A red and white checkerboard pattern is a common symbol associated with Croatia. Another lesser known symbol is the pleter (sometime referred to as a Croatian wattle) which is a geometrical braid design used in the 9th-12th century by Croats to decorate churches and monasteries. The churches often include crosses with this geometric pattern such as the one found on the Baptismal Fount of Duke ViĊĦeslav . Using Google, I found a black and white graphic image of a pleter cross posted by a graphic artist on a message board. I contacted the graphic artist through the message board and asked his permission to use the image on a card that I would be posting on my blog. The artist kindly granted his permission and I am very grateful.
I used Inkscape to turn the JPEG of his image into a SVG file. I then cut the file with the Explore and I was quite impressed with how well the Explore cut the thin lines of the pleter cross. I also welded and cut two rectangles using Design Space to create a background for the cross.
The sentiment stamp on the front is a custom rubber stamp I designed and then ordered from http://readystamps.com/ . They were wonderful to deal with and I highly recommend them if you are interested in designing some of your own custom rubber stamps.
Supplies Used:
Cricut Explore & Design Space Online Softwaer
Cricut CTMH Artiste Cartridge (roses)
Cricut Craft Room Exclusive: Chess Image Set (checkerboard)
Cricut Cake Basics Cartridge (retangles)
Pleter Kris SVG file
Recollections card base
Stampin'Up Word Window Punch
Cuttlebug Machine
Die-Namites Die - Winter Branch
Spellbinders Page Maps Die - Tags & Flags
Recollections Cardstock
Fiskars Red Ink Pad
Croatian "Happy Easter" Custom Rubber Stamp
Dollar Store Ribbon
Self-adhesive foam mounts
Glue
Thank you so much for checking out my card.
