Layered Letters

 I had surgery last week, so I'm on couch-rest and getting caught up with blogging. Lots to show in the Cricut area of my life!

My brother and his partner finally bought their first house. Like many in their 30s, they struggled in the inflated housing market of southern Ontario. COVID was actually a blessing for them--with my SIL working from home, they were saving on commuting costs (and no more lunch time distractions in the big city LOL). On top of that, they were able to find a fixer-upper in the countryside that had the renos stopped because the owners were out of money due to COVID. It was exactly what they were looking for (although I'm sure my brother would have liked a bigger garage/workshop!). 

They were going to be renovating, so they didn't really have a colour scheme or styling in mind yet. I thought I would make these in shades of grey, since that's the hot colour in home decor, but I didn't like the pack of assorted grey paper. Megan felt these beachy colours were subtle and modern

I used the Zengo font again, and Inkscape. I am definitely getting better at this, though I was in a bit of a rush and I didn't smooth out some of the areas of the outline. 

I was having trouble keeping the layers flat. A letter like this is not an easy one to start with, and I have developed some tips to make it easier. Stay tuned for that post.

You can see how the inside curve of the C is not smooth. I also had trouble at the top of the C, getting the gold flat. The gold cardstock feels thicker, even though it was in the package with the rest (Recollections brand, one of their theme packs).

Another shot of those bumpy edges. 

I had trouble gluing the gold. Trying to re-align it caused creasing. I didn't use foam tabs for the gold layer, I used spray glue.

For the "&" I used a font I had already that had a bit of design to it instead of a solid character. Then I made a couple offset layers. I didn't add the gold layer (read on to find out why). I hadn't intended to have the pale blue as the top layer, but well, these things happen. I made the easels from the incredible website, Special Heart Studio. You'll be seeing more designs from Gjoa here! She really inspires me! The easel fit the M and the & well, but not the C. I made a few adjustments and it's better, but not as good as I'd like. I did the easels because I didn't want to invest in frames that they might not like. Cheryl says she'll probably frame them once they're done renovating. 

And now. It wouldn't be a TracyKM project, without an issue, the True Tracy Way. And boy, did I have an issue. I cut the layers of the C first, then went on to the M. I don't remember what order they were being cut in, but on the gold layer, the Maker SHUT DOWN MID-CUT. Yes. OMG. It powered off, blade down in the cardstock. It would not turn on again! The power cord had power. An error message appeared, it didn't help. I Googled, I YouTubed, I silently wept. Searched the Cricut FAQs and Troubleshooting. Finally another error message showed up and I followed the link. 

Apparently, using foil cardstock can cause static if the air is too dry, and the machine stops!!!!!!! 

The fix is to mist the air around the machine. Done. And... still no go. 

This was on a Friday night. I sent a message off to Cricut. And turned off the lights and left the room.

On Monday, I thought, let's just try again. I misted again, and pressed power. And it came to life! I had previously yanked the mat out so I worried about the rollers, but it seemed fine. I cut the gold layer again, said a silent blessing and got to assembling.

Last week in a Facebook Cricut group, a member posted that they were having trouble with their machine just shutting off mid cut and Cricut wasn't listening to them and helping.  I noticed it looked like foil cardstock. I shared my experience, and indeed, that was what was happening. She had even told the Cricut agent that it was foil cardstock! I wonder how many other times this happens!!