A Better Way to Make Envelopes using the Cricut And the Gypsy, No More Score Cuts

Completed envelope (better/cleaner looking)

I had today off of work and after finishing up some homework I was eager to try and update my Gypsy to receive the free carts. The update went very easy and I had no problems. I knew I wanted to play around with the Smiley Cards cart. From the few examples I have seen it looks like a really fun cart. I made a couple of different cards with it, which I will post later in the week. But as I was playing around with the Gypsy and the envelope option for the Smiley cart I had an aha moment which I would like to share. I don't know if anyone else has posted about making envelopes this way, I'm sure I'm not the first. But maybe this will show others a way to make better and more finished looking envelopes.

 

These slits are ugly!

So I have always liked making cards with the Cricut. And love the idea of making custom envelopes to go with the cards. But to tell you the truth I hate the hash marks and small cuts the Cricut makes in replace of scorelines. When the project is folded, it doesn't look good in my opinion. And I would be afraid to mail it off in an envelope like because the small cuts end up making holes in the folded line.

So when I cut my first envelope those ugly hash marks were there and did the same thing when folded. I thought to myself, I can use the hide feature in the Gypsy, to get rid of the hash marks, and then I'll try and figure out the scorelines myself best I can. And then this is when I had my Aha! thought. Maybe I could use the hide feature option in a different way. One layer to show the hash marks that I can draw with the Cricut Pens and then another layer to hide the hash marks to cut out the envelope. And it worked so well.

I can't believe I never thought of this before, it was so easy. All you have to do is cut or draw the layer from the Gypsy, and then hit Load Last on the machine, and do the opposite from the other layer. Hope that makes sense.

Here are the directions and step by step pics.

First choose an envelope. I used this off of Smiley Cart and sized it to be 5.25. I used the hide conture option on the Gypsy to hide all the hash/score marks.

See the hash/score marks greyed out so they will not cut.

 Next I added a new layer. I used the same envelope at the same size. I moved the envelope in the new layer until it lined up with the envelope on the previous layer exactly. Now I used the hide contour feature to hide the envelope cuts and only leave the hash/score marks as cuttable/drawable.



Envelope parts greyed out so they will not cut.

I placed a Cricut Pen in the blade holder. And told the Gypsy to cut (draw this layer)

Cricut Pen in place.

Now this is the most important part. Instead of unloading the mat and then reloading it, you need to hit the Load Last key on the keypad of the Cricut Machine, not the Gypsy. There is not a load last option on the Gypsy. Hitting the load last key will load the paper just as it did before, allowing for a precise cut. This is the way to use the Cricut Pens when you want to draw and cut. If you unload and then try and reload the cut may not line up well enough for this to work.

Have to hit Load Last, not Unload Paper

This is how it looks with the hash/score marks drawn, and the Load Last button hit

Then I took out the Cricut pen and loaded the blade housing back into the cradle.

Blade in place ready to cut

Now on the Gypsy I select the layer that has the envelope cuts (where the hash/score marks are hidden). Now I tell the Gypsy to cut this. And it cuts the envelope out, with drawn score lines.

Before take it off mat

How it looks after removed from mat

 Now I use a score board to line up the score lines and score. I am using the Martha Stewart Scoreboard, but any would do. Also a rule and bone folder would probably work well also (maybe better, will have to try that next).

With score lines

Folded score lines

Different look of the score lines

 After I score all the lines, the envelope is so easy to put together. The lines are very crisp and everything lines up perfectly. It seemed to fold a lot easier with out the hash/cut marks as well.

Envelope put together with adhesive

Another angle, very clean and professional looking

 Here are pics of the first envelope I made for these cards. I just don't like the look of the hash/cut lines to score.

They look like holes

Envelope doesn't look as finished with these cuts.

I was happy to find this. Will most likely be maing more of my own envelopes now. The envelopes and cards loaded on the Smiley Cards cart are great! I hope this shows someone a new way to use thier Gypsy and Cricut.

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