NO BETTER TIME THAN NOW

This introduction is for timid crafters or the crafters-at-heart out there who have the desire to craft, but have yet to take that step into Cricut land. You know who you are. You have a Cricut machine, a few cartridges, and many crafting supplies, but are hesitant to remove the packaging of your products because you are afraid you'll mess things up. Here is my advice: there really is no more perfect time to begin than now.

Signs, calendars, cards, layouts, bridal showers, baby showers, infants, kids, graduation, prom, gifts, thank you's, your welcome's, miss you's, banners, buckets, frames, tags, bags, boxes, and more. Whatever the reason, whatever the motivation, begin and don't look back. Jump into your crafty mode and go, go, go. Let those creative juices flow. Be unique or "scrap lift" an idea. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Your crafting is not required to be perfect. There really are no rules. Just create your Cricut creations today.

As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

Happy Crafting!

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Perfect Spring Day
• Baskets of Flowers!
• Smile
• Grand Ole Opry Stairstep Card!!
• 60th birthday bouquet!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Donna Mundinger
About: Hi, I'm Donna and I love my Cricut Expression! It's been almost 2 years since I received it and the pleasure of crafting and the friends I've met have increased a thousand fold.

Donna's Project: Spring Wishes Door Hanger

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from helpful message board member Doxieluv01. Thanks for sharing your tip!

Q. "Is there a way to bookmark posts we don't want to lose? Is this possible? If so how? Tired of losing important subjects."

A. "You can bookmark just the way you do a webpage, or at the top of each post there is a 'subscribe' button. If you click that you'll be subscribed to the post and able to access the thread from your profile."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

I have a complaint to issue to Mother Nature: I woke up to snow this Easter Morning. I thought spring was here! I even spent a few hours the other day cleaning up the yard, and then woke to at least a few inches of snow. Since I couldn't do anything outside, I decided to spend some time with my Cricut. When I am stuck indoors I find I play with my Cricut (aka, Eddie) all the time. For this week's exploration I will go back and review some past cartridges that I haven't written about yet. Today's features are Jubilee and Home D?cor.

Jubilee is part of the font collection. On this cartridge, you get a full alphabet, plus numbers and some symbols. The creative features are: Flag, Runt, Village, Stilts, Shadow, and Shadow Blackout. The font style is thin and long, but the Flag feature is the letters in a flag shape. The Village style provides letters in the shape of village houses, where as Runt style provides you with letters that are shorter and fatter. This style would work great for posters as well as scrapbook pages. You also receive a few solid images: a flag, a village with three houses connected, holly, martini glass, star, and starburst. Phrases that come with this cartridge are: "Love You", "Merry Christmas", "Hooray", and "You Rock". This picture is an idea of what you can expect from this cartridge.

Home D?cor is the other cartridge that I played with. I love this cartridge because it is kind of girly. This cartridge is one of the Solutions cartridges and you receive many versatile foundation designs. Some of the images that come with this cartridge are: swirls, flowers, birds, frames, crowns, cupcake, butterfly, dragonfly, hearts, and stars. Some of the phrases that are included are: "create", "love", "forever", "explore", and "hope". LauraCharko from the message board created these adorable cards using this cartridge. The butterfly card is my favorite (see pic or click here).

I love using both of these cartridges and feel that they are both great additions to my Cricut library. Remember if you have a project that you want to share with everyone please go to www.cricut.com and upload it under the correct category. If you are having problems and need help, call customer service and they will help you. Check back next week as I write about some more Cricut cartridges.

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the top questions in Customer Support this week.

From Becky:

What do all the stars and "Chirper" titles on the message board mean?

Those names and icons under your username are Poster Ratings:

1 star - "Baby Bug" - start out
2 stars - "Lil' Bug" - 51 posts
3 stars - "Chirper" - 151 posts
4 stars - "Cricutette" - 301 posts
BUGHEAD - "Cricuteer" - 501 posts
BUGHEAD & ONE STAR - "Bug o'holic" - 801 posts
BUGHEAD & TWO STARS - "Gone Buggy" - 1200 posts
BUGHEAD & THREE STARS - "Bugalicious" - 2500 posts

Have a great week!

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The vital, successful people I have met all had one common characteristic. They had a plan."
~ Marilyn Van Derbur