I wanted the image to be square, so I designed using 1 inch squares and ½ inch right triangles. The image was 4x4.  I knew I wanted to add my last name and Est. info.  I decided to add a 1 inch border around the heart using 1 inch squares.  The image was now 6x6.  I wanted it to have a frame so I added another 1 inch for that, making the final project 8x8.

Looking at the design you can see that many lines overlap.  Unfortunately XCS does not have a way to easily remove those lines but there is an app called deepnest.io. The apps nests everything as best it can on any space you assign (called a sheet) and nests everything allowing you to save as much material as possible.  For this image, I knew all the triangles and squares when butted up to each other made a 6x6 square.  I seperated all the shapes onto the canvas (picture 1) and then exported them as an svg.  By importing all the squares and triangles and telling the program to nest them on a 6.2x6.2 square (I tried the 6x6 square and it just wouldn't work) I was able to get it to produce a 6x6 square with all the shapes inside.  Just a note, you will notice it says only 49/52 shapes fit, but the ones missing will still cut out because the space left is the same size of the actual shapes that are missing. In the settings tab you can tell the app to remove all overlapping lines.  Then you export the completed nesting shape as an SVG and import into XCS.  Not only can you save material by overlapping lines, but now you've also saved on laser time since you are making less cuts.

All the squares and triangles were imported back into XCS.  I then created an 8x8 square and made a copy by doing control c, control v.  I placed one square over the image I had just imported and centered it using the alignment lines in XCS. My plan was to add a frame on top of this piece and call it good (I changed my mind as you will read below).  The other 8x8 square would be the backer that I would glue all the pieces above to.

I wanted my name and the year of our wedding somewhere so I used black jack font in XCS just big enough to fit over the heart and I used the default font Lato for the Est. and the year.  NOTE:  yes you will notice the date in my pictures does not match the final product.  My husband was kind enough to inform me we met in 94 and got married in 97….OOPS…LOL

I did not have anything thicker than 3mm wood, so my plan was to stack 2 3mm pieces on top of each other to make the frame part.  One part was already placed around the squares and triangles. For the second part I added a 8x8 inch square to the canvas and then added a 6x6 inch square to the canvas, selected both and chose align center align. I then clicked on make compound vector.  This combined the 2 shapes.  I wanted this top layer to look more like a frame with mitered edges, so I added a 1" right triangle to the canvas and then clicked on edit nodes.  I then used the scissors and removed the vertical and horizontal segments and kept the 45 degree angle line.  I then copied it 3 times and place 2 in the upper right hand corner and bottom left hand corner.  The remaining 2 lines I flipped and placed in the upper left hand corner and lower right hand corner. 

Now my intention was to just score these lines and keep the frame all one piece, but I somehow managed to forget this last step and made them all cut lines.  This made no difference and I actually liked it better because it looked like a real frame.

To save material I placed my name and wedding date inside the frame so that space would not be wasted.

Next step was to cut everything out.  It was at this time that I realize the frame was lower than my name.

After cutting everything out, I realized that the frame was lower than my name and wedding date and I needed another layer.  I realized that if I cut out the frame around the squares and triangles, or even the other frame I made, I would be wasting all the material in the middle.  So I decided to separate out the parts on the second layer.  To do this I selected the frame part and chose release compound path.  I then clicked on edit nodes and selected the top, bottom and right hand side segments and deleted them.  I then clicked on the 4 miter lines and selected release vector compound and deleted the right side lines.  This left me with the left side of the frame.  I selected the 2 lines and the 2 mitered lines and selected create compound vector.  I now had one side of the frame.  I made 3 copies and placed them next to each other and cut them out.  

Next step was to paint everything.  I wanted the name and wedding date to be black along with the frame, and the heart to be 4 different shades of red.  The rest would be white.  Because the triangles were so small, I just used 4 paint pens I had on hand.  For the white parts I placed them on a piece of rolled masking tape and used a make up sponge to dab on white paint so that it didn't drip down the sides.

I started with the 8x8 backer piece and used wood glue to attach the solid frame piece.  I then assembled all the triangle and square pieces the way I wanted them and row by row glued them to the backer.  Once that was dry I sanded everything lightly, going heavier on the white section to make it looked aged a little.  I then glued the 2 layers of the frame and my name and wedding date.

Tip:  Originally I had made a rectangle around my wedding date so that I could use that as a template to place the letters.  Unfortunately they were so thin I was afraid the glue would also stick to the rectangle so instead I grabbed a piece of masking tape and placed the letters on it perfectly paint side down.  I then added glue to the bottoms and glued them in place.  Once the glue had dried I slowly and carefully removed the tape.