Hello to all my crafty friends! Thanks for coming by to see the next challenge for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog! This week it’s “Set the Scene” so I immediately thought of my Country Life cartridge. I love the images on there because they remind me of my Grandmother’s home many years ago even down to the pot belly stove in the middle of the main room! So this layout was done in her memory. It’s called Simple Pleasures in the Country!
Here is the 2-page layout:
I used patterned paper that reminded me of wallpaper for the background and then I tried to make “wainscoting” at the bottom by scoring cardstock every 1/2” and then inking it.
Here is page 1:
Here is page 2:
Here are the details, close up photos, and cut sizes. All of the images were cut from the Country Life cart except the table and the window frame which were cut from French Manor.
Now the cat was a little tricky at that size, well, not so much the cat itself but the cat’s eye and his tongue! The chair was over 6” but those two things were itty bitty – so much so that I just didn’t even use them! (heck, I couldn’t even find them after taking them off the mat!) So I just used markers to color in the eyes and mouth.
I had to make the washboard since that is how my Grandmother washed clothes back in the day. I cut the bubbles twice – once in white cardstock and again in light blue vellum. I added Rock Candy Stickles and Glossy Accents on the bubbles.
The table from French Manor only had one layer so I put two of the table images on my mat in the Craft Room and used the Hide Contour feature to make one of the images solid and that became my base which I cut out in dark brown cardstock. Then I cut the original top layer out of some patterned paper that resembled old blue wood. I used distress markers to do some extra shading. The base of the lantern was cut from light blue vellum to make it look like glass. The window frame was also cut from French Manor but I cut the curtains and the rod free hand. I took a piece of white cardstock and used blue ink and a template to make the ‘clouds’ in the background and attached it to the back of the window frame. And who can resist a fresh warm pie cooling in the window?
There are many phrases on the Country Life cart and I used two of them to convey my feelings and welded the two phrases together. I made the pipe on the stove longer by using a rectangle from Cricut Craft Room Basics and welding it to the original pipe in CCR. You may not be able to see it but I tried to make the coffee pot look like the old fashioned kind by cutting it out in a light blue and then stamping random little dots all over it with white ink. I did the same thing with the pie dish. 
Last is the old treadle sewing machine. My Grandmother had one just like it! I also added a vase full of flowers. 
I added photos mats with a bit of cream lace around them and a tag behind one of the mats to add journaling and/or extra photos.
I hope you enjoyed looking at my Country Life layout. Now head over to FCCB and see the other scenes that the other design team members have created! Then join us in the fun by creating your own scene and adding it to the blog. Any scene will be fine just as long as you have at least one Cricut cut in your project.
Here are the cut sizes.
From Country Life:
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Chair – 6.375”
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Pie – 2.5”
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Vase of flowers – 2.5”
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Stove – 6.375”
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Washboard – 3.583”
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Lantern – 2.667”
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Sewing machine – 6.167”
From French Manor:
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Table – 4.208”
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Window – 5.708”
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
