One of the easiest tools to use in Cricut Design Space™ is Contour. We love how this feature allows you to hide portions of an image and remove unwanted cut lines. This gives you even more flexibility and customization with your Close To My Heart Cricut^® collections. Shapes that have patterns or cuts inside them can be turned into solid images!

We created this scrapbook page using one flower image from the Artistry Cricut^® Collection. With the Contour feature, we took the striped flower and created a solid flower. By varying the size and colors of both flower shapes, we ended up with the delightful page you see here. Today we are going to walk you through the steps of creating your own contoured flowers in Design Space to make a similar creation!

In order to use the same shapes that we did in this project, you’ll need to own the Cricut^® Artistry and Flower Market collections. You will also need to have a Cricut^® machine that is Design Space compatible (any of the Explore models or the new Maker) to link your collections to your account. (If you do not know how to do this, click here.)

As you follow the outlined steps below, keep in mind that this shows you how to use features in Design Space from a desktop or laptop computer. If you use the app on a mobile device, the buttons and tools will be located in slightly different places on your screen.

1. Sign in to Cricut Design Space™ at design.cricut.com.

Log in with your Cricut ID and password, and then select the green New Project button in the top right corner.

2. Insert the flower image.

To add this specific flower image from the Artistry collection to your canvas, click Images on the left. Then search for image #M40FD89 in the search box at the top. This will give you the exact flower you need for the project. Just select it and click Insert Images to add it to your canvas.

3. Ungroup the flower image.

When an image like this one has multiple layers, you first need to ungroup the image before contouring. Ungroup the flower by selecting the image and then clicking UnGroup in the Layers panel on the right.

4. Delete the dark purple flower.

To create this page, you only need one of the flowers in this image. Now that you’ve ungrouped the image, delete the dark purple flower by clicking the red x at the top left corner of the image.

5. Duplicate the flower.

You will use solid and striped flowers on this page. This means you’ll need both the original flower and the one you are going to contour on your canvas. Duplicate the lined flower by selecting Duplicate in the Layers panel.

6. Contour the flower to create a solid image.

To contour, select one of the striped flowers and then click Contour in the bottom right corner of the Layers panel. A pop-up box will appear on your screen, just like the screenshot above. In this instance, you’ll select Hide All Contours in the bottom right corner of the pop-up box. This lets you hide all the contours without having to click on each one individually. If you only wanted to contour part of your image, you could select only the portions you wanted to hide. After hiding the contours, you now have a solid flower shape with no interior cuts.

7. Duplicate and resize the flowers.

Duplicate and resize flowers for your page as desired. To resize the flowers like we did, select the image and change the height under Size. We used flowers at heights of 1.5″, 1.75″, and 2.25″. Leave the size “locked” so that when you change the height, it will automatically resize the width, keeping the shape proportions the same.

8. Assign the flowers colors.

Assigning colors to your flowers will make it much easier when it’s time to cut the project with your Cricut^® machine. Design Space will group all images in the same color together for cutting. You can easily group shapes together under different colors using the Color Sync panel, like you see in the screenshot above.

9. Insert the banner image.

This page also uses the Contour feature to make a solid banner for a small sentiment. Insert the small banner by clicking Images and searching for #M416E8C.

10. Ungroup and contour the banner.

After the image is on your canvas, ungroup the banner, just like you did with the flower. Then select the banner and click Contour in the Layers panel. For this image, select only the individual cuts you want to hide, instead of selecting “Hide All Contours.” Click on the X and O portions of the banner and you’ll see them change color, indicating that they will no longer be cut out of the banner shape.

11. Resize and assign colors to the banners.

The banner images on our page are a height of 1.5″. Resize the banners just like you did with the flowers, leaving the size lock in place. Enter 1.5 for the height, and the width will automatically resize with the correct proportions. Then assign colors to each banner piece for cutting.

12. Insert the leaves image, then duplicate and resize them.

Add finishing touches by including some leaves from the Cricut^® Flower Market collection. Add the image by searching for #MD37FB8. Then duplicate and resize the leaf image as desired. We used leaves at heights of 1″ and 1.5″.

13. Add circles for flower centers.

There are two ways to add the small circles to your project. You can search for and add image #M417CAC, ungroup the image, and delete the “EEK!” circle, which will leave you with a solid circle. Resize it to 0.5″, duplicate, and assign a color. The second option is to insert a circle from the Shapes option on the left side of your screen. Select the circle, and a solid circle will be added to your canvas.

14. Cut your project!

When you’re ready, click the green Make It button in the top right corner and follow the prompts. Your Cricut^® machine will group cuts together according to the colors you assigned. Just insert your cardstock and you’ll have all the pieces you need to create this project on your own!

Now, you’ve successfully contoured a flower and a banner from only two images in the Cricut^® Artistry collection. Using contouring, you can create solid shapes, like we did with the flowers and banner, to create dimension and variety in your projects. There are so many creative ways you can use this feature to adjust the shapes in your Close To My Heart Cricut^® collections to get even more options in your crafting! Enjoy!

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Recipe:

12″ × 12″ Bloom Page
D1733 My Acrilyx^® Splash of Color Stamp Set, X7227B Make Waves Paper Packet, X7229B Stargazer Paper Packet, Z3351 Adventure Fundamental Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5982 Canary Cardstock, X5960 Fern Cardstock, X5959 New England Ivy Cardstock, X5984 Pixie Cardstock, X5974 Raspberry Cardstock, X5972 Tangerine Cardstock, X5976 Thisle Cardstock, Z2819 Bashful Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2840 Thistle Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3274 Clear Sparkles, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, Z3386 Thin Cuts—Block Alphabet, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z2046 Piercing & Embossing Tool Kit, Z3285 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection, Z3167 Cricut^® Artistry Collection, Thread, Die-cutting Machine

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artistry
2¼” Shift+Icon-1 <Q> (cut 3, p. 11 #M40FD89)
1¾” Shift+Icon-1 <Q> (cut 6, p. 11 #M40FD89)
1½” Shift+Icon-1 <Q> (cut 5, p. 11 #M40FD89)
1½” Shape <k> (p. 28, #M416E8C)
1½” Shift+Shape <K> (p. 28, #M416E8C)
½” Shape <Hlloween> (cut 6, p. 43 #M417CAC)

Flower Market
1½” Icon <1> (p. 1, #MD37FB8)
1½” Shift+Icon <1> (p. 1, #MD37FB8)
1″ Icon <1> (p. 1, #MD37FB8)
1″ Shift+Icon <1> (p. 1, #MD37FB8)

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