LD-MTC Beginner Series: VIDEO! How to use Shadow Layer and Align in MTC

If you are just joining us in this series, you have missed the following chapters:

1. Why I am writing this series: 
Because I once was a newbie...

2. Who this series of tutorials is for: 
LD-MTC Beginner Series: Why you need this. 

3. How to set up the Cricut to use MTC

4. How to Import SVG; How to Print Text with MTC

Today I will show you 

How to use Shadow Layer and Align in MTC.

I love making little shaped note cards. They are easy to make and you can make a lot of them in very little time. I like to sneak these note cards in my kids' lunch bags sometimes because I know that they've always enjoyed the surprise. 

Note cards that I have made with Lettering Delights graphics include:

and

 

Today, I will show you how to make a Penguin note card using the Shadow Layer feature in Make-the-Cut.

You will need:

• 1 sheet of black cardstock
• 1 sheet of white cardstock
• 1 sheet of colored cardstock (I'm using blue)
• 1 pair of googly eyes (1 large, 1 medium)
• glue
• foam tape
• DB Animal Occasion Doodlebat font from Lettering Delights

If you do not already have the widely popular DB Animal Occasions doodlebat font, you can go here and add it to your cart. Follow the instructions to check out and download the font to your computer.

1. Open MTC and load the doodlebat font the same way as you would a true type font. This is shown in yesterday's tutorial in Step 8. Scroll down the side bar to see the images.

2. Double-Click on the penguin to bring it to the mat.

3. With the Lock Aspect Ratio on, re-size the penguin by changing the width (W) to 4". The height (H) will automatically adjust.

4. Make a Shadow Layer by right-clicking your mouse, select Shape Magic, followed by Shadow Layer or using Ctrl-H or by clicking on the Shadow-Layer button as pictured below:

5. Move the slider bar to set the Shadow Width. I used 0.1000". Click on Apply Blackout and Accept.

6. Remove the blue bounding box by clicking elsewhere on the mat and separate the Shadow Layer from the penguin. Let's call this first shadow layer, A. 

7. Select A and make a Copy of it by using Ctrl+C (hold down the Ctrl and C keys together). Paste it back onto the mat by using Paste-in-Place (or Ctrl+Shift+V). Now you have two copies of Shadow Layer A with one laying over the other. Separate the two copies of A by dragging one copy out to the right. Let's call the left copy B. 

 8.Move your cursor to select B. Use Ctrl+M to make it into a mirror image of A. Put the two copies side by side. They do not have to touch but they must not overlap. 

10. Align the two layers so that they are sitting on the same level. To do this, select both copies of the shadow layers by "drawing" a blue bounding box around them. You can do this by moving the cursor/caret to one corner of B and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor out so that the box is extended. Next, right-click and select Align and Space, followed by Align, then Horiz. Center. 

11. Make a shadow layer of A and B to make the card base by selecting both and using Ctrl-H. Set the shadow width to be about 0.2500". Click Accept.

12. Click outside the blue bounding box and back on to Layer B. Delete it by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard. 

13. Select the penguin and click on the Layer button. The two layers of the penguin have just been created.

14. Separate and arrange all the layers of the penguin note card. If you find that there are too many layers to fit on one mat, you can move them so that they are on 2 pages instead. Just add a page and use Cut and Paste-in-Place to move some layers to a different page.

15. Before cutting, remove any excess nodes by selecting each layer and doing a Ctrl+Shift+Z. Keep doing this on the layer until you see the message "This path cannot be simplified any more than it already is", before moving on to the next layer.

Here is a video tutorial for those of you who prefers videos.

16. Load cardstock and mat into the Cricut and cut.

17. Remove all the cut outs and assemble the note card using glue and foam tape and Voila! Your note card is done!

See? 'Told you it was that easy! :-)

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