Scrapbook Layout featuring Kittens and Summer Fun-Thursday, May 5, 2011

Making a scrapbook is an enjoyable pastime and allows you to have your photos organized and fun to look at. I love making scrapbooks with my Cricut Personal Cutting MachineCricut 29-0001 Personal Electronic Cutting Machine.
For whatever the theme of my scrapbook layout, Cricut has a cutout that works perfectly with the scrapbook page theme and it is easy to make a great looking layout using the Cricut machine.
For the summer of 1997 I used kittens as a theme. Our kitty gave birth to 3 beautiful kittens and my young daughter loved them so much. We took alot of photos of the kittens that summer so I decided to make a scrapbook page out of it.

Cutting Photos with my Cricut Machine
Because cutting paper is so easy using the Cricut machine, I decided to try cutting photos in interesting shapes too. It was so easy to do:

• I used the Sentimentals  and Sweethearts Cricut Cartridges; two "definite need to have" cartridges for your collection.

• For each photo determine where the center of the area you want to see is.

• Use the Real Dial button and the Center Point Button. Stick the photo to your sticky mat then move the cutting blade to that center area you chose. The cutout will be all around the center point. If the Cricut machine tells you that you don't have enough room, use the arrow buttons around the cut button to reposition just a bit until the Cricut tells you it has enough room and begins to cut.

• To cut backgrounds that will peak out from behind the cut photo, cut the background a bit bigger. Example: For a photo sized 3 1/4", set the Cricut size to 3 1/2". For a photo sized 3 1/2", set the Cricut size to 3 3/4".
• The size on the Cricut Machine dial measures the width of the photo. For a landscape shaped photo, measure the height and use it on the Cricut Machine dial.
• For a large photo, use the Portrait Key, this will cut a portrait cutout, giving you the length you need.

CRICUT KEYBOARD BUTTONS:
I used the <Card1>, pg 65, <Label1>, pg 68, and <Label2>, pg 69, and for the biggest photo, I used <Crwstmp1>, pg 50.

HELPFUL HINTS:

• For a journaling cutout, I used <Crwstmp1>, pg 50
• For more intricate cutouts, like the kitty I used, turn the paper so the front is stuck to the sticky mat, that way any frayed edges will appear on the underside of your cardstock.
• The cardstock for this project should be of a heavier weight because of the intricate areas of the cat designs.

SPECIFICS

Cricut Cartridge: Sentimentals
Sorry no picture is available for this cartridge.
 
Cricut Cartridge: Sweethearts
Blade Depth: 2
Pressure: High
Speed: Low to Medium
Cardstock: "Stack 7" by DCWV

Step by Step

Step 1

Cut your photo to the desired shape using the Real Dial Size and Center Point keys. Cut three cardstock shapes, each one 1/4" bigger than the other. Pictured: <Label1>, pg 68

Step 2

Cut your photo and cardstock shapes as done in step 1. Pictured: <Card1>, pg 65.

Step 3

Cut your photo and cardstock shapes as done in step 1. Pictured: <<Label2>, pg 69.

• Layer and adhere each cutout starting with the largest cutout on the bottom. 

Step 4

Use the Sweethearts cartridge for a Kitty cutout if you want one. Cut as many as you want:

• <Kitty>, pg 45 using only the keyboard kitty key, Size 2" and 1" (Top Kitty Layer)

• <Kitty>, pg 45 using the Shadow key and keyboard kitty key, Size 2" and 1" (Bottom Kitty Layer)

• Adhere the top layer to the bottom layer of the kitty and adhere to scrapbook layout.

Step 5

  For a journaling area, the <Crwstmp1>, pg 50 works very well.

Step 6

Adhere the top Kitty layer to the bottom layer and then to the Journaling cardstock you cut out.

Step 7

Arrange and adhere the photos to your base cardstock. I chose a "kitty" themed piece for this project.

Step 8

Adhere the finished kitty cutouts and accompanying heart layers to the base carstock.

Step 9

Adhere the journaling cutout. I also cutout a 2" white <Kitty> to place on the larger photo in the middle; there I had room to write a journaling entry.

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