BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON

There are only two weeks until Halloween. That's right, two weeks until little munchkins dress up like little ghosts, goblins, princesses, Sponge Bobs, vampires, Barbies, and whatever little folks feel like. Parents, neighborhoods, and school organizations are gearing up for fun gatherings, trunk or treats, and school Halloween carnivals.

I believe some people get more excited about different parts of this silly, frilly holiday more than others. For instance, some like the adorable costumes best. I know for a fact that in some neighborhoods, the gathering resembles a pageant or costume contest! Some like the opportunity to socialize with other parents and children. While others simply enjoy munching on a caramel popcorn ball and watching a scary old movie like "Arsenic and Old Lace".

I love the nostalgic, fun, and warm traditions associated with this holiday. I think you would agree there is plenty to inspire the need for creating a Cricut craft or two, or three, or four.

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Sweet Tooth Boxes and Simply Scarecrow Cricut® 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 tip comes from message board member SimpleCreations. Thanks for sharing the fun idea.

I make homemade apple butter every year to sell and also for gifts. Check out my post with instructions of how to make it along with a personalized label I make for each jar.   – Angela

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.
2. Cover and cook on high 1 hour.
3. Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
4. Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.
5. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Christine Miller

About Me: Christine Miller Southern California, I'm a dedicated Cricut® crafter having purchased the Cricut Expression® Machine the day it came out and then agin purchasing the Imagine® Machine on the HSN debut. Working with Cricut products has become a passion, creating seasonal decorations, personalized gifts for friends and family. I have been crafting for more the 20 years first with stamps and die cuts, once touring the Grossman sticker factory and spending the next 4-hours shopping in their factory store as my Husband patiently waited. I hope that my project post will help inspire someone to create as I have using the incredible tools now available in the craft market.

Instructions: I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Grave yard scene: Cut spooky tree to fit to page, made grave stones to scale based on the size of the tree, mounted the shapes with tooth picks into styrofoam mounted below the fabric.

Cartridges Used: Happy Hauntings

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• "Pretty" Scary!
• Waterfall Card
• Monster Spray With a 'Closet' Gift Box
• Halloween Wreath
• Fright Night

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

I love it when the fall holidays finally come, because I love to decorate for Halloween and Christmas. Since Halloween is just around the corner, I am still working on projects to decorate my house while I continue exploring new cartridges. This week I played with the Sweet Tooth Boxes and Simply Scarecrow Cricut® cartridges.

If you don’t have “Sweet Tooth Boxes” yet then this is a must have pick up. I fell in love with all the different boxes that you could make using this cartridge. The handbook shows you how to glue the sides together depending on the box. It is so easy to be creative using this cartridge, my hardest part was picking out what paper I wanted to use. Some of the boxes that you can cut out with this cartridges are ice cream cone short and tall, square cupcake box (this can be cut for a single or set of 4 cupcakes), and house box (holds 2 cupcakes). Other boxes are; fortune cookie box, lunch pail box (can hold 2 cupcakes), and a slice of cake (this can hold a single or triple set of cupcakes). If you are making boxes to use with cupcakes don’t forget to make the cupcake holder, these can be found at the back of the handbook. These are great boxes to give away as gifts for bridal and baby showers. Some examples of what you can put in the boxes are socks, onesies, and washcloths (I did a spa in a box idea, used rose petals for my center and a washcloth wrapped around the rose petals and a candle). See my photos for the two projects that I created using this cartridge.

“Simply Scarecrows” was the other cartridge that I played with this week. This is an adorable cartridge for the month of November. It is a smaller cartridge and has 20 fun fall images with phrases. There are ten different scarecrows that are all adorable and come in three layers. You can also cut leaves, a pumpkin (this would be great on a wood project or put it in a frame for a Halloween decoration), crows, “Happy Harvest” with corn stocks, “Fall” with fall leaves, an old tree, “Season of Colors”, “Autumn Memories”, and corn stocks. I found a shadow box that I created a fall scarecrow, I layered the clothes (in fact I cut the third layer twice in two different colors) add some buttons for eyes, and then glued some raffia for the straw. I used the old tree and cut it out of fun Halloween patterned cardstock, used the spider web, spiders, and “Spooky” from “Happy Hauntings”, on a picture frame for a fun and easy holiday project. If you haven’t picked this cartridge up then you just need to get it, it is a wonderful additional the Cricut family library.

That’s it for this week’s exploration, check back next week and see what I explore next.
- 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

“A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween.”
- Erma Bombeck