Tiny Treasures - with new options...

There is a new Creative Memories exclusive Cricut Cartridge called Tiny Treasures.  Yes, it is another baby cartridge - very cute but you'll need to look carefully to see if there are enough new items to justify the purchase if you already own several baby cartridges.

There are a set of "boy" shapes and words and a set of "girl" shapes and words.  There are also three fonts on the cartridge.

You can find the information about this cartridge on my Creative Memories personal website HERE.

images from look book on Creative Memories website

The "look book" for this cartridge is found HERE. 

images from Creative Memories website

In addition to the shapes and fonts, there are quite a few 3D items including many boxes and favor bags and some cupcake wrappers.

images from Creative Memories website

One objection that people often have to cartridges is that they don't want to buy the entire cartridge just to get a few images that they really want.  I know that many of you who started with Cricut machines have also added other types of machines and software programs to your crafting tools. 

If you use another cutter, you now have a new option for purchasing sets of images.  In addition to the Cricut cartridge, these images are also available in digital sets.  In other words, you can buy just the boy shapes, just the girls shapes, one or all of the fonts, the labels, or the 3D items in smaller, less expensive groups.

When you buy the images in the Universal Format, you will receive sets of JPEG and PNG files that you can bring into software such as the Silhouette Studio software, Make the Cut, SCAL and others.  Then you can quickly and easily trace the shapes and create cutting files that will work with your non-Cricut machine. 

You can find the Universal Format Tiny Treasures 3D shapes HERE on my CM personal website.  This is a digital download so there is no shipping charge and you can start using it right away.  This set of shapes costs just $6.95 which is a great price for 50 3D items.

You will find all of the available sets near the bottom of the Universal Format page HERE.  If you don't have the CM Storybook Creator 4.0 program you must be sure to choose the Universal format.

I had a little time on Saturday to try out a few files.  I was able to convert the images into files that I cut on my Silhouette very easily.

When you unzip the downloaded file, you have three folders of images.  The bold black PNG files are ideal for tracing.

There is also a folder full of shape guides that show where to score and fold the shapes.

After you trace the shape to create the outer cutting lines you can use the shape guide to help you add any interior lines that are needed.  In some cases, the score lines are obvious so you might not need to add any lines.  For this pinch bag it is helpful to add the dotted score lines on the sides.

I was able to fit three elephant favor boxes on one 12 inch mat.  I created score lines for the first cuts (you can see them in red on the bottom elephant) but I decided to eliminate them once I realized how easy it was to score and fold this item. 

When you create score lines with the Silhouette software you can adjust the size and make them continuous.  I prefer this to the "tick marks" on the Cricut shapes.  However, I usually try to eliminate the guidelines altogether to create a neater finished project.

Once you have scored and folded one sample of each shape, you usually don't need to add the lines unless there is a tricky curve or a pinch fold.

These were just some quick test cuts that I did to make sure that the files would work properly.  You can get as elaborate as you like in embellishing the cuts.

images from Creative Memories website

images from Creative Memories website

If you purchase the boy shapes or the girl shapes (these sets are $10.95 each) you will receive all of the layers of the cuts in each file as shown above.  The files are not ready to cut until you add cut lines by tracing but this is very easy to do.

You can also use these shapes in the StoryBook Creator 4.0 software to create custom digital embellishments by filling each layer with the color or paper that you prefer and stacking the layers to create the images.

If you do not have a local Creative Memories consultant, I would be happy to help you with any questions or orders.  My website is HERE and you can look through the current catalogs online by clicking on the links on THIS PAGE.

So many possibilities...I hope to have time to try out more of these shapes later today.  I should be able to use the papers and shapes to do print and cut projects on the Cameo...
I hope you are having a nice weekend - it's hard to imagine but we will be back on Daylight Savings Time next Sunday!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.