Interactive Scrapbooking with CTMH, Echo Park, and Cricut

Hello!  And welcome to our "How Neat Is That?!" interactive item blog hop!  We're all sharing things that move in some way, and you should leave us with several ideas to make your projects interactive.  If you've arrived here from Dawns' blog, you're on the right track.  If you are starting here, you may want to head over to Scraps To Treasures and start at the "beginning".

For my project, I chose to create a layout with a "spinner thingy" - it's called a Revolving Door.  I used a pattern from the Magic book from Close To My Heart to design my layout, and followed the technique on the following pages to create my interactive door.  The book even comes with a DVD of PDF patterns so you can print and cut the pieces.  Or, as I did, import them into Make The Cut software to use with your digital cutter.*

Here's my entire layout:

Sorry for the poor lighting on this one; it was really hard to get that spinner lit properly!  The fabulous patterned papers and mini letter stickers are from a new line, The Apothecary Emporium from Echo Park Paper.  The coordinating cardstock is all from Close To My Heart, as are the stamps, and the Cricut cuts.

Here are a few important details for you:

This is the Revolving Door in it's original, upright position.  Note that the door spins on a large brad.  (I made this one using a sticker from the Echo Park Paper collection and a flat brad and epoxy sticker.)  It is also thick, made by sandwiching foam adhesive between two layers of cardstock.  This not only adds depth, but will allow the door to hold up better over time.  Also, FYI, the original pattern from the Magic book showed a flower shaped base here, but I didn't feel that went with the Halloween theme.  So, I found a neat looking doily shape on the new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (available August 1 exclusively from Close To My Heart), on page 31 to be exact.  I cut the top layer from a pattern and a solid layer from Sunset cardstock.

Here the door is turned one space.  Note that the journaling for each photo is in the space opposite it on the wheel.  I found that when cutting the photos it helped to cut my template from clear acetate that I edged with a Sharpie marker so I could see exactly what I would fit in my space before cutting the picture.

The broom and cat images are from Close To My Heart's stamp of the month set for August, and I added tiny little self-adhesive sparkles to the cat's eye's.

Here, the wheel is halfway between spaces.  You can see that the photos and journaling areas are each arcs that fit snugly together in a circle on top of a solid base.  I did choose to cut my journaling sections separately instead of in one large piece.  It made it easier to write the journaling on them before placing the Revolving Door on top.

One of my favorite touches on this layout, this image is also part of the August stamp of the month set from Close To My Heart.  She is stamped in archival black on white CS.  I colored her striped socks and the underside of her hat with a Sunset marker from CTMH, and I colored her skin with a Copic Marker.

Finally, the title was cut using the Font Layer function on the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I used the tiny cut holes in the letter design as a placement guide for adding some Smooch for bling.

Thanks for hopping by today!  I would love it if you would become a follower or subscriber, and come back another day to see what I am up to.  Don't forget, Scraps2treasure is having an overall grand prize and these are the simple rules: Become a follower, leave a comment at every stop and that's it.

Now, hop along to Jennifer's blog and check out her awesome project!