A2 Card with a Scalloped Square Opening

I had a request from a blog reader for a simple file for an A2 card with a scalloped square opening. She had an Expression and Plantin Schoolbook but did not have the Accent Essentials cartridge.



The easy way to do this is to simply place the scalloped square from the Accent Essentials cartridge in the appropriate sized rectangle (5.5 x 8.5 inches). Below is a screen shot of the card that would be created. The extra line you see is a temporary rectangle placed on the mat to help in centering the scalloped opening on the front of the card.



If you don't have Accent Essentials (or another cartridge with a scalloped square) here is a quick way to obtain a similar result.



There is a scallop edge on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge - it is highlighted on the screen shot above. Using the slider bar to adjust the size, the smallest value that can be selected is 1 inch. This results in a very large scallop edge since the one inch dimension refers to the height of the scallop bar.



By using the handle in the lower right corner you can resize the scallop edge proportionately to a suitable size for your card.



Once you have the appropriate size, check "weld" and then copy and paste the strip rotating it at 90 degree intervals each time. Then you can carefully fit the four strips together to form a smooth scalloped square.



The scallop strips are all welded to a square placed in the center of the card front (the square appears as the red dotted line in the screen shot above) - make sure to check weld on the center square. By adding this square you will have a solid scalloped square as the cutout which you can use for another project.



Above is a screen shot of the card when previewed on the design page.



By previewing on a blank page you can see the result a bit more clearly and check to be sure that the scallops are smooth.



I test cut the file before sending it to the person who needed it - here is how it looked after cutting - very plain and simple. Tonight I decided to make a card with my test cut (sometimes these cuts really start to pile up as I keep making new designs and not using the test cuts for actual projects....).



I used a white core paper to test the cut and I didn't like the way the white showed on the inside of the scallop and on the fold line so I decided to ink the edges to hide the white.



I inked all of the edges with a darker shade of green - including the inside of the scallops. Then I added a liner which I adhered to the inside front of the card. I stamped a sentiment on the exposed liner in the scalloped square and added a flower. The sentiment looked a little lost in the space so I added some pen stitching in a coordinating color.



Above is a close up of the layered flower and the "skittle" center



This is just a simple little card but it will be useful for a note. I think that the sentiment might have been better if I stamped it in a different color - maybe I will try another one!

The file is available for you to download if you are in a hurry and don't have time to try to make your own version.

A2 card with scalloped square opening