Sentimentals exploration

Each month at the Scrapbook Zone I run a Cricut class that explores a different Cricut cartridge. This month we are playing with Sentimentals. What a fun cartridge. It has some great features including phrases and shadows.

As soon as I picked it up I knew I wanted to create a layout using the bee's and the hive. There is not only a layer option for these guys but a shadow as well. The background image is a postage stamp shape. I used my Design Studio program to make it a fit to page element. It started out as a rectangular shape but with a little stretching it became a square. The background paper is Cosmo Cricket, I think.

The title is on the phrase feature and has a shadow. I choose to use it as a single layer. I didn't like the shadow in gray like the other elements are and I didn't want to introduce another color. I added dimension with a few well placed pieces of Bling.

The bee's and the hive are tripled layered. There is a shadow, a base and a layer option used. All the shadows are in a gray, the base is yellow Bling and the layer is black. I love the detail in the layer feature. I added a bit more dimension with some yellow Stickles and repeated the three pieces of Bling in the hive door.

After creating the first layout I was still in love with the negative space from the stamp background. So I just had to use it. The whole layout started here with the background.

The title is a phrase with a shadow. The stripe paper is a coordinating one in the same line. I used some pen work to give the title a little definition. The swirly arrow is the negative space from cutting out the snail shell. Guess what we will be talking about in class? Using the negative spaces that are left over after cutting. The subtitle on the journaling block helps pull the layout together.

The snail was just too cute and I wanted to show people how to use him on a non gardening page. He has been given the same pen work for definition and 2 pieces of bling for his eyes.

This cartridge has a ton of card elements on it. So I pulled a plain card with rounded corners and the matching envelope added a really cute Doodle Bug paper to it and a simple layered title. Done. Quick and easy card.