| Relaxing in Paradise |
by Susan |
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My two older children have had the pleasure and privilege of attending college in Charleston, SC, at the College of Charleston. C of C is a nationally ranked university which offers a variety of fields of study in an amazing setting. C of C is also the oldest municipal university in the U.S. And for all of its many assets, including being ranked as a “best school for price” among Liberal Arts & Science schools nationally, my daughter would probably say the best feature is the proximity to the beach!!! There are several wonderful beaches in the Charleston area and Bethany has allowed herself to be wooed by each!!! One of the results of attending college in such an ideal location is all of the beach photos you can send to your scrapbooking mom, chronically your “relaxation” experiences!
This layout was inspired by Bethany’s love of the beach - and her “need” to “relax” away from school work. The layout is a two page 12 x 12 design with all of the elements cut on your cricut. You will need three Cricut cartridges to complete this cut file: Opposites Attract – one of my favorite font cartridges, Accent Essentials – an wonderful shapes cartridge, and Paper Doll Dress Up – a MUST HAVE cartridge that has so much more than just paper dolls! When you open the cut file in Design Studio (DS) you will see that each of the page tabs are labeled for you and that the first two pages are PREVIEWS and should not be cut.
Many DS users have a difficult time learning to “shadow” their text in DS. This layout has one shadowed word, Relaxing, which you will cut using Opposites Attract and two pieces of card stock to match your desired base paper. The shadow and the top layer text have already been created for you in this cut file. However, for those of you who struggle with creating shadows in DS, I thought I would share instructions for the way I create a shadow effect cut:
1. I type the word or phase (or image) I plan to use onto the virtual mat in a regular setting.
2. I select “WELD” on the DS menu, and use the “nudge” buttons to shift my letter so that they are *just* touching.
3. When I am happy with the text, I select the “SHADOW” feature on my virtual keyboard.
4. I again type in the work or phrase I plan to use and again selected weld on the menu. Using the DS corner arrows, I move the shadowed text and place it directly over the text I created earlier so that the first letter lines up right over top of the non-shadowed word on the virtual mat.
5. Being very careful to select only the “shadowed” letters, I again use the nudge buttons and move the larger letters one at a time and place them over the original letters. Do not be concerned with how much overlap occurs on each of the shadowed letters; it is more important that the large letters line up over the smaller letters.
6. When I am happy with the shadow effect on the virtual mat, I click on the shadowed text and move to an open area on the mat. Sometime you may have to copy and paste the shadowed text to another page. Just be careful not to adjust your letter spacing. This allows you to cut the base text and the shadowed text in two different papers.
When cutting the Relaxing in Paradise cut file you will notice that the photo mat on the left page is a bit large. I like to place a 5 x 7 photograph on my layouts when possible. The larger photograph serves as a primary point of interest, especially in a layout with large elements like the palm tree, or in a very busy layout.
Another question you may have when cutting this file is how I made the palm tree and the pineapple in two colors when each is a single cut. This was very simple: I cut the palm tree twice and the pineapples twice. I cut the leaves off of a green tree cut and glued them to the base on the tree. On the pineapple I cut the leaves off of the orange cut and glued the full green pineapple behind so that only the leaves were showing. I then took a red marker and colored in the drink straw on the pineapple. Easy, easy!
As you complete your layout remember that you can add more photos, resize the mats, or whatever you need to do to make this layout more “yours” and more friendly to your photographs. When it comes to scrapbooking, making it your own is always encouraged!
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Submitted by Kimberly
Thanks so much for the shadow tip, your directions are great and the LO is beautiful!
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Submitted by Joy
What a great job describing how to make a welded shadow! I also loved the tip about having a 5x7 photo as a focal point, especially on a layout with lots of large elements! Great advice that I never thought of, although now it seems obvious. Well, that's the way it is with most great ideas!
Enjoyed the tutorial and the cut file! THANK YOU!
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Submitted by Judy
Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I really appreciate the instructions you gave for accomplishing the various layered cuts. So helpful! Makes me want to pack up and travel.
Great job!
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| Average Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars |
Displaying 3 of 4 Article Reviews |
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