The Annual Holiday Photo Shoot

Lonna Joy Smoot
- Editor, Cricut CHIRP!

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Don't forget! The Tifie^TM Bundle is only available for a limited time. Help us in assiting the humanitarian efforts of Tifie by purchasing this special bundle before December 31, 2009!

SWARM WINNER

Our group is a group of ladies from Grace Congregation Church in Two Rivers, WI that get together one Satuday a month September thru May. We have been getting together for about 4 years. All members and their friends and family are invited to attend. Our group is made up of women from as young as 12 and as experienced as 80. Women of different ages and backgrounds get together and share ideas and tools. Most of the time we get more talking done than scrapbooking, but we always have a great day.

PROJECT CORNER AND SPOTLIGHT

More Winners	Name:
	Tiffany Hood
	About:
	I'm a mom and sometimes pediatric cardiology nurse who loves crafting, scrapbooking, sewing, card making, home decor, cake decorating, and anything else that lets me be creative.
Tiffany's Project: Christmas Stockings
Picture:
Cartridges Used:
Doodlecharms, Paper Doll Dress Up
Instructions:
Items needed: Felt, pulled felt (the white fluffy stuff), ribbon, buttons, googly eyes, fabric glue, rickrack (gingerbread man's arms and legs), patterned fabric (scarf), glitter glue (angel's halo), shimmery fabric (angel's wings), bells (reindeer's collar), sewing machine, Cricut DesignStudio® and a Cricut. I made the characters all about 8 inches tall by 5 inches wide using the design studio. I like the "chubby look." You'll notice the reindeer is a lot chubbier because I stretched him out. I glued the pieces to the stocking with fabric glue being careful not to let the glue get on the outer edges where I was going to sew, and let the glue dry. The glue kept the pieces in place while I sewed around them, or you could pin. I got the pattern for the stocking by tracing a stocking I already had. I sewed around each piece a layer at a time. Then I sewed the snowflakes with a stitch on my machine and blanked stitched around the characters and the stocking with embroidery thread using my sewing machine.

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Country Christmas
• School Christmas tree project
• Frosty Kisses candy jar
• garland and topiaries
• "Winter Magic"- WW cart
• Vinyl Merry Christmas + Holly Window Transoms Crosspost
• Peace wreath

TIPS TREASURE CHEST - Q. Does the Cricut cut fabric? I have the Cricut Expression®.

A. Happy Holidays, I hope everyone is ready for this holiday season. If not, you only have a few days left, so you'd better get shopping or get your little Cricut cutting to make that special tag or card for that special someone. With the weather so cold outside most of the time, I find myself cutting something with the Cricut or adding a texture with the Cuttlebug® pretty much every day. I keep these two items together because I find that I use them a lot. The mountains look beautiful here in Utah all covered in snow. It is definitely peaceful to look at through the window. I like to look at the snow, and scrapbook photos of it, just not play in it. Because I get all wet--hehe.

In this exploration today I will explore the new Batman: the Brave and the Bold^TM and Superman^TM cartridges. I am dating myself, but I grew up with these fun characters on TV, and it was wonderful to finally explore all the items on this cartridge. The creative features for Batman: the Brave and the Bold are: Outfit, Detail 1, Detail 2, Font, Font Shadow, and Base Shadow. Wow! You get a font that is created just for this cartridge. The font comes with upper and lower case letters, numbers and some symbols plus some of my favorite sayings: "POW," "BOOM", and "ZAP". In the Font feature you also get some other shapes, plus speech bubbles. This cartridge is just like many of the Disney cartridges, in that you will cut your base layer out first, and then cut out the individual outfits or details and peace them all together like a puzzle. If you need help, check out page 17 in the handbook and follow the example shown on that page. Obviously, the base shadow is an additional layer that helps your images stand out better.

Some of the characters that come on this cartridge are: Batman, the Joker, Aquaman^TM, Blue Beetle^TM, Green Arrow^TM, and Red Tornado^TM. You can also make a 3-D cubed Batman or Joker. There are two gift boxes that have Batman on them, plus 2 different types of Batman cards, Batmobile^TM, utility belt, and cuffs. You can cut a fast "Happy Birthday" banner, thank you card, and a birthday hat; there is also a Batman mask, bat binoculars, a cake topper, two cup or bottle wraps, plus a crayon box holder.

After exploring Batman: the Brave and the Bold, I started exploring Superman. Now I am not sure which cartridge will be my favorite--though I have always had a soft spot for Clark Kent^TM, hummmm. Superman also has a variety of poses or images. For example, you can cut out Superman flying, fighting, standing, or running. You can also cut his face, and if you cut out the glasses then you have Clark Kent. You can cut out Lex Luthor^TM, Supergirl^TM (flying or standing), plus the Superman symbol (I think this image would make a great t-shirt with the Yudu). You can cut out the train, four planets, a "Happy Birthday" banner, popcorn box, door hanger, ex-ray vision glasses, 3-D cubed Superman, two different types of cards and envelopes, two cake toppers, two shooting stars, and the word "Superman". Some sayings that come on this cartridge are "Up, Up, and Away" and "Man of Steel".

The creative features that come with Superman are: Outfit, Detail 1, Detail 2, Font, Font Shadow, and Base Shadow. You get the full font set, upper and lower case letters, numbers, and some symbols with this cartridge as well. Additional images that come under the Font feature are clouds, speech bubbles--both round and square, and a few sound effects (POW, WHOM, WHAK). I think this cartridge was a lot of fun to play with and can't wait for the holiday weekend so that I can show this cartridge to my nephews. Somehow my dogs don't seem to get as excited about all these different fun images. I think they would enjoy the 3-D bobble characters, but I am not going to spend all that time gluing them together just to let the dogs tear them a part.

Check out these new cartridges and discover which character is your favorite. Happy Cricuting to all my fellow crafters, may your Cricut mats always be sticky and your Cricut blades always stay sharp.

Crafty Kimber

A. Each mat should last anywhere from 25 - 50 full-page cuts and oftentimes more, depending on the size of cuts and what kind of paper/cardstock you use. This equates to hundreds and hundreds of actual individual cuts.

Here are a few tips that will help prolong its life that you may find helpful:

1) Rotate your mat and insert it in the other direction. You'll notice that a full piece of paper is centered squarely in the center of the mat. So even though the printed text indicates one direction, we designed it to be rotated as well.

2) We recommend that you use and rotate a number of mats at the same time. This seems to extend the overall life of each mat.

3) Be sure to store them with the plastic film over them. Without the film, your mat can collect dust or debris and not last as long. It is also a bad idea to store mats with a sheet of paper on them. 4) Don't cut too deep. Make sure the blade height is set just enough to get through your stock. If it cuts deeper into the mat it just wears it our faster.

5) Don't use a full sheet of paper if you are cutting something small. Every time you put a piece of paper on the mat and lift it up, it will leave fibers behind and take adhesive with it. Limiting the number of sheets pressed into different areas of the mat will greatly expand the its life. (It may also be a good idea to sometimes place these smaller pieces of paper in areas of the mat that get less use?such as the middle or the corners opposite the blade.)

6) You can usually squeeze out a good handful of additional cuts by pressing the paper or cardstock down extra firmly when the mat is placed on a soft surface like carpet.

7) Take care not to expose your mat to extreme heat, particularly leaving it out in the sun. Under these conditions the adhesive may melt and, in some cases, the mat may curl.

If you have further questions or problems, contact customer service: toll free 1-877-727-4288 or e-mail support@cricut.com.