2012 Calendar - March

Created in Inkscape 0.48 with a hot air balloon theme. Used the balloon silhouette and the word MARCH converted to a path and then Extensions>Generate from Path>Pattern Along Path. I adjust the size of the text for the best fit and then break it apart to do additional tweaking.

Life is fragile...

A different version (check January 2012 post) using my latest font obsession (see previous post) from dafont.com - dirt2soulstalker.

Love never fails

I've been playing with this versatile, unique font called dirt2soulstalker available here at dafont.com. The flourishes are also from the font. The only thing that is not part of the font is the small rectangular box to which I added a filter effect in Inkscape 0.48. (Filters>Distort> Torn Edges).

This font does not have an upper case so I enlarged some letters to create the feel of upper and lower case. I really like the look and imagine this won't be the last you see of it here! Try it out! It's a great font!

How to fold this five point origami paper star

My previous post showed several stars I've made lately out of 12x12 scrapbook paper so if you are interested in folding one, I've tried to explain the process here. Using the full sheet of paper the star measures approximately 17" and has a depth of about 5". Thinner papers will be more fragile and you may want to glue it to a heavier stock. When assembling and gluing my star I use rubber cement because it gives me time to get my paper in place. I've also added a bell-shaped jewelry finding with a loop that protect the tips of each star and gives the option to hang from any point. I use a general adhesive (in this case, I had 527 multi-purpose cement) to attach the finding to the paper. If my instructions are not clear, please let me know.

Fold on a diagonal and unfold.
Fold corners in as shown.
Fold in the other points as shown
and then unfold and turn over
Bring the two points together and crease paper on fold line.
Unfold and turn over. Your creases should look like this.
This might seem a little confusing but we need a diagonal fold so fold in the flap closest to you.
Below the photo shows where we need to crease as I've tried to explain above. Crease only halfway to the center fold line.
The goal is to create this triangular creases as shown below which has been folded from both sides.
Turned over you should have these creases.
The lower part of the star segement will be folded together and you will see why we needed the last folds.
You should have a segment like this
Repeat four more times.
The narrow striped segment will be turned up and wrapped by the larger open upright flap...study the photos to help see how to assemble

The outer flaps will also tuck in just a little too. I spread my rubber cement on the narrow part and position the wrapped outer part from the first segment around it.

Continue around.



With all the papers out there the options are plentiful! Have fun!

Large Origami Stars

I saw some origami stars and found a page describing how to make them but the instructions were in Chinese and while google will translate text, if the directions are on the photos themselves, well...all I can say is thank goodness for pictures!

It took a bit to figure out how to overlap each one and I've changed the steps to minimize fold lines. I will try to explain the process in another blog post but it may feel a little daunting if you have not done much paper folding...but at any rate here are some pictures of some of the stars.

They measure about 17" and have a depth of about 5" and are folded from five sheets of 12x12 scrapbooking paper. I've added a small star I fold for the middle to help cover where the stars join. So if it's not as precise as you hope you can tidy up and add more dimension. I've also glued on gold bell caps with a loop on each tip so it could be hung from any point.

Using Inkscape 0.48 Filters

If you've been to the Inkscape Cutting Design forum, you'll see we've been experimenting with some of Inkscape's filters. If you haven't explored these options in 0.48 you'll have to make some time to do so.

As we have discovered it's easy to forget which ones you've used especially if you are layering textures on one another and changing colors can change the effect, too.

So here, I've tried to show the steps I've taken to get to the effect shown above.

I started with a solid purple and have selected just the swirl design to use with the filter effect.

In the Filters drop down menu under Textures I selected the Tinted rainbow effect

In this image I layered the 3d wood from the Materials in the Filter menu.

Also note at the bottom of the filters drop down menu is a Remove Filters feature to undo the applied filters. This works better than the Undo button especially if you have multiple filter layers.

The only change in the above samples is the background colors. Below I created a border (see my previous post for instructions on doing that) and I changed the color on the other elements to a softer pink tone which pops against the black border.




The samples below are other colors and filters I've played with and the files below are available to Inkscape Cutting Design forum members. Check out the Geisha Girl, Flamenco Dancer and Bollywood Dancer posts in the free svg files for more filter inspirations! Have fun!