GETTING BUGGY

Do you remember those insect collections you had to put together for your 7th grade Biology class? Oh the memories. I started hunting for my collection of little critters early on in the semester so I wouldn't have to frantically search high and low for crawling and flying critters with 6 legs and antennas during the last two weeks of the course. I kept them in glass jars right next to the frozen orange juice in my parent's freezer before pinning their lucky thoraxes to a piece of cardboard and carefully labeling them for display. I didn't drink orange juice for awhile after the course had ended.

Now that you are big kids, some of you have a much more sophisticated bug collection of your own. You can store your bugs out in the open. They don't require refrigeration and they are capable of making some pretty cool displays and projects for your school kids without making the ultimate sacrifice. No one gets squeamish and gives you weird looks when you show them where you store your prize bug collection. In fact, they could be inspired to acquire some bugs of their own.

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration on Elmo's Party and Dinosaur Tracks. You'll also enjoy clever tips about etching and get some great crafting ideas from featured projects.

Happy Crafting!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Don't miss the opportunity to see the Cricut and new cartridges and consumables in action! Here are are the dates and locations for the next month:

Lacey, WA ~ 2/12-2/21
Salt Lake City, UT ~ 2/12-2/21
Overland Park, KS ~ 2/12-2/21
Shelby Township, MI ~ 2/19-2/28
Cincinnati, OH ~ 2/19-2/28
Tumwater, WA ~ 2/26-3/7
Murray, UT ~ 2/26-3/7
Lenexa, KS ~ 2/26-3/7
Kirkland, WA ~ 3/12-3/21
Sandy, UT ~ 3/12-3/21
Silverdale, WA ~ 3/26-4/4
Lehi, UT ~ 3/26-4/4

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Baby Book Layouts
• Pirates of the Gift Shop
• sky's the limit
• Beeware
• Layout using Winter Woodland
• Colorful Nursery Nightlights

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Lisa McIntyre
About: I have always had a love for crafting of any kind, but never thought paper crafting could be so addictive. Since I received my first Cricut over 2 years ago I haven't been able to quit. I am totally hooked! My latest obsession is making shape albums. I love coming up with new ideas to make each one different from the last. The possibilities are endless.

Lisa's Project: Hidden Spots Magnetic Shape Album

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member debbremer. Thanks for the clever tip!

"I have been working with etching and wanted to share a few tips. I had a 1-1 class on it last week and we had a good time. My student said she learned a lot and that just made my day! Everyone on the boards is so sharing I wanted to pass that along too!

- Make sure you have the area outside your design covered because sometimes, if it is too close to the edge, you will get a 'halo' effect, or just in case you get spatter from the etching medium.

- Make sure you burnish (rub) the stencil to ensure it is totally adhered to the surface. If you have any areas where the stencil is not, the etching medium will leach under the stencil and you will get a fuzzy looking edge. A Q-tip works great for this, I have found. If you use an eraser, you may lift up the stencil by applying too much pressure.

- I use a stencil brush to apply my etch medium and use an up and down motion, not a side to side motion, of the brush to apply my medium. This keeps the brush from possibly lifting up the edge of the stencil.

It only takes a few extra minutes to do the things mentioned above and it sure beats having to toss a project because something went wrong. I know because I am the Queen of 'I want to do it fast!'"

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

Do you ever feel like you are moving so fast that you need someone to tell you to slow down! That seems to be my life over the past two weeks as I work on projects for work and then do projects in the evenings. Thank goodness working with the Cricut is a way for me to relax and let the creative ideas flow. This week I will explore and discuss the Dinosaur Tracks and Elmo's Party cartridges.

Elmo's Party is a great party cartridge. It comes with a variety of Elmo images plus images that you can use to for a banner, cup cake toppers, cup cake holder, or straw topper, as well as two little gift boxes. Page six of the handbook has tips on how to use the layers with all the different Elmo layouts. The creative features on this cartridge are: Layer1/Layer2, Layer 3/Layer4, Base Shadow, Font, Font Shadow, and Font Shadow/Blackout. This cartridge even comes with a game: pin a crayon on Elmo's hand. Some of the extra characters that are included in this cartridge are: Dorothy (the goldfish), Mr. Noodle, and Cake. Other images include: candles, cupcake, party hats, birthday balloon streamers, and music notes. Papergirl1107 from the message board uploaded an example of what she did with this cartridge (see picture or click here). I love it!

The next cartridge that I had the opportunity to explore was Dinosaur Tracks. My first thought was Ohhh! My nephews will love this. This cartridge is full of twenty-six different Dinosaurs plus other prehistoric animals. Examples of the other animals are: shark, turtle, and bugs. There are also five different fossil images (bird tracks and bones). The creative features on this cartridge are: Layer, Tag, Fossil, Letter, Card, and Shadow. The card feature provides you with a quick easy card. A quick game idea: you could cut the cards out, including the sold card. Glue all the layers together so it looks like a postcard. Make sure that you have two cards of each image, add a number on the back, and you have your own personal memory game for a boy's birthday party or spending time with mom. TracyHenry from the message board created a Dino card for her son, I thought it was so cute! (see photo or click here)

I hope all of you Cricut fans had a wonderful Valentine's Day, and many wishes for you in your crafting projects. Happy crafting!

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the top question/answers in Customer Support this week.

From Brittany:

Q. Can I have DesignStudio on more than one computer?

A. The way the Cricut DesignStudio is licensed allows only for one activation. You can, however have the DesignStudio fully activated on one computer and have the trial version on the another computer. With that trial version, you can design layouts and then save them to a USB drive or a CD. Then open them on the computer where the software is fully activated and cut your design from there.


From Brightly:

CDS and Windows 7

- Go to 'Computer'
- On the blue bar across the top of box, click on 'Uninstall or Change Program' and look for Cricut DesignStudio
- Uninstall

CDS Info Tool:

- Go to www.cricut.com/cds
- On the bottom of the page just above the Provo Craft logo, click on the 'Support Downloads' link
- Click on 'CDS Info Tool'
- Click on 'Run'
- Click on 'Run' again
- A little box will pop up, select 'Remove All CDS Settings'
- You can close the CDS Info Toolbox once the done box pops up
- If an error message occurs, ignore and try again

How to Install DesignStudio for Windows 7

Internet Installation:
- Go to www.cricut.com/cds
- Go to 'DesignStudio Download Updates' on left side of page
- If you are not signed in to your account, you will need to in order to continue
- If you don't have an account, you need to make one
- Under 'DesignStudio Program Updates', click on the 'Download' button
- Click 'Run' or 'Save'
- Click 'Run'
- When 'Setup Wizard' comes up, follow instructions
- When the installation is complete, the icon will show up on you desktop. If it doesn't show up on the desktop, check your Document or Program Folder. Double click on the icon to open DesignStudio

Windows 7 DPI
- Right click on desktop
- Go to 'Personalize'
- Go to 'Display'
- Then click on smaller (100%)
Please note that when you change the screen settings, most computers require you to restart the computer to adjust to the new screen settings.

Have a great week!

From your Customer Support Sweeps:
Mark, Brightly, Michelle, Brittany, and Becky, "The Floor Sweeps"

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There are two different kinds of people in this world: those who finish what they start, and"
~ Brad Ramsey