07/02/2021
Ok so this took for-ev-er to complete. Not too long ago I got a Cricut Joy. After making a couple of cards and vinyl labels I wanted to try something new. I’d seen some layered projects on Pinterest and thought I’d give it a go.
Rather that downloading a free project file as a trial I dove straight in and designed an original. I chose my daughter’s favorite things as a theme. It started out easy enough, I drew the design in Procreate, making sure each colour was on a separate layer, as well as using masking to keep it in an S shape.
Now I had the design I just needed to upload in into the Cricut app... here is where it got really tricky. I had to create each shape as a separate cut file, while ensuring that the piece to go under it also included it so there would be somewhere to glue it on. For example, the mermaid is made of four separate cut pieces; the skin, hair, bra and tail. The silhouette of the entire mermaid was cut from the skin card then the tail, bra and hair cut and glued on top.
It was a challenge to work out how to needed to be cut to work, like putting together a puzzle. It was time consuming too, I felt the Cricut app could be more intuitive when it comes to uploading your own files, which seems to be a common complaint among Cricut owners based on the fb group chats.
I used card from Kmart, cut it down and stuck it to my Cricut mat. I loaded each colour paper in separately, but have since seen a different method which looks like it would be faster (yet to trial). Carefully, I laid it all out to make sure it fit together before glueing the pieces in place. This also took a while and was more tedious than expected but I’m really happy with the end result.
I think a layered project this detailed would be easier in a larger size. I was constrained to the sheet size from the Cricut Joy so if I do this again I’ll opt for a more simplified design. I’m planning on framing it and using the 3M picture strips to stick it to my daughters door.
[image description: Several layers of coloured paper, cut to create a fantasy scene including fairies, unicorns and mermaids put together to form the letter S. The second image is a close up of the project, showing the layers of coloured card.]
