Creating a Centerpiece that is Magnificent

The Cricut Expression die cutting machine can be a big help to create centerpiece items making for quick and simple card designs.  The black flourish in this card is from the Cricut Circle exclusive cartridge French Manor.

A quick highlight of the card characteristics are:

On this particular card, the only ink applied is a light edging of the black and white patterned paper with a black chalk ink.  I particularly like the chalk inks as they soften the edges of layers and create a smooth transition for the eye from one layer to another.

The center "Joy" is a text box rotated to create a diamond.  The box is filled with black and the text is white.  Here's the basic steps:

Create a text box.  Select the text box and right click to click on the Format Shape menu option.  I'm using Office 2010, but the window that opens in 2007 and 2003 are similar.  Select Solid Fill to reveal your options and select black in our case.

You can rotate the text box to create a diamond shape rather than a square.

By selecting no fill and no line, you are making only the text display.  The final product will print just like this:

I've used this method to create many different outcomes.  This can be very helpful in creating birthday party invitations to include clip art and other images.  An example of one such invitation is:

Each of the birthday cake images are inside a text box that is easily positioned for the greatest visual effect.  All this done in a word processing document without advanced image editing.  If you can figure this trick out, there are a wide variety of uses.  You'll be happier with your outcomes (I hope) and you'll find working on projects more enjoyable.  This invitation was from Katie's 2009 birthday party.  She assumed the alias of "Ivory Tower" for a special spy role play party that turned out to be the Best Party EVA! Someday maybe I'll blog about this party and the elaborate plans we went to to pull it off.

Til then... happy crafting.

Andie