by Sandy McCauley | Apr 9, 2012 | Eraser, Free Files, Free Videos, Ginsu Knife, Inline, Inset Shadow, KNK, Make The Cut
Carol B contacted me asking for help with designing what I’m going to call a “shaped inset”. The original file was a onesie-shaped greeting card and she wanted to have a separate shape cut that would contain text for the inside of the card. She wanted it to be the same shape as the card but smaller so that there would be an even border or margin around the smaller shape, as shown in the screenshot above. Conveniently, I had another similar onesie file that I had designed several years ago, so I used it for experimenting and for making the videos for today’s post.
Since Carol was asking me how to do it in EITHER KNK Studio or Make The Cut, I decided to show how to do it in both programs since it is equally easy in both programs! In KNK Studio, I used the Ginsu Knife tool to bisect the card, followed by the Inline function under Transform>Outline to shrink the shape. This created a nice even border to appear around the smaller onesie shape. In Make The Cut, you will use the Erase tool to bisect the card, followed by the Inset Shadow function under the Shadow Layer to shrink the image, creating the same kind of border or margin.
Here are the links to the two videos:
Creating an Inset Shape from a Shaped Greeting Card in KNK Studio
Creating an Inset Shape from a Shaped Greeting Card in Make The Cut
If you want to follow along during the video and repeat exactly what you see, then the file I used can be downloaded here:
Onesie in KNK Format
Onesie in MTC Format
by Sandy McCauley | May 17, 2010 | Editing, Fold-Up Projects, Free Videos, Ginsu Knife, Welding
Thank you to Heather L for today’s subject. Heather sent a fold-up gable box pattern that was sized to ~ 10 x 6.5. She wanted to make it as large as possible for a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. Now the issue with resizing fold-up patterns is that you have to keep the overall width and height proportional or your pattern will not necessarily still fold up correctly. This was precisely the situation with Heather’s box. After stretching the image to fit a large square shape, the side flaps were too large to fold inwards to form the box.
Not to worry! This is a perfect application for the Ginsu Knife tool. Once I stretched the image, I cut off the two flaps and resized their width to match base of the box. Then I welded them back into place. The key was to just know which dimensions needed to still match so that the box pattern would work. The only thing is that you may need to do a test cut after stretching any given fold-up pattern to see for yourself which parts still work and which parts will need adjusting. If you have a pattern yourself that you cannot figure out, then please send it to me! This is a terrific new subject to explore.
Here’s the video to watch: Heather’s Gable Box Resizing
by Sandy McCauley | Nov 22, 2009 | Free Videos, Ginsu Knife, Line Style, Thickening Lines, Welding
BeCca contacted me last week with a stick tree that was impossible to cut due to extremely thin branches. So, I used the same process I’ve shown in several of the designing videos on this blog to make the branches thicker. The difference in this particular case was that part of the image needed to remain unchanged.
Ginsu to the rescue! lol I simply cut off the branches, thickened them using the Stroke and Fill tools (combined with the Basic weld), and then reattached the branches to the trunk. The new Thickening Images Video shows the process in detail. Note that I also have videos in my store which cover more details on using the Ginsu Knife and Polyarc Editing.
Finally, after having a partial crash of my site after a Word Press update a week ago, I now have the Store back in business! So, if you have been trying to purchase the new tracing videos without success, they are now available again:
Downloadable Videos
