Happy Halloween (for baby bugs)

I received some comments from owners of baby bugs that they would like to be able to cut the Halloween design. I edited my original file so it can be cut in two pieces and either put together in a full sheet or used as two pieces. You could use it as a title or border on a scrapbook page or make shorter candle lanterns.



Because the Cricut will not cut to the edge of the mat, you will need to do a bit of hand trimming. I did move things to make this minimal but there will be some small cuts required to finish the border rows and, depending on the exact position of your mat in the Cricut, you may need to "finish" the edge of some shapes.



Above is the first page of the file - the top half...

Below is the second page of the file - the bottom half...



Put them together and the result is very close to my original design.



By placing the two pieces with an overlap of the border bar at the bottom of page one and the top of page two, you can create the full sheet design.



Here are a few of the interesting offcuts - these are bits from between the cats. I think they look like a pipe and the hook for Captain Hook! The hook could come in handy on Friday, September 19th - National Talk Like a Pirate Day! (click on the link to go to the website - who knew!)

I had quite a struggle to get this to work when I tried to replace the bar on the original file with a square or rectangle from George - every time I tried to duplicate the shape I got the dreaded red "X" due to the quirky nature of these shapes on George (they don't take kindly to drastic values to change their shape - stretch too far and you will see the "X").

After several variations of the "X" screen, I got smart and searched for a shape on one of the other carts that I could use for the bar - I found the shadow or blackout of the "money" shape on Cuttin Up (lower right corner of keypad on shift) gave me a rectangle that would agree to be stretched!

So I was finally able to make a file baby bug owners can use!

While I was at it I edited the original file to make a version that requires only two cartridges (Paper Doll Dress Up and Cuttin Up) because I know there are some Expression owners who don't have Plantin Schoolbook for one reason or another. If you substitute another font for Cuttin Up, you will also need to change out the bars with a rectangle from a cart you own (or use the original file I posted with Plantin Schoolbook).

I test cut the baby bug pieces on the Expression so there is a chance that the baby bug mat will be slightly different. If you try it and have any problems, please contact me at capadiadesigns@gmail.com so I can repair the file. I also did not test cut the revised Expression version - to be perfectly honest I was just getting tired of cutting and removing this design from the mat. I feel confident that it will work perfectly but please let me know if you encounter any difficulties.

One more note - I ignored my own advice and used the softer paper to do the test cuts and once again I had an issue with the small details - it was very difficult to remove the eyes and other tiny holes. Be sure to use paper with that "hard"finish to help you get clean cuts!

Have fun with this - I'd love to see some of your projects!

Happy Halloween (in two pieces)

Happy Halloween Full sheet (no Plantin Schoolbook)