Well Hello There, Happy Scrappers!
Polly Liana here, with a quick tutorial about how to prepare Lilypad images for use on 3D cards. A year ago, I purchased a Cricut Explore machine, which most of you will know is a device that can make very precise cuts in a variety of materials. It is similar to a Silhouette machine, which also prints. They both have a print and cut feature, which I like because I can make stickers and perfectly-cut printed images. Unfortunately, I did not always have images that were easy to cut– mainly if they had very detailed edges. When I hit that roadblock earlier that year, I remembered a fabulous action that our own Valorie Wibbens had created called Make a Sticker. This action creates a thin white border around any image, basically making it into a sticker. I quickly realized that this sweet action could also be used to create stickers and printed cut outs easily with my machine. Here’s how:
1. Purchase the action here and load it into Photoshop. I actually altered the action just a bit, to extend the background canvas as well so the border wouldn’t get cut off by the background. Here are the settings for that:
2. Select a group of png files from the Lilypad (I used Kate Hadfield’s Father’s Day goodies!) and batch process them using the new action. In Photoshop, you go to “File- Automate- Batch…” and a screen like this will pop up:
I create a folder within the image folder for the new sticker files.
3. Upload the new sticker files to your cutting program, size them properly for your card and print then cut them.
4. Peel the cut images off and arrange them on the cover of your card.
5. I used these two products to make my images pop off the card. The Scotch brand ones are fluffier and bigger but they both do their jobs well.
6. I finished the card by adding a surprise on the inside!
7. The completed Father’s Day card!
Hope this tutorial makes sense and inspires you to create a card of your own! Please post any questions in the comments, if I wasn’t being clear about something.
Have a lovely start to your weekend!
Kate Hadfield says
What a great tutorial (and fab card!) – thanks so much for sharing Liana!!