Pumpkin Carving Cards (part two)

I have some more details to share about making cards with images cut into the card front.  I use this method quite often and there are a few things to be aware of when you design a card of this type.  (Remember, you can click on any of the photos or screen shots to see a larger image).

I always try to use as few cartridges as possible when I create a card - I generally work in Design Studio and I don't have a Jukebox so I challenge myself to keep the cartridge count low.  If at all possible I find an image that can be adapted to work for my project on the same cartridge that has the image I will be featuring.

In order to create an A2 card, I needed a rectangle.  If you look at the images on the Pumpkin Carving cartridge, you will see that there are no rectangles.  This is not a problem - you can use "hide selected contour" to eliminate the interior design and stretch a square to create a plain rectangle.  I chose one of the pumpkin faces because there would only be a few lines to hide.  I needed an image with more than one line to hide so that the lines would stay hidden when the file is closed and reopened in Design Studio.  (This is not a problem on the Gypsy - when only one line is hidden it will stay hidden on the Gypsy).

I set the slider bar at 5 1/2 inches - this determines the height of the image.  If you look in the Shape Properties Box you can see that the width does not match the height in this particular example but the shape on the mat appears to be square.

Using the handle on the right center you can pull the side of the image to the right to create a rectangle.  You can also enter values in the Shape Properties box to alter an image in Design Studio.  There is a bit of a complication in this case because the handles are not true to the edges of the shape on the right side (this is true with many images so you always need to check the actual dimensions).  On the Gypsy, you can choose the "actual" size icon to get a true sized image when the values are entered in the width and height boxes.

The values that you enter in the Shape Properties box do not always match the boundaries of the shapes.  A rectangle in George will have the "handles" exactly on the lines of the image.  The image I chose for the card is about 1/4 inch "off" from the true measurement.  You can see this in the area with the red box which highlights the difference.

I adjusted the size of the second image to match the dimension of the George rectangle.  The actual width ended up at 8.75 inches.

Once the rectangle is created, you need to hide the lines inside to make a plain card base for an A2 card.  Select each of the interior lines by left clicking on the line - it will turn pink.  Then right click and choose "hide selected contour" from the bottom of the drop down menu.  The screen shot above shows that you now have a plain rectangle to work with.  (Of course, you could always just use the George rectangle or another plain rectangle from another cartridge if you want to).

Next I chose the images to cut into the front of the card.  The pumpkin face is sized at 2 inches and the "Happy Haunting" is set at 4 1/4 inches which makes it easy to center on the card front.

The outer line of each design needs to be hidden to create the cut out effect.  On the Gypsy, hiding just one line is fine - it will stay hidden when the file is closed and re-opened.  For Design Studio, an extra step is needed so you don't have to rehide the lines each time you use the file.

Add another image that is exactly the same size and at the same position on the "Y" axis.  Then hide the outer line and one interior line on the original image and hide everything except the line that you hid on the first image on the duplicate image.  If you have copied and pasted the second image, you will need to slide it to one side before clicking off the image and then close and reopen the file to make the "hide selected contour" option functional on the copied image.

In this screen shot you can see the two images with different parts hidden.  The end result is that the interior lines will cut once and the outer line will not cut at all.  You need to move the second image into exactly the same position as the original image by changing the "x" value to match.  Type the value into the Shape Properties Box and hit enter.  Once you do this and click somewhere else on the mat the two images can not be separated so be sure that you have the proper parts hidden or you will have to start over  (this is a change from the last version of the software).

Here is the card with the images aligned.  to be sure that the items you want to cut will be cut, do a preview on a blank page.  To make the preview work more clearly, check weld on the card base so it will just show the bold cutting line with no color.

Here is the preview of the final card.  The extra steps we took will make the file ready to cut as soon as it is opened and you won't have to remember to re-hide any lines.  If you would like another very simple step by step explanation of how to do this, here is a LINK to the blog post I made when I first figured out the workaround back in February of 2009.

After all the trouble you went to to create the file with the shapes cut out it would be a shame to put a liner in the card that stays attached to the front - you would hardly be able to tell the difference from simply cutting the shapes and adhering them to the card front.  So here is a way to add the liner but keep it separate from the open shapes.  Cut a piece of cardstock just a tiny bit smaller than 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches.  I think this piece is 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 inches.

Score the cardstock at 1/4 inch and fold along the line.  It is best to score this line first in order to get a straight fold on such a small width.

Add a strong adhesive to the narrow section.  I use Scor-Tape in the 1/8 inch width.  This tape is very strong and also easy to work with.

Adhere the thin section of the liner to the front of the card.  Be careful to keep it aligned so there is nothing that extends beyond the edge of the card.

The liner will now block the center of the card so you can write on the inside.  When the card is viewed from the front the effect of the cut outs is preserved.

You can add as much or as little decoration to the card front as you like.  I will probably add some pen stitching and possibly a few brads to finish off this card.  A stamped sentiment or handwritten note can be added inside.

I encourage you to try making your own file following these directions.  If you are having trouble let me know and I will "clean up" and post my file to share.  These cards are a lot of fun to make and have many interesting variations - have fun creating!


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