Tutorial: DIY die with Cricut Design Studio

I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in this tutorial, if it will be helpful, or what, but I'm going for it here, trying to start a new aspect of this blog. Please leave your feedback - let me know if you find this useful, if you have questions (if I did not sufficiently explain a step), anything you want to say!

So here is a list of things I am not:
I am not a graphic designer.
I am not an owner of expensive computer programs used to make art or svg cut files.
I am not one to spend money on things I can do myself.

This is a list of things I am:
I am thrifty.
I am crafting savvy.
I am cheap.

That being said, I am not above buying a Cricut die cut if I really love it and plan to use it a lot. However, in the case of the die you will see me make here today, I could not find a svg cut file that I loved to use on my pages or other papercrafting items. There were cartridges which had latte files, but I did not like them, as they did not look like the cup near and dear to my coffee-loving heart. I found a free cut file on Pinterest, but it was for the Silhouette, and I'm a Cricut girl.

So I made one. I used simple shapes and free files available in the Cricut Design Studio to create a cut file that I love to use on my pages. I make this tutorial not only so that you can make it too, but also to show you that if you have a relatively simple idea, but cannot find a cut file for what you want, you can easily attempt to make it!

Here is what we are going to create with this tutorial!

So let's begin. I will use tools within the Design Studio such as slice & weld. If you are not yet familiar with them, you can find many Youtube videos to help. You will need to know these tools before beginning this tutorial.

First, I used the octagon shape to make the body of my latte. You can make it short and fat, tall and skinny, whatever looks best to your eye and on your project. You will see that the two I make on screen are different shapes.

In order to manipulate the shape into a size that you desire, you will need to unlock the shape.

Then I used a square, to slice away the portion of the octagon that I did not want. You make the square large enough to cover the portion you wish to cut off, then select the octagon and square shapes and choose the Slice function.

You will be left with the sliced portion twice and the rest of the square you used to slice. You can just discard these shapes by hitting the red X.

Now you have a cup!


Next I want to make the top. I think it looks best with rounded corners, so I go into "Insert Image" to find a round corner rectangle. To easily find the images I own or have uploaded or are free, I choose the "my images" filter before I search.

Cricut is generous and provides some free cartridges to people who buy their machines, so I believe most people have access to this free rectangle I chose. It had a non-rounded corner rectangle in the middle, which I do not want, so I hid it. You do that by closing the eyball next to the shape you do not want. It will not show, and it will not cut.

I then unlocked the round corner rectangle and resized it to the appropriate size for my cup top.

Next I need the top portion of the cup lid. I realized an upside down octagon would be the perfect shape, so I made an octagon and rotated it.

Then I used a square to slice the portion of the octagon that I did not want. Discard the shapes you no longer need.

I then layered the top of the lid onto the bottom of the lid, selected both shapes and hit the WELD button. The two became one. You can undo the weld and reposition a shape if the end result was not exactly what you wanted.

Next I wanted to make the sleeve for the cup. To get the exact same shape as the cup I made, I just selected the cup shape and hit the "duplicate" button.

Next I use my trusty square to slice the bottom portion of the second cup shape.

I discarded the two bottom sliced portions and reused the rest of the square to slice away the top portion of the second cup shape.

I make sure that all 3 pieces of my latte cup are different colors so that they will cut on different papers, and DONE! Now you have an adorable cut file that is customizable to whatever papercrafting project you wish to create!

Here are a couple of examples of projects I created with this cut file.

Thank you for looking & please leave me feedback on the usefullnesss (or lack thereof) of this post, or what I could do to improve it, or if you have any other tutorial ideas you wish for me to create!

The big 2-1 - a sketch-y challenge

I loved the Sketch-y Friday Challenge over at Scrap Much? a few days ago!

I tried to not change the sketch much because I liked it so much, but had to find some different background textures besides flowers for my manly little brother...

This is the original sketch:

And here is a detail photo of my layout:

Thanks for looking!

Color of the month must be blue and green...

I completed a couple of mood board challenges with this layout for my son's baby album:

I love that even though he didn't take off his mask, you can see the smile and pride in my husband's eyes as he holds our second baby.

A few mood boards floating around this month have a royal blue theme, so that must be the color of the month, huh?

I used the challenges from Lasting Memories Layout Challenges and Scrapping Clearly. Great colors for a boy album! I love bright and bold.

Thanks for looking!

A New Look

Well, if you're reading this, you can see that I've updated my blog a little bit.

Just wanted to give credit to the lovely blogs that are gracious enough to offer freebies so I can have pretty things online.

Background from S.C.R.A.P.

Header from Clementine Creative.

Thank you! Appreciate you!

I will have some exciting news to announce in a few days! Also, I cleaned my craftroom, which is not the news, but for me, it makes crafting much easier! Hopefully I'll be able to do more soon with an organized space.

Thanks for looking!

Happy 90th Birthday!

I am really trying to push through my scrapbooking here - I need to get caught up! Scrapbook sketches really help me do it when I'm not feeling my most creative trying to come up with a new layout.

I did a double page spread for my great-grandmother's 90th birthday with a sketch from My Creative Sketches. I also think all would agree that 90 is a milestone! So it goes well with the weekly challenge over at Studio Calico.

Here is the scrapbook layout using the sketch, which I rotated.

With detail:

(we all about died at the look the babe on the left end is giving my granny's sister-in-law and the look she is giving him back! haha! guess that's what you get when trying to get a group picture of so many.)

And here is a close up of the project life pocket page:

Funny how that cute little boy keeps trying to steal the limelight! I didn't even take these photos, so photocred goes to my Dad, Billfoot.

Thanks for looking!

Five Generations

I completed the February Mood Board Challenge over at Jot Magazine.

Here's the Mood Board:

And here is my layout inspired by the mood board:

(That background paper is the pale pink from the mood board, I can't get the colors right on the computer apparently)

I was inspired by the pinks & greens, the flowers, and the quote. Not many people are blessed to have their great-great grandmother!

I've done a few 5 generation pages along the way since Heath was born & I won't stop! I'm so proud and happy to have a family with longevity. Right now my grandmother is in poor health, and we have some tough times ahead of us, but I'm going to enjoy the moments we have together while I can. This photo was taken at my great-grandmother's 90th birthday!

Here's a close up:

Thanks for looking! You can see products used on Instagram @scrappinhappy.

Moms are important! A simple & clean layout.

We have a very rainy & gross President's Day going on here today, so I am trying to make the most of it and work on some layouts and photo editing.

I completed a page for our Mothers today with my new Studio Calico kit. The page goes with the sketch crew crush over at Scrapbook Challenges where the challenge was to use a white background. It also goes with the February mood board over at Creating with Paper and More. The mood board inspiration I used from this board was the birds, love, hand lettering and flowers.

Here are some details:

Thanks for looking!

My scrapbooking story

A few days ago I received a message on my scrapbooking Instagram account requesting that I check DCWV's craft 60 project & share my story. I use DCWV products all the time, but hadn't heard of craft 60. I looked it up and I loved the sentiment. Check it out here.

So, I shared my experience about why I started and why I think memory keeping is so important. You can see it here! I thank the craft 60 project for this!

Reminiscing in old scrapbooks just reminded me how much I love them. I especially loved the scrapbook my mom made me for my college graduation. She did a double page spread for each year of my life. I bawled like a little baby when I opened it because I knew how much she had put into it. They're such sweet memories I will treasure forever.

So I encourage you to browse around the Craft 60 Project & get ideas. Do some crafting with your family & make memories.

Thanks for looking!

Real Talk: Thank God for memories

Do you ever get emotional while scrapbooking?

I do. It usually revolves around pictures of my sweet boys and realizing how much they've grown & aren't stopping!

Today it was for my grandmother. Times are hard for our family right now because her health is failing, and it's very sad.

But thank God for our good memories and documenting those memories. This is why I do what I do. We will always have something tangible to look back at and remember all the good times. I will have photos to back up the stories I tell my boys about things they never knew or don't remember.

I made this page today of the first time my grandmother met my new babe.

Details:

Scrapbooks don't have to be fancy. You don't have to decorate your pages. I make detailed scrapbook pages because it is my creative outlet & I enjoy it. But things like Project Life make "scrapbooking" so so so easy and available to everyone. Even just printing photos and putting them in album sleeves like people used to do so long ago! We should print our photos. Spend time as families looking at them and reliving our favorite times together. Teach our children about our history. Enjoy our memories!

Thanks for looking! Document your life!

Beachy Smiles - a sketch challenge

I am wrapping up last year's beach vacation in the scrapbook & found a great sketch to use for one of my photos over at Grand Diva's Scrappy Place. I also participated in the Scrappy Friend's Bonus Challenge by adding the "This or That" element from Rochelle Spears.

I used a "polaroid" frame & Pink Paislee Atlas paper. Cut some dies from my Cricut, of course.

Good Challenges - go play along!

Thanks for looking!