Bubbly Scalloped Frame (still more Home Decor)

The FCTSC digital challenge I posted last Thursday was a quick and simple one because I was preoccupied with previewing and reviewing the new Cricut cartridges. I did promise to show you how I could use the photo with some text added for a card and I didn't forget about that. I also have been continuing to show cuts and designs from the new cartridges, Home Decor, Jubilee, Simply Sweet and Stand and Salute. (For those who have been asking, I don't have any definite information on when these cartridges will be released, I have been told that it will be "soon").

Today I will share a design I created from an element from Home Decor and show you how it can be used to "frame" the photo for a card.



You can see the element I used in this screen shot - the key is highlighted in green and I put a larger version on the mat and previewed it so you could see the shape more clearly (those keypad images are sometimes really tiny for detailed elements!).



Here is my first test cut of the mat I created - this was designed to fit a 4 x 6 inch photo and then to be layered on a 5 x 7 inch card. You could also decorate this base in any number of ways or add a stamped and colored image in the center.



I decided to turn the cut into a frame by added a second rectangle, cut from the center. You can see the resulting cuts in the photo above.



I was using a chartreuse shade of green cardstock for this cut - I remembered that there was some green in the photo background but the shade is not a good match.



Then I tried using brown card stock. This is DCWV textured card stock. I sometimes have trouble with the way this card stock looks after cutting since any little snag reveals the white core. I discovered that if you place the more heavily textured side face down on the mat you get a cleaner cut (but I still don't care for the white core for most Cricut cuts).



Here is the frame effect with the center rectangle removed. - it works vertically or horizontally.



My original concept was to have the photo on the top of the mat - here is how the card would look if I used the cut this way.



This is the final version of the frame and photo that I prefer for a card. I like the effect of the plain narrow frame around the photo and then the fancy edges.



I tried a quick page layout using both the offcut (I did my test cut on an 8 x 8 inch piece of card stock) and the frame - this gives an interesting effect but I might like it better with different colors and photos (these just happened to be handy on my table).



I decided to try this frame with a "vintage" photo - well, this is from my wedding 28 years ago (we did have color photos "back then" - I had this one printed in "sepia" for another project). If you look carefully, you can see that the edge of my veil is quite similar to the frame).



Finally, I found an even older photo of my parents from the 1940s and "auditioned" it with the "Memories" cut I used in the leafy frame from yesterday's post. I really like the two of these together!



The file is set up to cut the frame version - here is a preview. If you want to cut the mat version, you will need to select the inner rectangle by left clicking on it (the line will turn red), then right click on the virtual mat and choose "hide selected contour" from the bottom of the pop-up menu.



Once you have "hidden" the interior rectangle, your cut will look like this. If you want to cut the frame version again, select the inner rectangle (the "hidden" line will be a very pale blue) and then right click and choose "show selected contour" from the bottom of the pop-up menu.

I did two versions of the file - one with George and Home Decor and the other with Plantin Schoolbook and Home Decor (there is no rectangle on Home Decor).

A quick note for the people who wanted to know about the status of upcoming classes - our card class for Thursday is nearly full - there is room for one or two more students - but we do have openings for the Getting Started class that we will be doing on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern. We need a few more students to meet the minimum for that class to run on Friday - otherwise we will reschedule. We are also planning on setting up another evening class sometime next week.


Bubbly Scallop mat or frame - George version

Bubbly Scallop mat or frame - Plantin Schoolbook version