Using a Cut File as an Insert | Jodie King

Hi friends!  I have a project life spread today in my 6x8 album, and I have a couple of things going on in this week's spread.

You might notice that the week I'm documenting is from earlier this year.  It was a tough week for my family and I knew I wanted to document it, but the time hasn't been right until now to go ahead and do that.

The other thing is that I love adding inserts into my 6x8 album, I feel like they make an album more interactive if that makes sense?  I used my favourite Clique Kits cut file as an insert this week, but I'll talk about that a bit later.

My supplies are from the May 2018 Riga Kit, with lots of beautiful pastels and that gorgeous specialty paper, the rose gold foil vellum.

I used one of the ephemera tags for my title card, and printed my week in one font and the dates in another. 

Here's a bit of an insight into what happened that week.  While our daughter and her partner were visiting us, their home which is about 800km away, caught fire.  Thankfully no-one was hurt and the fire was put out, but I can't even imagine what a helpless feeling it would be to be so far away.  The photo in the insert is a screenshot that one of our daughter's emergency services friends sent her.  Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words, and I really feel like this one does, so I wanted to make sure it was included for the week.

I've actually used two inserts in this spread, the 3x8 page plus my cut file.  You can just see the cut file peeking out further than the 3x8 and it's almost asking you to turn the page ha!

This is the centre of the spread once you turn the 3x8.  This week was actually when I found that I had been accepted as an Ambassador for my first term with Clique Kits and OMGosh, I can't tell you how excited I was!!    I used my sewing machine to stitch along some of the lines on the coffee cup in the insert for extra dimension, and let the threads hang loose.

The Lacy Mandala cut file that you can find here in the  Clique shop, is my absolute favourite cut file! It's just stunning and reminds me of a crochet doily.  Since this pattern is symmetrical you can easily fold it in half, matching the edges and patterns, to create a semi-circle as an album insert.  

First up I checked my measurements to make sure it would fit vertically in my album.  I needed to make it a little bit smaller, so I resized it in my Silhouette software before sending it to cut.  I backed some sections with patterned paper and left some unbacked.  I also sandwiched a semi circle of plain vellum as I was adhering the two halves together.  Love the semi-transparent look!

To hold it in my album I've used some old (ancient!) Basic Grey tabs from my stash, but you could easily make your own tabs by cutting a strip of cardstock, adhering it to each side of the insert and then punching a hole to slip over the binder rings.

And that's my spread for the week! Thanks for stopping by today and I hope I've inspired you to try out a cut file as an insert.