A PLENTIFUL HARVEST

I enjoy the fruits of late Summer and Autumn harvests so very much. There are a number seasonal outdoor farmer's produce stands located on my route to and from work. I like to frequent them and purchase yummy fresh produce to consume at my leisure or share with family or friends. Peaches, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, pears, corn, peppers, onions, and of course a plethora of potatoes...I love it! Especially the tomatoes...I love those fresh and juicy heavenly morsels! Can you say world's best BLT! I believe my Cricut and I shall create a layout dedicated to that delicious culinary creation.

Cricut has had a great harvest this year as well with the successful launch of the Cricut Imagine and the release of all of our newest Cricut cartridges. Drop by and check out all of the wonderful products at our website under the products tab. You'll be sure to find something to satisfy your crafting appetite and plenty of helpful information to boot.

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's in depth cartridge exploration of the Happy Hauntings cartridge. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SWARM WINNER

We are very excited to have been chosen. We have about 10 women who get together the 4th Tuesday of the month (except December, because it is just too busy). We average about 6 or 7 who actually come to each meeting and we take turns "teaching". We each bring our Cricut machines and the teacher will show the other girls how to make their project. We have passed on a lot of new techniques this way. We also take time out to have a snack and catch up on news about friends and family. Basically, we just talk and create. Our name says it all: we are The Sassy Classy Cricut Club of Vacaville. And we all thank you very much!

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• ABC Coloring Book
• Family "Summer Vacation"
• Cherry Pie Page
• Pumpkin Card
• Picking Apples

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Maria De Anda
About: I'm a single mother of a beautiful two year old. I love to craft and have had my Cricut for about a year. Every craft I make surrounds my crazy toddler, which is why I love to scrapbook. My second passion is event planning, which is why I try to connect crafting with parties.

Maria's Project: Elmo Piñata

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member CindyRainey. Thanks for sharing your awesome tip!

"Load Last is one of those sometimes misunderstood and seldom used buttons. Normally you load your mat, cut your image/images, and unload. But what if you want to cut an image and then check on it before committing to cutting the rest of the planned images? After you unload your mat and check on your image, you press Load Last and it will take you right back to where you were, as if you had never unloaded your mat in the first place."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

In this exploration, I get to go back to the Happy Hauntings cartridge for an in-depth look. I just didn't have enough time to really discover what I could create with this cartridge last time!

To review quickly, Happy Hauntings is perfect for Halloween. Whether it's wall decorations, cards, party favors, or scrapbook layouts this is the perfect cartridge for that spooky day. The creative features are: Layer 1, Layer 2, Phrase, Spooky Font, Vampire Font, and Vampire Shadow. Some of the images include: skeleton, Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and his bride, mummy, headless horseman, haunted house, and ghosts. Need some quick Halloween wall decorations? Cut these characters out in vinyl and put them on your wall. Place them your windows for something different in the neighborhood. You can even cut them with the 12 x 24 mat and make them really big! ObiWanJane from the message board cut out each of these images a big as she could to place in her kitchen window (see pic or click here).

There are also a bunch of frames with different silhouetted monster heads. Cut these out and place them on some cardstock for quick and easy cards. Add your ink around the edges, or spray stain to create some different texture, before you glue the frames to the front of your card--just to add some spookiness. You could even take these frames and staple them front to back, so that when they are done they will look like a big zigzag. This project would look great on a piano or table as a Halloween decoration!

I'm sure most of you know by now what the Layer features mean for each image, but for those that need a review or are new to the Cricut world: These features let you cut out certain parts of the images in different colors. You can glue them on top of the base layer and see how your image pops! The Phrases creative feature allows you to cut a bunch of words or phrases to coordinate with the images. Some examples are: "Gruesome", "Bewitching", "Monster Mash", "Witch's Brew", "Trouble", "October", "Happy Haunting", "Caution", and "Haunted Mansion". Note that the Shift button with this feature lets you cut a Shadow version of the word, so you can layer your phrases easily.

Don't forget that this cartridge comes with a variety of images that are 3-D, so you can make your very own haunted village. Other 3-D images are: coffin, trees, platter, picture frame, and popcorn style box. Chiddy from the message board cut out the coffin 3-D (see pic or click here). I love this 3-D project--she did such a cute job!

The other two creative features are Spooky Font and Vampire Font. These are two are very different font styles. I like both font styles, but the Vampire Font is my favorite because each of the numbers and letters all look like blood is dripping from them. Both of these fonts are great for titles on projects! I want to make a sign for my pumpkin patch that sits in my front yard and the Spooky Font would be perfect for that project. I have a scarecrow holding a sign with a bunch of pumpkins sitting around him. I can't decide if I want the sign to say "Pumpkins for Sale" or "Will work for Food"....

Well, it's time to wrap up my exploration. As always, I enjoyed my time delving deep into this cartridge. I hope you are enjoying these explorations as well! Happy Crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

Don't forget to take this week's survey!

Click here.

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the hot topics in Customer Support this week:


Q. I'm curious about the new Cricut Imagine. Where can I get more information?

A. Click here to find out more about the new Cricut Imagine Machine. There are also message boards already set up: Cricut Imagine discussion boards and Cricut Imagine Technical Support. Pop into those boards and post your comments!

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The new message boards are up and running! Click here to visit the new boards! Visit the the new boards to start all of your new threads. You may reply to old threads on the old boards until the end of the month. Starting October 1, the old boards will become Read Only.

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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 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!

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
~ Og Mandino