Embellish Your Cricut Cuts

Good morning.   I'm Cher from Cheryl's Window and, once again, I am honored to be a guest designer today here today at She's a Sassy Lady.

Today's project is a beginner project as well as a reminder, and some tips, about embellishing our Cricut cuts.   We have so many adorable as well as elegant images available for us to cut with our Cricut(s), but sometimes we just want to give them a little more umph, pizazz, bling, pop, pow... you get the idea.   There are so many ways to do this, but here are just a few different ways to embellish your cuts as well as a big tip for making the process a little easier.

For this card above, I positioned my layers on my Gypsy for easy placement of my papers and then arranged my papers on my mat accordingly.  Notice that for the tub, I actually used a sticky back piece of metal from Making Memories.  That is an embellishment right there.  You could also use plumbers aluminum tape from the hardware store, but you'll need to vary your settings as it is thicker.  When I cut the metal used here, I was able to pause my Gypsy just before this one cut and adjust my blade depth and pressure to perform a "kiss" cut as you would vinyl.  This way I only cut the very thin metal layer rather than the sticky back tape.

Once your cuts are complete, leave them on the mat, but clean up all the negative pieces and weed all your little cuts.   To do this, you really need to use your tools here.  Here are some of my favs that I reach for every  time.   You need to take a few minutes to clean up your cuts sometimes.  As much as we would love to get perfect cuts each and every time, we all know that we don't.   Just a few minutes of your time here will make it look like you do though.

Use your poky dental pick to weed out those little bity inside pieces.   Again, notice that I am leaving ALL my essential layer pieces ON the mat where they cut.   This ensures that I don't lose a piece and/or can remember where each layer goes.  How many times have you cut out all those little pieces and then lost the dot for the i or a little layer for those characters?   This way you won't lose those pieces.

When a piece just does not cut out all the way, don't be scared of using that X-acto knife right on your mat.  You don't have to saw into this cardstock; you usually only have to break a few fibers of the paper to release a cut.   NOTE:  Don't have a cappuccino right before this step.  LOL

Finish weeding all your layers before embellishing or assembling.

You probably noticed that some of these pieces are very tiny! I want to add some glitter, flock, and beads to these cuts also. If I moved these off the mat, I would definitely lose a few and I would have a very hard time embellishing these.   So I now glitter/flock/etc these tiny pieces right on my mat.   If it is a larger piece, you could very easily take it off your mat and it would be fine and that is what we do for most of our cuts, but here is a way that we can add something to those bity layers. 

When I am layering images with detailed layers, I prefer to use a liquid glue that dries clear.   There are many out there, so pick your favorite.   By using a liquid glue, I have a few moments that I can add my embellishing and when assembling the layers, I can still slide it into place before it dries.  

For this layer, I wanted to flock with Sparkly Fluff on the washcloth, glitter the water splashes, and add glass beads for my bubbles.   I used just a tiny bit and did one at a time...again, right on the mat.   I used my finger to press the flock, glitter, and beads into the glue on the paper.  By using only a little, I don't have a lot of waste and it dries rather quickly too.  

While that finishes drying, I move on to start assembling my layered images...right on the mat.   

I like to use a super fine black pen and outline the eyes, smiles, and little cut marks on many of my images.  If your background placement cut is black, this just gives your cuts a more 'finished' look.   It hides those little imperfect cuts many times.  

Now I can add my little embellished pieces.   When these are all layered and dried, you can then place these on your shadow image.   Once the entire images is dry (it only takes a few minutes) you can remove your design and apply it to your final project.  Once it was on my card, you'll notice above that I added a little cheek and ear color with my Copics and a few highlights to the final image as well.  

When your layers have been removed from you mat, use your scraper to scrape off any bits of paper, glitter, etc from your mat.   When I use glitter and stuff, I will also wipe my mat with a baby wipe.  I do not do this for just paper usually, unless it is black paper because black paper always leaves fibers on my mats.  

By using that mat you've already got out, it makes assembling your project so much easier, doesn't it? 

Here are some other options for embellishing those cuts.   Notice that I just embossed only one layer of this image with my Cuttlebug Japanese Scales folder.   I also added just a little bit of Stickles to the rest of the fish and rubbed it in with my fingers.  I wanted just a little shimmer here like fish scales, not a thicker Stickled layer.   And, finally, don't forget to use a googly eye whenever possible! LOL.  

I know many of you have great ideas for embellishing those cuts, but maybe my mat trick and my pen tip will help you too.  

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you'll visit Cheryl's Window too.