Saturday, March 6, 2010

Tutorial - Make custom Corrigated Alphas

Hello fellow bloggers!! Today I have a very quick and easy tutorial for you on how to create your very own corrigated cardboard alphas. I have been looking at the Jillibean Soup ones for months....and months, but I have not been able to bring myself to actually buy them. Why? Because they are cardboard, something that I love and something that I have all over my house. So one day I just thought to myself - Make your own, and that's exactly what I did :) But first I am going to show you one of the fastest ways to strip that pesky layer of paper off cleanly so we can get to that coveted corrigated bliss!
All we need for this is a bowl of water, a paper towl and your cardboard.
First we just dip our paper towl into the water. Make sure to get it really saturated with water.
Then just wet the cardboard really well and let it sit for about 15-20 seconds. Long enough to loosen the paper.
Start off in one corner and begin to lift the paper carefully. If you notice it isn't coming up very easily then add more water.
When you are pulling the paper off make sure to do it following the lines. The paper is glued to each individual raised corrigation, so this is the easiest way to do it. If you do it against the lines then it typically creates a mess!
As you are lifting the paper keep adding water.
And there you have it. A nice clean piece of corrigated cardboard to work with!
Now on to the letters. All we have to do it cut the cardboard to fit our cricut matt and run it through like you normally would. I set my settings to shadow because I like the thicker look. Also...I used a deep cut blade which works better for thicker products. I have used a normal blade, but have had to go back in with my Xacto knife to finish the cuts. So if you don't mind the extra bit of work the regular cricut blade works as well!
And here is my corrigated name all popped out!
These are a few different words that I have cut in various sizes. What I love about this is that you can cut your letters any size, any font that YOU want! And then use as is or you can paint them, ink them, make em' pretty in any way you want! Also another thing that I love is how the letters take on a different look depending on how you turn your cardboard before cutting. The 2 words on top are cut vertically with the lines while the 2 on bottom are cut horizontally! So cool!
And there you have it....Your very own custom Corrigated Letters!!! Have fun :)