THINGS WE LOVE

Cake and ice cream, family and friends, crafting with Cricut, new shoes, colorful sunsets, flowers, old red barns, hugs, fresh crisp apples, fat little puppies, humorous bumper stickers, a warm smile, walking, and baby giggles. I just took twenty seconds to list a few random things I love right off the top of my head. (Of course the list would have been much longer had I more time, but twenty seconds was part of the game.) It’s fun to play, only takes a sliver of time, and has the effect of lifting the corners of your mouth. Everyone’s list is a bit different but the outcome is the same - focusing on the positive in life.

I’ve felt like being a little cheesy lately. Just for kicks, my Cricut pals and I are crafting a beautiful Valentine for life and listing our most beloved things on it. I’ll post it on my refrigerator or my mirror to enjoy for a few days and then send it up in the air attached to a helium balloon. I wonder if anyone will find it. Perhaps they’ll be prompted to think about the things they love as well. Make a Valentine for life today. Love it and live it!

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's excellent cartridge exploration of the New Orleans and Masks Cricut Craft Room Exclusives in today’s Chirp. You’ll also find a newbie quick tip for using a template and “hinge method” when cutting printouts with your Cricut 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 members scrapalette and KittyMeeow. Thanks for sharing.

Q: I am in need of some help on my current project. I am making my sister’s wedding invitations. The style is a double sheet style with the main page with the text printed from a printer and then covered with vellum, but much trickier. I need to print the invite out, then load it in the Cricut, outline the shape with a red marker, and then cut the paper into that same shape about a centimeter out. The vellum will then be cut the same size and layered over the top. It will be held in place with a ribbon at the top.

Now, the thing I need help with is this… I have to print then cut. Have any of you done this and have some hints or tricks to share?

I was thinking of using my 8.5x11inch white card stock and printing two invite text shapes on the paper. Then I will try my best to get the invite text centered in an area where I can get the paper centered on the mat so it marks and cuts in a way that the invite text is in the center of the shape. I do have a Gypsy and Cricut Craft Room. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

A: I did tons… OK, it was just lots, of wedding projects for my niece where she printed the info and I cut it using my Cricut. Your best bet will be with one of the design programs, either Cricut Craft Room, Cricut DesignStudio, or a Gypsy.

I usually put the image I want to cut in the center of the mat on the screen, cut one to use as a template and then slide the printed text under that template to position it. Just make sure you really hold the template in place. If you're doing lots of the same cut, just tape the template paper along the bottom edge of the mat and flip it out of the way when cutting and then back onto the mat to position the next printed-paper. There is a page on my blog of the wedding projects I did, if you want to see them.

The cards for the seating assignment board that I did, right below the program on my blog, were cut into their shapes using a "hinge" method. My niece had the info printed and I made a template and then cut them (and cut a shadow out of black).

The tape won't hurt your mat and it won't get in the way of the blade because you tape along the edge that doesn't feed into the machine.

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Letitia Grace Lauer

About Me: My name is Letitia Grace but most people call me Grace. I love most paper crafting, painting and many more crafty forms of expression. Speaking of Expression... I love my Cricut Expression. I use it in almost every way I can think. I have created stencils for painting walls, etched with it, scrapbooked and made cards with it, used it as stencils for cake decorating, made wall art with it, and most recently I have combined my loves of cake decorating and paper crafting with this new project.

Instructions:

This project was made using "Tie The Knot", "Accent Essentials" and "Home Decor" Cartridges and Cricut DesignStudio.

1. Cut out 18 (nine for a single layer cake) main cake boxes from a brown (for a chocolate cake) piece of cardstock at the desired size. Use your scoring tool or bone folder and ruler to score it where the folds are required making it into the favor box. Add adhesive to tabs. Fold and adhere tabs into place.
2. After choosing the icing color for the lids of the boxes, with Gypsy, Cricut DesignStudio or Cricut Craft Room, create the lid design using the same dial size as the favor boxes in step 1. Place your desired Cricut shape directly in the center of each lid and cut it out. Score as in step 1 and add adhesive to tabs. Fold and adhere the tabs into place. You will need 18 (nine for a single layer cake) lids.
3. To create the icing on the sides of the cake, open up a new page and create a rectangle (Accent Essentials) large enough to cover the outside of the cake box base. Make the sides of the rectangle able to overlap the sides of your favor boxes a little on the left and right (see cake slice in photo). This gives the illusion of a 1/4 inch, or more, thickness of icing. Place your desired shape directly in the center of it. Make sure you move it down a bit closer to the bottom leaving a larger boarder at the top for the lid to overlap. Cut 18 (nine for a single layer) with Cricut and remove from mat.
4. Before adhering the piece you made in Step 3 to the cake box base, line the back side of it with sticky paper. Leaving the sticky side accessible through your centered design (the heart flourish in photo on the side of the cake). Once lined with sticky paper, glitter image with your desired color. Repeat this step with the design on the lids only you may choose a different color of glitter.
5. Adhere a piece of ribbon in the color of your choice around the cake to make a "filling" layer.
6. Adhere the side "icing" cut in Step 4, to the backs of the cake box bases.
7. Make 4 roses with these instructions: (To make one rose you will need to cut out three five petal flowers from the coordinating cardstock of your choice at about 3" size and remove from your mat.)
   1. Cut flower #1 - Cut between two petals with scissors till you reach the center of the flowers.
   2. Cut flower #2 - Cut like in a.) but make a second cut meeting the first one in the center, removing one of the petals. Save all pieces.
   
   3. Cut flower #3 Cut like in a.) but make a second cut meeting the first one in the center, this time removing two of the petals. Save all pieces.
Now you should have pieces with 1 petal, 2 petals, 3 petals, 4 petals and one with the original 5 petals. Curl petals on all pieces back with a pencil or bone folder. Adhere the two petals adjacent to each cut, one over the other. This will create a slight cone shape in the center of each of the pieces of the flower. Snip a hole in the center by cutting off the point of the cone from each piece. Glue the petals inside one another starting with the largest to the smallest.
8. Place the petals around the center of the cake. I glued them to a doily. This way it could set on top of all the cake favor boxes without needing to be glued to the boxes themselves.
Fill these with goodies for your next party occasion. Enjoy!

Cartridges Used: Accent Essentials, Home Decor, Tie the Knot

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week’s highlighted threads are:

• Be Mine Valentine
• Cute as a Button
• Love
• Shaped Valentine Card
• I Love Ewe

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

One of my favorite projects that I love to use my Cricut with is planning dinner parties. I discovered that Mardi Gras is Feb 12, 2012 and decided that I need to throw a dinner party and celebrate Mardi Gras. I started looking through the cartridges and digital Cricut Craft Room Exclusives and found the “New Orleans” digital image set as well as “Masks - Animals” and Masks - Earthly elements”. All of these will fit in with my party theme really well. I decided that I needed a banner, nameplate, napkin holder, mask to wear during dinner, and a cupcake topper.

One of the great advantages of using Cricut Craft Room is I can design all my projects at once then sit down with my Cricut and cut all my projects out at once. The “New Orleans” collection has six images that include a mask, beads, jester’s hat, crown, Mardi Gras!, circle and a king’s cake. The layers that come with each of these designs are easy to figure out and glue in place. I fell in love with the crown and the jester’s hat. I used the crown as my nameplate and created an invitation, I have attached the cut file if you want to make your own party invitations – just unzip the file after you download it and click the Import button, it's the button located to the left of the New button in Cricut Craft Room after you login, double click the unzipped file in the window that comes up and then double click on “New Orleans-Invite” in your project list to open the cut file. One thing I should say regarding this invitation, instead of having the hinge on the side I made the hinge on the bottom, see photo for example. I used the jester’s hat for my banner, (see photo) and for the cupcake toppers.

I enjoyed cutting out the masks that came in Masks - Animals and Masks - Earthly Elements. The layers were easy to figure out and glue in place. I cut out the fire mask (see photo at the top) for my Mardi Gras party. I want each person to wear the mask as we eat dinner, so I made the mask 10 inches wide then had my roommates try it on to make sure it would fit everyone. Another tip for the Masks - Earthly Elements is some of the masks have spikes either in the center of the eyes or in the nose area that are designed for you to roll them and make them stick out, use a pencil or small round item then roll the paper around it. This gives a little 3-D look to the mask. The Masks - Animals would be perfect for a kids’ Marti Gras party or even generic mask party. You could even use the mask as a party invitation or banner.

Check back next week as I continue creating projects that I love using my Cricut. Happy crafting!

— 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 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!
Customer Support

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We create our own world with the ingredients we put into it, so take care with your recipe.”
- Greg Phillips