Fabric Test Cut And Draw With The Cricut Explore

After going through my stash and working one project I wondered what a favorite BOM quilt designer has been up too.  She's started another BOM called "Be Happy" and I downloaded the first two blocks.    I wondered how easy it would be to draw on fusible webbing and how well the Explore cuts fabric.

I tried to import the image into Design Studio but couldn't get the picture to trace well.  It kept seeing the white behind the block and I finally gave up.  I have the Mac version of MTC and imported the screenshot.   I cleaned up the picture and used the layers setting to separate the pieces.  The problem with importing raster images is that the software sees 2 lines (the edges) instead of one single line.  I think MTC does have a setting to do single lines but I'm not sure where it is.

I made the drawn circles real circles and put the block back together.  I sent it over to Design Studio and it showed up almost true to size and in one piece.  I changed everything to the draw setting and drew out the pieces on fusible webbing.  Cool!  

I realized I hadn't tried cutting fabric and using 505 basting spray on the fabric, I placed the fabric on the mat and taped down the piece.  I used the fabric setting and it cut!  Now for machine appliqué, I don't think the fabric is stable enough to satin stitch.  You would need a fusible webbing for the back.

I don't know if the Explore fits a pencil as I'd hate for the pen to bleed through to the fabric when using an iron.  What I'd have to do is separate the pieces and add a shadow layer for the cut line.  How easy it would be to import into Design Studio, I don't know.

By the time I'd done the editing, imported it to Design Studio and started drawing/cutting I could have had most of the pieces traced onto paper and pressed onto the fabric.  I don't think doing it this way would save time.  However; if you needed a ton of little tiny flowers or leaves this would work.  I can even see putting different fabrics on the mat to get an entire flower done at one time.  

I haven't tried to cut with fusible webbing on the back of the fabric.   It's after midnight and I'm tired.

Graphic 45 "By The Sea" Mini Album

I ended up putting the "Couture" album away for now.  It's giving me a headache because I'm so picky.  I need to learn to relax.  It doesn't help I hit boredom about 3/4 way through a project.  The joys of no attention span..was that a bird?

The mini album tutorial is from SoMuchScrap.  Check out her Etsy store as she has some amazing mini albums.  The "Couture" album is from her as well.  The tutorials are easy to read and put together.

These are some of the pages I've made.  I don't glue anything down until I know what I want.  There's nothing worse than realizing you did something wrong and can't change it.  I have to order the paper and it's not cheap or easy to find so if you mess up, good luck.  Graphic 45 doesn't make enough paper and it gets frustrating when every online store is sold out.

She used Spellbinders Label 21 to make the edges.  I couldn't find it in any store and Amazon wanted 20-25 dollars.  I hate how much Spellbinders charges for their stuff and 5 dollars per metal die is insane.   Even if you find them on sale, they are still overpriced.  So… I went looking for SVG sets that had a similar design and found one from Bird's Cards that was perfect.  I went back to the Spellbinders site and wrote down the measurements.  I work better in MTC for SVG files as you can put fractions in for sizes.  I then saved it as an SVG file and imported it into Design Space.  I thought MTC has a nesting function but couldn't find it.

Cricut Design Space is still goofy to work with and I forgot it doesn't import anything true to size.  Grrr.  I managed to use the largest design and get it close enough to the original numbers from Spellbinders and scaled it to size.  I used my Explore to cut out the templates.

My only gripe with So Much Scrap's tutorials is that her pages run to the 1/8 size like 7 5/8 and then has you center the die.  Good luck finding 3 11/16 as center point if you OCD as you have to center the Graphic 45 papers as well.  Next time I do one of her albums, I'm using normal numbers that fit nicely.

I can't wait for the rest of my stuff to come as Amazon finally got some more paper in and ordered it.

Graphic 45 "Botanical Tea" Mini Album

I've also been working on this mini album.  The pages fold out and you can use them as a card file as well.  This has taken forever because of all the paper cutting and having to find the pages where everything is.  I finally had to just do my own thing as nothing was easy to find.

Front cover:  I changed the front cover by using my Explore to cut the frame and fussy cut the roses.  I just didn't like the front and ran out of the paper she had used.  Cricut has some nice frames to choose from and it was great not having to design my own.

Inside page:  My Explore cut the pink rose tag out.

Fold out page:  I loved all the roses in this paper and had to use them.

Insid  fold out page:

Back page of 1st section and start of section 2:  The flower pages open up into another page

Inside page

Inside page of section 2:

Start of fold out page:

Inside of section two.  I used the Explore to cut out the cages and the filigrees using designs from their software.  Silhouette studio designs for bird cages were minimal and pretty sub standard.  I apologize for it being turned wrong.  I love this page.

 
Back page of section two/front page of section three:

Those pages opened up:

Inside pages:

Section 3:

Inside pages of section 3.  They aren't finished yet as the paper she used I can't find or is already cut up.

I'm hoping to get this finished soon.  It's a lovely album and the paper is gorgeous.  

First Baby Card With Explore

I just did my first card on the Explore.  I LOVE how this turned out.  I found a card via Pinterest and used the idea.  I'm not that talented to come up with my own yet.  She used real buttons, ribbon and better paper, but this came out great.

The Explore scored the card and did the writing.  The pens fit in perfectly and flow nicely.  Design Space still needs a centering tool if you want to write.  I did design this in MTC and moved it over as a SVG file.  I don't know how the editing of fonts works in Design Space as I haven't done it yet.  While the software is limited, I really like it. 

I really like that you can load the mats via color.  I had five colors and just loaded the mats.  If I was good, I could add the papers on the mats, change everything to one color and go.  The last mat didn't load right and it looks like it makes you start over with the first one..PC needs to give an option to choose which mat you want to load first.  I fixed it by closing the eye on all the pieces I didn't want cut.

If you are looking for a fast cutter, this isn't it.  My Cameo can do the cuts twice as fast, but I love the accuracy of the cuts on the Explore.  I used the light card stock setting and paper from Michael's.