Bliss Layout with Cricut Explore

Hi all!

After 8+ inches of snow that cancelled school Thursday and Friday we had a blast of sunshine and warm air yesterday.  The coming of Spring gives me such a surge of energy and renewal!  Of course we are not out of the woods here yet with the cold BUT I sure do love the little glimpses we are going to be getting over the next 2 weeks!  Heck we may even hit the 60s next week which will have us all running around in shorts and tshirts after the below zero wind chills we have been experiencing.

As y'all know I have been intent on getting back to my scrapbooking, in my efforts I have also managed to recruit a few close friends over to the dark side tee hee!  Well Saturday 3 of us went to the all day crop that raises funds for Pezza's school and I even managed to get some layouts done!  this is the first from Dec. 2011.  I just think these pictures are too cute!

Although I am a little behind I created this layout based on the February 1 Splitcoast Stamper sketch By Cheryl:

It's a great sketch and we'd love to have you join us!  I decided to try and create the whole page in Design Space so I could adjust and size my pieces and embellishments and get everything just the way I wanted it - I know alot of people with Cricuts did this ages ago but I never made that leap.  Let me tell you I really like this method!  It is more work on the front end but less wasted paper, wasted cuts and frustration when putting the page together.  Here is how the layout looked when I finished it in Design Space.

I began with a 12x12 square to represent the base page and then added my other elements until I had them sized and arranged just right.  However I did not cut them all using my Cricut - simple squares/rectangles I still cut with my cutter.  Then I was able to use my layout in DS as a guide to assemble my page.  Using Design Space has proven to be quite simple and I have not had any troubles so far.  Of course I am only doing simple things so far.  Once, arranged it is SO quick and easy to cut everything!

When I first made the layout in DS I did it all in grays because I was unsure how I wanted the colors until I found my papers.  I have a paper problem - so in my studio I have one area with all the papers I have gathered over the last 8 years, most of which I have grown tired of and then in another area I have newer stuff I have ordered more recently.  I could not find ANYTHING in my recent stuff so I began digging in my old stuff and found this perfect polkadot paper!  JUST when I think I should just get rid of all the older stuff!  Once I had that I was able to quickly decide on the rest of the papers.  I ALWAYS start with my patterned paper and go from there.

I am SO pleased with how the layout turned out - simple but with how far behind I am simple will have to do!

And now I am off to scrub bathrooms - between constant snow days and winter blahs I have fallen WAY behind around here!  I need tog et the inside into shape so when the nice weather hits I can be OUTSIDE!