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.