes

Finally.... I have finished editing the handbook for Artfully sent to add the Design Space image codes.

You'll find the links to the edited handbook (and the other CTMH handbooks) by clicking on the Handbooks and Design Space Image codes tab at the top of this page.

There are three images missing from Design Space. The "Today" Pocket Card on page 33 and Card 1 and Card 2 on page 50. I have advised PC and will update the handbook and link when they have been added.

These images have now been added!   The PDF has been updated. You can either download it again (use the same link) or you can take note of these codes:

Page 33 - Today Pocket Card - #M17D254
Page 50 - 4 x 6 <Card-1> - #M17D25D
Page 50 - 3 x 4 <Card-2> - #M17D261

Speaking of Artfully Sent.... Check out Paige Dolecki's blog. Paige created an awesome cheat sheet for using Artfully Sent with Design Space with lots of great sizing info and she is sharing it for free! Here's the link! Stampologist.com


Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional. If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to Cricut.com and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from Cricut.com. :)

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥

CRICUT: October Mystery box

If you like Christmas cartridges and need 12"x12" Cricut mats then you might be interested in the October Mystery box.

Now that shoppers have been receiving them the contents are no longer a mystery! Here's what's in the box:

Teresa Collins December 25th Cricut cartridge
Merry and Bright Cricut cartridge
Two Cricut blades (not the German Carbide blades but they still work in the Explore)
2 Cricut 12" x 12" Cricut mats
1 roll of Terrifically Tacky Tape
Provocraft Knifty Knitter  Supplies of the Knifty Knitter have been exhausted and has now been substituted with a 3rd Cricut cartridge! (Possibly Sweater Weather.) ☺

The price is $29.99 and if your order is over $30 you can use the code HALLOWEEN31 to get free shipping! (I have heard that the free shipping code is working when just purchasing the Mystery Box. Make sure you select Standard shipping and are logged in for the code to work!)

Here's the link to purchase the Mystery box: OCTOBER MYSTERY BOX

The mystery boxes usually sell out fast so don't miss out if you really want those carts! And sometimes the contents will be substituted if stocks get low!


Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional. If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to Cricut.com and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from Cricut.com. :)

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥

CRICUT: Using Inkscape to create a split letter monogram

Many of you have tried creating a split letter monogram in Design Space. It can be done, but when using the Regal font things can get messy.

It's much easier to create your font outside of Design Space and import it as a SVG file. Here I'll show you how to do that using the free program Inkscape.

You can download Inkscape from www.inkscape.org. Make sure you only click on the download button for Inkscape. There are no other programs you need to download/install!

CRICUT: Great news for iPad and Explore users

Today Paulette and I took part in a Google Hangout with Ashish Arora and some of the team from Provocraft to give us a preview of the new version of the Design Space iPad app!

Coming in mid December, you will be able to create your own designs using Cricut images on the iPad app. No longer will you be limited to the Make it Now projects! (Not that they aren't great projects of course...)

The new app has a similar opening interface to the Design Space you are used to using on your computer.

The app has been designed with ease of use in mind. And now you'll be able to design when you're inspired! 

As "Cricut Product Experts" Paulette (aka Scrapalette) and I will be given access to the new App later today. We'll start Beta testing it straight away and we'll be able to describe all its functionality to our readers!

What we know so far is that you will now be able to search for images within a particular cartridge and there are snap alignment tools! Yay!

But wait, that's not all!!

Offline functionality is coming to the Design Space app in the first half of 2015. That means that you will be able to design with or without the internet! No more internet lag!

You will be able to design on the iPad app and then cut from Design Space on your computer. Or you can design on your computer and cut from your iPad! However, to cut directly from the app, you need to have the wireless Bluetooth adapter.

If you don't have the Bluetooth adapter now is a very good time to go grab one. As the app won't be available until mid December you have time to do some bargain hunting, so watch out for those sales!

The iPad app is free and works with all iPads from the iPad2 up!

I know that many of our readers use Androids, but at this point there is no information available about when or if an Android app will be available.

There's plenty more that Provocraft have up their crafty sleeves but that's all we can share with you for now!

Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional. If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to Cricut.com and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from Cricut.com. :)

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥

CRICUT: Using Kadoodle Bug Designs Print then Cut images in Design Space

You may have seen Melissa's cute Kadoodle Bug Designs SVG's over at http://kadoodlebugdesigns.com/shop/. Melissa is a member of Cricut Lovers Guide to Design Space Facebook group and recently reached out to me for some beta testing help.

This week Melissa is releasing a new line of layered images that she has created to work with Cricut Design Space. They're called Print then Cut Cuties and are so much fun to use!

Melissa has found a way around the problem of the layers not coming into Design Space at their native size. I've put together the following tutorial to show you how to use these gorgeous designs.

The image I'm using is called Pumpkin Moose Peeker.

When you purchase the files they will come zipped. Make sure you unzip the files before trying to use them in Design Space. Make a note of where you saved the unzipped files. 

1. Open Design Space and log in, the click the Create New Project button

2. Click the Upload Image button

3. Click the Basic Upload button

4. Click the Continue to Step 1 button

5. Click the Browse button and locate the Kadoodle png files that you saved earlier

6. Click on the first of the png files and if necessary click Open

7. Select one of the 3 Image options. These files work great with all three options. From habit I used the Complex Images option.

8. If you see a blank screen it probably means you need to zoom out. Keep clicking the zoom out button until you see the image.

9. You should be able to see a white bar at the top and bottom of the image. That bar is there to keep the proportions of the images intact when importing into DS. Don't click anywhere on this screen. As it's a png file it already has a transparent background.

Just click the Continue to Step 2 button.

10. Make sure the 'Preserve original image within shape' option is checked.

11. Change the name in the Image name box if you wish and you can also create a Tag. Creating tags allows you to do a search using that word at the Insert Image screen later.

12. Click the Save Image button

13. Repeat the same process for each of the layers in that set.

14. When you have done that you'll see all the layers ready to be inserted. Click on each of the images to select them then click the Insert Images button.

15. All the layers will be placed on top of each other on the mat. And because of the white bar at the top and bottom of the images they are all sized in correctly. (Because the bar is white it doesn't print, but it does cut.)

Next you need to resize all the images to suit your project. Keep in mind the maximum image size for Print then Cut. Currently that is:

Chrome: Height 8" x Width 5.5"
Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer: Height 8.5" x Width 6"

The white bar in the image below is slightly wider than the image itself, so when setting the size the width will be sized to that measurement. Which means that if I set the width at 5.5" (the maximum that Chrome can Print then Cut) the image itself will only be approx 3.75" wide.

Michelle is looking at that and by the time you are using these files it will most likely be sized to the same width as the image. Michelle is also looking at whether the 'Size circle' needs to be there. That's there from an earlier version of the Print Then Cut testing. 

16. Click the Select All button, then from the Edit panel type in the width you want your images to be (keeping in mind the above.)

Make sure you don't click the Lock proportions button or the height won't be sized correctly.

The Mat Preview button will appear (it may take a while as there are multiple layers)

17. Click the Print and Continue button

18. Click the Properties button on the Print dialog box

19. Select your Paper source, Paper type and Quality then press OK

20. Press OK at the Print box

21. When your printing is completed you're ready to load each printout onto the mat. Make sure you take note of which layer is ready to be cut. The order they came out of the printer should be the order that they are cut.

When you have finished cutting, remove the layers from the mat and discard the sizing circles and the top and bottom bars.

Use pop dots between the layers and you'll end up with something like this:

And here's all his layers!

Have fun with the cuties!

Happy crafting!  ♥





This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. 

I have affiliates with Cricut.com and InLinkz ♥