Think about it Thursday - Uploading multi-layer SVGs into Cricut

WELCOME TO CRICUT WEEK! 

Today I continuing my Cricut experiments with uploading SVGs. When I purchased the free-ish Dinosaur, I also purchased a free-ish ice cream cone.  Today I am experimenting with the ice cream cone. Since I purchased the images at the same time, I had downloaded and unzipped the images at the same time.  

I am starting from the upload step today. 
In the picture, I've uploaded the SVG image of the ice cream cone and now I am inserting the image.

The results were not quite what I expected. I had more layers and colors than I had anticipated.

I decided to focus on the bottom grouping of the red and tan cones first.  Before I deleted either cut, I hid each cut to see what the cone looked like without the red first, then without the tan layer.

Using this little trick, I was able to determine the red and tan layers were exactly the same cut so I did not need both of them.  So I deleted the red cut.  oh no!! Don't panic.  This seemingly made my cones layers disappear.  Refer to the picture below.  

When I deleted the red, the red and tan cones were un-grouped causing the tan cone to come to the front of the design.  Simply send this layer to the back, then we can work on the remaining layers.

When I examined the waffle layer of the cone I noted there were 3 separate cuts. 

I could figure out why? So I clicked on each cut to figure out what it was.

It turns out the 2 miscellaneous triangle cuts were for the very edges of the waffle part of the cone.  These cuts were hidden by the ice cream portion of the cone until I grouped that layer with the tan part of the cone and sent it to the back layer. We don't need to cut these triangles as they will be hidden behind the ice cream layer, so I deleted them.  Next I un-grouped the ice cream from the cone.  This left me with 3 images/layers (tho one layer was hidden).

Final step is to order the layers and change the colors to look like an Ice cream cone.

Of course I had to make a mint chocolate chip cone because that is my favorite flavor.  Off to see what I can find in my stash to cut for Scrap your stash Saturday!!  We are almost thru week 11 of self isolation........and next week we can expand our contact circle from just our family (people who live in this house, to our 7 closest friends...since my husband and kids took up 3 of the spots, lol). I can't wait to see some new faces.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

And remember all Cricut and general crafting questions are welcome!!

TINA Stanczak

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Technique Tuesday - Uploading SVGs to Cricut Tutorial

WELCOME TO Cricut WEEK! 

Today I am experimenting with my Cricut. Recently someone asked me if I had ever used SVGs with my Cricut.  I knew for sure I had uploaded a number of Close To My Heart single layer SVGs; meaning SVGs that cut a single layer.  This is very easy to do.  The real question was had I converted any multi-layer SVGs from the Silhouette Design store to use with me Cricut. The short answer was NO, so today I am going to give it a try. I figure it can not be too hard.

First I went into the Silhouette Design Store and found a couple of 3 colors/layer designs that looked like they would be easy to experiment with (and were free-ish).  The SVG cost $0.24. 

I downloaded the files when I bought the images. The files download as a zip file, so you will have to upzip them before uploading into Cricut Design space. I keep all of my SVGs in a single folder to make them easy to find & upload into Cricut Design space. Here is the file list after unzipping.

Next I opened Cricut Design space to upload the files.  I started a new project (refer to example photo). 

Then I clicked on the Upload button on the lower left panel (as shown in the picture on the left).  This will change your design space screen to look like the picture on the right.  Browse your computer to choose the SVG file to upload (from the file list given earlier).

Once I choose my file, your screen will look something like the below.

Add some descriptive words, then choose save.  To insert the new image onto your mat, click on the image to highlight, then choose insert images. 

Your image will show up on your mat in the expected colors.

When you choose "Make It" the cuts are lined up on the different color mats as expected.

So there you go, converting multi color SVGs from Silhouette to Cricut is very easy.  I am off to try another design and then move onto multi-layer images.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

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Stash Busting Saturday - Cricut Star Wars Scrapbook Layout

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

To finish off my week of Star Wars Scrapbook layouts I working on a layout designed by Guest Designer Ginni Candelaria.  Yes, I have been working a lot of layouts designed by Ginni over the past 2 weeks but they are all so stinking cute!! Right?  

I purchased this workshop for the Cricut cuts and layout instructions; knowing that I did not own the paper packet needed to make the layouts.  Not only did I not own the item needed, but I could not purchase them as this layout was originally designed at the end of 2017 so many of the Close To My Heart (CTMH) products are retired. However, the Cricut cut files can be used with CTMH cardstock and other items you have in your stash to complete this layout.  

Below is my finished layout. View GInni's original layout by clicking on her name.

ok, what is not to LOVE!! This layout is too stickin cute!  

I started with making the Cricut cuts for the characters.  The Storm Trooper is easy; using only Black Cardstock X6047 and White Cardstock.  I used Toffee Cardstock (dark side body, light side belt), Pewter Cardstock and Black Cardstock X6047 to make the large and small Wookies.  The belt is inked with Pewter ink and Toffee ink (respectively).  I inked the edges of the Wookies bodies with Espresso pigment ink to really enhance the color.  Pigment ink is dark and wetter, and takes longer to dry so you have to be more careful when using it.  I really like the contrast between the Toffee Cardstock and Espresso pigment ink. For the finishing touch I added White Dots colored with Earth Brown TriBlend™ Marker to Chewie's belt. I used large white dots on the larger Wookie and small white dots on the smaller Chewie. 

 

Princess Leia and the Jedi Knight were made similar to the Wookies, using Toffee Cardstock and Toffee ink for Princess Leia's hair and the Jedi robe.  I also used a scrap of silver metallic paper that has been hanging around my scrap bin since our 2012 trip to Disney for Princess Leia's belt and the Jedi belt buckle.  I added a Silver Glitter Gem to Princess Leia's for a little sparkle.

The Storm Trooper detailing includes pen doodles on his face and dimension added with 3-D Foam Tape adhesive.

Once my characters were finished, I had to search for patterned paper since I didn't owned the paper packet Ginni used when creating the layout. I started by pulling out the retired More Magic paper packet and cutting the two blue starred zip strips and setting them aside. I thought the starry pattern would go well with a Star Wars layout. Next I searched my pile of neutral cardstock to find the gray pattern to I could substitute for the gray sponged pattern Ginni had used.  When I laid everything out before gluing together, I was fairly happy with the outcome. 

There were a couple of additional items I was missing.  On the right side of the layout (shown above), I was missing a start sticker so I punched a star out of the silver metallic paper I used for Princess Leia's belt.

On the right side of the layout, I made the start Cricut cut using the silver metallic paper scrap. I used the same Silver Glitter Gems used on Princess Leia's belt to add sparkle to the star burst Cricut cuts.  Of course, I brushed them with Clear Shimer Brush before adding the gems.  The shimmer shows up much better in person.  

Fining touches included drawing on the word FORCE and adding my title using the Pewter Journaling pen.  And adding a couple of "hidden"Mickey's using retired Blue Dots from Enamel and Glitter Duos Z3122.

ok, this layout is definitely my favorite Star Wars Layout.  The Wookies just make me smile!  I can't wait until my photos arrive on Wednesday so I can place them on the layouts and add to the albums!!

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!!!

See you all on Tuesday!

TINA Stanczak

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Stash Busting Saturday - Cricut Gringots Scrapbook Layout

WELCOME TO HARRY POTTER WEEK! 

Today I am finishing up Harry Potter week (week 9 of self isolation). Since I struggled finishing my layout yesterday, I decided to pull up another Harry Potter themed Cricut design space file that I had been saving for a rainy day.  I wanted to complete all the cuts and put the layout together to finish the week feeling a strong sense of accomplishment.

Since it was stash busting Saturday, I pulled out a bin a cardstock given to me by a friend who was downsizing and thus giving up her craft room.  I found what I needed to cut the Gringotts bank from the cardstock bin.  The white cardstock is nicely textured to look like white stucco and the blue cardstock has a pretty shimmer on the building.

The word GRINGOTTS was included in the Cricut cut file but the letters were so small and thin, they did not cut cleanly from the generic black cardstock.  I decided to dig around in my stash for this tiny little letter stamp set called "A typeface". I am not sure how old it is but it comes in quite handy for stamping in tight space.

Here is the completed left side of the layout.

The additional Cricut cuts included a city space, clouds, and squares to build the sidewalk/street anchoring Gringotts.  the right side of the layout is pretty much the space.

Here is the full layout.

I can't wait for my photos to get here (in about 10 days....ugh, so long to wait).  I am planning on adding some flip flaps or expanding the number of photos on the layout in some other manner.  I will show the layout with photos   Check back in a couple of weeks and I will let you know how it goes.

I want to thank you for stopping by today.  I hope my week of Harry Potter layouts has inspired you to either create something Harry Potter themed or bust into your stash!!  And, if you happen to be looking for a ting little Alphabet, I have an extra set of the "A typeface" alpha available.

Check back next week for more never-ending spring break scrapbook layouts.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

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Throwback Thursday - Cricut "Wizard Spells" Layout

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Today I am again featuring Guest Designer Ginni Candelaria.  Ginni is a fellow Close To My Heart (CTMH) consultant who designers layouts using Cricut cut files and CTMH paper packets.  To continue my progress, I wanted to do another Harry Potter themed layout called "Spells".  

Similar to the first 2 layouts of Ginni's workshop, I knew I had to make this layout from the first time I saw it.  The layout brought back memories of the second time we experienced Harry Potter land at Universal.  Sometime between 2010 and 2015 Universal had changed up they attractions and wands to add in IR technology.  Now you could buy a wand and walk around Harry Potter land casting spells which would do things like dump a pot of water on someone's head.  Of course we had to get a magic wand and give our spell casting a try.  The thought of walking around casting spells with my daughter makes me smile. "Hermioine" (aka my daughter) was very good with the wand and demonstrated for more than one child who was having problems casting the proper spell.

Back to the layout. I didn't have the patterned papers Ginni used to create the layout so I went into the way back machine, i.e. spend an hour digging around in my craft room. I found some very old patterned paper from Close To My Heart called B&T (Background and Texture) paper.  I was pretty happy with what I came up with.

Ginni had used a New England Ivy (green) patterned paper on her layout.  I had a similar New England Ivy (green) patterned paper.  Ginni used Sapphire (blue) patterned paper on her layout.  I used a totally different blue patterned paper on my layout.  I also substituted Ruby for pomegranate.  

This brings me to my first tip for stash busting.  Organize your paper.  I used to keep all of my cardstock with the paper packet of matching patterned paper.  I felt like it took me a long time to fins anything this way.  Now I keep my paper in an IKEA shelf system organized like a rainbow.  I  

keep all of my cardstock together (current and retired) so if I need blue, I can qucikly find the right blue.  

I have a similar approach for generic patterned papers that can be used as backgrounds so I can quickly find what I need.day.  

My other happy find during my trip in the way back machine was vellum. I think it might be leftover from making baby showers invites in the early 2000s? Anyway, I organize my scraps into Ziploc bags of neutrals, red/orange/yellow, and purple/blue/green.  This helps me quickly find scraps.  The vellum was tucked away with the neutral scraps.  I happened across it while looking for scraps of white to use when cutting the bubbles.  I used the vellum instead as I felt it gave a more bubble like feel.  Keeping my paper and paper scraps organized helps me quickly find what I need to make the Cricut cuts and move on to putting the layout together. 

My last tip has to do with organizing your bling.  I keep all my bling instead the small CTMH organizer.  This organizer sits in the top shelf of my craft cart making it easy for my to reach in and grab out a pack of dots or sequins or whatever I need to put the finishing touches on any layout I am working on. 

Feels good to have used some supplies I had been holding on to for a while.

Tomorrow I hope to finish the final 2 layouts in the GInni Harry Potter workshop, but first I have to pick the pictures for the layouts as I am thinking I might have to mix up the colors of the base pages or Cricut cuts to better match the pictures.  Wish me luck.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

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Work On it Wednesday - Cricut Welcome Muggles Layout

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Today I am again featuring Guest Designer Ginni Candelaria.  Ginni is a fellow Close To My Heart (CTMH) consultant who designers layouts using Cricut cut files and CTMH paper packets.  Now that I was on a roll with a Harry Potter theme, I decide to create this another layout from Ginni's workshop called "Welcome Muggles".

This layout came together fairly quickly using the cut file and cardstock I happened to have on hand from yesterday's layout.  As luck would have it, the dark red and yellow pattern was on the backside of the brick patterned paper.  I will admit Harry's tie was cut by hand out of a scrap of patterned paper left over from a different layout.  It was extremely lucky I just happened to have a scrap that was exactly the right size to make the tie.

Supplies needed:

1. X5961 Saffron Cardstock
2. X5965 Ruby Cardstock
3. X5946 Linen Cardstock
4. X5955 Pebble Cardstock
5. 1385 White Daisy Cardstock  
6. X6047 Black Cardstock
7. Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems
8. Z3517 Black Journaling Pen (.05)
9. Z2497 TriBlend Dark Red Marker

In addition to the happy accident with the tie, I changed up two things to make this layout "my own".  First, I used Linen for my base pages since I thought the Linen color is more neutral and would allow my photos to "pop".

The other item I changed was I used I piece of yellow striped cardstock from a retired mix in paper packet to make the photo mat.  I colored the white stripes using the "dark" portion of the Dark Red Triblend marker.  If you don't have a sheet of yellow striped paper at home, you can easily create this photo mat coloring both the yellow and red stripes on to white cardstock.  Hint: make it easier by just coloring the edges since a photo will be covering the center.

Check back in tomorrow for another cute Harry Potter layout and some stash busting tips.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

Guest Designer Tuesday - Cricut Platform 9 3/4 Layout

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Today I am featuring Guest Designer Ginni Candelaria.  Ginni is a fellow Close To My Heart (CTMH) consultant who designers layouts using Cricut cut files and CTMH paper packets.  Ginni's Harry Potter workshop launched in March of 2019, however I had not had the chance to create these layouts.  Now that I was on a roll with a Harry Potter theme, I decide to create this layout called "Platform 9 3/4s".

Having immersed myself in the memories of the first time we visited Hogsmead at Universal, my mind quickly moved to our second visit to Harry Potter world at Universal.  Diagon Alley had opened the year before along with the Hogwarts Express.  Platform 9 3/4s and the train ride were amazing.  How could I not create this layout?.  

I started by using Ruby cardstock as the base for the layout. I cut the brick stencil and inked the bricks on the base pages. I wasn't satisfied with the results. As you can see from the picture below, the bricks are barely discernible.

So off I went to my stash. I found a wonderful piece of patterned paper perfect for the layout.

I cut everything else as per the instructions. I did not have the black ribbon for the bows so I went into my stash and found a pack of Fundamentals Assortment Black with some cute little black bows I could substitute.

I am really happy with how this layout turned out.  And very excited to go find pictures to put on it.

Supplies needed:

1. X5965 Ruby Cardstock
2. X5961 Saffron Cardstock
3. X5946 Linen Cardstock
4. 1385 White Daisy Cardstock  
5. X6047 Black Cardstock
6. Charcoal Cardstock
7. Toffee Cardstock
8. Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems
9. Z3517 Black Journaling Pen (.05)
10. Z2497 TriBlend Dark Red Marker
11. Retired Fundamental Assortment Black

Check back in tomorrow for another cute Harry Potter layout and some stash busting tips.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)