If you love your Cricut®
machine, then you are going to adore all of the fabulous things you can do with
Close To My Heart Cricut® cartridges in the Cricut®
Craft Room. Create layers, cut negative space in the shape of your
choice, make borders, and link elements together for a connected look. It’s
easy! We’ll show you how.
Here is how to get started with Cricut® Craft
Room:
2.
Download and run the application for PC or MAC, depending on the
type of computer you use.
3.
Connect your Cricut®
machine to your computer using a Type B USB cable. (Note: For more info on this
type of cable, see your Cricut® user’s
guide or your local electronics store.) Once you have connected your computer
to your Cricut® machine, the “Load Mat” button is the only button you will ever
need to push on your machine in the entire process. Cricut® Craft
Room will do everything else for you.
4.
Once inside the application, choose the type of Cricut®
machine you own.
5.
Insert your Close To My Heart Art Philosophy or Artiste
cartridge into your Cricut® machine.
6.
In the lower left portion of the application there is a tab that
is labeled “Images/Cartridges.” Select “All Cartridges” from the dropdown menu.
(Note: You must choose a cartridge that you own. You can also purchase
individual images from the Cricut®
store.)
7.
Scroll to find the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy or Close To
My Heart Artiste cartridges you own.
8.
The virtual mat in Cricut® Craft
Room is just like the mat you’ll load into your machine. And, it is oriented
the same way that you will load your mat into the machine, with the arrow at
the top.
9.
To drag an image to the mat, simply click on the image in the
image selection tool box and move it to the mat.
10.
Once the image is on the virtual mat, you can adjust the
placement by clicking on the image and moving it to any location on the mat.
11.
Now that you know the basics, you can start creating and
exploring the possibilities!
Follow these steps to create the negative space on a card base,
like you see on this Cheer Up card, featuring images from the Art Philosophy
cartridge:
1.
Select the “Card” tab in the Art Philosophy images. Find the
card base you prefer and drag it onto the mat. (We used Square 1 for the Cheer
Up card.) The image will be cut in the exact direction and location that you
place it on the virtual mat. At the top of the screen, or at the left under the
“Shape Properties” tab, you’ll see size boxes. Enter the width and height for
your shape. This is the size it will be cut on the machine, regardless of what
size your machine indicates on the flip screen.
2.
Choose an image to cut out of your card front. We have chosen a
butterfly by going to the Basics tab, clicking the “Show Shift/Lock Images” at
the bottom, and then selecting the butterfly. Drag the image to the right side
of the card base, position it, and alter the size, as desired. Once the image
is in place, you will see a cut-out image in its place. This Weld feature is
automatically on unless you disable it, and allows you to see how the card base
will look with your images cut out.
3.
Select another image, drag it to the card base, and position it
how you’d like it. Continue adding images to the card base, if desired.
4.
To cut your finished artwork, load the mat into your Cricut®
machine and insert the corresponding cartridge. Next, press the green Cut
button at the top of the computer screen and follow the prompts. The machine
will cut the shapes as you have prepared them in Craft Room. If more than one
cartridge shape has been added to the project, the machine and screen will
prompt you with instructions.
Here are so more artwork examples that have been made using
Cricut® Craft Room software. Follow the instructions below to learn
some more fun tricks we used in creating this artwork.
Birthday Greetings card
Here’s how to create the bracket frame as shown in this Birthday
Greetings card:
1.
Drag a card base from Art Philosophy cartridge and size it to be
9" wide and 4½" high.
2.
Add a 1½" bracket frame (from the Basic tab) to the center
of the right side of the card. So far, all of the shapes have been placed in
Layer 1. You can add additional layers using the Layer feature located toward
the top of the screen, directly above the mat. Each Layer will be cut from a
separate sheet of paper and is indicated by a different color on the screen.
Using the Layer feature allows you to fully design your Cricut® shapes
before cutting any pieces.
3.
Add a second Layer by clicking the plus sign. Click and hold the
Layer 2 tab and drag the tab to the left so it is first in the row. This allows
you to see the second Layer on top of the first so you can visualize your
finished project. Drag a 3" bracket frame to the card base and position it
over the 1½" frame. Then, still using Layer 2, add a 1½" bracket
frame in the center of the 3" frame.
4.
Maneuver the Layer 2 frames so that they perfectly line up with
the Layer 1 frame. Use your keyboard arrows for exactness.
5.
Cut the pieces following the prompts on the computer screen and
Cricut® machine. Layer 2 will be cut first, so be sure to load that
paper first. Then load a new sheet of paper for the Layer 1 pieces.
6.
Embellish the card as desired.
All Boy page
Want to create a border that spans the entire length of your
12" page? It’s easy!
1.
In Craft Room, change the mat size to 12" x 24" under
Machine & Mat tab on the left of the screen.
2.
Drag your selected border to the mat and rotate it so it is
vertical.
3.
Change the height of the border to 12". It will
automatically change the width proportionally unless you click the aspect ratio
button between the width and height measurements.
4.
Whether you have a 12" × 24" mat or a 12" ×
12" mat, you can use this function with a 12" × 12" piece of
paper. Simply place the border as close to the top of the Craft Room mat as
possible, but not exactly flush with the top.
5.
Cut the piece following the prompts on the computer screen and
Cricut® machine.
To create the title with the letters joined together to form one
piece instead of individually cut letters…
1.
Drag your letters to the mat
2.
Overlap portions of each letter to connect them
3.
Use the Weld feature to join the letters together seamlessly.
4.
Cut the piece following the prompts on the computer screen and
Cricut® machine.
There are so many possibilities to explore in the Cricut® Craft
Room using the versatile Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges from Close To My
Heart! If you have any questions about using Cricut® Craft
Room, visit www.cricut.com where a Cricut®
employee will be glad to help you. Be sure to get your Art Philosophy and
Artiste Cricut® cartridges today in order to create with them in this new and
exciting environment. Visit my website to place your order!
Take time to create,
Alex
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