Cricut Crafting - Spiderweb Window Cling

Earlier this week, I decided I wanted to add a little friend to the windows of my front door to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.

Both the spider and the web were stock images from Cricut, but I thought I'd share how I put it all together in Design Space, and how I made sure it would fit the window.  I'm using Design Space on my iPad, so it may look a little different for those who primarily use the program on their laptops.


1.  Measure your window!  My diagram ended up on a tiny scrap of paper (see the paper clip for reference).  It's not super-detailed, but has enough information to work from.

Measurements don't need to be complex

 2. Build your window in Design Space.  To get my half circle, I started with a 4" circle (it's an easy size for positioning purposes) and a square, then used the Slice tool.

Slice your circle in half. My circle is 4" wide to make it easier to position.

Cutting out the bottom center edge

For the next step, I enlarged by half circle to full size, then added another circle with a 4.5" diameter to cut out that little half circle at the center bottom.  While I was able to use the "Align Center Vertical" tool, I used the gridlines to make sure that I lined up the horizontal center of my bottom circle with the bottom edge of my half circle.  Then used the Slice Tool again. 

Slicing the individual panes

I used three 1" wide rectangles to slice the individual window panes.  I rotated the side spokes 45 degrees.  And I had my window! 

One note about Design Space - all four shapes are considered a single shape in the program.  This is great when you're designing, but can be a pain if you're like me and like to reposition for printing to conserve materials.  It's also a little bit of problem in this case because it's too wide for a 24" mat.  To get around this, I made three additional copies of my window, then used the Hide Contour Tool, keeping only one pane in each copy. 

Both panels were a little large - folds give me the exact size

3.  Test your window design.  At this point, I tested my window shape, cutting the two leftmost panels out of regular typing paper.  (Since the design is a mirror image, I only needed to test two panels.  it turned out both panels were a little too 'fat'.  With the cutouts placed in the window, I folded them along the window panes to give me the exact size I needed.  Then it was simple enough to measure my fold and shave a little off each pane using rectangles of the exact width I needed, and the Slice tool.

Once I had my window, I saved the file as "Front Window Blank".  This way I won't have to recreate these steps when I want to create a new design.  Now it's time to make the Spiderweb window cling! 

4. First thing - Use Save As to change the name of your working file.  I named mine "Front Door Spiderweb Window Cling" - boring, but descriptive. 

Spiderweb Testing

Searching for 'spider' and 'web', I pulled down several images from Cricut Access, then enlarged them and tried them out on my window shapes, using the Slice tool again.  Turns out, not all spider webs translate well when cut into four separate panes.  And not all spiders look good on all webs. 

Final design images selected.

I ended up pulling the spider and web from two separate designs, as shown above.  The web is #M3F76E, Web Banner and the spider was from Spider Web Rosette, #M74C7E2B.


Before I moved on to window cling, I cut the full design out of copy paper, just to make sure it looked the way I thought it would.  Sometimes the translation from screen to paper doesn't work as well as I expect.  This time, it worked great, to it was time to cut the design out of window cling.

Here's where I do something maybe a little weird.  I have wasting material, especially plastics where both cost and environmental concerns come into play.  So I try to make as much use of the material as I can. 

Weeded Cutting mat

After rotating and fitting the webs onto my mat, I did a quick search to find some additional Halloween images that I thought would work well as window clings, and used them to fill in the extra space.  Even still, there was a fair bit of waste material after weeding.  But I love having the little 'bonus' clings. 

I shared the final cutting file on my Cricut Profile, but the software no longer has an easy way to share a direct URL.  If I can figure out how to do it, I'll add the URL in later. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Pop Up Card

my work surface during the 'play' stage

Last week, I decided to make a birthday card for a friend who shares the same birthday as mine.   I knew I had to use the pop-up mechanism I learned at Cricut Mountain Make-a-thon for the interior.

pop-up mechanism installed - ready for the pop-out card

When I got to this stage, I realized I wasn't quite sure how to measure where to attach the pop-out accordion at left to the mechanism at right to make it all work.  I knew I had to glue top-right and bottom-left, but how far out from the center did I need to go?  Since we didn't receive written instructions from the class, I popped over to search Youtube, where I found a great, 7-minute video of the whole process (placing the pop-out accordion shows up at 5:40).  Thank you Srushti Patil!

I embossed the background squares before adding the lettering

I kept "Enjoy the Little Things", because it makes me smile.  And I liked how the embossed backgrounds echoed that theme.

But what to do with the front?  I decided to recreate one of Cricut Design Space's projects, Tiny Birthday Banners, with a couple of modifications.  I used a different font for the letterin, and changed the pennants a little.  Hot glue guns and I don't generally get along, so I added a little fold-over flap to the top of each banner, which made it super easy to attach them to the banner string. 

Ready to attach the banners to the card, I discovered I didn't plan the stages of work well at all.  I had to carefully unstick the edges of the inner liner paper (the sky blue) so that I could tape and glue down the ends of the two strings underneath.  Oops!

Despite that, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Too bad I forgot to take a 'clean' picture of it!  Instead, you get this close-up with the scissors.  That's definitely the way things seem to roll for me these days.

Finished card, ready to mail. 

Want the links to these projects?  I've shared the links on my Cricut Profile page.  You'll find this card, and a full Happy Birthday banner I had to make afterwards.   Cricut's new interface doesn't currently allow me to link the projects directly from my blog - my only options for sharing are Pinterest and Facebook - they don't give me a link option.  If I have time, I may give them a call later today and ask for help.  In the meantime, my profile is a work around. 

I also plan to post a project that's simply as many miniature pennants as can fit arranged on an 8.5 x 11" page.   This one's for people like me who a) Hate to waste paper and b) May like having extra pennants hanging around, ready for that unexpected party.  Unfortunately, Cricut requires me to add a photo of my own of the project before I can post that to my profile.  Right now all of the pennants are tucked away in the closet of the guest bedroom where my niece is fast asleep, so any new photos will have to wait.  :) 

But hey, two blog posts in a single month!  I may be on a roll. 

Cheers!

Boxing Day Lantern Ornaments with a Beaded Tassel

It's become something of a tradition to post a little something special for Boxing Day on my blog.  Last year it was a paper box pattern, the year before a limited-time free download of my Beaded Acorn earrings tutorial.  This year, I decided to combine two of my current favorite crafts:  paper crafting and beadwork into a little Lantern ornament.  Depending upon the colors you use, I've found this pattern works pretty much year round.  In this sample, I've optimized for the winter holidays. 

What you'll need: 

• Index paper or cardstock (8 1/2 x 11")
• utility knife, steel ruler & cutting mat OR paper cutting machine.
• Bone folder & ruler
• 2 skeins embroidery floss
• Playing card
• Assorted beads
• Beading thread and needle
• PVA glue

 Instructions

The Basic Lantern Pattern

Download and Cut out Design:  Save the image of the basic lantern pattern above and print it out so that each box equals one inch (1") square.  Refer to the rulers on the left and top edges of the image.  Use this as a guide for cutting out your paper pattern with an utility knife and steel edged razor. 

Or, if you have a paper cutting machine, you can download a copy of my design, which fits two lanterns on a single sheet of cardstock.  I designed the pattern in Cricut's DesignSpace.  And because I hate wasting paper, I filled the rest of the sheet with some little gift cards and tags. 

Lantern's cut out - time to fold

Score and Fold:  Once the pattern is cut out, it's time to fold the lantern along the scoring lines.  Refer back to the pattern above - the dotted lines indicate folds.  I find it's easiest to do this with a bone folder and a clear, quilting-grid-style ruler. 

• Work from the inside/back of the paper.  
• Score each fold-line first by lining up your ruler, then running the tip of the bone folder down the line along the edge of your ruler.
• Then, without moving your ruler, slip the bone folder underneath the flap and use it to help fold the paper up along the edge of the ruler.  I couldn't get a good picture of this because it required more hands than I had available.
• Remember to score and fold the little overlap flap at the left edge of the design, too.  Use the pattern photo above as reference.

Create the Tassel
Now, it's time to make the tassel.  A while back, I wrote a detailed blog post on how I make my little tassels, so I won't repeat the entire process here. 

A quick review from my 2011 post

This time around, I ended up using a couple of playing cards stacked together for stability, because I liked their size.   I wound the embroidery floss around the cards width-wise, using about 1 1/2 half skeins.  Once I had the thickness I wanted, I tied off the centers on both sides of the card, and cut the ends from the edges of the card using the utility knife (Exacto blade).

going for the look of candle flames

This method makes two tassels.  I decorated the tassels with a little beadwork, including some peyote stitch around the neck, and then a beaded 'chain'.  Adjust the length of the chain so the tassel hangs where you want it. 

testing the length & fit

Putting it all together:  Finish the chain with a larger bead that will hanging inside the lantern, and a larger bead above the lantern, then a little loop of beads.  You need a large bead inside, and a large bead outside to act as 'stop' beads so the tassel stays where you want it. Test the fit with the lantern to make sure this works.  Adjust your beading if necessary. 

Now it's time to glue it all together.

Gluing the bottom - fold in the back first

Gluing the Bottom.  Start by folding in the bottom flap of the back (solid) side.  Apply glue to the outer (under) side; then fold in the two side panels and make sure they adhere well to the back flap.  Apply more glue to the bottom of the side panels. 

Before you fold in the bottom front panel, make sure that you apply glue to the outer edge of the little side flap.  Take a look at the next photo below.

Glueing it all together

Adhere the side flap to the inside of the front panel, and fold the front bottom into place to complete the little lantern.  It can take some massaging to get the glue to adhere the little flap firmly to the front panel.  Take time to line up the edges for the cleanest finish. 

The finished ornament

Final Notes:  I used solid-colored paper for my lanterns, and decorated the outer side with designs 'drawn' with a metallic gold pen.  But you can change the look simply by changing the color palette or using patterned papers. 

Next I want to make one using dark blue paper and silver ink, then make an 'icy' tassel to go inside the lantern.   Then I'd have Fire and Ice! 

So there's my quick little "Lantern" ornament idea. 

Happy Holidays!

A Little Box for Boxing Day

Three little boxes - one decorated with a handmade rubber stamp

Here's a cute little box pattern for Boxing Day.  It's made from a single sheet of paper, and I'm thinking that it could be used for gifting handmade jewelry or other little presents.  I like the idea of a handmade little box to complete a handmade gift presentation. 

I designed the box so it slots together with tabs, so no glue is required for assembly.  For the smaller white boxes, I simply used white index paper that I buy by the ream at my local office supply store. 

My notes as I played with ideas for the design

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a Cricut Explore Air cutting machine.  While it was ostensibly a Christmas gift, Joe gave it to me a little before Thanksgiving so I could play with it heading into the holidays.  The Cricut is designed to cut paper, card stock, vinyl, even fabric, felt and leather.  You can work with the designs in their library, or create your own. 

I'm just starting to explore the possibilities.   My machine came with a short, free subscription to their design library, so I've mostly played with their images and projects, seeing how you can combine and modify them to become familiar with the software.  This box is my first truly 'solo' design.

The template works with an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of card stock

Here's the pattern template ready to be cut.  I saved the image full size so you should be able to click on it to get a larger version.  It's designed to fit a regular 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock, and could be cut out using an Xacto knife or scissors.   And if you have a Cricut cutter, here's a link to the project file - feel free to use it as you wish!  You can easily resize the design using the Cricut software. 

I made the larger red box by scaling the pattern up to use a 12 x 12" sheet of card stock.