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Saturday, May 25, 2013

6x6 Cutting Formula

If you're visiting from the Operation Write Home Tuesday Tutorial, welcome!  Thanks to Kristie, Seongsook, and Sandy for inspiring this tutorial.  Kristie is the mistress of all things 6x6, Seongsook's been offering up great One Sheet Wonder templates recently, and Sandy did an episode of OWHtv on her method of using a 6x6 pad.  Here's my take on the topic of 6x6 paper pads:  

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and marks an annual tradition for Operation Write Home: the biggest bloghop of the year.

I signed up weeks ago to participate and then ended up too busy to make a card until the last minute.  I pulled out a 6x6 pad because they are my crutch when I need an awesome card in a short amount of time.  I'm guaranteed that the papers go together, so I can layer them up and not have to worry about clashing!  You can check out my card here if you missed the hop! 

6x6 pads have been the talk of lots of OWHers and were even the subject of a tutorial.  Lots of comments on my blog hop post indicated OWHers are interested in the idea but haven't gotten a chance to dive in yet.  I'm with them; I still haven't tried to make all of the pages in one 6x6 into cards all at once.  Why?  I think it's because I tend to cut into several sheets to make one card and then I'm faced with a pile of scraps that seem too small for much of anything except a scrappy background.  I'm also more than a little overwhelmed with the idea of tackling all that paper at once.  When I start something, I like to finish, so I'd be sitting for a long time to get through 24 sheets! 

Today, I set out to change my concern into a method that works for me.  I made myself a little 6x6 template and put 6 of them on a sheet of computer paper.  I knew that most pads come in multiples of 6, so I figured that to be a good starting point. I wanted to make a cutting formula that would use 6 sheets of 6x6 paper at a time with minimal waste.

I made two templates.  Template 1 makes 9 cards and template 2 makes 8 cards.

Here are the cutting templates and the cards I made from them.  On each square, note the order to make the cuts.  Same sized pieces can be swapped based on whether you want to repeat or vary the patterns.  Template 1 says it makes eight cards, but it's really nine.  If your papers are single sided, you'll need to cut each page twice (in two different patterns) to provide enough variation in the papers. 
In Template 1, cards 1A-1D are based on OWH Sketch 1, card 2 is based on OWH Sketch 7, card 3A-3B are based on OWH Sketch 8, and cards 4A-4B are based on OWH Sketch 135.  Sample cards are made with papers from My Mind's Eye All Spice.
Template 1, Cards 1A and 1B


Template 1, Cards 1C and 1D
Template 1, Card 2.  Also great horizontal
Template 1, Cards 3A and 3B

Template 1, Cards 4A and 4B

In Template 2, cards 1A-1C are based on OWH Sketch 154.  The others have some similarities to previous OWH sketches but aren't true copies of any of them, sorry!  Sample cards from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Boy.   

Template 2, Cards 1A and 1B

Template 2, Cards 1C and 2A

Template 2, Card 2B

Template 2, Card 3

Template 2, Cards 4A and 4B (My favorite!)

If you try these cutting templates, plan on three 12x12 or four 8.5 x 11 sheets of cardstock for layers and matting in a color that will go with all of your patterns.  You might squeeze out the 8 or 9 cards with one less sheet of cardstock, but I prefer to have plenty of material for layering.  As far as color goes, I like to choose something with good contrast in case the patterns are busy.

I hope this helps you get started with your stash of 6x6 paper pads! Please leave me a link below if you try it out.  I'd love to see your creations!

P.S. For anyone who wants the templates in a PDF, just click here to download them from box.com.  

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 651 blank and 236 AnyHero (as of 4/28/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

41 comments:

  1. Thanks, Kathryn. I plan to put your plan into action. I Pinned it so I wouldn't lose it. You did a great job on the diagrams and the cards are wonderful.

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  2. Thank you for the diagrams for a 6"x6" paper pad. Can't wait to try these.

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  3. wow- thanks for the great idea! I have a ton of 6/6 pads-and will try your diagrams out!

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  4. LOVE this idea!! I don't worry too much about whether I have scraps leftover when I made a card but I DO love the idea of getting so many done in a nice system!

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  5. Kathryn,

    These templates are fabulous! Something I'll put on my to-do list, although I fear I won't get to that list until my retirement. :)

    Speaking of retirement, thank you so much for your comment about hubby's retirement. They brought a smile to his face when I shared them with him.

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  6. Thanks for taking the time to map this out for us! I can hardly wait to give it a try.

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  7. How awesome is this! I did the one sheet wonder a couple weeks ago and so enjoyed how effortless it was to put the cards together. Now this one will make it easy for me to use up my 6x6 pads. I am so excited! Thank you! Thank you!

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  8. Thanks for the PDF! That makes it so much easier to use your creativity.

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  9. I did enjoy Seongsook's 12 x 12 tutorial..and it looks like this will be another to try. First I have to get some 6x6 paper pads. Thank you for the templates what a great idea

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  10. Thanks for sharing your cutting layouts.

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  11. Thanks for the inspiration! I have a ton of these pads and was waiting for the right moment.

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  12. Thanks for sharing these wonderful templates. I plan on trying them very soon.

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  13. Your templates are just fantastic Kathryn! Thanks for sharing them as part of today's OWH tutorial. I know that these will be put to use by many OWHers and I'm going to download them to have on hand the next time I tackle a 6x6 pad challenge.

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  14. Wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to give it a try.

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  15. Wow... Kathryn, you did a great job. Thank you for taking time to make templates for a 6x6 pad. I really appreciate it.

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  16. Wonderful job in laying these out and sharing it here. Thanks so much...will definitely try this out.

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  17. Wonderful job in laying these out and sharing it here. Thanks so much...will definitely try this out.

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  18. Thanks for all your hard work doing this Kathryn. I have printed your templates out and can't wait to start this project!!

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  19. Thanks so much. I have printed the templates and on my way to find my paper pads I never wanted to cut before.

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  20. Love these! Thanks so much! Just a quick question, though... I printed this out & card 2B is a little off. The large panel can't be 5 1/4x4 or it would cover the whole card front. (Unless you layered the strips on top of that, I guess??? But that would seem to defeat the purpose of getting as many cards out of the sheets as possible.)
    I'd love some clarification. ;)

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    1. Brittany, thanks for your question. I didn't take this on with the idea of getting the maximum number of cards out of the paper pack; I wanted to make a set of nicely detailed cards. So, I did layer the whole 4x5.25 sheet with the strips on top. 2A and 2B use the same pieces. On 2a, I placed the strips with some space between them. On 2B, I added cardstock for contrast because those patterns needed it. If you're set on getting even more mileage out of your paper, feel free to trim the background piece down and use the extra paper on another card. I'm so glad you're trying it out! :)

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  21. Kathryn - Thank you for your detailed instructions and accompanying pictures and sketches. Your Template #2 inspired me to crack open a Christmas 6x6 pad and get started on some Christmas/Winter Cards. I'm now trying template #1 to make some masculine cards. Thanks again! - Mindy

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  22. I wasn't sure about this because the 12x12 one was way too confusing for me. But yours is super easy! I zipped through 1/2 of my 6x6 pad today and got 16 cards made. I used Formula 2. I'll have to use Formula 1 next. Thanks for the great help!

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  23. thank you thank you for the pdf template! this makes it so easy to make lots of cards!Now I just need to get a child friendly 6x6 pad for OWH request for childrens cards.

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  24. Thanks so much! I'm going to give it a shot.

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  25. I did this with 12x12 cut down to 6x6 and since it was 1 sided I used 12 different patterns from the same collection. I used one stack for Template 1 and a stack for Template 2. I ended up with 34 cards! This was so much fun...I will be doing it again!

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    1. Great idea, Ronda. Thanks for sharing your success!

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  26. Hi. I'm pretty new to card making & trying to use my 6x6 pads. Question. When going by the above template, am I using the numbers or letter to assemble my card? TIA

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    1. Hi Cindy,
      It's both. Group all of your "1A" pieces to make a card. Then all of your "1B" pieces will make a card with the same sketch layout. It might help to compare the photos of the finished cards with the template. In the captions I labeled which card was which. Happy card making!

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    2. Thanks for the info. I did print out photos of finished card but want to check before I started.

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    3. Another question...what size card base did you use. Thanks again.

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  27. The bases are 1/2 of an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock. I usually cut it to 5.5x8.5 and fold in half.

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  28. Thank you so much! This is awesome and so very helpful. You are amazing. Thank you for taking the time to publish this in such a clear helpful way. You are so kind. I used this to help make cards for hospitalized kids. You are helping make an impact in even more lives by making it easier to spread kindness. Thank you thank you thank you!

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  29. Even though this post is from 7 years ago, I just happened across it! I am pinning it for future reference. Great job on those diagrams!

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  30. I got around to making cards out of your template #2 and seriously love how they turned out! They are on my blog here: http://nursiebethsbeauties.blogspot.com/2022/01/6x6-one-sheet-wonder-cards.html Thanks again for the inspiration!

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