Tulip Mesh (an example of "hide contour")

I created this file last year when I got the Storybook cartridge. When I tried to cut it - I made a mess! I think the paper I was using was just too thick and perhaps my settings were off. At any rate - I tossed it aside and that was the end of that!



Below you can see a close up of the incomplete cuts - it was not worth trying to punch it all out to complete the cuts.



Today, when I was trying to get some tidying up done in my scrap room, I found the sad mesh - and decided to give it another shot.

I think I might use this with some photos from a trip to the Netherlands we made while living in England. One of the stops was at a "restored" fisherman's cottage and there was a lot of Delft tile. I love blue and white and the tulips from the design I repeated for the mesh seem like a good fit.

I cut the mesh again - on slightly thinner cardstock and made sure that the cuts were going through completely. When I was done, I realized that, while most of the mesh lifted easily from the mat, there were two "trouble spots" - one that is just inherent in the design and one that I could fix.



The leaves of the tulip motif curve in such a way that there is a small bit to be removed on one side - the cut is there but it requires some "poking out" since it is so tiny. The other trouble spot was the area at the bottom where I used the little circles to align the images - they turned out more like scratches due to their tiny size.

Since we now have the "hide contour" feature, I could eliminate those pesky little holes - and I did (it took a while to get them all!). To remove the holes, you left click on the exact line of the part you want to hide - it will turn red.



Then you right click somewhere else on the mat and this pop up menu appears - click on "hide selected contour" and it will turn to pale blue (which means it is hidden and will not cut).




I tried another cut, this time using black paper (because the pattern also reminds me of the iron work on a gate).



My third cut has no marks on the areas where the holes were and it was much easier to just have the one area to fuss with as I cleaned the cut.



Below you can see the bits that remained on the mat after lifting the cut - I saved the larger rounded ones.



They look like little tabs to me - if you fold them in half they could be attached to a photo mat or card element for a bit of interest.



I may use this mesh as a backdrop for the page, or I may not - I haven't decided yet. Here are the photos I had from the cottage - I think if they are cropped and matted in red or yellow it might look nice - check back in a few days to see if I completed the page(!)




Tulip Mesh