Tooty Fruity Tuesday - Shaped Cards

Everyone enjoys the novelty of getting or giving a card or beautifully shaped card from time. So, how do you do that in SCAL? It’s really quite simple.

We’ll start this week with a card with a shaped front panel. It’s a bit more complicated to make the whole card a shaped card, so we will tackle that another day.

1 – Pick a shape, any shape! Ok … maybe not ANY shape, but most shapes will work. If the shape is an ‘open’ shape (with a lot of cut-out and open areas), you may want to consider using a blackout of that shape for the card base and a regular cut of it for an additional layer.

I selected a shape from the SCAL shapes library.

2 – Get the shape into SCAL. Use a shape in a font, one of the shapes included in the SCAL library, or import the shape you want.

A gingerbread man on the mat for my card.

3 – Insure that ‘weld’ is clicked for your desired shape.

4 – Size the shape to the size you’d like your finish card to be. You will want to click ‘keep proportions’ for your shape before you size it. Most cards, for example, are 4.25” x 5.5”. The shape may size exactly to that size, but you can make it as close as possible.

The size selection for the card front.

5 – Add a rectangle to your mat. Again, make sure that ‘weld’ is clicked for this shape.

6 – Size the rectangle to your card size – DO NOT click ‘keep proportions’ for this. Move the rectangle to touch your card front (the shape). You may need to adjust the size a bit to make sure the welded edge works for your card.

The welded card.

7 – Cut your card, score it at your weld point, and fold. Decorate, embellish, and send your card. If you used a blackout shape for your card front, you may want to make a normal layer - of the same size or just a little smaller - to go on top to embellish. Don’t forget to send that card!! We often make cards and keep them on hand, but we need to send a smile, a thought, a blessing to someone else.

Let me know what you think about this tutorial, and please let me see what you create!

Don’t forget to check in here tomorrow!! Clear Dollar Stamps August Sneak Peek Preview Day 1!!

Have a terrific Tuesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

~*Shell*~

Tooty Fruity Tuesday - Welding

Welding in SCAL


What is "welding"?
Welding is the act of putting 2 or more images together to be cut as one piece. Cuts that would normally be made where the pieces are joined are not made.

Non- welded images -








Welded images -











Why would I want to weld?
Sometimes, we are trying to create a particular shape, and we can weld shapes together to achieve this task - a card, a card border, double hearts, etc.

In other cases, welding can make the shapes easier to handle - words, for example, are easier to place and deal with if the letters are welded together.

Often, we want to embellish a shape, and we use welding to assist with that - adding a flower shape to a word or letter, for example.

Welding adds another level of versatility to our die-cut crafting.


How do I weld in SCAL?



1 - Choose 2 shapes to weld. I chose a rectangle (5.5" x 4.25") and a heart the same size. These will be joined to create a card.




2 - Make sure the box 'weld' is checked for both images - as shown in the *green* circle below.



3 - Move the pictures together until they touch at the place(s) that you'd like them to join.




4 - Click "Preview." Where the images join, the image lines should be 'grayed' out. If you are joining images and there are NO grayed out lines, make sure you've followed the instructions above exactly.



5 - Cut. Your images are joined and should cut as one piece.

You can do the same with letters - make each letter it's own shape and click "weld" for each one. this method allows you to join the letters at the places you'd like to be joined and skewed the way you'd like - if you don't want them straight.

The images placed to be cut ....

The images welded in the preview ....



Welding is SO much fun and can help you make such fun shaped cards. I hope you find this helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know! :)



Have a wonderful Tuesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.


~*Shell*~