Strategies of Design Space cutting

Design Space in Cricut can be tricky but the more that you work with it, the easier tasks become and for me much of my learnings come from trial and error.

I am a huge fan of wood grain paper - especially the patterns in the 2021-2022 Paper Packet that is retiring at the end of the month (or when supplies are depleted).  With this particular set of patterns, I have especially found joy creating layouts for pets. Why wood grain you might ask?  Well, first because the patterns are neutral and lend their way for many color combinations in the photographs and second- the colors of the wood grains themselves work so well with the many shades of pet's fur.

So with that being said, one struggle that I have is that there are often lines across the wood grain patterns that I might not want to go through whatever I am cutting.  And, now I have a solution to be able to cut around those lines!

Let me explain. 

Here is the wood grain pattern that I chose to work with.  You will note that there are indeed lines in the paper.  When you place the paper on the Cricut Mat, you can then use the measurements on the left side of the mat to guide you in Design Space.

When strategizing my cuts in Design Space, I can manipulate the images around those lines.  So for i.e., in this sheet, I see that my image is larger than 1" so it will not fit above that first line.  I can then move the image down below the 1 1/2" mark, and still above the 4" mark and the image will cut without having the line move through the image.  

For this cut, I know that Cricut will not cut larger than an 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" space so I created a box, measured it to 11 1/2" x 11 1/2".  I ensured that all of my images were aligned within that box, deleted the box and attached my images all together that way they stayed in the position that I placed them in and would align with the lines of my wood grain.  This is how my screen looks in Design Space.

And here is what my cuts look like after being removed from the Cricut mat - you can see how the wood grain line is in between all of the cuts.

Fun right??  So, now that I have explained how to create these cuts, here is the layout that I created using this design element.  To see a larger picture, click on the image and it will open up with a larger view in a new window.

And here are a few pictures of the details:

This layout kit is now available in my shop.  You can find out more details by clicking here.

Supplies used:  (X8028) Wood Grain Paper Pack, (X6047) Black cs, (1385) White Daisy cs, (Z5022) Adhesive Paper, (Z6018) Wood Arrows, (Z2060) Thin Foam Tape, (Z3372) Adhesive Runner, (Z341) Mini-Glue Dots.  Supplies that are current can be ordered here on my CTMH website.

Sassfully yours, 

Tonya