New Features in Make the Cut and a New Lettering Delights Card Using them

Wow, can't believe it's been more than 2 months since I posted anything here on my blog!  End of Sept., really?!  Guess there was too much volleyball and football going on in my life the last few months!

I have actually been doing some crafting and playing with the new features that have recently been added to the Make the Cut software.  However, I just haven't had time to sit down and take pictures, write the info. up and get it posted on my blog.  Too little time and I'd rather spend it crafting I guess!  It does take a LOT of time to keep up a blog and to all of those who manage to do it EVERY DAY or several times a week, I salute you, your hard work and dedication!

Here is the project card that I wanted to share with you. One of the newer features in the Make the Cut software (MTC) is the ability to access Lettering Delights cutting files (LD) directly from within your MTC software!  One of LD's more recent files set is called "All Season's Pop-up Cards".  Well, there is some "cute" stuff there but the pop-up cards themselves are a little plain and boring without any "color" to them (at least to me!).  Here's a picture of what the plain card looks like:

Cute little snowman with a friend and the snowflakes yes?  However, what if you could make the snowman and the bird really "pop" off the page - that would be better don't you think?  I did!  So this is what I made using several of the new features in MTC version 4.0.+!

Now, which card would you rather send out or receive in the mail?  I know I'd rather have the "color"!

So now, you probably want to know how I did that!  It's actually a lot easier then it's going to sound!  I'm not going to give a full tutorial or step by step, nor do I feel that I can share photos or screen shots of the process because the file is a purchased one from Lettering Delights.  However, if you are comfortable with MTC and some of its newer features you should be able to follow along with the "concept" as I do my best to "explain" what I did.  It would be helpful if you have some basic knowledge of MTC and its newest features in order to fully understand what I have done.

First, you would need to purchase and download one of the Lettering Delight's Popup files like this one or find another one from somewhere else (there are some out there for free as well!).  This snowman card came from LD's "All Season's Pop-up Cards" and is "Card 2" in that collection.

Once I had the base card downloaded onto my MTC mat, I created a new page in that same MTC file and copied and pasted in place the card base to the new page to work with that copy.  (Simply redownloading to that page would work also.)  I kept the first page to cut "as is" for my card base to which to adhere my "Print and Cut" file once it was completed. (Note: This card base is actually the "insert" that you would need to add to the inside of a card base you create.)  Now you are ready to "break the file" to create your "Print and Cut".

Select the card base, go to Edit-->--->Shape Magic---->Break

This will break the card into different "parts and pieces".  One of the first things I did was to select the snowflakes and snow "dots" all together, and "join" them back together as a group (edit ---> shape magic ----> join) so they are treated as "one" object, take them to their own layer, and then hide that layer so that they are out of the way.  (One reason I "join" them back together is so that when I want to work with them, move them around, etc.  I only have to click on one and it selects the entire group!)

I then took the other different "parts and pieces" of the snowman to their own layers and colored them.  I selected the snowman's eyes and mouth (again, did a "join" so they stay together as one "object") - took them to their own layer ('selection to new layer") and made their color "black" (I took them together because I was coloring both the eyes and mouth black.  If I wanted them different colors, I would have take the eyes to one layer and the mouth to its own layer).  I then selected the nose, took it to its own layer, and made it orange.  Finally, I "joined" the buttons to keep them together, took them to their own layer and colored them red.  Once I had all of these objects moved to their own layers and colored as desired, I hid those layers to keep them out of the way while I worked on the remaining parts I needed.

Next I did a little work on the bird. I will be bringing the entire (already) colored bird back in from the Lettering Delight's file a little later (No need to reinvent the wheel!) so I just need to get rid of the bird's eye and wing. There are two ways I could do that.  I selected the bird's wing and eye along with the body and "welded" (edit---->shape magic ----> weld) the bird's eye and wing to the base so that those "holes" are gone and it is one solid piece for cutting later.  I could also have deleted the wing and the eye from this part of the card but it would have and left the "holes" in the base and these would have still been cut out.  The way I did it with the welding, it is one solid piece now.

Now to complete the work, we need to do some "node editing." To do "node editing" you have to be using the newest version of MTC, version 4.0.+.  We need to use MTC's new node editing features to get the Snowman recognized as a "whole" snowman and to remove his stick arms from the body and make them into separate parts.  Right now he has "pieces" (cut lines) missing from his head and side where he is "attached" to the card base. We want to be able to cut the snowman out on his own and to color his stick arms brown.

Open the Node editing menu in MTC 4.0.+ (found on the left top corner of your MTC mat).  Click on the Bezier Curve tool, notice that you can now see the "nodes" blue dots at the end of lines (you may need to zoom in to see better). Left click on the top node on the left top side of the snowman's head, then go down to the bottom left side node and right click on the node there.  This will  add a line to the snowman and close off the left side of his head.  Repeat this on the right side of the Snowman's head.  This will make his head "whole" and ready to cut all the way around.

Now, before we do the same thing to the sides of his body, we need to cut off his stick arms and close the finger tips and end of the arms so that we can take them to their own layer and color them brown.  Using the knife slicing tool (probably a really good idea to zoom in closer here), go just above the top of the left stick arm where it joins the body, click, hold and drag it down to below where the bottom part of the stick joins the body and then release, this will cut the arm away from the body.  It is probably in two pieces, the top and bottom parts of the stick, select both pieces, move them a little way away from the body to help with the node work. (If you don't, you may end up rejoining them to the body accidentially!)  Again select the Bezier Curve tool and use it to close the "gap" or "missing line" on his middle finger tip and at the end of the stick (see instructions above on using this tool to close the sides of the head).  If done correctly, the "stick" will become whole and change color.  Now do the same to the stick arm on the right side.  Use the Knife/slicing tool to cut the stick off the body and then use the Bezier Curve tool to close the lines on the finger and at the end of the stick. You know have to "closed" stick arms!

Now use the Bezier Curve tool to close the "gaps" or add the "missing line" to the left and right sides of the snowman's body the same way you did the head and the stick arms.  Take the snowman's body to it's own layer and color it "white".  Move the stick arms back into place next to the snowman's body, take them to their own layer and color them brown. You will also then need to "copy" and then "paste in place" the snowman's arms onto the same layer with the snowman's body and then "weld" them to the body so that you have the correct shape to "cut" once you have him printed.  Welding should make them one piece with the body and make sure it is all still white.

At this point you can open and close layers as needed and use the node editing tools as desired to modify, correct lines as needed (making sure finger tip or head is more "curved" for example).

At this point, it's a good idea to make sure that all the different "layers" or "parts and pieces" are in the correct order for the best print and cut and make sure that they are not closed or hidden if needed for the print and cut..  (For example, the eyes, nose, mouth, and button layers should all be "above" the snowman's body layer so that they are "on top" and showing properly when printing.)

Once that is all done, you can then go back to the Lettering Delight's Files and download the "bird" from the "All Season's Pop-up Cards" collection.  Put it on its own layer, place it and size it correctly so that it is sitting on top of the snowman's head as needed.  You are now ready to do your printing. (If  you are just printing, the different parts and pieces of the bird do not have to be on their own layers since they are already colored differently and stay that way when you bring them in from LD's file.)

Couple of notes regarding printing.  First, you need to make sure that you only have the layers showing that you want included in the printing (in this instance, the bird and the snowman along with his eyes, nose, mouth, buttons and arms). Be sure you have closed any other layers not needed for printing.  Second, you need to decide if you just want the "fill" only or the "fill and outline" to show when you print and make any changes needed there.  On mine, both were showing so I have the lines around his nose, etc.  You can also use the "print preview" to see what is going to print.  Since the snowman himself is "white" with no outline showing, you won't see his body since "white" does not show on print preview.  (If you feel the need to verify that he's really there you can change his body to another color besides white before doing the preview - just remember to change it back to white if you want a white snowman!)

To print a file for a "Print and Cut" - first make sure that you have checked your printing options needed from within the MTC software.  Go to File ---->print options and select or deselect options as needed.  For example you will need to make sure that "print registration marks are checked" but the "use silhouette sd" is marked only if you are using that cutter.  Decide on printer outlines or not, etc.  Once done, click ok and print.

Once you have your printed page, follow the proper method needed to do a "print and cut" for your cutter of choice.  I have both a Silhouette SD and an 18" Cougar machine so how I do a print and cut with each of those machines varies.  (Note: If you have never done a 'print and cut" with your cutter before, you may need to first calibrate your machine before doing a "print and cut" to ensure your cutting is aligned properly with your image.)

One important step to remember at this point is to CLOSE any and all LAYERS that you DO NOT WANT TO CUT!  For example, we only want to cut the "outline" of the snowman with the bird on his head so that is the only layer we would have showing.  We would close the colored bird, along with the snowman's eyes, nose, mouth, buttons, and arms along with the card base. (If we forget to close those layers, they will "cut" and you will not have an orange nose, red buttons, etc!)

Once you have your "print and cut" printed and cut out, you are ready to adhere it to your inside "pop-up base".  Cut out the original "card base" from the Lettering Delights file.  Adhere your "print and cut" to the Snowman and then apply the entire base to a base card being careful not to adhere the parts of the snowman that "pop-up".  (Note:  I always remove or hide the layer with the scored/fold lines because I don't like the little "slits" it puts in the card.  This is a personal preference.)

Now you have a cute "colored" pop-up to send out to your family and friends!

Couple of other quick notes, if you want to vary the card size, you need to put the card base on the same page on its own layer - have ALL layers showing, "select all" and resize so that you resize all together and in proportion!You can also now use this file to "paper piece" the snowman if desired as well.  You would just cut out the different parts and pieces as needed.  This would be great or adding a little "dimension" to a project.  You could also use the "print and cut" as a stand alone object (like on the front of the card) and can resize him as needed, etc.  Use your imagination and have fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope my basic "instructions" are helpful to you in making other simple files have a little more "pop".  Please feel free to leave a message should you have any questions or comments.  I tried to make sure I covered all the steps but I may have missed something or not explained it well enough!  I hope to share some more projects with you soon that I have been working on.  In the meantime, if I don't get back soon - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and a Happy New Year too!  LOL!!

Beach Babe "Print and Cut" Cards

Wow - time sure does fly doesn't it!  Almost 2 months since I've posted to my blog.  I'm sorry but between recovering from my cervical fusion, school starting, sports and other things  - well that hasn't left much time to update my blog.  I have been doing some crafting recently, I just need to find time to sit down write them up, take photos and get everything posted to share.  All that takes time which I don't have much of - when I do, I'd rather be actually crafting then posting about it I guess!  I'm going to make an effort to start to share some more soon.  In that regard, I wanted to share two cards I made today from some new "Print and Cut" files I found on the  "All that Jazz" site. They are designed as Print and Cut files for 2 page scrapbook layouts. The files are from "Scrapbook Circus" and can be found on Tyler's site (along with a video and a free sample file to try!) :


Scrapbook Cricus Print and Cut Files at All that Jazz.

Well, I'm not a scrapbooker (yet) but I do make cards on occasion so I thought I'd try the "Beach Babes" collection and see if I could take "scrapbooking" files and make cards with them! I was able to make 2 different cards and used a number of the embellishments from the files. The files are available in several formats that should work for almost anyone no matter what cutter and software you use (.mtc, .svg, and .jpeg files).

Here are the two cards I made from the files. I did have to resize them some to fit on "cards". Not to difficult to do with MTC and the new features offered in the new Beta Version 4.*. Shift and hold while clicking and dragging to resize outline and texture at the same time for example.

One Card (the blue base) is 5x7 and the other is 4x6. The "mat" on the smaller one is also from the file.

Best thing (besides the cute files) was this project forced me to sit down and actually calibrate my Cougar machine so I could do the Print and Cuts of these files! I have tried a few times but never gotten it nailed down - close but not right on (more a problem with me and my brain - not the fault of the cutter or the software - strictly a user error - My brain fogs when it sees X/Y and +/- numbers I am afraid!). I'm happy to report that with the help of Tyler and Rob (ScrappyDew) and their latest work to continue to find tools to help us use our machines and software, I was finally able to get my machine calibrated!

You can find this latest help file on Tyler's website:

Print and Cut Calibration Help at All that Jazz

I used this and then used MTC's Black Cat Plugin and the Laser option and found great success in doing these Print and Cuts so thanks Tyler and Rob! Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.  If you have the ability to do Print and Cuts I would highly recommend checking out these files on Tyler's site and downloading the free "Hammock" file!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to share more soon!

Bunny Card

Good morning.  I wanted to share a card that I recently made.  I picked up the Spring, 2011, Issue 28 of the Paper Creations magazine recently at the store.  In the magazine, on page 22 there was an article entitled, "Bunny Card" which was designed by Maricel Fabi.  It was this really cute Bunny Card for which they provided a pattern pullout to trace and cut by hand. Now, anybody who knows me knows that I HATE to cut with scissors.  (I think this is because I am left handed and, when I was little, all scissors were made for right handed people.  It wasn't until modern times that they made left handed scissors or ones that didn't matter which hand you used!  LOL  You won't understand what a problem this is UNLESS you are left handed OR you are right handed and have tried to cut using left handed scissors!!  LOL)  This is what I got my electronic die cut machine and my Make The Cut software for!!!!



The pattern for the full card was too big to lay out on my regular size all-in-one printer with flatbed scanner so I simply scanned in 1/2 of the card.  I then copied the image, flipped it, moved it to overlap properly, and welded the two pieces together to make my card base.  I then scanned in or created the extra pieces and parts like the vest, the bowtie, and the nose.  Their pattern didn't include the flower and stem so I created those along with extra arms and legs in case I wanted to pop those areas and add extra dimension.

Then I cut out the card using my electronic die cut machine and made a cute Spring Bunny Card to send to someone in my family!!  Now, I can easily create as many of these bunny cards that I want quickly and easily (and it doesn't matter what kind of scissors I have!  LOL) Well, I couldn't stop there.  I thought hmmmmmm. . . . . . I'm not sure I like the card folding in 1/2 at his feet, so I then recreated the file so that he was welded together at the top at his ears.  I think I like that better as it opens the way most people expect a card to open.  But now, within just a few minutes of my time, I have two card bases from which I can choose!  THEN I thought, well, he might be cute on a regular card base so I made him a single image that I can now make any size I want and add to other cards.


This is the "Print and Cut" Bunny

Then I thought - well hmmmmmmm. . . . . . . I think he would be really cute if I made him into a "Print and Cut" file - I bet that I could do that really easy.  So I created a pink polka dot texture that I added to the "inner ear" parts I had created and a multi-colored striped texture that I added to his vest.  I found paper I had in my stash to get these "textures" from and scanned them into my computer and made texture files from them.  I then created a "full bow tie" with basic shapes and added a purple color to it.  I then made his body gray and added his mouth and his eyes to my MTC file so that they would "print".  I then printed the bunny out on my printer (I also added separate feet and hands to "pop" dot to give it some added dimension) and then cut him and the extra pieces with my Cougar (I could also have cut him with my Expression but the Cougar was the one plugged in!).  I then used Marker to ink the edges to give it some more dimension and chalked his cheeks.  Otherwise, its all printed!  IF I had a bigger printer (One that would print 12x12 say) I could have printed him out as a card.  Since I just have a regular 8 1/2 x 11 printer I printed just the single bunny.  HOWEVER, he could be glued on to the top of a card base.  He can also be resized easily.

Since the file I created was from a pattern in a magazine, I can't share it with you here even though I would like to.  HOWEVER,  I wanted to share all of this information with you to show you what YOU can do with a pattern, your die cut machine, your printer  and scanner and Make The Cut software and a little imagination!  Just IMAGINE!!! LOL

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Please let me know if you have any questions on how I did any of this or if I can help you out with anything. You can pick up a copy of this magazine on news stands.  You can also go to the magazine's website here: http://www.papercreationsmag.com/. There you can see some of what is in their current issue, back issues and free projects and ideas.  I am not affiliated with the magazine at all but like to give full contact information when I use something from a source.  Thanks.

Diaper Card

My friend Margaret asked me to create a Diaper card for her several weeks ago.  I created the base card but wanted to use it to show my friends how easy it is to add a "texture" fill to it to basically create your own card with different "textures" or "background images".  For example, since this was a "Diaper Card" that you would use for a new baby - you might want to make one for a girl or for a boy - pink or blue - or if the sex is unknown - green, yellow, purple, etc.  You could find a "baby print" that you lik and "cut it out" of that paper, easy peasy.  However, what if I only had the paper in pink and it was for a boy.  Or, I couldn't find any baby paper that I liked in my stash.  You could create your own "texture" or find one online and use it to fill your image and then cut it out. If I have paper I want to use but its the wrong color, I can scan it in- change the color with a graphics program and add that as texture to my MTC file before cutting.

The pictures show the base card I originally created and cut out in white cardstock.  Then the other pictures show where I scanned in paper I had and made texture files out of them.  I then used those texture files to fill the image, print it on my printer, and then cut it out (spot on I might add!) with my MTC software and my Cougar cutter.  Notice how the "print" on the diapers is different!

Since I scanned in my "texture" from paper I had, I cannot share those "textures" with you.  However,  you can create your own very easily.  If you need help, in how to do that, check out Nelda's Tutorial she shared regarding "How to Convert Lettering Delights Paper to Seamless Texture for use in MTC".

 Click here to go to Nelda's Tutorial on her Blog.  Scanning your own paper in would work similiarly. You can also create your own textures, backgrounds using a graphics program or google for free textures.  Just remember that Andy (creator of MTC recommends texture sizes of around 256x256) so not to bog down your computer and memory.

You can download my .mtc file for the Diaper Cards (2 sizes) here.

You can download my .svg file for the Diaper Card here (it is only 1 size).

As always - thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a comment if any questions.  Would love to see what you do with any of my files.  (If I keep asking - maybe you will come back and share!  LOL)

Easel Christmas Card - Print and Cut with Make the Cut and your Cricut

Andy, the awesome developer of the Make the Cut  (MTC) software released the official 3.2 version of MTC just before Christmas.  As I have said before, if you haven't checked out MTC you need to!!  With this latest release, you can do so much more like rhinestones, lattice work, words in a circle (or any other shape you desire!)  PLUS, you can now use your cricut to do Print and Cuts (or any other machine MTC now works with including the Cougar machine). MTC's print and cut will allow me to pull in ANY image that I want WITH Colors and TEXTURE, print it, or even break it into layers if I want and print those layers, change the colors and textures and so much more!!!  I simply need a cutter like my Cricut or my workhorse Cougar machine, a regular printer and the MTC software.  I already had all 3 sitting in my craft room so no new machine purchases needed for me and I'm limited only by my own imagination - not someone elses!!!  What more could a girl ask for!!  LOL

Here is a simple easel card using print and cut that I did for a Christmas Challenge.  I love the Mouse so I found this image pulled it into Make The Cut, printed it to my printer, then lined it up on my mat and then cut it out.  I changed some of the colors used even.  Notice the colors of his shoes - they should be yellow BUT here they are red!!  I haven't had time to really play around yet with this feature but hope to soon!!

 If you want to find out more about the Make The Cut software I would suggest that you go to the MTC forums to learn more.  There are also great tutorials and information out there from a variety of people.  Julie runs a MTC Tuts Yahoo group that you can sign up for and Rob from ScrappyDew has some great basics beginners videos.  You can download a trial of MTC at No Cost so you can give it a try before you buy and see if it is something for you.  I'm not selling - just a happy customer who thinks you will love all you can do with it to!