I Do....You Do.... We All Scream For Yudu!



I was very excited when the Yudu Cardshop aired on HSN.  It was a matter of minutes before deciding to add it to my crafting tool collection.  As soon as it arrived I got to work experimenting with my new toy.  This was a complete departure from my experience with the regular Yudu.  That particular machine sat untouched in the box for months and months before I ever got the courage to try it out.  And even after having it for a solid 6-7 months, I've only used it to make two t-shirts.  Thank goodness I used my Cricut reward points to pay for it.  The Yudu Cardshop seems much less intimidating to me.  Perhaps it's because I know there are premade screens to make things easier.  This card was made using the birdcage screen that came with the machine.  And of course it's dolled up with stickles and a couple of irock gems.

After mastering the use of the preprinted screen, I decided to give it a go with the blank screen and some adhesive vinyl.  I've included some pics to help you with this process.

Here's the finished product!

STEP #1 - Cut the image you like on adhesive vinyl.  If you're doing a word or design that is not symmetrical, you'll have to cut it in the flip mode.  Just enter your word/design on the Cricut keypad and hit the "flip" button before cutting.  The settings I use for vinyl are Blade: 5, Pressure 3/Medium, Speed 3/Medium.

STEP #2 - Gently pull the entire cut from the Cricut mat making sure that nothing sticks to the mat.  Once the entire image has been removed, carefully use a sharp pointed tool to remove the parts of your image where you want ink to go.  For example, if you're wanting to use a lowercase e, you'd remove the parts showing in grey below, but leave the areas shown in orange.

STEP #3 - Place transfer tape/scotch tape to the top of your cut, making sure to cover the entire image.  Now peel off the backing to your vinyl to reveal the sticky side and adhere to the "silver" side of your blank Yudu screen.  Tape around the edges so the ink won't be able to pass through to your card.

One tip is to turn the screen over and use the small squegee to press out any bubbles and to make sure that the vinyl is completely adhered to the screen.

STEP #4 - Place cardstock on the base of Yudu Cardshop, and place screen directly on top.  Squeeze a fairly thick line of ink across the top and middle of your image.  Then lightly pull the squegee across your image to ensure that ink is covering all necessary areas.  This shouldn't affect your cardstock b/c the screen actually sits above it until you press down firmly with the squegee.  Once all areas are covered in ink (remember to work quickly with this part so the ink doesn't dry), use both hands to push firmly down on screen and pull toward yourself in a smooth motion.

STEP #5 - Quickly remove screen and take to sink to be rinsed out.  I also take my bottle of ink and squegee at this time.  I toss my screen into the sink with water running on it.  I then remove the cap to the ink bottle and scrape any excess on the squegee into the bottle and replace the cap.  Then I toss the squegee into the sink and start truly rinsing the screen out.  I have only had to run my fingers along the screen surface (both top and bottom) in order to get all of the ink off.  I then rinse off the squegee and ink bottle.

I then repeat steps number 1 thru 5 for the second layer of my design.  The most challenging part of layering the two images was getting the second image to line up appropriately over the first image that was printed.