Summer Fruit. What a Hoot. Scrapbooking the Silly.

I looooooooove nectarines.  I had a white nectarine this morning that just about made me cry it was so good.  Actually, I love almost all summer fruit.  Watermelon, cantaloupe, plums, berries, pineapple and tomatoes.  Yes, a tomato is a fruit and we have 2 plants going gangbusters so I have been eating several a day.  Wonderful, juicy heirlooms with a hint of salt...Mmmmmmmm.

The weekly challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is called "Fruit Salad" and we have been asked to make a craft project that contains fruit (and at least one Cricut cut).  I had a hard time coming up with a design for this project.  I have been trying to create  scrapbook layouts for my design team creations so that I get at least one page a week completed for our family albums.  So trying to find a concept that would work with our family photos and would include a Cricut cut and would be clever, maybe even a little charming, was a real humdinger.  
 

First, I went to My Cut Search to find all the fruity cartridge options Cricut has to offer.  Then I sifted through those so I had a shorter list that just included the cartridges I own.  From there, I flipped through by handbooks (I prefer them to the digi's when I am brain storming) to find an image that would inspire me.  Finally, I committed to the apple tree from the Freshly Picked cartridge.  I knew I could easily work the old adage "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" into our family photos since it was so apropos. Before I could say "banana split" a specific photo came to mind.

The thing I struggled with most with this layout was bridging the clean, fresh images from the cartridge with the very edgy photo of Eva and I going out to dinner in costumes just for giggles.  I made a lot of cuts using a variety of papers but the design that worked best for me was the melding of the Basic Grey, Dasher "Snowfall Cranberry" with red (DCWV), a shade of green, kraft, black and white cardstock (all Valuepack from Michael's).  I used a couple foam dots to pop up the apples for a wee bit of dimension, but all in all, it is a pretty simple design.

I still need to add some journalling because it was quite a memorable evening.  We went to a local coffee shop all dressed up like super hero hot shots. They were still serving the earlybird special so the restaurant was pretty full with mature people from the nearby senior community. We sure gave them something to talk about!  It was a hoot and a hollar and I hope those kinds of memories will help my daughter live with a light heart, a playful spirit and an unusual wardrobe!