No, it’s not a makeup application for the cutting machine.
You’re not outlining anything either.
You’re actually just temporarily hiding things. I have no idea why Cricut coined the term “contour” for this function because it is not intuitive in the least bit.
I thought I’d demonstrate one of the purposes of Contour regardless with this Under the Sea Themed Card.
This card is actually made of a few different layers of colored cardstock. In using the Contour function in Cricut Design Space, you can use as many or as few colors as you have.
All you need is this one template to make the whole thing.
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Materials for Under the Sea Cricut Card
Cardstock – This one has some intricate cuts so I would recommend at least a medium or heavier weight cardstock with a colored core. Do not try and cut this with textured paper, you’re just going to shred it to pieces. Here are a few of my favorite brands:
- Assorted Starter Pack – Basic assorted colors, great starter pack, perfect weight for most papercraft projects
- Cricut Joy Insert Card Packs – You don’t have to use these with the Cricut Joy, they are nice material kids for cardmaking.
- Cardstock Warehouse Brand on Amazon – I love the quality of all the matte-colored cardstock with Cardstock Warehouse. It is my go-to brand for individual matte colors that I might need
- Poptone Assorted Variety Pack – This is the perfect peppy assortment of colors of heavy cardstock. It’s a heavy cardstock assortment with colors I actually use frequently for cardmaking.
- Seasonal Assorted Variety Pack – This is a slight variation on the Poptone assortment and has a quite few neutrals that complement almost any accent color.
- Stardream Metallics Line – For paper crafts, the Stardream line is the go-to for a metallic shimmer finish. It is the perfect sheen to make any project pop. The core is also colored is which hard to find for metallic paper.
Glue – I like a few options for card making glue. I am mostly concerned with it not warping the paper.
Template – This Under the Sea SVG is available for free in my resource library.
How to use Contour in Cricut Design Space
First, you want to upload the SVG for your project.
Duplicate this first SVG. The full graphic with all the cutouts will serve as the top most layer of the card.
Next, with one of the duplicates selected, click on the “Contour” button in the bottom right corner.
You should see all the different little under the sea icons available in the graphic in the Hide Contour box. Select a few to hide.
Next, duplicate the card layer that you just contoured.
Select one of the new duplicates you just made and Hide a few of the under the sea icons you see in the Contour box.
Keep doing this for as many layers as you want colors.
When you are finished Contouring, make each layer and the base card in a different color.
Now you have a multi-colored Under the Sea Card!
Related Articles:
How to Print and Cut in Cricut Design Space
Faux Hand Lettering with the Cricut
