Create Your Heart Out

In tomorrow’s Cricut class we’re going to explore the From My Kitchen Cartridge.

The class is at Mojo’s Scrapbooks, 678 N State Street Westerville, OH 4308, and is $20.

You will need to bring the following:

• Glue stick
• Brown chestnut roan chalk ink
• Glossy Accents
• Paper Trimmer
• White pen
• Both wet and dry adhesive
• Markers, both primary and black

If you are unsure of a product, click here for more details.

For all you out there who have Make the Cut, you need to read this!
So Make the Cut just updated their software 1.3, which means all these new features:

Boolean Operations

These operations allow you to create some pretty nice effects like Lattices. Here is something I created in a couple minutes using basic shapes included in Make The Cut:

Warp
Now you can add some perspective to your projects. I added Perspective and Bilinear warp!

Path Simplification
Have you ever notice a shape has a lot of un-needed nodes? Well, now you can remove them using the Smooth and Simplify tool.

Shape Magic Toolbar
This has been asked for a lot… Floating toolbars along with a Shape Magic toolbar.

There has been many more optimizations, bug fixes, shadow improvements, etc… but those are the main features. Oh and weld was fixed too!

If you don’t yet own Make the Cut, you can get it here. Also for those in the area, I am having a Make the Cut class on Feb 11 at Mojo’s, so if you want to learn, please come and check it out!

Now more than ever, if you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

If you’ve never made or traded ATC’s, you’re missing out on a lot of fun! This is a bit different from my Cricut classes.

What are those, you ask?

ARTIST TRADING CARDS are miniature works of art created on 2 ½ X 3 ½ inch or 64 X 89 mm card stock.

They are originals, small editions and, most importantly, self-produced. Anybody can produce them.
The idea is that you trade them with other people who produce cards, either at trading sessions or wherever you meet another ATC trader in person.

It is important that you meet other people in person to trade – i.e. it is ok to trade by mail or to participate in editions but the main purpose of this performance is the trading session and the personal meeting.

It’s not about money: participants in trading sessions and editions should not be charged any money: the point of the project is the exchange of cards as well as personal experience.

I use all different things to make my cards, including various supplies, as well as the cardstock.

Every month I do an ATC class with a different theme. This month’s theme was snow. This Friday at Mojo’s we’re doing a swap. The swap is free and you even get 10% off your purchase. So come have some cookies and coffee and tea and let the fun begin!

If you can think it… You can Cri-cut!

As a huge fan of Cricut products, I have to wonder what they were thinking with their latest release.

It’s a Cricut machine that looks like an Expressions, but it makes cake? Okay, it doesn’t actually make cake, it is supposed to help you make fabulous decorations super simple. Interesting, but I have my reservations.

Here’s why:

• First, while cake decorating is a craft, it’s not something your typical Cricut owner is into, for a couple reasons. One, like every other hobby, it’s expensive and time consuming if you want to get good at it. Two, cakes are not like cards or scrapbook pages. You usually have to have a reason to make them, because you can’t save them for your special occasion. Now maybe Cricut is trying to get a new group of people to use it’s products, but this seems like the wrong market for that for reasons I’ll go into in a minute.
• Second, it’s expensive. The machine itself is $399, and I’m sure that just like your Cricut machine you’ll have to purchase cartridges and accessories.
• Rumor has it that due to Cricut’s Angel Policy, you aren’t allowed to sell your cakes. WHAT?!? This seems absurd to me.
• You can supposedly cut decorations on your Cricut machine already without spending a fortune a separate machine. This is the one thing I have not tried to do with my Cricut.
• There are only a few types of people who are going to want this. 1. Professional decorators 2. Maybe (and that’s a strong MAYBE) the mom who wants to make all her kids cakes but doesn’t have the time or money to invest in actual decorating skills 3. The crafter with money who buys every gadget that comes out regardless of whether they intend to use it. Now if you can’t sell your cakes, that rules out professionals (not to mention this kind of takes away from the art of cake decorating. My daughter has dabbled in it a bit and says that you have to practice a lot to be any good. I’ve never had an interest, so I don’t know) and I doubt the other two groups are going to make this product fly off the shelves, mostly due to price.

I’ve been talking to my students in my Cricut classes and reading the cricut.com message board and I’ve been hearing a lot of the same thing. There is very little interest in this. Some people have said they are glad this is what Cricut’s next big product is because they don’t have to buy it. Other’s have expressed anger at the fact that there are several products people actually want (certain cartridges, Design Studioupdates) and this seems like a slap in the face. No one I have spoken to in person has said they will even consider this and very few people on the message board think it’s a good idea. The most popular response seems to be “Not interested.” Maybe a food/baking show would have been a better place to unveil this. This is probably not something I will buy (although I won’t promise anything!), but I don’t know if I am the typical Cricut customer. What about all of you? What do you think? Good idea or bust?

If you think it… you can Cri-cut!

I get lots of questions asking me about Cricut Rewards, especially in my Cricut classes. How do I sign up? How do I cash in? How do I…? Well you get picture. So in this episode of This Bug’s For You, I’m going to go over all of that so that you don’t miss out on all the freebies (like cartridges or even a brand new Create) you can get just for spending money you would have spent anyway.

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

I know the holidays are over, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t still spending money. And if you’ve got to spend money, you might as well be saving right?

Now, there are all kinds of deals out there, it’s just a matter of finding them, but who has the time?
Well that’s where I come in. Everyday on the right side of the page is a Daily Deals box. In it you’ll find all kinds of deals on things like electronics, clothing, even some craft items and coupons for free stuff or other discounts from places you probably already shop like Amazon, eBay and Target.

Some of the deals last a few days or more, some of them are one day only, so be sure if you see something you want you act right away!

In addition to the photos above here are some deals that have passed:

• Cricut Expressions and a Your Story for less than the price of an Expressions Machine
• Blackberry Curve for one penny
• Free Redbox Movie Rental
• Percentage discounts off entire purchases for places like Staples and Officemax

Oh, and quite a few of the deals I find include free shipping (How much of a pain is it to find a bargain only to realize that after shipping it’s not as great a steal as you thought?) so keep that in mind when browsing. I won’t promise all of them do, but I do my best!

So check them out, and if you happen to see a great bargain you’d like to share with others (it can be anything from anywhere!), let me know by using the contact form and if I can use it, I definitely will!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to teach a Cricut class in Lorain, a suburb of Cleveland. While I know there are not nearly as many options for learning Cricut in Cleveland as there are where I live, I had no idea the kind of response I would get.

The host, Terilynn did an excellent job of setup and getting everyone together.

When all was said and done we had 22 in the Basics and 20 learning Design Studio (which to do we had to unexpectedly tape trash bags all over the windows, but hey it worked!).

We had a great time, I met some wonderful ladies and best of all now there are 20+ more out there who can use their Cricut machine without frustration!

Thank to Terilynn for taking the time to host and remember, if you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

I know the Gypsy isn’t exactly the same as some of the other options I’ve discussed, but I think it deserves a mention. Why? Well consider:

By now you’ve had time to think about all of your options and maybe decide which you are leaning towards. I’d like to offer you a Yfew more thoughts to ponder before going any particular route:

• Cricut machines are designed for the average crafter who just wants to be able to cut images out of paper for cards, layouts etc. They are pretty easy to use out of the box and although expensive, they are much less so than professional plotters which require tech skills most of us don’t have.
• These software programs are all designed for those of us who want to get the most out of our machines. While you can still be creative using cartridges, your abilities are severely hindered when you are only able to use certain shapes even if there are hundreds of them. Hence, Cricut Design Studio.
• DS was Cricut’s answer to this problem while also making sure we are still tied to the cartridges. It’s actually brilliant when you think about it from a business standpoint.
• What if we no longer want to use cartridges? Well, now you don’t have to but remember this: Cartridges are big business for Cricut, and without them Cricut does not make money. Without money there may be no more Cricut. Something to think about.
• Your Cricut machine is expensive and should be considered an investment. Before you purchase any third party software you need to ask your self the following questions: Is my machine under warranty? What would I do if it the warranty was voided and it broke down? How would I feel if I invested time and money into software that suddenly became useless? Can I replace my machine if I had to and if not, could I live without it? I’ve answered these for myself, but everyone’s answers are not the same.

I have used all of the software programs I’ve told you about and find all three of them meet my needs (remember, this is my line of work so my needs aren’t necessarily your needs). Everything in the last few posts are just my opinion and mine alone, you need to do your own research and come to your own conclusions to find what’s right for your needs. That being said, I hope this helped and if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to find the answer.

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

I’ve told you about Cricut Design Studio and SCAL these past two days. Today I’m going to tell you a little bit about Make the Cut.

Make the Cut is a brand new software system for your Cricut machine (it was just released last month!). Like SCAL it is a third party program, so you need to proceed with caution as it can void the warranty on your Cricut and/or shut down if Provo Craft decides to do the right firmware update.

Also like, SCAL you don’t need cartridges, that’s part of the appeal. What’s the difference you ask?

Well for one thing, it’s much easier to use. The Cricut concept was designed for the average crafter who wanted an easy way to cut things out without having to buy an expensive intimidating plotter used by graphics designers and computer experts. It’s pretty easy to use the basic functions of it right out of the box. Since not everyone is a computer genius, programs like Sure Cuts A Lot and even Cricut’s own Design Studio can be very intimidating. Make the Cut is not. You don’t have to mess around with Inkscape  (unless you want to, you’ll get more detailed images) which is one common complaint with SCAL, your files are opened right into MTC, skipping that dreaded middleman.

Pros:

• No more cartridges. With this program you should not have to buy any more carts and you can cut all of the images from them.
• While it is still relatively new, the developer seems very interested in pleasing everyone and has been doing updates like crazy, so it seems like he wants a perfect product.
• Looks a lot like DS so if you’re familiar with that, you’ll do great.
• Easy to use and the learning curve is minimal. If you are familiar at all with DS (and if you own a Cricut and a computer, you should be!), you will be able to use this program without all the intimidation and frustration of SCAL.
• There is a free trial version, although it cuts a small mark into your images. Also right now you can get the software at 40% off the regular price of $129.95, although I’m not sure for how long so you better hurry!
• The developer promises no charges for updates.
• A great forum on the program itself so you don’t have to close out of it and search the net for info.
• A great feature is the notes page. Each page allows you to keep notes, so you’ll always know where you got your image, the size etc.
• This program was designed by a developer whose  wife owns a Cricut and knows how it works and what features she wants. So essentially this is almost like having a Cricut user like yourself doing the updates.

Cons:

• It is third party software which means that like SCAL, Provo Craft really doesn’t like it as the idea of no cartridges means no more $$$ for them. Also could void your warranty on your Cricut and be shut down. You know the deal by now. Proceed with caution.
• It’s new. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but although it’s getting tons of rave reviews, it’s gonna take time to find out if it sticks around. I’d like to think the developer will continue with the awesome updates and such, but only time will tell.
• No Mac version as of yet, but they’re working on one.

Bottom line? Due to the ease of use, this software could easily take the place of SCAL for those of us who just want to craft without being tech friendly. And there are a lot of us, so it could happen. If you want a program that is easy to use and gives you  unlimited access to fonts, I recommend this program.  I personally love Make the Cut and I hope that doesn’t change. It’s a great program for those of us who want something easy to use and the idea of no cartridges is a wonderful thing. Let’s just hope that lasts!

Oh, and if you are in my area I am having my first Make the Cut class on Monday night, see the events page for more details and contact me if you are interested.

Come back tomorrow for a bit about the Gypsy as well as a roundup!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

Today I’m going to tell you about Sure Cuts A Lot or SCAL for short.

If you’ve played around with Design Studio (and I recommend that you do, see yesterday’s post), SCAL will be much easier to understand.

SCAL is a program similar to Design Studio but different in some ways. For one thing it’s not made by Provo Craft (at least that’s what they say), it’s made by a third party. This is important to know because at any time Cricut can do a firmware update that makes this program useless and any money and time spend rendered lost. Just because this hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t, so proceed with caution!

If this is the case why not use Design Studio you ask? Well lots of reasons, the best one being, you don’t need cartridges to use it.  And although it can be intimidating at first, I think it’s much easier to use.

It’s mostly used for fonts and can cut all True Type fonts on your computer, plus there are thousands of free ones available. If you are only going to use it for fonts, you’ll find that it is pretty easy to use.

It does not cut the images from the Cricut cartridges, however with a free program called Inkscape you can import the images from Cricut Design Studio and cut them with SCAL, so essentially you never have to buy another cartridge (you do need at least one to put in your Cricut machine while it cuts, but it doesn’t matter which one) and there are plenty of people out there who use SCAL and never mess with cartridges.  And like Design Studio files there are lots of free files out there, as well as more detailed ones for a price. It’s not as easy as popping a cartridge in your Cricut and pressing cut, so if you take this route you are going to find yourself extremely frustrated if you are not a computer person.

Pros:

• You no longer need cartridges, so it definitely can save you money over time.
• If you do a lot of fonts I’d say it’s more user friendly than Design Studio once you’ve mastered the interface and learn how it works.
• There is a free trial version which you can cut anything on, however it will cut lines into your pieces until you pay for the software.
• There is a Mac version.

Cons:

• This is third party software not made by Cricut or Provo Craft so there is essentially some risk that Cricut could come up with an update rendering this software useless with their machine or at the very least it could void your warranty. I think this is a small risk but each person should evaluate their own individual risk before using or purchasing this software. I’m not positive but I believe Cricut has tried to do this before and the developer just updated the software again. I don’t think it’s happened in a while, but it’s always a possibility.
• Because it’s not made by Cricut, you won’t find it on the number one Cricut resource: the cricut.com message board. Sure you might find snippets here and there but unlike Design Studio there is not a SCAL section where users can automatically go to find information. There’s info out there, you just have to do a little more research if you have a problem or question.
• While it has been updated, the developer has charged for updates in the past.

Bottom line? I personally love SCAL, and although I also use Design Studio pretty extensively I could definitely switch to using SCAL only if I had to. A lot of people have stayed away from it either because they don’t like the idea of having to rely on a computer exclusively or they simply don’t like they risks involved. If you do a lot of fonts for layouts and don’t want to spend a fortune on all the font carts, this is easy to use and is a nice balance between buying a few carts and still saving money. The choice is really up to you and whether the risks are worth the reward to you.

Tune in tomorrow for the newest software for your Cricut, Make the Cut.

Until then, if you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

A Cricut machine is a wonderful thing, but the fact that you are tied to cartridges and only the shapes on the cartridges can make it very limiting. It doesn’t have to be though. I’m going to spend the next four days telling you all of your options for making the most out of your Cricut while not always having to buy cartridges. Over the next three days I’m going compare Cricut Design Studio with two third party software programs Sure Cuts A Lot and Make the Cut, so you can decide which one is best for you without more time and money than necessary. On the fourth, I’ll tell you about the Gypsy.

Design Studio

This is probably the one everyone turns to first and that’s fine. It’s Cricut’s own software and it is an amazing tool. For starters you can download the trial version for free and in it is a list of each Cricut cartridge available as well as the images on each one. So even if you don’t end up purchasing it, I definitely recommend getting the trial version as this is an invaluable resource.

Design Studio is a software program that allows you to manipulate the shapes on each cartridge to create your own shapes. You can bend, stretch, and resize each image and then layer and weld them with other images to create your own design.n With all the different carts and shapes out there, it’s pretty safe to say with a little bit of time you can come up with almost anything. You can use as many different cartridges as you like on each image. The possibilities are practically endless.

Well, not so fast. You can create any image you want, but you’ll need each cartridge you use to create it to cut it out with your Cricut. So unless you actually own each cartridge, the line for what you can design and CUT ends with what the cartridges you OWN. It’s understandable of course. It doesn’t make any sense for Provo Craft to create software that sells for the price of one cartridge to allow users to be able to cut from all of them, they’d never be able to sell new cartridges, essentially putting themselves out of business. So while Design Studio is a very useful program, if you don’t own a lot of cartridges, it’s might not be for you. It’s also not the easiest program to use from the start so if you’re totally computer illiterate you will be frustrated at first, guaranteed. My Design Studio is one of my most popular Cricut classes for just that reason. People get frustrated after trying it and want to give up.

The image below was made using only the George and Basic Shapes cartridge (not by me!).

Pros:

• Excellent trial version allows you to view each cartridge’s images. If nothing else, it’s a great free tool to help decide which carts you want before you buy.
• Trial version allows you to design anything with any carts (You can cut on the trial version using Plantin Schoolbooks with your Expression, George with the Baby Bug and Don Juan with the Create).
• No time limit on the trial. You can design tons of images and save files before making the decision to purchase the software or cartridges.
• There are tons of free files out there (even some on this site). You will still need all the cartridges used to cut them, but if you aren’t much of a designer or don’t want to take the time, this is always a good option.
• Provo Craft has never charged for a software update.
• It’s made by Provo Craft. They created the program and you know it will always work with your Cricut machine unlike third party software (more on that to come!)

Cons

• You must own the cartridges to cut. So even if you use one tiny image for your design, if you don’t own the cartridges you can’t cut it out.
• It’s not especially user friendly software. It’s gonna take time to learn it, and even once you know what you’re doing, there are still errors in the software that make it frustrating.
• Not a lot of updates. I am a die hard Cricut fan and I’ve spent a lot of money on their products so I hate to sound negative, but I’m being honest here. Cricut and Provo Craft don’t seem to listen to their customers when it comes to this. There are still features which need fixed and the software is still buggy. These are things which should have been fixed early on.
• No Mac version. Yes, I know there are a lot more Windows users than Mac but once you start talking to people, it’s amazing how many people use a Mac for crafting.

Bottom line? Everyone who purchases a Cricut machine should go to cricut.com and download the trial version. Play around with it, take your time, use the trial with the correct cart and  cut a thing or two out. It won’t cost you anything and at the very least you’ll have a great resource. If all you want to do is weld your current fonts and do light image work, this software is probably all you need. If you want to do more, check out the other options. Just remember that if you start making designs with all kinds of carts you never planned to buy and then must cut them out, this could turn out to be quite an investment.

Tomorrow we’ll go over Sure Cuts A Lot, so don’t forget to come back to compare!

If you can think it… You can Cri-cut!

For those of you wondering what to bring to Monday night’s Cricut Club, you’ll need the following:

• A white pen
• Colorbox chalk ink in chestnut roan if possible
• Wet and dry adhesive, especially glue dots
• George cartridge
• Plantin Schoolbooks
• Your favorite shape cartridge

Sorry it wasn’t up sooner, I’ve been having some trouble updating my events page. Just contact me if you have any questions!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

This one didn’t make it in time for the contest, but one of my loyal readers Cassandra in AZ wanted to share this with you, and I’m glad she did because it’s amazing don’t you think?

She made 4 sizes of the flower shape, 6 sizes of the leaves, and welded the letters together to make “To” and “From” and cut out the tag. It is larger than normal as she used it for a large gift. She used pop dots to layer the flowers for the 3D effect and placed the leaves inside the layers to give it a more realistic effect. She also bent the ends a little. She then used stickles on the ends of the flowers to simulate snow.

She used Holographic paper for the Tag and Glitter paper for the Flower petals and leaves.

The tag uses Plantin Schoolbooks. She sent the file as well, so if you’d like to have it for next year (or it could even work for a non-Christmas gift) please contact me and I’ll be happy to send it to you!

Cassandra also sent this photo of the door she decorated for her husband’s office, in which she took first place! Congratulations!

To see more of Cassandra’s work check out her blog http://cassandrascrafts.blogspot.com/

If you have something you’d like to share, I’d love to see it and possibly put it up! Thanks Cassandra for the tag.

For those of you that have asked the winners of the Gift Tag Contest are:

Week 1: Anabel who sent the tree tag.

Week 2: Debbie Ross with her snowman tag.

Week 3: Joe and his Santa tag.

And finally the grand prize winner of the Green Totes bag filled with goodies is:

Katie in Georgia who made the Joy tag.

Congratulations to all the winners! I look forward to a new year of Cricut, Cricut and well, more Cricut!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!