AN APPLE FOR THE TEACHER!

A new school year has begun. Summer relaxation, sand, and fun in the sun are under our belts and teachers have rolled up their sleeves, in preparation for another exciting academic season. Teachers are heroes to so many people.

All of us have been blessed by heroes in our lives. They come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. They are family members, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Many come from obvious hero stock and some simply surprise us. Actually, everyone has potential to make a difference and touch the lives of others with deeds both big and small. As a token of thanks, we crafters often create gifts, crafts, cards, and pages dedicated to our favorite heroes. I consider teachers to be people who belong in that category.

Teachers, both past and present, bless our lives in so many ways. They are remarkable individuals who perform miracles with little or no resources year after year. All too often, society can forget just how meaningful the educators in our life are. The world becomes a much brighter place when we show appreciation and gratitude to those who we sometimes take for granted. Use your Cricut products today to create something wonderful that can show just how much you really appreciate the teachers in your lives.

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Traveler-CM, and Sophisticated Cartridges in today’s Chirp. Read about helpful Cricut tips and glean great crafting ideas from Cricut message board members in this week’s newsletter.

As always, I wish you success in your crafting adventures!

Lonna Joy Smoot- Editor, Cricut CHIRP!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

TIPS TREASURE CHEST

Today’s crafting tips come from message board members AllisonMoroz and TRice. Thanks for the tips, ladies.

Q: “I just got a Cricut Expression for my birthday, just in time for me to use in my first classroom in the fall. I will be teaching in a combined gr.1/2 classroom and I would love to use a theme, but just can't think of one. I like the alliteration idea.....my name is Mrs. Moroz......can anybody think of anything for me? In Science we will be studying the seasons, magnets, small crawling and flying things and needs of plants and animals. Social is all about learning about three different Canadian communities, Saskatoon, Iqaluit, Meteghan. I am open to many different ideas. Please share! I want the class to think of themselves as a team, community, one big family instead of two different grades so if anyone has some ideas for how to work that in to the theme would be even better!

Today I tried my Cricut for the first time and made a cool poster that I am going to laminate and then use it to write on with a Sharpie marker. TIP: If you laminate first, you can write on it with a permanent marker and then you can clean it off with dry erase board marker cleaner! I plan to use this poster to brainstorm ideas of what the kids think that FALL IS...then at the end of the year I can clean it off and use it again the next year! I plan to make one for every season and leave them up in the classroom as decorative posters as we use them. A way to show our learning and decorate at the same time!”

A: You could do Mrs. Moroz's Monkeys. Monkeys live in small communities called troops so you could possibly work that in to your class as well. You could also use these phrases:
Wild about...
Swing into...
Going bananas for...
Look who's hanging out in room #...

You could cut bananas, monkeys, and vines out for various things (bulletin boards, student names, jobs assignments, etc.) I don't know what cartridges you have but Create-a-Critter would be great. It is one of my favorites. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Marlene Gomez

About Me: Hi, my name is Marlene and I love all things crafty! Everything from card making to altered art, with an emphasis on scrapbooking. I do have a clean and simple style. I love my Cricut Expression and Design Studio. I use them for almost EVERY project. I love how they give you the freedom and flexibility to combine Cricut cartridges. Together, they have expanded my creativity level.

Materials Used:

• Accent Essentials
• Doodlecharms
• Mini Monograms
• Plantin Schoolbook

Instructions:

1. From the Accent Essentials Cartridge, cut Accent48s at 2-1/2" for small toppers (up to 3” wide).
2. From the Accent Essentials Cartridge, cut Accent 48s at 3-1/4” for medium toppers (up to 4” wide).
3. From the Accent Essentials Cartridge, cut Accent 48s at 4” for large toppers (up to 5” wide).
4. From the Mini Monograms Cartridge, cut Circle Scallop at 2” REAL DIAL SIZE. And a Circle at 1-3/4” REAL DIAL SIZE.
5. From the Doodlecharms Cartridge, cut Apple at 1” and 3”.
6. From the Plantin School Book Cartridge, cut Star at 5”.
7. Score all Bag Toppers in half and staple/adhere to plastic bags.
8. Stamp circle cuts with desired stamp and adhere to circle scallops.
9. Adhere Circle Scallops to Bag Toppers.
10. Using a 3D Dimensional, adhere small Apples to center of Circle Scallops.
11. Adhere Star and large Apple to Lunchbox Tin.

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Book Fair Poster - Reading Is Out Of This World!
• Classroom Welcome Poster
• Dog Themed Classroom
• Owl & Crayon Wreaths
• Readers Theater project for 1 grade
• Monkey Business
• Oregon Trail Bulletin Board

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

It’s been quite a while since I have done some actual scrapbooking. With so many options for scrapbooking I’ve been putting off that particular project. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing with my Cricut® and crafting cards has always been my favorite use with my Cricut. I’ve always enjoyed using the die cuts or vinyl images on projects as well. This week was my big eye opener that it was time to start doing some actual scrapbooking. I think I will do baby steps and start scrapbooking favorite memories, for example I just spent the day previous at the spa with some friends, and I can’t wait to start scrapbooking that event. This week I explored the Sophisticated and Creative Memories™ Traveler cartridges.

“Traveler” is a great cartridge for those moments in life when you are at the beach, sitting by a pool, collecting sea shells, camping, vacationing or seeing something new. This cartridge is full of images for all traveling occasions. For example some of the images that you can cut are: keys, car, airplane, bus, tent, fire, post card, road, stop sign, picnic table, luggage, stop lights, world land marks, globe, sea animals, flowers, palm trees, fruit, dinks, surf board, and a few different styles of suns. I fell in love with the little sea animals and realized that I just had to create a scrapbook layout using these images. Before I started cutting out animals I found a few pictures of my sister and her kids playing in the sand at the beach (see photo). As I was cutting out images for the layout I messed up on a few because I had forgotten that the base layer is supposed to be the main color, for example when I cut out the palm trees I used green, then when I when to cut the layers out I realized I should have cut out the palm trees in brown first- lol. I ended up cutting the base tree layer again so my palm trees would look correctly. I love how the layers for each images are located using the shift key, this made it easy to cut out my images. I really enjoyed gluing everything together and pulling my layout together. Check out my project, be nice Cricut fans and remember it’s been a while since I have created a scrapbook page.

One thing I need to point out is the six creative features that come with this cartridge, Icon, Shadow, Font 1, Font 1 Shadow, Font 2, and Font 2 shadow. I love it when a cartridge comes with fonts and this one comes with two, both fonts are of similar style but one is slightly wider than the other. For all your school teachers that are back in school “Font 1” would look great on a bulletin board, there are also quite a few images that could be used in children’s school projects for example the stop sign or the yield sign. You can also cut out Icons and phrases, I used “Beach Bum” as my title for my project, other examples are: “adventure”, “click”, “explore”, “H2O”, “Sun, Sand, & Sea”, “vacation time”, “day trip”, “tourist”, “island getaway”, and “Pack your bags”. This is a very inspiring cartridge and I can’t wait to use some of the other phrases included in this cartridge. Make sure to pick your up when you can.

“Sophisticated” by Teresa Collins is another adorable cartridge. The images and font are very creative and fun, yes its slightly girly but oh so much fun to cut out. Some of the images that come on this cartridge are: Keys, chandlers, chairs, crowns, birds, flower, frames, clocks, swirls, fleur de lis, and some damask images. The creative features that are included are: phrase, Border, Font 1 (letters inside a frame), Font 2 (letters without a frame), Font 2 shadow, and Base/ Phrase shadow. For your information “Font 2” is a nice wide letters that would also work on a bulletin board or in a school classroom. Any of the phrases would also work as home décor projects. I used the “Life Moments” phrase and cut it out of vinyl before placing it on the glass. This project is so easy; I took an old picture frame that I had, pulled out all the photo stuff. Carefully pulled the metal tabs that held in the glass. Note to self be very careful when handling the glass from the frame. Clean the glass then laid it back into the frame, next use hot glue and place on the top of the glass in the frame corner; this will keep the glass in place. If the frame part was premade then this would be a fun project for kids, they could do the vinyl part easy.

Some other examples of phrases that are included in this cartridge are: “Lucky”, “Favorite”, “Cherish”, ”Family is Everything”, “Home Sweet Home”, “Beautiful”, “Our Story”, “Memories”, “Dream”, and “Gratitude”. The border button is adorable as well; some border images that you can cut are butterflies, stars, hearts, lace, damask, flower, diamond, and fleur de lis. Oh, I must tell you about the monograms or letters that come with this cartridge they are so adorable. “Font 1” puts a antique frame around the numbers and letters, where as “Font 2” is the letters and number with a fun swirly design. If you want a solid letter or number, simply use the “Font 2” shadow and you will get a thicker letter or number which work great for bulletin boards or posters of any kind. I have a friend getting married and I think I will make her some monogram thank you cards, since monogram products are so popular these days.

That wraps up this week’s exploration, check back next week as I continue exploring new cartridges and decorating for Fall. Happy Cricuting.

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

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!
Customer Support

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.”
- Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"