Mesa Arizona

Hi everyone!  It's new Cut File day in The Cut Shoppe and we've got some awesome new designs for you!  I always love it, when there is a new alpha in the Shop, and the Open Letter Alpha is definitely a new favorite.  There are so many great looks you can create with this alpha set!  I used it to create the word "Arizona" as a large background for the layout I'm sharing today.

 

I started my layout by tracing the Open Letter Alpha in Silhouette Studio.  If you are not familiar with this, it's really easy.  Just open the PNG image of your cut file in Silhouette Studio.  Then go to Object and select Trace.  The Trace window will open on the left hand side of Silhouette Studio.  Click Select Trace Area and then use your cursor to select over the entire PNG image.  After your image is selected, uncheck the High Pass Filter box and under Apply Trace Method, click Trace.  Now you can delete the original PNG design and your image is ready to cut.  After tracing, the design will still be one solid design.  To separate the letters, go to Object and then down to Release Compound Path.  This will separate everything in the image, so you can use Group to regroup each individual letter, if you want to before cutting.

Once I had the alphas traced and ungrouped, I chose the letters for the word Arizona.  Then I overlapped each of the letters and used the Weld feature in Silhouette Studio to connect them.  If you are welding letters or designs that have pieces on the inside, you need to select everything together and make it a Compound Path (which you can find under Object), before welding it together.  I cut all of the welded alpha background from White cardstock, because I wanted to add color using 6x6 papers from the Crate Paper Journey collection.  I just recut each of the individual letters and adhered them behind the outline cut file.  I kept the rest of the layout fairly simple, so the background work would stand out.  I clustered the embellishments near my photos, to draw your eye and to keep the background work uncovered.

This is one of my favorite techniques and you can create so many different looks, by the way you arrange the alphas and by the patterned papers you use.  We would love to see the ideas you have for using the Open Letter Alpha on your layouts and projects, so stop by The Cut Shoppe to pick it up!

And while you're there, you can check out the other new designs that are available this week!