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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

How To Use The Cricut Car Decal Cartridge To Get Layers



Lately there have been alot of visitors at Two Pink Peas   trying to figure out how to use the Car Decals Cricut Cartridge and how to get layers. The biggest question seems to be can you layer images and what do you have to do to layer the images together. Usually when I post a picture of my newest card I always try post the exact how to directions at the same time.  

 For these two cards I got so busy and forgot to do that.
I am really sorry about that!! I mean, what good is a picture if you don't know how to make it? So I am going to make up for that right now.

The Car Decals cartridge does not have a layers feature like the other cricut cartridges do. This is what you have to do to achieve the look of layers using this cartridge. Believe it or not, it is VERY simple and VERY easy. Basically just cut the same image as many times in the different patterned or plain paper that you need.

Before I go any further I want to explain one more thing. This is meant for the brand new Cricut users and not for the seasoned Cricut users. So if I seem to keep going on and on this is why. I want to make sure that everyone completely understands how to achieve this look. 
Ok, when you cut out the little girl (in the first card pictured above) in black cardstock, it will obviously all be outlined in black cardstock. When you cut the same image out in patterned paper, the whole outlined image will be cut out in that particular paper. I am sure you are probably thinking, duh Terri..lol. That is only common sense. If you have never done this before I don't want you to think that you did something wrong. That is what it is supposed to look like for each individual cut.

 After you have finished cutting out all of the "layers" (as we will call them) that you need, the next step is to cut out each individual piece that you want so you can then layer them all together.

Actually, I am going to give you a better, more detailed 
example using the first card that I have pictured above. 
I believe that you all understand what I am saying, but I want to really make sure. And once again, this is really meant for those who are newer at card making or have never used this cartridge before.
This card is called "Just For You" and it is with the little girl and the cute little flower. This image happens to be on page 33 of the booklet. First, I cut the little girl out in the brown paper cardstock in the shadow feature. Although on this particular cartridge it is not called the shadow feature, I still call it that. Habits! They are hard to break. Just make sure that your Cricut says <Girl2-s> (if you are brand new to Cricut, the "s" stands for shift). I really want to make sure that you will get the correct cut of this image. So for this card I only cut that image out one time using the brown cardstock. I forget the size of the image but I can measure that at a later time.
My next cut was of the outline of the little girl and your
Cricut will say <Girl2>. 
This cut was first in black cardstock and that makes your basic outline.  Next I took the cute yellow flowered patterned paper and I cut out the same image again <Girl2> at the same size. This cut image will be the exact same outline (as the black) just all in the patterned paper. 
I knew that I wanted to use the same paper for the little dress, flower and little bows in her hair. Then I took my scissors and cut off the little flower, I snipped off her dress and the little bows off of her hair.
Layer those on top of the black outline, use your preferred adhesive and there you have your finished image.
It is really that simple!! My instructions may not seem that easy though..lol. It is very late and I am so tired..lol

You can repeat these same steps for any image in this cartridge to achieve this layered look.

I hope this helped those of you who were not sure how to achieve this look with this particular cartridge. I pay very close attention to my visitors and how they get to my site.
It really matters to me what you are searching for and I want to make sure that you can find the answers here at Two Pink Peas.
I can usually see how a visitor gets to my blog (generally speaking like using google.com, search.yahoo.com, coming from other blogs, etc.) and what they were searching for. I just to clarify one thing, I CANNOT see any personal information like your name, address or anything like that so please do not worry. If you have a blog or website then you know what I am talking about. The information we get is very generic to say the least. We can see what city and state you are from and that is IT!! My blog is very important to me and I check the searches every day, several times a day actually. This helps me improve my blog by adding what you are searching for. Many bloggers pay very close attention to their visitors.
Anyway, if a search matches the topic or content of one of my blog posts then I can see that. This is a very helpful tool and it allows me to tailor my blog and content to what you are searching for.

How to layer using the Car Decal Cartridge has been one hot topic that many of you seem to be searching for and really want help on. I cannot even count the amount of new blog viewers coming to Two Pink Peas for this very reason.
This is the reason I am addressing this topic right now.

One of my main goals here at Two Pink Peas is to help and teach those who have questions about products, are looking for tips and tricks and want to know how to perfect techniques. 

I want you to feel comfortable enough that you too can make things you have never tried before. You can do it!!

My goal for the future of Two Pink Peas is to be one of the best card making blogs on the web.

The new and improved Two Pink Peas website that is currently being developed is going to have so many amazing features. For example Two Pink Peas will have a forum where you can share your projects, chat about anything cricut, card making and scrapbooking. We are going to have tons of contests and giveaways. There is alot to look forward to. You will be the first to know when TwoPinkPeas.Com is ready to be launched.

 If you ever have any suggestions or questions for me, I would love to hear them.
 I personally read each and every comment that is left and will personally respond to them all in a very timely manner.
I will do my very best to help in any way that I can. Even if I don't know the answer I can at least direct you to someone who can.

Finally, things with our house are beginning to slow down some.  Soon I will have a little more time to make more cards, post more pictures and try new things.
The problem is that my craft furniture is all packed away so
today I went out and purchased 2 special folding craft tables. This way I will have a place to get back to making cards and other projects. Folding tables seemed like a perfect idea because when we need to show our house to a potential buyer, I will be able to easily put everything away in a hurry.

Plus, these tables will go in My Two Pink Peas Craft Room. This will also allow me to have alot more space to do many different projects at once and that is always a good thing. If you are like me and don't have the space to do your crafting, maybe consider getting a good folding craft table. They are not permanent and can be tucked away when not in use.

Well in closing, If you happen to make any cards using these techniques, I would LOVE to see your finished cards or projects. Feel free to leave me a comment and where I can view it. I would be so happy to drop on by and take a peek. Of course I would leave a comment for you when I visit. One thing I love to do is to see all of your amazing creativity.
Imagination is one of the greatest gifts we possess!
Let your imagination go crazy!
The sky is the limit!!
Thank you SO much for stopping by Two Pink Peas.
Until next time..~Terri

P.S. Sheesh, I think this was by far the longest post that I have ever made. Talk about major rambling..lol. It is now almost 5 am and I am severely sleep deprived and I need to go to bed and get some much needed rest. Once I read this post again tomorrow I will probably be thinking to myself "what the heck was I talking about and why did I have to ramble on and on and on" lol....My goodness!! :o)
If you read this whole post, Thank You!!
See you all tomorrow! :o)

2 comments:

Lynn B. said...

The card is really cute (I came from Kristal's facebook page). I don't have that cartridge, but your explanation of how to get the layers was good. If I ever get it I will know how to make better use of it, thanks.

Anonymous said...

I really liked the article, and the very cool blog