Another A2 Card Border - Fall Card

 A couple of years ago the Fiskars "Threading Water" border punch was extremely popular.  I remember working for hours to create a similar .cut file using circles and tiny circles and nudging them all into place.  There are many more cartridges available now and some of them have borders that can be used to quickly and easily make a "Threading Water" design.

I used this element from the Straight From the Nest cartridge.  (Remember, you can click on any of these screen shots to make them larger and read the notes).

I entered four of the strips in one group and nudged them together, then adjusted the size to fit an A2 card.

This is a punched strip centered on a 5 1/2 inch wide piece of cardstock.  As you can see, even though I took care to center the punch, it doesn't fit perfectly - there are tiny returns on both edges.

The first file I made had 11 "bumps" so it wasn't a perfect match - the scallops were slightly larger than the scallops formed by the punch.

I used a very heavy Martha Stewart cardstock and set the multi cut to 2 times.  This is usually enough for this cardstock but I had a bit of trouble.

There were two cards in my file and on one of them a couple of the tiny circles did not cut through. 

I checked my blade and discovered that the tip had lifted and carried another circle cutout and this kept the subsequent cuts from working properly.  I might have been able to "save" the cut by checking it before unloading the mat, removing the blade to find the problem and then re-cutting just the circles (by altering the file and using "hide selected contour") but I didn't notice until it was too late.  It is almost impossible to reload the mat and get the same alignment.

I went back and revised my file to make the border strip have 13 "bumps" and created two more card bases.  I used this square from Straight From the Next to form my card base.

I adjusted the size of the rectangle and then rotated my border strip to add to the right side.  All of the measurements are given on the image above.  In Design Studio it is very easy to adapt and fine tune a shape by using the handles - this is something I miss when I work on the Gypsy.  On the Gypsy, when you enter a new width the rectangle will recenter and you have to keep putting it back in place on the x axis as you try to guess at the final size you need.  The handles are much quicker for this function.

Here is the comparison of the punched edge and the second version of the card cut by the Cricut.  I was able to make the fit exact so the edges are smooth.  However, the smaller the size of the circle, the more likely you are to get some distortion.  These are acceptable but slightly oval when compared to the punched circles.  I have had two Expression machines and they do not cut perfect scallops and circles at small sizes.  I am eager to see how the Imagine does with these types of cuts.

I decided to go ahead and make a quick card with the "11 bump" version of the card.  I cut some patterned paper from the Making Memories "Autumn Splendor" 4 x 6 mat pack to fit.  The first layer is 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches and is placed at the top of the card along the fold.  The second layer is 5 x 3 1/4 inches and is centered on the yellow layer.  I inked all of the edges with brown ink.

The "Fall" chipboard embellishment is from the Creative Charms Thanksgiving Multi-Dimensional Chipboard Sticker set.  There are six substantial embellishments in the set.  (I used the Turkey on the card I posted a week or so ago - here is a LINK to that post if you missed it).

There is a lot of glitter detailing and even some twine bows on a couple of the items.

I wanted to make the border stand out more when the card is closed so I used the strip that I cut off to create the top layer, inked it and added it to the inside along the bottom.  I inked three sides and then adhered it to the card.  Then I could snip off the extra bit to have a perfect fit and ink the final edge.

Here you can see the card flat on the table - the contrasting strip shows through the holes. 

A2 Card with Threading Water Edge   The file in the download is the "13 bump" version.


Happy World Card Making Day!  Don't forget to visit Christina at Creations With Christina - she has a great day planned.  This is a busy weekend full of  blog hops and special events - I hope you have time to enjoy at least some of them!

I also want to let you know that the new Cricut Circle Blog is open to everyone for a limited time.  There are some fabulous projects posted by each of the Design Team members.  If you are not a Circle Member you can't enter the contests and giveaways but you might like to take a look to see a bit of what the Circle is all about.  If you are not a Circle member you do have lots of chances to win some great prizes by visiting the blogs of the Cricut Circle Blog Design Team members - and you won't want to miss the inspiration or the chance at amazing prizes!  The list of Design Team members is at the top of the Cricut Circle Blog home page (or you can try this LINK to see the list).


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