nested shapes and base cards

I've always loved nestability dies but always wanted larger dies so I could make cards as well as mat and layer Tilda stamps with more than 1 or 2 layers.

Here are my solutions to the problem.

All nested sets come as scut files set for 6 sizes all stepping down by 5%, the bottom 3 are the inbetween sizes to the top row. Split into 3 scuts you will get a master file for the expressions which allows you to double mount the mat and cut the 2 sizes in different colours at the same time. There is also a large and small scut for the smaller cricut. You will also receive a single svg so you can cut to your own needs. Each set costs £1.00

cut to fit on to a4 card cut into 6" wide strips these are how they look nested.

Nested Inverted squares

Fancy square 2

Fancy square 3

Cutaway flower, can be blacked out to create a solid petal.

I do also have scalloped circles, oval, rectangle & squares and a few other fancy shapes available which I'll be adding here tomorrow when I'va had chance to cut and photo them.

Large scallop circle card. The files come as a scalloped svg base card that cuts a truly scalloped card base or by blacking out gives a straight edge. It also comes with 2 scalloped circle svgs which match perfectly, use either as mats & layers or frames or position inside the base card svg to cut an aperature. Cost £1

Scalloped square card, cost £1.00

Comes as a base plus a single scalloped square svg to match.

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Approx a6 scalloped card, cost £1.00

Again the base card can be cut truly scalloped or blacked out and a single scalloped rectangle is included. Please note it's mathmatically impossible to get a true nest with rectangles and ovals while keeping the scallops identically proportioned. You either have to put up with mismatched scallops or a larger gap at the top & bottom or the sides. This card works out a tad under the normal a6 size and comes with a single scalloped svg which matches.

There is also an a5 version, there are more scallops than the a6 version but it is only a mm or 2 off of a perfect a5 card. Both of these cards can be sized to any size your mat will allow.

More movig cards

Carrying on the theme of moving cards here are a heart inner aperature and a heart flip card.


Both templates are available at £1.00 each.

This time we have some more spinner cards, bauble & bell. I have tried to make butterfly & heart versions to match the flip and inner aperature cards but as they fold back so the shape is partially lost and gaps appear. I'll keep persevering though as there must be a way of adapting the shape to get it to work.

The cost for spinner templates is £1.00 each.

I have been told a couple of times over the last few days that there's a problem with the shopping cart. Scal I can use but it seems the coding is defeating me. If you would like to purchase the svg templates you can either email me and I'll send a paypal request or some of the templates are listed on ebay.

mats and doilies

This is one of my new mat designs and was cut to 3" square. This will make a great topper with different coloured circles stuck behind as well as an unusual mat. It's available as 4 different topper designs and 2 borders. The set costs £3.00 or individually at £1.00 each. I've used screenshots for the variations, mainly because it takes quite a while to cut the designs and I've been impatient to get the next design cut. I will cut them later and add to the post at a later date.

This set is inspired by an arched churched window. It's very detailed and you'll need a nice sticky mat and sharp blade. The set comprises of a smaller square and circular doily which were cut here at 5" high, the circular doily as a frame, 2 borders, a double sided ribbon and a large square design. I wouldnt suggest cutting the larger square any smaller than 8"

Each of the designs are available seperately, £1.50 each for the mats and doilies and £1 for the 2 borders and ribbon or £4 for the

entire set.

scalloped open book card

This is my take on an old favourite design, an open book card.

The file comes as 2 svgs, scalloped edge and plain edge. By importing them at different sizes you can have as few or as many layers as you'd like. In the picture I've scored the central spine area and created some movement to the pages by curving them. A big rolling pin is a great tool when curving the pages as it stops creases appearing. My rolling pin was still in the sink covered in bits of pastry when I made this card, so I curved it over my arm, not my best idea ;o) Cost £1.00

More moving cards

There seem to be loads of names for this sort of card, I've called them W aperature. Might not be as pretty as some of the names but for me it helps stop the confusion.

These designs come as an svg file for the inner aperature fold and like previous designs have minature perforations to create the score line. I do have a template to match the outside but I find it easier to stick them to a larger piece of scored card and trim the outer layer.

The files cost £1 each and at the moment are available in butterfly, flower, bell & bauble. I am working on other designs so if there's a shape you'd like to see as a w aperature or flip card please let me know.

Here are some more flip cards where the inside fits to the outside to create a moving flap on the front.

Available in 4 designs, butterfly, flower, bell and bauble they come as 2 svgs, inner and outer and have perforated scorelines.

Cost £1.00 each

Moving card templates

These cards are sometimes called K or Cantilever depending on which brand of plastic template you buy. I prefer to think of them as flip cards because the cut panel from the inner flips into place.

My templates have minature perforations to create the score lines meaning you'll always get the inner and outer layers to match perfectly. Available as either square or circle templates they work best as a 5" sqr card. The files will come as 2 svgs and cost £1 each.

These spinner cards are great fun to decorate. They're hard to describe as the central panel looks square or circular when closed but as they open they twist to reveal the other side of an elongated circle or rectangle. I do have a decorate one on my SU blog if you want to see what I mean. The score lines have once again been created using a series of minature perforations.

Available as a circle or square centre the svg is sized to create a 5" square card and costs £1.00

no score templates

I hate making exploding boxes, all those mats & layers take forever and are so boring so I decided to see if I could make a truly scalloped exploding box with mats in scal. Once the pattern had cut I found I didn't even need to score the box, just a wee bit on the tabs for the lid.

The mats and layers were easy, I just selected the rounded corner square and changed the sizes accordingingly. The decoration was just playing about with dingbats except the xmas tree in the middle, that's one I drew by hand.

If you would like to purchase the scalloped exploding box template it comes as a presized scut for the lid and outer + shaped layer set to make a 3" cube with well fitting lid as well as seperate svgs for the lid and layer so you can scale to your own preferred size. Cost £2.00

The christmas tree svg is also available at £1.00 I wouldn't recommend cutting it any smaller than 3" high, a deep cut blade is highly recommended as is the mat to be reasonably sticky.

After realising that scallops allieviate the need to score I wondered if it would be possible to use the principle to make spring cards on scal. It would be easy enough to cut them after all they're just an envie type shape, the problem would be knowing where to get the score lines.

After lots and lots of time using circles in psp I finally manage to create a template that is perforated enough to fold without scoring but not so perforated as to give too jagged a line. The template is available as an svg for £1.00

A variation on a spring card is this diamond double fold. Unless you have a 12 * 24 mat it's not possible to make the central area square unless you want to make a card no more than 3" high. This one was cut 5" high. Using the same technique as the spring card there is no need to score. Please note this card does not fold in together flat for postage and would need to be placed unfolded in the envelelope unless you make a box for it. Available as an svg cost £1.00

SureCutsALot2

Well there's been a big buzz amongst the scal groups about the new version and after having a brief play with the trial version I couldn't resist upgrading.

I've not played with it fully yet so maybe I'll be amending this post over the next few days but my intial impression is WOW.

I love the new zoom tool, no more nose against the screen trying to see small detail. You can zoom in to 500%.

Layers.. ooh how I love them. For those who just do the odd welded word it isnt going to change your life but if you're into paper piecing or you want to mat and layer perfectly this is fab. You can arrange everything on the virtual mat to check the borders, placement etc but by having each image on a seperate layer you can cut them individually. This is going to save me loads of time and messing about. No more saving a 12*24 mat with all the images scaled then having to keep deleting & moving stuff into position and having to save half a dozen different scut files.


There's a new trace tool, no more having to open jpgs in inkscape, convert and save as an svg then import into scal. This nifty tool does it all in one go so it's going to save some disk space. I can't see inkscape (or other svg converting programmes) being totally redundant, there is still going to be the odd file or 2 that needs tidying up and node simplification.


At last there's a group feature, dead handy when you need to move loads of images/shapes and keep them in perfect position. It's also great to be able to change their size all in one go as well.

Can't say as having the mat at a side orientation has ever bothered me but it is nice to be able to switch the ruler to cms.

Now I have run into a few issues that make it a good idea to keep scal1 on the pc until any bugs are ironed out.

Shadows are playing up a bit in scal2, I tried to shadow a jpg image but instead of a nice tidy shadow it went crazy and the finished shadow bared no relation to the original. I hear other people are finding the same thing on the basic shapes as well.

If you have an expressions make sure you preview before cutting. For some unknown reason it wants to cut half page only. Easily cured by going back in and checking the 12*12 mat but it's irritating when you're cutting duplicates and the last cut worked fine.

There is also the issue of compatability, you can open scal1 scut files in scal2 but not the other way around. I've also found you can't delete images from scal1 files in scal2. This isnt a biggie issue for me though.

I'm over the moon with scal2 but if you only want to use scal for welded words I don't know that I'd be jumping to upgrade. For those that arent using scal to the extremes that myself and others are this is going to be a great help in getting more from it than just the odd letter and basic shape.

As to how you get an upgrade, just click the logo on the right and click to download. If you already have scal1 you will need to fill in a form on the craftedge site with your name, email addy & serial number. Craftedge will then email you back a coupon code, use this in the purchase area and your upgrade will only cost you $30 (£19 in uk money today).

Edit.
Have also found when tracing an image you cant duplicate them by cutting and pasting you have to retrace every time. Maybe not a biggie but if in a desperate rush it might be quicker to convert the image to svg in inkscape.

SureCutsALot

If you havent already got the SureCutsALot programme and see what it's all about you can try or buy just by clicking the logo.

More files available

I have been asked for some of the files used on my slide show cards. Sadly the Japanese Temple is adapted from a pattern by Janet Wilson in her More Teabag Folding book and is subject to her copyright. It's a wonderful book and contains some beautiful templates and is a great addition for anyone who likes oriental cards.

These files are now available

Heart borders. Cost £2.00

This set contains 3 designs, a medium thickness border (red image), a very finely cut heart border (not pictured) which I would suggest you use the deep cut blade and not too thick a cardstock, and a border without the extra cutaway dimples (for those who don't like scrapping tiny bits from the mat or are in a hurry) pictured in raspberry pink.

All 3 designs come with a solid middle ready to add a stamped image as well as with the central area cutaway to make a frame. Please note these have such a fine detail that they will not shadow.

Shaped 40 card cost £1.00

Great for ruby wedding cards as well as birthdays.

Shaped 21 card, cost £1.00

Both number cards come as 3 files, an expressions where you can cut the layers and base card in one go and 2 seperate files for the smaller machine. If you want a different number please email me, under normal circumstances I'll be able to create the file within 24 hours.

birthday corner cards

There are 2 variations of this card, one with a shaped back and the other with a square back. The squared back version looks very effective when used with duo card, ie the back and front are different colours.

The file includes both templates as well as the inner letters and mat. Cost £1.00

trishutter variation

I seem to be really enjoying the possibilities with trishutter cards.

Here are a couple more I've designed. Both come with 3 files, one for the expressions with both base card and the layers ready to double mount the mat. The other 2 files are for the original & create, 1 is the base card the others the layers.

Seasons Greetings £1.50

Congratulations £1.50

tri shutter templates

Scal has taken a backseat lately as I've been pretty much absorbed with rubber, ink and sorting out my pc files. I have been playing with scal over the last few weeks and have designed some trifold shutter cards which can be cut on the cricut. If you would like to purchase any of the scut files please email me at playingwithpaper@googlemail.com for details.







This is a standard trishutter card and comes in 2 options, 1 as pictured with straight middle sections or as the card below with rounded corner middle sections. The scut files include the base card and mats for all sections. Cost £1.00



















This is one I'm calling an inverted trishutter because the folds are made differently to normal. This one has been decorated with clear rubber tapestry sentiments and the tree is a stamp from the Craft Barn.



The scut file comes as a base card and the layers. It's set in 3 files, 1 for the expressions with both base and layers arranged on the mat ready for double mounting the mat. The other 2 files are for the smaller machine, 1 the base card and the layers on the other file. Cost £1.00




This was fun to design but it's not the easiest card to get to stand alone. I would suggest using either a false hinge or plate stand.









The scut file contains the base card and 2 layers of hearts. Cost, £1.00


This one wasnt the easiest to design because of the minimum width needed for the cricut to cut without breaking the card. There is just the narrowest border between the base card and the letters. Size restraints make it impossible for me to make the border or letters larger for those with the smaller cricuts.









The scut file includes the base card, letters, stars and mats. Cost £1.50

Now my files are sorted out I should be able to upload some more scut files for sale over the next few weeks.