A BINARY CELEBRATION

Sometimes a random, silly comment can become a favorite quote or a greeting. My family has a funny little custom called, "Happy eleven, eleven!" It is a binary inside joke that has run for quite a few years now.

It all started on an uneventful evening. There were no approaching holidays or birthdays for us to celebrate for quite a while. Before retiring for the evening, someone noticed the time and exclaimed, "Happy eleven, eleven!" Everyone giggled and enthusiastically replied back with the same greeting. From that time forward, whenever someone noticed 11:11 (a.m. or p.m.) on the clock's display, an inevitable grin and a greeting of, "Happy eleven, eleven!" came from their lips followed by an echoing chorus of the same greetings and giggles. (In the summer evenings, this bore a weird resemblance to the Waltons' evening chorus of "Goodnight John Boy," "Goodnight Mary Ellen," etc.)

We are all "grown up" now and live in various parts of the country. From time to time, I'll still get a call at work or at home with a family member's voice on the other end of the line saying, "Happy eleven,eleven!" There is nothing official to celebrate--it's just a fun way to say, "I'm thinking of you, love you, and wish you a good day!" Ah, it's nice to know that someone cares. I'm never too far away from my loved ones with a binary clock at hand!

Speaking of everyday celebrations, you can always celebrate using Cricut products to creatively record and display your happy memories of vacations, holidays, and of life in general with ease and in your own style.

This week, be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Quarter Note, Cupcake, and Car Decals cartridges. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

**Header project made by Betsy Veldman using the Home Décor and Storybook cartridge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Lotta's 2nd Birthday
• Hello Kitty Valentine
• Love Struck
• Feel Better Soon

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Jennifer Wright
About: I am a wife and stay at home mother of four kids. I keep very busy, but love to find time to scrapbook, make cards, and create! My Cricut helps me express my creativity in a whole new way!

Jennifer's Project: Perpetual Calendar

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member ChristineSekora. Thanks for the practical tip!

"I got tired of looking at my overlay and squinting to see which one to push. I went through my book, and at the top of the left corner of each page I wrote which line that button was on and the placement (for example 1-1 and on the next image 1-2 through all 50 images). Then on my Cricut I drew on the numbers 1-5 on the left and 1-10 across the top at the corresponding spot. It works awesome! I know the brand new books have something similar in the 'image' of button placement, but I have a ton of old ones!"

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

Have you ever got crafter's block before? This rarely happens to me, but for some reason this week I got it. Thank goodness for craft magazines! They have a ton of ideas. I needed a special card and wanted to make it with my Cricut. With all this pressure, I just couldn't finish a card that I was happy with, but I will keep trying. Since I had time to explore, I decided to delve into the new Quarter Note, Cupcake, and Car Decals cartridges.

Cupcake is part of the Cricut Lite collection. It includes a font; the design a cupcake with either a number or letter in the center. You can create a border or with either the upper- or lower-case letters. You can even cut out the letters or numbers without having to use the cupcakes. Along with the numbers and letters you can also cut out phrases like: "Cupcake," "Chocolate," "Sugar," "Made with Love," "Sweetie," "Sprinkles," "Party," "Just Because," and "Take a Bite." There are a total of 20 phrases included in this cartridge that all have to do with parties, cooking, or sweets. This cartridge would make wonderful party invitations! BoyCrazyMommy from the message board created this adorable birthday card (see pic or click here).

Quarter Note is for all those music lovers out there. Provo Craft has created a cartridge just for you. The six creative features are: Phrase, Front 1, Font 2, Font 3, Phrase Shadow, and Shadow. Featured instruments include: French horn, tuba, trombone, trumpet, saxophone, flute, drums, guitar, harp, violin, piano, baby grand, organ, bag pipes, cymbals, bass drum, bell, and there are also some images of people playing instruments. The Shift button cuts out a layer for any of the image. I wish I had this cartridge a long time ago, when I was scrapbooking pictures of my days of learning the piano. A few examples of the phrases that are included in this cartridge are: "Perfectly Executed," "Jazz," "Strings," "Solo," "The Band," "Play Loud, March Proud," "Harmony," and many more. It is a beautifully designed cartridge! Along with the images and phrases, you also get three fonts to help you with your titles! All sets come with upper- and lower-case letters plus some additional numbers. Under the Font 1 creative feature, you can also cut 20 additional phrases. I have plans to use the baby grand image from this cartridge for a party invitation. MamaC created some examples of cards using this cartridge (see pic or click here).

Car Decals is full of images that have a stick-figure, drawn look to them. I can see using these images for your child's scrapbook pages. Some examples of these images are: boy, girl, cat, dog, girl baby in stroller, boy baby in stroller, girl in a wagon, crying boy baby, mom, dad, fish bowl, mouse, grandpa, grandma, bird in birdcage, dog in a dog house. The creative features for this cartridge are: Family, Sport, Athlete, Phrase, Hodge Podge, and Font. With the Athlete creative feature button pressed, all the base images are now doing something athletic, for example: kids riding bicycles, kids playing golf, kids snowboarding, a girl jump roping, kids skiing, or kids doing karate. "Baby on Board," "Mom's Taxi," "Soccer," "Shuttle," "Score," and "Just Married" are only a few examples of phrases included. When I first saw the Hodge Podge creative feature, I wondered what images it would have, and I looked through the handbook. I was really impressed. Some images that you can cut out with this creative feature are: sea turtle, dolphins, race car flags, skull and bones, butterfly, lips, music notes, star, smiley face, flag, foot prints, and two tattoo designs.

Well, this wraps up my exploration for this week. Check back next week as I continue exploring all the new cartridges that Provo Craft is designing for the wonderful Cricut machine!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

Don't forget to take this week's survey!

Click here.

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Q. I am interested in a cartridge, but it's marked as exclusive. Will it ever be available?

A. Many exclusive cartridges do become available eventually. Be sure to let us know if there is a cartridge you want that is currently exclusive. Customer Support keeps a tally of all the requests, by phone and by email, asking about exclusive cartridges, and we pass those numbers along.

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On using the Cuttlebug with other dies:

This sandwich stack will help you with your Cuttlebug when using dies from other companies.

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Need some help? Provo Craft Customer Support is here for you! Never hesitate to call in (1-888-922-4725 or 1-888-92ccircle for Circle questions); we have people ready to help you! We are currently open Monday through Friday 7am to 6pm Mountain Time. If these hours do not work with your schedule, please send an email to support@provocraft.com.


Have a great week!

From your Customer Support Sweeps:
Mark, Colby, Brittany, and Becky, "The Floor Sweeps"

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father."
~ Roger von Oech