Our challenge over at the Eclips/Ecal FB page for February/March 2019 was to make a springtime background using only shapes that we designed ourselves in the software. All shapes and gradients, etc. were to be original. We were to work with gradients, print-2-cut, pattern fills and effects.
This will be a process post to show the steps I took to get to the final project.
I started out with a very simple gradient.
Then added square 12 tiles, in different pastels colors. I used the radial gradient and the "bulge" effect in the Effects menu.
I cut these tiles out, curled the edges in and attached them to the initial gradient piece with one circular thick adhesive foam dot. It gave it lots of dimension and a 'pillow' effect.
Next was the tree!
The bottom main part of the trunk was made using a vertical rectangle and the barrel distortion and bridge warp. For the top of the tree I used an asterisk, and then altered the nodes like a mad person to pull out the individual branches. I then used "union" to merge the two into one piece. I used a woodgrain tiled pattern (digital scrapbook paper) to fill it in.
Next was the leaf. This was made with a basic heart shape, altered, filled with a gradient, and then added the veins and grouped them all together.
These were sized to less than a half-inch tall, so very tiny. I copied/pasted a bunch of them and flipped it horizontally so that they'd be facing two ways. I placed each leave on the tree individually. This took a couple of crafting sessions!
After putting all of the leaves on the tree, I snipped it and saved the entire tree as a png. It was traced in ECAL. I used a print-2-cut to cut it out, so it was a stand-alone piece.
Next was the apple. This was again made with basic shapes. The stem was an altered rectangle, and I used one of the tree leaves as the leave on the stem. I did take this one into Photoshop and added the shine, as I don't think you can displace the center point of the gradient in ECAL. [After I finished the blog post, I realized that this apple may look more like a tomato! ha ha ha! oh well!]
The apples were sized down to about 1/2" wide.
Next the banner (Thinking of You). Again I used a rectangle strip, cut out the "V" at the right side using back-minus-front with a star in basic shapes. It was filled with a pattern, outlined, and skewed using the wave effect.
I duplicated a bunch of apples, a bunch of individual leaves and the banner, and did a print-2-cut. Then I individually inked every single apple and leaf (time consuming, and got very red and green fingers).
It was time to assemble everything. I glued down the tree, and added the banner. Then added some individual leaves right on top of the leaves of the tree to give it a bit more dimension, and some apples. And, having the "pillow" effect also gave more dimension, as the tree is glued only on the upper portions of the pillow, so much of it is suspended.
I think that brings us to the end. Funny when you look at projects as a whole, you don't realize all of the work, time and details that go into it. This was pretty detail intensive.
Again, here's the final product. I love our challenges. We always learn so much about the software. And, if you're curious about the software, ECAL, it's pretty much the same as SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot by Craftedge). It's a version of SCAL with a few more features that was made just for the Sizzix Eclips and Sizzix Eclips 2 electronic cutting machines. So, if you have ECAL and can't find basic tutorials, you can always search for SCAL tutorials and you'll probably get the info you need. And, of course, you can join us on our Facebook page, and you'll have more help that you can imagine from the great paper crafters there. We have a ton of fun!
Happy Springtime!!
