AND ANOTHER MONTH MARCHES IN

As the year progresses onward, we find ourselves yet again entering a new month. March is truly a month like no other. I would venture to say it's a pretty pleasant and enjoyable month full of new life, fresh energy, and lots of green things. Julius Caesar probably wouldn't have agreed with me..."Beware the ides of March." But of course, March is known for coming "in like a lion, going out like a lamb".

We are also all too familiar with the madness that occurs amongst basketball fans and people who prefer to pinch each other on St Patrick's Day. I plan on enjoying some crafty madness of my own. Perhaps I'll plug a television in next to my Cricut and catch a few basketball games. I wish you a fabulous month full of wonderful projects and the type of fabulous Cricut crafting which brings you and others a bucket o' joy.

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Once Upon a Princess and Blackletter cartridges. You'll also enjoy practical advice on remembering settings for different paper you may use and glean savvy wisdom in "Help form the Experts". We hope you enjoy this week's newsletter and, as always, wish you well in your crafting adventures.

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:

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:

• Irish Kiss Me
• Ice Cream Birthday Card
• Irish Cream Card
• Shamrocks
• Happy 16th Birthday Card

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Michelle Criswell
About: I have been married for nine years and have two girls, 1 and 4. I've been scrapbooking for about 6 years and love it! The Cricut has made doing this so much more fun and professional looking! I'm addicted and am trying to keep up buying all the new cartridges! Recently I started making scrapbooking and project kits to be used with the Cricut machine so people can bond with their machine just as I have. It's great to do something I love and be able to watch my kids grow. I, of course, have my four-year-old addicted to paper crafting as well. She loves doing projects with me!

Michelle's Project: Princess Fruit Basket

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member LittleMrs.Vickie. Thanks for sharing your tip!

"Whenever I use a new pad of paper, I write down my pressure, speed and depth on the front cover of the pad. That way, next time I use a sheet out of that pad, I know what settings work best."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

The last few weeks I have been finishing my afghan made with the Knifty Knitter round looms for my best friend's wedding. I can't wait for her to open her wedding present! I feel so proud to finish my first afghan and I wanted to share this growing moment with all my Cricut fans. In today's exploration I will be writing about Once Upon a Princess and Blackletter.

Blackletter is a Cricut Solutions cartridge that is a part of the font family. It's also retiring, so get yours before they're gone! If you like that Old English style, then this cartridge is a must for your collection. This cartridge would be perfect for titles on your scrapbook pages or presentation posters. Besides the full alphabet you also receive some additional images: two banners, leaves, a shields, swirls, and a fleur-de-lis. EliseOlsen from the message board created a wedding gift box using this cartridge (see picture or click here).

Once Upon a Princess is the other cartridge I had the wonderful opportunity to explore. I was so excited to get this cartridge I couldn't wait to find the time to play and discover all the fun images. The creative features are: Layer, Phrase, Gem, and Font, Tag, and Base shadow/Phrase Shadow. I love it when the cartridge comes with images and phrases all in one--it makes creating my projects or cards so much easier. To state the obvious, this cartridge is sort of girly. It's a paper doll cartridge, with just what every little girl wants to dress up her paper doll with: princess ball gowns, a mermaid outfit, a fairy with wings outfit, an angel outfit, a rain coat, a cow girl, a dancer outfit, and pajamas.

Other images that are included are a castle, a frog, balloons, cup cakes, crowns, presents, a bow, a rainbow, a unicorn, a butterfly, and three types of gift bag. The 3-D items included are: a crown, a tiara, a wand, a castle, plus two types of invites and envelops. I love that the font feature comes with the letters by themselves and in the shape of crown. EnableMe from the message board cut out the doll and some of the outfits. She did a really great job! (see picture or click here). I think I will be making some of these paper doll outfits for my nieces to play with at my house--they are just so cute! I'm thinking of making the 3-D wand for my dogs to play with. Hmm, I wonder how long that will last? But it would make a great story for my journal!

Check back next week as I continue to play and explore what you can do with the Cricut cartridges. Happy Crafting!

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the top questions in Customer Support this week.

From Michelle:

Rewards Update

Inventory: We had a huge rush over the holidays have been on back order on several cartridges. Nearly all of the Out of Stock items are now in stock! Daisy Chain is still on back order and will be back in stock mid-March.

Points for Shipping: This has been turned off for now. We know this was a very popular option. Thank you for your participation. We'll definitely bring this back for promotional periods. We offered this during the Holidays and left it on through January. We'll be sure to announce it when it gets turned back on and for how long.

New Items!: We'll be adding new t-shirts, promotional items, and cartridges in early March. Stay tuned!

From Becky:

For those of us with less than perfect eye sight

You can view images on each cartridge in a larger version on Cricut.com under the Information tab, in the cartridge library: http://www.cricut.com/information/cartridge_library.aspx. I have even gone so far as to print them all out and put them in a binder. It's a great resource for me. The pages are in plastic sleeves and if I cut something out using a specific cartridge I put the "extras" behind the page in the sleeve to save for later.

Have a great week!

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"With rushing winds and gloomy skies The dark and stubborn Winter dies: Far-off, unseen, Spring faintly cries, Bidding her earliest child arise; March!"
~ Bayard Taylor