Decorations Make The Buffet: a.k.a. (Our Favorite Part)

For the last several years, my favorite part of wedding celebrations has been the dessert buffet table. Of course, the bride and groom are the most important and adored feature of the happy occasion. However, by the time the happy couple say I do, we have wiped away tears of joy, the photographer has taken pictures of the wedding party, and we finally declare the special day perfect, everyone starts to think about the rumble in their tummies.

The buffet table becomes the center of attention as guests with low blood sugar approach the table and fill their plates with delicious morsels of joy. A dessert buffet table should be beautifully decorated and serve as an attractive beacon for all hungry wedding guests. Decorating is a serious responsibility for creative individuals in charge of the table décor. Cricut^® products are invaluable tools when embellishing and enhancing the appearance of many a buffet table.

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's excellent cartridge exploration of the Art Deco cartridge in today?s Chirp. You?ll also find helpful crafting tips and glean great crafting ideas from Cricut^® message board members in this week?s newsletter. 

As always, I wish you success in your crafting adventures!

Lonna Joy Smoot
Editor, Cricut^® CHIRP!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Tina Berlingeri

About Me: My name is Tina, and I am married to Vito, my wonderful husband. I am a mother to two precious fur babies, Oliver and Dexter. We live in sunny Arizona! I love to run, hike, and spend time at home!

Instructions:
• I cut out the flowers from the Flower Shoppe cartridge and hot glued them together. I arranged them on top of a pretty white ribbon.
• Embellish the center of the pink roses with pearls.
• I tried to buy silk greens to go with the corsage, but I couldn't find any I liked. Instead I cut the leaves and embossed them. They were just the right size!
• I cut the corsage box using the Sweet Treat Boxes cartridge.

Cartridge Used: Sweet Treats, Flower Shoppe

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Floating Frames for a Wedding Gift
• Corner Bookmarks
• Phila Flyers Themed Birthday Decorations
• God's Promise Pop-up Card
• Spring in Your Step

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

There are several weddings I have to help out with and attend over the next few months. I don?t think I will have any spare time for myself because I am helping everyone else out. One of my soon-to-be-married friends has more of a classical taste, so I started looking at the Art Deco cartridge. As I explored the Art Deco cartridge, I fell in love with the style and way the monograms are designed. I ended up creating some centerpieces for my friend to place on the tables or at the buffet table. I think she will really love them.

The Art Deco Cartridge has six Creative Features: Layer, Shadow/Curtain Call Shadow, Curtain Call, Stage Left Monogram, Center Stage Monogram, and Stage Right Monogram. All of the fonts come with uppercase letters, numbers, and some symbols. The cartridge also has some borders and cards on different features. This cartridge has a wide variety of images including the Pickwick building, a pageant marquee for words or phrases, a gold digger girl, a sugar daddy, a flapper, a hoofer, a vamp woman, a sheba, and a sheik. You can also cut out a greyhound, horse, duck, deer, bird, eagle, and the comedy and tragedy masks. Be sure to check out the monogram blackout frames. Under the Stage Left Monogram, Stage Right Monogram, and Center Stage Monogram features you will find frames for single, double, and triple monograms.

I?ve had a few other ideas for my friend?s wedding. I?m going to show her some borders from the Art Deco cartridge that would be perfect for the top and bottom of the wedding announcement. We can cut the cards large enough so they would be great centerpieces for the tables. I also created a display using the triple monogram blackout frame and the first letters of both the bride and groom?s first names and their new last name. To create the frame, I used the <Card4 > image on the Stage Left Monogram and Center Stage Monogram features. The candle luminary was easy to make. I just cut the first two layers for the frame from cardstock and the last layer from vellum. Create three frames like this and then glue them together to create a triangle. You can change the direction of the frames depending on if you are using taller or shorter candles. I also created number cards for the tables. First I used hard craft wire to create my own stand. Next I cut out the solid blackout frame and numbers using the Curtain Call feature. Then I cut out an extra monogram frame from vellum and added some numbers using the Center Stage Monogram feature.

While I was creating my projects, I discovered a few things that I think might help you. When I was creating the monogram centerpiece, I ended up cutting out extra letters until I figured out that I had to use one letter from the Stage Left Monogram feature, one letter from the Center Stage Monogram feature, and one letter from the Stage Right Monogram feature. The monograms are designed to fit the shape of the frames, which is why you need to make sure you use the correct feature for the different letters.

I wanted to cut the monogram blackout frame as large as I could get it, so I selected the largest layer and used the Fit to Page function on my Cricut Expression^® machine. I made sure to write down the size my machine told me that the largest layer would be cut. That way when I went back to cut the smaller layers, I knew what size those layers should be.

The Art Deco cartridge is so much fun to create with. I know my friend will love these ideas, so now all I have to do is find the time to get everything cut out for her wedding. Check back next week as I continue exploring Cricut^® cartridges.

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Need some help? Provo Craft ^® Customer Support is here for you! Never hesitate to call in (1-888-922-4725 or 1-888-92ccircle for Cricut Circle™ questions); we have people ready to help you! We are currently open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mountain Time. If these hours do not work with your schedule, please send an email to support@provocraft.com.

Have a great week!
Customer Support

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”
—George Bernard Shaw