Whether it's a trip to another country or simply a weekend getaway to a favorite destination, travel is fun. We return with souvenirs, photos, and memories. Many times our souvenirs and photos can spark pleasant "mental re-runs" of adventures from or details of the vacations of yesteryear or even last week. Call me silly, but I like to keep certain sentimental items like receipts, ticket stubs, concert programs, venue advertisements, bus schedules, rocks, candy wrappers, a.k.a. (junk) from the various parts of the globe which I have visited and use them in my scrap booking along with my photos. (I'm not alone...you probably do it too!) Sometimes the smallest things evoke the most vivid recollections. I want to share these with my family and friends in an organized but entertaining format. My Cricut is a perfect companion for helping me achieve this objective. The possibilities are limitless.


Happy Cricuting :-)

Today's tip comes from message board member BrendaWilson. Thanks for the great tip!

"Hi all, take a look. I wanted to make a do's & don'ts booklet for babies for my friend who will be a first time mom.

"I used syi cart. Then I had this brilliant idea. I created my design in DS and used my markers in the E machine. Then I scanned it into my word processing application and positioned the wording inside the design. Then I printed 'just the text' without the design. I then put my printed sheet on my mat and cut the design. I was very pleased with the outcome."

A few weeks ago my roommates and I went camping for the end of the summer vacation. We went up in the mountains, put up the tents, and started a fire to cook dinner in. I was really looking forward to this trip because I wanted to learn how to cook over a fire. I also needed a break from the real world and this was just perfect. Now my challenge is to capture the trip in my scrapbook pages. This is where my DesignStudio came in handy. I copied my friend Kendra's idea and developed my layout on a 12 X 24 mat. This way I when I cut the images out I have two 12 X 12 pages and the other great thing about the software is that I can create the whole layout on the screen and see it all before I cut anything out. Another note is if you run out of 12 X 12 mats you can always cut a 12 X 24 in half for those emergency scrap sessions. I created my titles and where I am going to place my photos--it was so easy to use the software, I love it. Attached is the cut file.

My goal in designing a scrapbook layout using the software was to merge the two new Cricut cartridges in my layout. In doing this I created a log fire using the "X" from "Extreme" and the flame from the Icon button in Graphically Speaking. I created a tent using the image from "P!ay hard" and 2 rectangles from any blackout image. My titles came form Storybook and I am pretty proud of them. I really like the fonts that are on this cartridge. Now for the hard part--or maybe the easy part. Yes, I have to cut everything out and then assemble. I've included my DesignStudio layout out incase anyone wanted to copy it. You may want to change the titles but that should be an easy fix. Oh and by, the way I came up with a name for my DesignStudio, I've decided to call him "Freddie". Now I have named my software and my Cricut--crazy me.

You're probably thinking "what about we crafters who don't have DesignStudio?" Well, the camp fire can still be created by cutting the "X" and then turning it on its side. You can still cut the flames out and glue them on top of the "X" so that the image together looks like a campfire. The leaves from "Storybook" can still be layered on top of each other to form a tree hanging over the edge of the page. to cut the rest of the images or background images for your photos. I copied Kendra's cardstock paper layout. I placed different colored cardstock in quarter sections on the mat. Then as I cut the other images and titles I can scroll to the correct colored of paper that I want.

I was really pleased with my layout and now I need to print my photos and then add them to my layout. I can't wait to see the finished product. What would I do without my "Eddie" (aka Cricut), and my "Freddie" (aka DesignStudio)--hummm. Check out next week!

Crafty Kimber

A: This feature mirrors or flips each selected character. This feature is available with the Cricut Expression machine, the new Cricut Create machine, and the DesignStudio software.