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