A castle fit for a princess!!!

So today is my biggest birthday project! I made four, yes, that's right, FOUR, 3D castles from the Once Upon a Princess cartridge. You can only see two in this picture (one in the background). I used them as centerpieces on some of the tables at the party and put some crimped green paper around them to appear like grass. A few tricks to cutting this castle. I wanted to cut it at 11" but, I was a little bewildered because some of the cuts you can't cut unless you use a 12x24 mat and 'turn' the image using DS.

The shift images on Page 75 & 76 have to be turned 90 degrees either way to make them horizontal and fit on the page at 11". Again, if you decided to cut bigger than 11", you would have to hide contour on one shape at a time and do individual cuts for each piece of those two 'cuts'. And the cut on Page 76 for the layer shift, the roofs for the towers, you would really need to adjust the layout if you made the castle too much bigger.

I also think it's important to note that it's a good idea to do the scoring and gluing where you can a bit before you really want to assemble the castle. It's a bit of a waiting game if you and sitting, waiting for the glue and trying to assemble. Another tip is not to fold the 'tabs' at the tops of the towers in too much. I think it's much easier for the 'roofs' to glue on when the 'tabs' are touching the roofs. If you fold them in too much, the glue doesn't even touch when you put the roof on. :)

Anyone that has any questions, feel free to ask, I'd be glad to help but, it really was an easy, low cost centerpiece after I made the first one! Good luck!!!