Die Cut Tip Tutorial - Themed Layout Design

Hello Cricut FANatics. Its Debbie O'Neal of Scrap Me Quick Designs.  Happy June 1st to you all !  Hard to believe the summer is here already, isn't it? Our lives are currently filled with end of school activities, graduation parties, weddings, summer vacation planning, summer camp trips, etc.  I think it is one of the busiest times of the year, don't you?

Speaking of summer camps, last year I helped volunteer at my granddaughter's Girl Scout Day Camp. It had a western theme with lots of great western activities, crafts and games.  Of course, I took a ton of pictures and wanted to scrapbook them but wasn't sure how to go about capturing the fun of the photos with the theme of the event.  That lead me to think about Layout Design and using my Cricut so I wanted to share some tips I used to create this page for our Die Cut Tip Tutorial - Themed Layout Design.

 

Die Cut Tip Tutorial -  Themed Layout Design

 

Step 1: Find Die Cut Images on your cartridges that fit your event theme and support your photos.

           

My Example:  I used the Old West Cartridge and selected images that worked with my design idea of game playing and western.

 

Step 2: Determine how many photos you want to use on your page and possible placement.

Begin by selecting your focal point photo and creating a photo mat to emphasize the importance of the photo.

 

My Example: I had this one great photo of my granddaughter all decked out in her western garb (don't you love that fake mustache???) so that was my focal point photo.  I made my own Wanted Poster as the photo mat to continue to emphasize the theme.

 

Step 3: Determine a title (and subtitle if wanted )for your layout and cut out the letters and images

 

My Example: I thought about how she looked like a real "desperado" and came up with the "Armed & Dangerous title and "ready to play" subtitle to again play up the game playing aspect.

 

Step 4: Create some embellishments for your page with your die cuts and size them to fit the areas on your layout where you will place them.

 

My Example: The sign on the Old West cartridge seemed like the perfect subtitle spot and then I created the cards and card box to play up the game playing theme.  I needed one more embellishment to balance out my page and decided to use the cactus to emphasize the western theme. 

 

Tip: Make sure and enhance your die cut images using ink and markers, etc. to add more dimension to your images.  And don't forget that pop dots really help add that wow factor to your die cut placement on your layouts too !

 

Hope this Themed Layout Design Tip gives you some insight on how to take your die cut images and create your own themed layouts.

 

Cricut Info & Supplies Used:

 

Design by: Debbie O'Neal

Cricut Used:  Expression

Cricut Cartridges: Old West

Other Supplies Used: Cardstock, patterned paper, distress ink, marker pens, pop dots