JOIN THE HAPPY RANKS

The longer I live the more apparent it becomes that I just don't have time to do everything I'd like within a 24 hour day. Using Cricut products aid me in making the best use of my treasured creative time. Cricut makes it easy to accomplish much more quality crafting with my time and efforts.

Every day, more crafters are discovering the wonderful and revolutionary line of products that Cricut has to offer. The happy ranks of those bitten by the bug are growing daily. Cricut users are facilitated in creating just about every type of craft imaginable: scrapbooks, cards, crafts, gifts, home projects, and décor...the list goes on and on and on.

This week, be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's exploration of the Bubblegum Stripes and All Wrapped Up cartridges. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

**Header project made by Sue Helfrich using the Elegant Edges cartridge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FEATURED PROJECTS

SPECIAL GUEST EXPLORATION

I'm Maggie Lamarre and I'm very excited to share with you a few simple tutorials to make any party fun, elegant and easy. At Passionately Artistic, a sponsored site by Provo Craft, we feature an array of products including tutorials featuring the latest industry trends. We invite you every Wednesday to share your creations with us in our linking party. So come join in the fun! We'd love to have you.

As the creative Director for Avenues without Limits. We want to help you let your imagination run wild with our upcoming classes and events worldwide. When my daughter was young, my little diecut machine was my hand and an xacto knife. With the advent of the Cricut along with my passion for recycling, I can create the most elegant and sumptuous party decor in a heartbeat. The best part is that it won't break the budget either!

Here are the supplies you will need to create a fun festive spring party: glass bottle, surface conditioning, glass paints, straw, jeweled brads, paper, cardstock, markers, Cricut Machine, Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, Home Décor cartridge, Easter cartridge, Mother's Day cartridge, Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge, Give a Hoot cartridge, Cindy Loo cartridge, wreath, adhesive, bamboo skewers, hot glue gun, stylus.

Colorful Recycled Bottles: Clean the bottle using vinegar, let dry. Add the surface conditioning to the bottle and let it dry. Add paint and gently roll it around until the insides are all coated. Then drip the excess out onto a paper towel. Let it dry overnight. Repeat the same process for all the remaining colors.

Pinwheels: Cut six pinwheels at 6" each from Mother's Day cartridge, and ink the edges for an even coating of the small ridges. Assemble the pinwheel with a large rhinestone brad, repeat the same process using different brads for the others. Use a hot glue gun to adhere the skewers to the pinwheels. Arrange them in two of the dry bottles.

Mini Cupcakes: Cut six cupcake wrappers at 6.25" X 2", and adhere to mini cupcakes by way of the liner. Insert a skewer from the bottom into the cupcake, add icing, and repeat for the remaining cupcakes. Arrange in the other two dry bottles as a bouquet.

Large Cupcake: Cut wrapper at 8.25" X 5" using Cindy Loo, and adhere clear liner to the wrapper. Add icing and sprinkles.

Spring Wreath: Cut 42 flowers from Mother's Day Bouquet at 6.25", 5.75", 5.5", 5.25", 4.75", 4.5", and 4.25". Cut 12 flowers at 2.5" and 2" using coordinating paper. You should have 7 layers of petals in ascending order. Use the stylus in a swirling motion on the petals to create a cupping effect towards the center; the petals should curl in an upward motion. Take the skewer and curl each side of the petals towards the center. Repeat for each remaining layers. Assemble the flowers with a hot glue gun and let them dry. Once dry, insert pearls and gems into the centers. Glue the flowers to the bottom of the wreath forming a semi circle. Add spring sprigs to the left. Add ribbon and hang.

Fruit Juice Bottle: Cut a butterfly at 2.5" from Give a Hoot; cut a line into the the butterfly thread the straw through. Cut a dragonfly and its shadow at 2.75" from Home Décor, cut a band for the bottle at 9.5" from Mother's day 2010, and add the dragonfly to the band. Cut the bunting at 2.75" as well, and ink the edges. Cut the number "2" at 1.75" from Plantin SchoolBook, cut the ribbon at 9" and loop it around the bottle; thread the bunting into a bow.

Voilà, done! A fun party idea with recycled items and my dependable Provo Craft products. You can find more of my tutorials and the awesome design team at Passionately Artistic.

Have a fabulous party,
Maggie

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Flower Power
• Layout Using Baby Steps
• Freshly Picked Garden Double Page Layout
• Spring Chicken
• Create a Critter Baby Boy Layout

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Tina Berlingeri
About: My name is Tina and I live in sunny Arizona with my hubby and two fur-babies, Oliver and Dexter. I love to run and, of course, craft with my Cricut!

Tina's Project: Spring Duckling Baskets

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member DebraGleason.

Q. "I have both the original Cricut machine, and the Cricut Expression machine. I have tired of changing cords in my limited work space. I want to know if the power cord I use on one machine can be used on the other. I don't want to just go ahead and try it just in case it isn't interchangeable. I don't want to ruin either machine."

A. "The cords are interchangeable."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This week I was able to explore a few cartridges in the Cricut Imagine library. I played with the pattern cartridge Bubblegum Stripes and the All Wrapped Up cartridge. Bubblegum Stripes has fun bright colors of pink, purple, lime green, dark blue, red, and yellow. The patterns included are honeycomb, thick stripes, polka dots, bubbles, diagonals lines, tiny dots, and thin stripes. Included with these patterns are 14 coordinating solid colors. See pic for all the fun patterns that come on this cartridge. These colors and patterns would be great for a child's scrapbook page or even some Easter projects if you're still working on them.

The Cricut Imagine Art All Wrapped Up cartridge is a fun birthday themed cartridge. You can print and cut a cupcake card and envelope, the phrase "Birthday Wishes," many boxes, a house card with an envelope, and more. You can even cut the house out as a tag. Other images that you can print and cut with this cartridge are a frame, "A Gift for You," "Congrats," "Homemade Just for You," heart box, heart banner, "With all my Heart," "Welcome," "Many Thanks," "Best Wishes," and "Lots of Love." This cartridge is full of different boxes; I had a ton of fun cutting them out and gluing them together (see pic for some examples). Don't forget that you also get 19 solid colors and 20 fun patterns for you to pick and swap any of the projects to whatever color scheme you want. The bonus content is a "love" book that even comes with the holes to show you where to place your ribbons or binding. Another reminder is you can press the Layer button to split out the different layers on each of the projects. A friend needed a little pick up and so I cut out the "Lots of Love" sign and tied it to a caramel covered apple. It totally made her day!

I had a few problems with some of the boxes and it took me a while to figure them out, so I thought I would give everyone a bit of help so you won't have to go through what I did. This pink flower box has multiple steps: print and cut your image with the Cricut Imagine machine, then notice the triangle fold lines on the side of the box, those are fold lines (see photo 1). Step two: fold all the flaps and then glue the box together (see photo 2). The flower flap at first looks like it's not big enough to cover the box, but once you fold the sides of the box in then the flap fits (see photo 3).

The other box that I struggled with was the button where you can make a separate box; the bottom of the box was easy to assemble, but the lid looked like it had octagonal edges and I couldn't figure out how to assemble it so I called in reinforcements (my roommates). Between the three of us we were able to figure out that the ends with the octagon-look were really flaps that need to fold down to make a triangle, and that the center of the lid was also folded in half.

Well this wraps up my exploration for this week. I hope you all enjoyed the tips and exploring the All Wrapped Up cartridge. Don't forget to up load your projects to the Cricut.com message board. I love seeing what you all create with the Cricut cartridges. Happy Crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

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

Click here.

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here's the word from Customer Support this week:

- Michaels rebate help for Cricut/Michaels Rebates
CUSTOMER SERVICE INFO:
Hours: M-F 8:30am - 5:00pm CST
Toll Free: (855)-733-2737
Email: cricut.us@iconrebates.com


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

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
~ John Wooden