Seriously Summer; Surf's Up! {plus tips on cutting cereal board with the Cameo}

It is common knowledge here that in the Pacific Northwest, Summer starts right after the 4th of July. As soon as the fireworks are done, the clouds vanish to reveal a clear blue sky. Mt. Rainier, with its shimmering white peak, suddenly reappears to remind us of its magnificent presence, while the sun hugs everyone with its sparkling rays of warmth. The Emerald City is most beautiful at this time of year and there is nowhere else I would rather be than in Seattle in the summer.

Living in an unincorporated county meant that the fireworks in the neighborhood went on late into the night every Independence Day. I had barely peeled my eyes opened when I got onto the Lettering Delights website and saw that they had released yet another new collection. I grinned and almost clapped my hands in amusement when I saw their Seriously Summer line. LD couldn't have picked a better day to make the release! July 5th is when it starts to really feel like summer in Seattle. Seriously!

As soon as I got a chance (read: hand the kiddies over to Hubby. lol.), I downloaded the files and imported the SVGs into the Silhouette Studio (Designer Edition). Once I was happy with the layout, I cut out the layers and proceeded to adhere them together.

I hit a snag when I tried to layer the words. I usually use foam tape to add dimensions but in this case, the words were too narrow and I could only glue them down onto the card. Then an idea came over me. I headed into the kitchen, grabbed a box of cereal out of the pantry and emptied its contents. I had another use for the box- I was going to make my own Thickers.

Using the settings for coverstock, I cut out "Surf's Up" from the cereal board. I used a blade depth of 6 (instead of the recommended 7 as I thought it would give a better cut), and did a double cut, and the words cut out perfectly. I am using v.2.7.4d and I understand that the settings for chipboard in a later version of the software will also work for cutting cereal board.

I took the layer that I had cut out of cardstock earlier, and glued that down onto the cut cereal board and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I loved how the cereal board gave the words a depth that I usually could only achieve with foam tape. In fact, I liked the look so much, I decided to cut out the other sentiment ("Summer Time") from the leftover cereal board too.

My collection of washi tape seems to be getting out of control despite my attempts at keeping it at a relatively decent size. Even though I have been using the stash that Hubby bought for me from Japan last December, I can't help but add a roll from here and there every time I chance upon another new pattern. Washi tapes are so much fun to use and a little washi tape banner is a quick way to add some color to a card. I stuck a mini washi banner onto my summer card to give it a more cheerful look. The banner looks so cute!

For the most part, today's card is fairly easy to make although I did waste a bit of paper (and time) when I first tried to cut out the conch shell. The image has some intricate details that I did not notice at first and it ended up not cutting well at all. This is probably because I had reduced the size of the image to better fit on the card. Reducing the image made the intricate design even smaller and harder to cut and as a result, the internal cuts were a mess when I first attempted to cut the image out with my Cameo. Thankfully, a quick adjustment to the shape solved my problem.

A little bit of layering and a little bit of gluing, and the card is done. :)

Summer is finally upon us again and the cold weather is gone. I can't wait to go outside to play in the sun!

Files:
Seriously Summer Cut It (SVG)
Seriously Summer Surf Cut It (SVG)