Wedding Tile

May is by far much busier than December ever thought of being! To add to an already full calendar, I have been getting ready for a friend's wedding that the whole family was asked to be a part of. So while I have actually been doing a lot of crafting and sewing, I've not had a chance to post any of it.

As the maid of honor for the wedding, I had to prepare a toast. Being the chatty one that I am, I made sure I wrote out my speech beforehand in order to keep the toast short. As part of the speech before the toast, I had a bible verse that I felt was particularly applicable to this couple. I used the Cricut to cut the verse from vinyl, along with the couples name and wedding date. I have learned that I must modge podge over the tiles or else the vinyl letters lift with time. This particular font was the "upright" from the "Opposites Attract" cartridge. On the back I tried something new. I modge-podged on a sheet of scrapbook paper to cover up the ugly back. Then I printed out a copy of the speech/toast to put on the back as well. I loved the way doing both sides of the tile turned out. I think the bride could even flip the tile over to the back and display that side if she ever wanted. Much better than the plain ugly back or adding just felt or cork!

Simple Cricut Lettering

I wanted to share with you some very simple lettering with the Cricut. I only have 2 font cartridges for my Cricut. I keep thinking I am going to invest in the Sure Cuts A Lot software that would allow me to use any font program on my computer on my Cricut, BUT I haven't done that yet. So, this was an experiment to prove to myself - and all those who have EVERY cartridge under the sun, that less can be more. These pages have all been completed in the last couple of weeks. I am ashamed to admit that they cover a vacation that happened a year ago. In my world, less has to be more because I keep getting more and more and wishing for less and less! Can I get an amen?

Starting with the top left 'Backlot photos", this was done with the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, using the basic font in red and the shadow feature in gray. Next, I switched to the Opposites Attract cartridge. For the word "Zaniness" I used the upright round feature and then the Trapezoid feature for "Muppets". Instead of using the actual trapezoids, I used the negative space from the cut. This created a really nice contrasting line across my page. In "POP Century" I combined my two cartridges using the Plantin Schoolbook for the POP, with the shadow feature as previously shown, and then the upright lettering on the Opposites Attract cartridge for the "Century". Finally, on "Disney World" I used the basic lettering on Opposites Attract and then went back over the lettering with a glitter pen. I loved how closely this mimicked the Disney font without paying for a whole new Disney font cartridge. The point of this lettering is to create a feel, a theme, a look, and not to be an exact replica. For me, keeping $30 in my pocket is worth the "knock off".

What I am most interested in is ideas for adhering the lettering to my pages and cards. I have tried the mini tape runner that Creative Memories used to sell. It worked OK, but my understanding is that they have discontinued that product. The glue pens from Zig tend to be messy in my opinion. What I am using right now that seems to be working very well is the Xyron 1.5" sticker maker. The only downside to it that I can see is the time it takes to get the letters to align in there so you are wasting as little sticker tape as possible. If you have any other ideas or suggestions I would love to hear your comments!

For those Cricut Addicts out there, I have a chalenge for you: How many projects or layouts can you do using only 2 cartridges before you get bored or hit a wall?