Artbooking Made Easy: Summertime Layouts

Summer, summer! At long last I can feel it approaching again. The glory of spring will fade into the sizzle of summer, and that’s all right by me. I can’t imagine a better way to let go of one of the most gorgeous seasons on earth than to dive right into another.

Today marks another “transition” as well: this will be my final Artbooking Made Easy post. I can’t believe it’s here! The time we’ve spent together exploring the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge has been such a delightful experience, and I hope you’ve learned as much and had as many moments of inspiration as I have.

To go out with a splash, I want to share with you some ideas on how to use the summertime-themed keys for your upcoming summer photos and memories. Get a final look at the masterful pieces you’ve come to expect in this series, along with some helpful hints on how to create similar projects by watching the video.

You just saw some hot ideas, but let me load you up with a few more:

I love this Family Vacation layout, not only because it features beach scenes and embellishments (because who doesn’t love the beach?) but because it incorporates the journaling so creatively. The hexagon numbers are a fun way to match up each adorable photo with a caption, don’t you think?

There is also some fantastic layering used here. A square of B&T, a journal spot, and some cardstock turn this combo of a photo mat into much more than a photo mat—it’s a scene to behold. With the photo atop that, held in place by washi tape and stitching, and a few embellishments more, the entire piece is a little work of art all on its own.

When you work with a busy layout like this one but have details you still want to add, make use of your photo space. Crop a photo so that the focal person isn’t precisely in the center, leaving room for a stamped sentiment or extra accessory over the open space.

Move to the next layout and you’ll notice that though a lot of the same shapes were used, yet the layouts look totally different. 

A change in size, paper, placement, and embellishment give every single shape on the Artbooking cartridge multiple looks. With 700 images on the cartridge, that means the possibilities are as high as the sky—a big, blue, open summer sky.

From one artist to another, keep dreaming! You’re as free as you let yourself be in your creativity. It’s my hope that the Cricut^® Artbooking cartridge gives you all the right ingredients you need for expanding your artistic world and capturing the moments that matter most.

Recipes:

12" x 12" Sunshine Layout

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

D1555 My Acrylix™ All the Details

Z1939 Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1928 Durables Triangle Studs

Z1931 Honey Triangles Washi Tape

Z1837 Mini-Medley Accents Wooden Collection

Colors: Honey, Pear, White Daisy, Ruby, Sunset

12" x 12" Family Vacation Layout

Reflections: Front & Center–Accent Band (Alternate)™

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

C1575 My Acrylix™ True to Life

D1580 My Acrylix™ Catch You Later

D1543 My Acrylix™ Country-Born

A1159 My Acrylix™ LOL

D1556 My Acrylix™ School Years

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

X7179B Ariana Paper Packet

X7171B Sarita Paper Packet

Z1939 Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment

Z1886 My Crush™ Besties Assortment

Z1887 My Crush™ Best Day Ever Assortment

Z1889 My Crush™ Favorites Assortment

Z1931 Honey Triangles Washi Tape

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Thread

Colors: Buttercup, White Daisy, Goldrush, Whisper, Honey, Archival Black, Lagoon, Champagne, kraft

Artbooking Made Easy: Together Layouts

Thanks for telling me all about your favorite photos! I think I need to schedule a family photo shoot soon! Congratulations to the Artbooking cartridge winner, Carolyn! Please send me an email with your mailing address to me@jeanettelynton.com with “Favorite Photo Contest Winner” in the subject line. 

With summer time on its way, I’m sure most of us are thinking about being together with our family—on family vacations or at reunions, BBQs, and parties. If you love documenting your favorite family together time, then you’re going to love today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy. We’re going to be looking at the together layout keys on pages 60 and 61 of the Artbooking booklet. 

So whether you’re scrapbooking memories with your sweetheart, your friends, or your family, these together layout keys are perfect!

I love this overlay! As Mimi pointed out, it’s been backed with papers from several different paper packets, but they all work together so well that you wouldn’t even guess they weren’t from the same packet! This overlay is nice because you can leave the cutouts backed simply with paper, photos, stamps, or embellishments.

Don’t you love this beautiful stamp? It’s nice with the two-colored effect too, created by simply stamping in two different inks and then cutting out the frame from one and paper piecing it atop the sentiment.

Again, this adorable overlay is perfect to be sized down and used for a card! I also love how the “I Adore You” sentiment was dovetailed and then popped up with a double layer of 3-D foam tape to give it a realistic ribbon-like look.

Notice how the artist had used a frame on top of the photo, without trimming off the edges. I love how the colors work together to frame the photo but it adds a certain amount of interest to keep the edges of the photo exposed.

Mimi showed us in the video how to back the border with colorful scraps, but you could also do the same thing with the “together” banner or other cutouts from these keys, as many of them have decorative edges.

These two heart pennants add such a nice touch to this page. You can use some re-inker and a spray pen to add some light sprinkles of color, as you can see here on the White Daisy cardstock that’s backing the pennants. I also love the machine stitching on top! That adds a fun and unexpected detail.  

I hope you enjoy scrapbooking all your “together” moments with these together keys!

Recipes

Together Layout:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

B1439 My Acrylix™ Dreamer

C1581 My Acrylix™ Inspiration Flourishes

E1028 My Acrylix™ Hopscotch Alphabet

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

Z1935 Black & Grey Epoxy Bubbles

Colors used: White Daisy, Hollyhock, Goldrush, Desert Sand

Remember Page:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

C1581 My Acrylix™ Inspiration Flourishes

B1443 My Acrylix™ Hello Wonderful

X7179B Ariana Paper Packet

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

X7180B Balloon Ride Paper Packet

Z1812 Sparkles Clear Flourishes—Small

Z1752 Sparkles Clear Assortment

Colors used: Buttercup, White Daisy, Sorbet, Sweet Leaf

Together Card:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

B1443 My Acrylix™ Hello Wonderful

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

X7181B Jubilee Paper Packet

X7179B Ariana Paper Packet

X7178B Ivy Lane Paper Packet

X7182B Timberline Paper Packet

Z1934 Flamingo Dots

Colors used: White Daisy, Olive, Cashmere, Hollyhock

Artbooking Made Easy: Snapshots Mini Album

I know that, as scrapbookers and crafters, many of us are inclined to find any excuse to pick up our cameras and snap a few (or not so few) pictures. Am I right? Have you ever found a stash of photos that you always meant to scrapbook and just never got around to? Or maybe you’re just looking for a way to scrapbook those impromptu family pictures you took at the park. Either way, you’re going to love what’s being featured on today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy! Look at pages 40 and 41 of the Artbooking booklet to follow along!

See what I mean? I love the camera and the photo strip cutouts on these keys. They are the perfect way to highlight all of those snapshots that I know we all have tucked away! Let’s look at some of the details of this great mini album.

One of the things I love about the circle overlay is all of the fun stamping you can do with it! Jill showed us how the overlay was used as a stencil all over in this album for this fun, shaded stamp pattern. Try this out with the other overlays to pattern your paper! The best part is that you can still use the cutout, even after you’ve used it as a stencil!

The My Acrylix™ Reel Life stamp set used here comes with three arrows, so you can achieve this fun pattern by just stamping it once in four different colors, cutting out all the pieces, and arranging them however you’d like.

Isn’t this a great watercolor technique behind these speech bubbles? All you need to do is take your Exclusive Inks™ pad, and press the lid into the stamp pad so that ink collects on the inside of the lid. With a paintbrush, add some water to the ink and then use even brushstrokes on your paper to achieve the look you want.

Of course, you can use the cutouts from these keys for other projects besides mini albums, too. On this adorable canvas, all of the shapes were cut using Real Dial Size to make them fit perfectly on the 6" x 6" canvas. The title and the circle half overlay were both cut at 2" RDS, and the photo mat cut at 4 1/2". The camera and the heart were both cut at 1 1/2" RDS. I like how the artist customized the title by leaving off the “photos” from the “My Favorite Photos” pennants on page 40 of the Artbooking booklet.  

After all these photography-themed cutouts, I’m thinking about all my favorite photos, but I also want to hear about yours! Leave a comment here, on our Facebook page, or on YouTube telling me about your favorite photograph for a chance to win your very own Cricut^® Artbooking cartridge! I’ll announce the winner next Monday.

Recipes

Be Yourself Mini Album:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection (cutouts and stamps)

B1431 My Acrylix™ Reel Life

X7179B Ariana Paper Packet

X7171B Sarita Paper Packet

X7172 ProPlayer Paper Packet

Z1751 Baker’s Twine Harvest Assortment

Z1702 Baker’s Twine Paradise Assortment

Z1799 Silver Shimmer Trim

Z1918 Teal Shimmer Trim

Z1817 Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape

Z1932 Silver Geometric Washi Tape

Z1935 Black & Grey Epoxy Bubbles

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1938 Sponge Dauber Value Pack

Colors used: Colonial White, Crème Brulee, Juniper, Outdoor Denim, Slate, Twilight,

My Favorite Canvas:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

Z1939 Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment

Z1818 My Creations™ 6" x 6" Canvas Display

Z1830 Brown & Tan Glitter Paper

Z1753 Sparkles Brown & Tan Assortment

Colors used: Flaxen, Sorbet, Thistle 

Artbooking Made Easy: Mother's Day My Creations

Mother’s Day is right around the corner! Of all my titles, “mom” is definitely my favorite! (Although, “nana” is right up there, too!) I adore my sweet children and grandchildren, and I am so grateful to be their mother and their grandmother! On today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy, we’re going to look at how to use the Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs to create adorable gifts that any mother would love to receive!

I know I would love to receive a pocket-scrapbook page filled with photos of my children and grandchildren—wouldn’t you? These scrapbooking programs are amazing by themselves, but combining them with elements from the Artbooking cartridge makes them even better! Let’s take a closer look at these wonderful projects.

I love this sweet Mother's Day Picture My Life page! Monica pointed out how the shapes from the Artbooking cartridge can be sized down using the Real Dial Size feature in order to fit these smaller cards perfectly. Real Dial Size is going to be the key to making the shapes, cutouts, and titles from Artbooking work perfectly on your Picture My Life layouts.

These scrapbooking programs are so unique that no matter your scrapbooking style, you can adapt it to fit your preferences. For example, I love how the card on the bottom right acts as the journaling for the card to its left.  The cork shapes point to the picture and the kraft letters label it. And don’t you love how those little stitched hearts decorate the card? Such a nice touch. If you’re worried that the Picture My Life programs won’t give you enough room for journaling, think again! Each of the cards has journaling on one side, so there’s always plenty of room to label and write some details about your photos.

Because the Picture My Life cards are rather generic, they are also versatile enough to use for a variety of projects. But using cutouts from the Artbooking cartridge is the perfect way to add some specific details and titles to your pocket scrapbook pages and layouts, like how the artist has created this “Mothers day” title using the letters from Artbooking.

Like Monica said, one of the best parts about the Picture My Life programs is how they also coordinate perfectly with the My Reflections™ paper packets. This My Creations™ box is decorated so adorably using paper from the Skylark paper packet and a card from the Skylark Picture My Life program, but then just a few select cutouts from the Artbooking cartridge help dress it up: the arrow, pennant tab, and “cherish” title. And don’t you love that Base & Bling camera charm?

See how this box fits everything you need? And because it’s tiered, the cards are all readily accessible. Remember that you can decorate the inside of the lid, too!

Monica already pointed out the calendar on this layout and how it was sized down to fit perfectly on the card. But I like how the artist played up the calendar theme by using a card with the months of the year, and by journaling highlights from the 1^st year of marriage.

One idea from this page is to add a cutout from the Artbooking cartridge to a blank journaling card. If you don’t have anything specific to add journaling for on a page, an Artbooking title might be just enough to dress up the card.

Another smart idea: if you find that your pictures just don’t quite match your color scheme, you can always try printing them out in black and white or with a sepia finish.

So please enjoy getting those Mother’s Day gifts ready, and go ahead and try incorporating Artbooking into your own Picture My Life projects!

Recipes

Mother’s Day Page:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

D1578 My Acrylix^™ Flight of the Arrows

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

Z1947 Picture My Life^™ Skylark Scrapbooking Program

Z3000 Skylark Assortment

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1825 Keyboard Kraft Alphabet

A1863 Midtown Cork Shapes

Z1850 Lagoon Houndstooth Washi Tape

Colors used: White Daisy, Sweet Leaf, Lagoon, kraft

Journaling Cards Box:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

Z1947 Picture My Life^™ Skylark Scrapbooking Program

Z1702 Baker’s Twine Paradise Assortment

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1958 Base & Bling Craft Queen Charms

Z1928 Durables Triangle Studs

Z1825 Keyboard Kraft Alphabet

Apple of My Eye Layout:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection (cutouts and stamps)

D1574 My Acrylix^™ Take Note

D1555 My Acrylix^™ All the Details

Z1942 Picture My Life^™ Avonlea Scrapbooking Program

Z2195 Aqua Dots

Z1918 Teal Shimmer Trim

Colors used: Colonial White, White Daisy, Juniper, Lagoon, Outdoor Denim, black, kraft

Artbooking Made Easy: Teamwork Layouts

Wow, you have all taken and planned some amazing trips! Thank you for sharing your dream vacations with me—I almost felt like I was there! I'm happy to announce the winner of not a dream vacation, but a dream cartridge: the Artbooking cartridge! Congratulations Julie Steele! Please send me an email with your mailing address to me@jeanettelynton.com, with "Dream Vacation Artbooking winner" as the subject line. 

No matter if you’re a baseball, football, basketball, or soccer fan, or just know someone who is, you’re going to want to cheer for today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy! We’re going to be looking at the teamwork layout keys found on pages 82 and 83 of the Artbooking booklet.

See what I mean? Doesn’t that make you want to race over to your crafting table and get started?

We are coming up on Little League season, so this is the perfect layout! You saw in the video how to make the most of this chevron overlay by backing it with different colors. I also loved to tip on cutting out the little stars from the “score” cutout to use as accents around the page.

Let’s take a closer look at the title here. The artist cut it out twice, once in Honey and once in Outdoor Denim, and then layered it to give it the shadow effect. She went one step further and added in that extra detail with a journaling pen, and the result is a home run in my book!

Also, look at how the artist has used the banner border—upside down! It blended in so well with the other elements on the page that I almost missed it, but it’s definitely a winning element on this page, especially since it’s used in a way that you wouldn’t expect.

One thing I want to point out with the baseball, as well as the other balls on the teamwork layout keys, is that there are two ways to cut out these shapes. For example, with the baseball, you can either cut out the shape in white and lay it on top of a red circle to have the stitches show through from underneath (the baseball shown here on the right), or you can cut out the shape in red and lay the cutouts of the red stitches on top of a white circle (the baseball on the left). Whichever look you prefer!

Now that we all have sports on our mind, time for a curve ball! This page isn’t extremely sport-themed, but it still includes many of the fun elements from the teamwork keys.

Don’t you just love how the simple white-on-white overlay is set off ever so slightly by the black Shimmer trim border? I love how this neutral color palette was given a girly flair with just a few splashes of shimmer, and a few fun patterns like the polka dots that even match her uniform!

I love these chevron arrows with the ombre effect. The artist chose to use Whisper, Slate, and black inks to match the color palette, but you could use any mix of colors in coordinating shades (for example, try Sweet Leaf, Pear, and Topiary, or Buttercup, Honey, and Goldrush). Start by first inking the whole stamp in the lightest color—in this case, Whisper. Then, holding the stamp at an angle, ink only the middle of the stamp with the middle color (Slate) using the edge of the stamp pad. Finally, ink the end of the stamp in the darkest color (black). You can see how this creates a nice transition from one color to the next and makes the arrow pattern really stand out. Experiment with this technique and see what you can come up with!

Let’s take a time-out from layouts and move over to home décor. I love simple pieces of home décor, and it’s always a bonus when it’s something you get to decorate yourself!

Did you notice the glossy black chevron-patterned paper behind the “All Star” cutout? By just backing the star with some Pacifica cardstock and adding a white enamel heart shape, this window is simple yet stylish.

I love this pennant banner! Especially with the Honey triangles washi tape behind it—those coordinating patterns look great together. The actual banner cutout on page 83 of the Artbooking booklet has only 6 pennants, but you can cut out the border twice and piece them together as needed.

For soccer balls, basketballs, and baseballs, the circle shape on page 83 is perfect for backing the cutout in a solid shape of a different color. To get that exact football shape, though, you can either just cut the solid shape out by hand, or use the “hide contour” button with Cricut Craft Room^® to hide the middle cutouts for a solid base shape.

One little tip as you’re using your Cricut^® machine for smaller, intricate cutouts: try using the “flip” function key to cut out your shapes in the mirror image. This will often give you cleaner cuts, especially on the front side of your shapes. Just make sure that if you’re using the double-sided B&T papers, you load the side you want to show face down on the cutting mat.

I look forward to all the projects that you will all be able to tackle like pros with these teamwork layout keys!

Recipes

Baseball Layout:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

B1452 My Acrylix^™ Funky Blossoms

X7181B Jubilee Paper Packet

X7182B Timberline Paper Packet

Z1751 Baker’s Twine Harvest Assortment

Z1825 Keyboard Kraft Alphabet

Z1961 White Marquee Enamel Shapes

Colors used: Slate, Outdoor Denim, White Daisy, Honey, Barn Red, kraft

All-Star Layout:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

A1150 My Acrylix^™ Charming Chevrons

C1464 My Acrylix^™ Blue Ribbon

D1578 My Acrylix^™ Flight of the Arrows

X7172B ProPlayer Paper Packet

Z1809 Black Shimmer Trim

Z1799 Silver Shimmer Trim

Z1928 Durables Triangle Studs

Colors used: White Daisy, Lagoon, Honey, Ruby, Whisper, black

Hinged Display Tray:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

B1431 My Acrylix^™ Reel Life

C1575 My Acrylix^™ True to Life

C1573 My Acrylix^™ Do Your Best

Z1939 Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment

Z1751 Baker’s Twine Harvest Assortment

Z1961 White Marquee Enamel Shapes

Colors used: black, White Daisy, Sunset, Honey, Pacifica, Slate