BABY TALK

The official first day of spring is about two weeks away! Springtime is all about cubs, pups, kittens, colts, calves, goslings, chicks, tadpoles, lambs, bunnies, fawns, cygnets--you name it. They all show up in the spring. Babies of all species can make the average onlooker say, "Oh, how adorable!" I'm biased but, I’m inclined to say the most interesting of all little animals is the human baby.

These critters have power to temporarily turn all adults into babbling idiots regardless of age, gender, or professional status. Call it baby magnetism or chubba lubba goodness, it's irresistible. No one is immune to the baby's big eyes, chubby cheeks, oftentimes bald head, and little dimpled fingers. Many a highly educated individual has been found enthusiastically exclaiming, "Ahs seu poo poo!" while holding an infant or standing in front of a stroller. We goo and coo and make a grand fuss over an individual who is in actuality smirking at us and then demanding we change their diaper and feed them. Perhaps, if we are really good and say something else like, "Is a biiiga widdah baybey boo!" the child will reward us by slobbering or spastically waving its legs or hands. What an absolutely fascinating and wonderful phenomenon!

We can now scrap all about these moments. Cricut is fluent in baby babble talk. All you have to do is type in your babbling and press "Cut". The Cricut machine will do the rest!

This week be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Stork's Delivery cartridge. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

**Header project made by Lisa Atwood using the Sugar and Spice cartridge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ATTENTION: Provo Craft is thrilled to announce that we have some Teresa Collins cartridges set to hit the shelves soon! (Left: just a taste--more to come in future Chirp installments!) There will be both original cartridges and Cricut Imagine content. The first will turn up in May, and more will follow in the summer and fall of this year. We're not supposed to tell you about the Halloween cartridge or the beautiful paper pattern cartridge until after St Patrick's Day, but we know you can keep a secret (*wink*). We are very excited about the content and creative ideas that Teresa brings to our consumers, and we know you will have as much fun with the content as we had creating it!

Join in the fun this week as we continue to celebrate Craft Month. Watch HSN live to see Jinger Adams, Spokesperson for Provo Craft, sharing tips and tricks for the Cricut Expression and Cricut Create machines, demoing the new YuDu Cardshop system, along with great prices on all new cartridges. Air times are March 14th: 2am, 6am, 7am, 10am & 11am (EST).

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Baby Boy Mini Album
• Watch Me Grow
• Five Months Baby Layout
• Baby Shower - New Arrival
• Welcome Little One

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Linda Adkins
About: I have been scrapping since my grandson was born in 2003. I occasionally sell my cards and do albums for others. I have been married for forty-six years with two sons. Scrapping is my favorite thing to do!

Linda's Project: Baby Girl Book

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member SpecialEdTeacher. Thanks for the helpful tip!

Q. "Is there a Cricut font for Early Childhood Educators with the "e's", "J's", or "a's" students can use? I know there is one for the D'nealian and Cursive."

A. "I teach 1st grade and use fonts from several of the cartridges with my students. Some of my favorites are: Cuttin' Up, Learning Curve, and Sans Serif."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

I have spent this whole week in project mode. I've been making chain bracelets, silk screening canvas bags, and creating a baby shower theme for my sister. I used the Stork's Delivery cartridge to design the baby shower. I think my sister will be very pleased with what I have done!

The creative features are: Layer 1, Layer 2, Shadow, Frogs & Snails Font, Sugar & Spice Font, and Monograms. Page 17 in the handbook gives you a great idea of how this cartridge works. This cartridge is great because you have boy and girl images, and fonts, all on one cartridge. The base layer has all of your boy images; the Shift option of the base layer has all of the girl images. Some examples are: onesies, a monkey, an elephant, a party hat, a cupcake, presents, a diaper, a cake, a crown, balloons, a candle, a bottle, blocks, a whale, a lion, a stork, a zebra, and a giraffe. Some of the phrases that are included in this cartridge are: "My Little Man," "My Little Girl," "1st Birthday," "Special Gift," "Handsome Baby," "Simply Gorgeous," "Make a Wish," "Tiny," and "Welcome Home." On the font creative feature buttons, you can also cut out some buckles, frames, buttons, and solid shapes. These can also be used for journal tags or accents to place next to your photos. You can also cut out monograms in two different styles: scalloped circle and shield.

I used the monkey, turtle, and elephant for my baby shower theme. I got some square material samples and cut out my images to iron on a bunch of onesies (see pic above). I plan on giving these to my sister as her present, except for the girl one; I saw this adorable girly material and had to make a onesie with it even though she's having a boy. I used the same material to make cupcake toppers (see pic to the left) and thank you favors (see pic below). I wanted all my images to match, so I finished using the scraps of fabric to make my animals and then ironed them to some cardstock. I didn't leave the iron on the cardstock very long, just enough to heat the image to the paper. I didn't know you could do that, but I thought it might work. I gave it a try and it did!

The last thing I have to figure out is the baby banner I need to make. I think the boy alphabet on this cartridge will turn out great. I will cut out some extra turtles to place on both ends of the banner. With the Shadow feature there are some base shapes; I think I will use the baby diaper base shape as my backer and layer each of the letters on their own diaper. The last thing I need is some real baby pins. I will pin the paper diapers to some ribbon to connect all the letters together. I like to add texture where I can, and this will be perfect!

If you don't have this cartridge, you can pick it up at the Creative Memories website. Don't miss out; it's adorable! This wraps up my exploration for the week. Check back next time as I continue exploring new Cricut cartridges!

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here's the word from Customer Support this week:

- The Cricut Sync Imagine App is now live! You can go to cricut.com/cricutsync for information about downloading the app onto the Gypsy device. The sync appears to be functioning as advertised. However, it is taking a couple of hours in most cases for the update to complete. Please rest assures that it is working correctly and that wait is just because of the high volume of updates for both the Gypsy device and the Cricut Imagine machine today. Future updates should take much less time.

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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 Cricut 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

"Babies are such a nice way to start people."
~ Don Herold