Tag Star

This afternoon I saw a post by Kathy on the Cricut Message Board which gave this LINK to a star made from a tag punch. (please use the link to see the photos - I can't post them here since they are not mine). I loved the idea and instantly thought that something similar could be done with the design studio software that would actually be quicker and easier to produce, once the original file was created.

Unfortunately, I could not make this an adjustable file, because individual elements need to be turned at various angles and we don't have a true "grouping" function available to us yet in the software - it is something I wish for many times every day as I try to think of ways to create designs that can be easily resized, copied and pasted and otherwise manipulated in full.

The basic idea of this design is to overlap silhouetted tags to form a subsidiary design which looks like a star. The original star was made using flat top tags which produce a square center (well, actually more of an octagon with tiny corners). In checking the various carts for silhouetted tags I remember that there were some on the Wedding cart and decided to try this rounded top version.

Here is a screen shot of the finished design - the overlapping of the tags produces a flower like image. I added a small circle to make the center more even since the tags do not align perfectly to produce a circle.



Be careful when the design is cutting - since there are so many passes around the center, the circle actually came loose from the mat in all four test cuts that I made - you should be sure that it is removed when you unload the mat and that it does not get caught in your machine somewhere!



Here is the cut as you would lift it from the mat



Two tiny snips at each point will create the star - it is best to snip from the center outward to get the neatest cut.



You can cut four of these on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper - cut one, unload and turn and reload the mat. Then remove those cuts and turn the paper 90 degrees and restick it to the mat so the top left area is uncut paper and cut, unload, flip and cut again.

The 12 x 12 sheet of paper will look like this and you could use it for a scrapbook layout (I hate to waste perfectly good paper and this is an interesting design in the offcut).



Below you can see the final star on the left and the image that the file cuts on the right - for some purposes you might want to use the design without trimming. There will also be offcuts that look like little houses that you can save for another project (from the outer area - I forgot to take a photo but will add one when I can).



If you check out the link above be sure to click on the link in that posting which shows the card the designer made - it is beautiful! You can use this design as is or adhere vellum or another pretty paper or even glassine (like I used for the Halloween lantern) and create lovely cards and ornaments.

Tag Star