CMC 2024 Day 10 ✂️ Easel Cards

Step 2) Format the score line

The score lines on the SVGs need formatting so that the Cricut machine knows that we want it score them, not cut them.

Don’t have a scoring tool? Here’s how to do Cricut scoring without one!

Click the design and separate the layers by pressing the “Ungroup” button at the top of the layers panel.

Look down the layers panel for a little group which contains a layer that looks like two horizontal lines.

Click that layer.

Change it to “Score” under the Operations dropdown.

With both layers still selected, click the “Attach” button at the bottom of the layers panel.

Attaching the layers will move them to the top of the layers panel. Click the base card and press Arrange > Send to Back to move it back to the bottom.

And that’s it! You can add extra decorations in Design Space if you choose, or hand-cut them, or use pre-made toppers/embellishments from your craft stash.

It might be helpful to keep scrolling to see how the card goes together first so that you can decide how you want yours to look.

Here’s how the flower card looks once the score lines have been formatted in the same way.

Step 3) Put the easel card together

Here’s how the easel card goes together.

Take the long rectangular piece and put the side that has the biggest square facing towards you.

Starting with the score line in the middle of the rectangle, fold it up towards you to fold the card in half.

If you have a brayer tool you can use it to go over your fold to make it crisp.

Open it back up and fold along the next score line by folding the smallest piece up towards you.

Now you will be able to see how the card begins to take shape.

Next take the front piece (the square). Stick any of your decorations onto this piece before attaching it to the card base.

Glue the side that is facing you when the card has folded over into its shape and stick the front piece on, lining up the bottom edges together.

Now your card will fold down flat so that it can be put in an envelope.

Whilst it’s drying, glue the sentiment piece to the border. You could get the Cricut to draw something on this piece or add some embellishments to it.

Use foam squares to stick the sentiment piece to the middle of the bottom piece of the card.

It’s important to use foam squares, not glue, as it needs the depth to be able to hold up the back of the card.

Now your card should be freestanding.

It’s as easy as that! I can’t wait to see how you customise and decorate your own.

For the flower design, it’s easiest to assemble the front of the card before sticking it to the easel card base.

First, glue these three pieces of the mandala together.

Use foam squares for the next piece.

Glue on the rest of the mandala pieces, plus the blue sky and green grass pieces.

Use foam squares to stick on the big flower pieces, then glue the other pink details on top.

Use foam squares for the bottom layer of the butterfly, then glue the other two butterfly pieces on top to build up the colours.

The rest of the easel card goes together in the same way as the blank square template.

PART TWO: How to design custom easel card designs

This next section is on how to design your own easel cards, from beginning to end, in Cricut Design Space.

Step 1) Choose an image for the card base

Search in Cricut Access or upload the SVG that you would like to use for your card.

Ideally you will choose an image with a flat base. It doesn’t have to be a solid line all the way across, but the bottom of the image should be level.

I chose a butterfly from Cricut Access with ID number #M4A4904D1.

Step 2) Create the card base

If your image doesn’t have much along the middle at the bottom, you’ll need to add a shape to it, otherwise the card will not be able to be held open when the easel card stands.

If you are using something circular then you may want to slice off the bottom to make your flat edge.

For this butterfly, I inserted a rectangle to join the base of the two wings together.

Select the rectangle and the butterfly and go “Align > Align Bottom” to make sure it’s lined up properly.

Ungroup the butterfly and select the bottom layer and the rectangle and go “Combine > Weld” to join them into one.

You can then use the “Contour” tool to fill in the gap.

Group everything and make the image an even number on the height (e.g. 8 inches). This doesn’t need to be the actual size of your card at the end, it will just help you with the maths to place the score lines.

Move the butterfly to one side and duplicate the very bottom layer.

Select them both and go Align > Center and then Group. You won’t see the butterfly group as it will be underneath but it will just prevent you from accidentally resizing one and not the other.

Go into “Shapes” and choose a square. Make it the same height as your image.

Flip the butterfly vertically and overlap it slightly with the square. Don’t worry, it will be the right way around once we make the card.

Change it to a “Guide” layer in the operations dropdown to help with this part.

Select both the butterfly and the guide and go “Align > Center horizontally”.

Ungroup the butterfly base and duplicate it.

Select the square and the original base and press “Combine > Weld” to join them together.

Resize everything back to a nice, easy size. You can see below that I have everything sized to a height of 16.

Add and “Attach” a score line to the top of the square on the card.

To make the second score line, go into “Shapes” and insert a square. Untick the padlock and position it so that it’s the height of the butterfly section.

Now add a score line and rotate it 90 degrees to make it horizontal.

Select the rectangle and the score line and press “Align > Center” to put the score line exactly in the middle. Move both layers together if they move away from the easel card template whilst you were positioning the score line.

You can now delete the rectangle, it was just for helping us position the second score line correctly.

Attach both score lines to the base card.

Now we need to add the little sentiment piece which holds the card in place.

Choose a shape and change the colour to match your card.

Don’t worry too much about the size but make it large enough to hold the card in place.

Give it an “Offset” to make a nice border around the edge.

Step 3) Size and cut the card

Select everything and go “Align > Center” to bring it all together.

Group everything together.

Select a square the size you would like your finished card to be and make it a Guide. I made my square 5×5.

Resize the card until the front butterfly fits inside the square.

If you’d like to make an envelope for your card then I have free envelope SVGs which you can resize to fit your card.

Now your card is ready to cut. Don’t forget to save the project first!

Step 4) Put the card together

Cut your custom easel card.

Put it together in the same way as the premade designs.

Easel cards to make with a Cricut

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to use my pre-made easel card templates, as well as how to design your own!

What shapes are you going to try first?

That means we have come to the end of the 2024 Card Making Countdown. It’s been lots of fun sharing the designs with you over the past 10 days.

Happy crafting,
Sarah x