New Close To My Heart Cricut Cartridge City Sidewalks

OMG  Close To My Heart has yet another new cartridge out.  It is not as big as the regular release cartridges but still full of awesomeness.  This one is City Sidewalks, just released in our new Holiday Seasonal Idea Book.

This cartridge is digital only.  It will only work on the Cricut Explorer in Design Space.  My copy is on order and will be here soon.  I have the City Sidewalks paper pack and can't wait to start some Christmas projects.

Here is a picture of the matching paper pack

[ VIDEO ]50th Birthday Card

Good morning everyone.

I know it has been a while since I posted.  I have just had several projects that kept me busy for a while.  One of the things is a skill share class that I did.  It is a free class.  I made a Christmas Card.  Here is the link...   http://skl.sh/29g6fOc  It is free for a limited time.

Now for today's card....  Video is below

Which Cricut Explorer Machine To Buy

The Cricut Explore made its debut in January 2014.  Have you gotten yours yet?  Why not?  You do not know what you have been missing.

I love my Explorer.  I received mine from Santa last Christmas.  I don't know what I did with out it.  I since sold my old Cricut Expression because the Explore is all that I need.  Yes, at this time you need an internet connection but coming soon is an offline version for the iPad.  It is being beta tested right now and should be released soon.

You can score, write, print then cut and more.  It cuts material with such accuracy that I could not ever imagined cutting with my Expression.  There is no guess work in trying to figure out pressure, blade depth, speed.  The Cricut Explorer has the settings built in.  It is as simple as turning the dial to your selected material.  Even has a custom setting for other materials listed in the Cricut Design Space software.

There are 3 Cricut Explorer lines to choose from:  the original Explorer, the Explore Air and the Explorer One.  The Explorer linecomes in a many color choices including a gold one.

Now you are asking...  but what one is right for me?  Below is a chart outlining the features of each. Hope this helps you in your decision. To get yours click the link. Cricut.com

Comparison Chart

Feature

Cricut Explore One™

Cricut Explore Air™

Older Cricut® 
 machines 

Silhouette Cameo® 2

Cut and write in 1-step	Multiple steps with pen adapter (buy)		Multiple steps	Multiple steps
Wireless cutting	With Bluetooth® adapter (buy)
More materials than the leading competitor (material list, precision report)
Most precise cuts with Cut Smart® technology (precision report)
Upload your own images and fonts for free				.SVG files require $49.99 upgrade
Cricut Design Space™ app for iPhone® and iPad®
Easy to use with the Smart Set® dial
Works with Cricut®cartridges
Print then Cut—cut out printable files

This post contains an affiliate link. I will receive a small commission on sales to help keep this blog running and for give aways.

Christmas Card Created on My Explore Used Print Then Cut

Good morning...

Here is a quick post before I have to head off to work. uggggg  wish I could stay home and play in my craft room.

I cut this card out on my Cricut Explore and I took advantage of the print then cut feature.  I have to admit that I got this idea from a YouTube video I saw and had to make one myself.

I was pretty happy with the way that it turned out.  

I am entering this into the following Challenges:

The 12 Months of Christmas

Graduation Card

Good afternoon everyone.  I just finished making a graduation card for one of my DH's customers daughter.  He had no idea what her school colors are or which high school she graduated from.  So, I played it safe and went with just black and white.

I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the card.  But I used my Close To My Heart  Diploma Day stamp set. The inside says "Hooray Its Your Graduation Day".  

On the front, I used white daisy CTMH card base and layered it with black and another layer of white daisy card stock.  I used my new Big Shot to emboss the white layer using swiss dots.  Then I took a strip of black and embossed it with a kind of stripe pattern embossing folder. Then used my Cricut Explore for the sentiment.

The sentiment was done using the slice feature in Design Space.  Then I found the cap and diploma in the image library in Design Space.  I came from the Classroom June - July Cartridge.  But I will share my file.  Click Here to access the file.  You need to be logged into Design Space.

I made a few other cards this past week and will post them sometime in the next couple of days.

Give Mom The Gift Of Creativity With Cricut

Cricut Explore Air™ for Mother's Day

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links.

Looking for the perfect gift for a crafty mom for Mother's Day? Well look no further than Cricut! Their incredible Explore Air™ machine takes cutting, writing, and scoring to a whole new level. It'll be the Mother's Day gift that keeps on giving!

For starters, it has built-in Bluetooth technology, which makes it wireless. That means that mom can take her projects wherever she goes and save her projects to the cloud. It's also compatible with Cricut's Design Space iPad app, so mom can lay all of her cuts in the Design Space and see everything she's cutting all at once on her iPad. Adios paper-based handbooks!

Here are a few other neat notables of the Explore Air™ machine:

• It can cut over 60 different materials, including leather, balsa wood, fabric, vinyl, tissue paper, craft foam, and even silk! Mom just sets the dial to the material that she needs to cut and the machine keeps track of the settings.
• For cutting layers, mom can just print them on her printer and have the Explore Air™ cut it out.
• Fonts and images can be uploaded for free so projects can have writing on them that looks just like handwriting.

The Cricut Explore Air™ machine has an unbelievable amount of helpful, time-saving features. And if that weren't impressive enough, Cricut is taking $50 off their Explore Air™, officially making this one of the best gifts to give crafty Mom's this Mother's Day!

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Letter From Ashish Arora Extending Trial Subscriptions

Hello!

Millions of projects have been created in Design Space, and every day we are adding more and more users and tens of thousands of projects. For the past year, we have had very few unscheduled outages and our systems have been very stable. In the past three weeks we have had a couple of outages for a few hours. We recognize that this is unacceptable to both you and us.

As a growing company, we have been upgrading our systems to scale for the increased activity and to get ready for hundreds of thousands of new users. In the process of these enhancements, we inadvertently introduced some issues that have resulted in a few unscheduled outages. We take this seriously and we understand that in addition to this being a creative passion, you also depend on our systems to meet your personal commitments.

We are working with our leading technology providers to identify the root cause. In the next few days, you may see a few more brief outages as we test different parts of our system. We will try to minimize these outages. We assure you that we are building a rock-solid infrastructure to help match our customers' growing needs.

Please accept our apology with a free 2-week extension to your trial subscription.

This additional 2-week subscription was added today, Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

If you would like to see how many days are left in your trial subscription, log in to Cricut.com, click on your name at the top right, and then choose "Subscription" at the bottom left. Your remaining days will display under the heading "Time Remaining." 

We want to help you take full advantage of your extended subscription. A few ways to identify projects and images included in your subscription are:

1. Projects: Go to the Design Space landing page at www.cricut.com/design and choose "In Subscription" from the menu in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Images: On the design screen, click "Insert Image." Open the Filters menu in the upper right corner (the funnel icon) and select "Subscription" under the Ownership section.
3. Fonts: Once you've added text, select it and open the second menu in the Edit panel to view the list of fonts. Fonts that are yours or are part of subscription do not have a price next to them.

Please enjoy your extended subscription access!

Happy crafting,
Ashish Arora, CEO

Honey Bee Greeting Card

Good morning.

I am here to share my latest video from this weekend.  My patreons were able to view it yesterday.  I am making it available to you today.

I made this card using the new Spring Fling Cricut Cartridge and Design Space.

Birthday Card For My Dad

Good afternoon,

I made this birthday card for my Dad this morning.  I chose a Make It Now project in the Cricut Design Space and customized it.  It was the plaid card.

 I added a banner and used my Explore to write Happy Birthday on it.  I created 2 interior mats.  The extra one I used for the inside sentiment.  I forgot to have the Cricut write it so I used one of my Close To My Heart stamp sets from the Blossom Cardmaking Workshop On The Go Kit.  I chose to use "Make A Wish" then there is a faint line and then "You Are Worth Celebrating".

I also cut out some candles.  I cut a set of blue and a set of yellow.  I cut the flames off of the yellow set and glued them onto the blue set.

I will be releasing my video of me assembling the card tomorrow for the public.  It is currently available for my Patreons to view.  If you would like to see it now, become one of my supporters on Patreon.  I need to build up my supporter base so that I can start doing some awesome give aways.

Don't know why some of my pics import sideways.  I took the bottom one in the same way I did the top.  Makes no sense.

The Explore Air Now Available!!! FREE SHIPPING in March

 

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links.

Just when you thought that Cricut's Explore® machine couldn't get any more amazing, they are now introducing their Cricut Explore Air!

 This new machine has all the incredible features of the Cricut Explore®, but now it has built-in Bluetooth technology - so your projects can go wherever you go! In addition to being able to cut just about anything, including leather, balsa wood, fabric, vinyl, craft foam, and even silk, cartridges are also included in the software. So anytime you want to use a different cartridge, you just do a quick search on your iPad and it brings up all the images on the cart. How efficient is that?!

By far this is the most advanced electronic cutting machine on the market with an unbelievable amount of helpful, time-saving features. While there are almost too many to mention, I can't resist sharing a few more of my favorites:

• It's wireless and compatible with Cricut Design Space iPad app.
• Since it's wireless, all projects can be saved to the cloud, which allows users to conveniently swap between their laptop and iPad.
• Cartridges are linked to your Cricut ID and delivered over the cloud. So once you've loaded a cartridge, you have it everywhere you go.
• There's no overlay simply because it's not needed! You just lay all of your cuts out in the Cricut Design Space app and you can see everything you are cutting all at once. So goodbye handbooks!
• It comes with a ton of "make-it-now" projects. You just send them straight to the machine and they are ready to go. You can also customize them with your own font and images!
• Fonts and images can be uploaded for free - the machine can actually print writing that looks just like handwriting! You can also draw and upload pictures to the machine without having to cut anything out.

The Cricut Explore Air is really just amazing - and so fun to use! If you've been thinking about upgrading your cutting machine, now is the time to do it! Especially since you can get free shipping with the code MARCHSHIP. Now you can really cut a rug to celebrate!

Video Tutorial: Writing Style Text in Design Space

I made this video as a response from one of my subscribers who was confused about using Cricut Explore to write text.  I also added a part on print then cut because this same viewer had questions on that feature as well.

Did You See This? Cricut Explore With Anna Griffin Content

You may want to grab one now.  There is only 3 left in stock as of this moment.  This is the purple machine which includes Anna Griffin Content

A Few Cards and Videos

Good morning!!!

I am going to share a few of cards that I have made recently.  I also have a couple of videos on how I made a couple of them.

This first cad was made for my cousin's wife whose Grandfather passed away this passed weekend.  I created it using my Cricut Explore machine (it is the only machine I have, sold my Expression) and Design Space. My patreons will have access to the Design Space File. Sorry that they are sideways, I tried to get them rotated but they are still uploading sideways.

Here is another Sympathy Card I made for one of my co-workers who lost his grandmother.


The last card for today is a Thank You card.  I sent this off today to the Cricut team to show my appreciation of their dedication to bring a high quality machine and outstanding customer service.

Here is the video of how I assembled my Design Space file, the welding and slicing etc. and putting the card together after I cut it

Love Word Mini Album

Good morning.  I wanted to share a mini album that I made.  I cut it from a Design Space file on my Cricut Explore.  In my video below, I walk through from starting in Design Space through assembling the album.




The glue stick that I used in most of the video is Close To My Heart Item 1512

Make It Now Design Space Cricut Explore Card

Here is a video on one of the Make It Now card projects from the Cricut Explore Design Space site

Free SVG Orange and Yellow Pedal Flower

Just a quick post.  I upgraded my SCAL to the latest version....  couldn't resist and tested out the new svg export that has the box to check to make it Design Space Compatible.  I thought I would share it with you.

Click Here To Download

#svg #flower, #scal

Patreon

Good morning.  We have another coooollllllldddddd morning.  Woke up to a -13 degrees F and that is not a wind chill factor but actual temp.  Right now it made it up to -4.  Kids have no school again because of the cold weather but they are in good hands.  So, I didn't get out of going to work this morning :(

I have some big plans for 2015.  I set up an account as a creator on patreon.com.  I was inspired to do so by Melody Lane.

What is Patreon?
Patreon lets fans support their favorite creators by becoming patrons. Unlike other fundraising services, which raise for a single big event, Patreon is for creators who create a stream of smaller works.  Other platforms you help pay for much bigger projects.  With Patreon, the artist chooses whether you help support single small projects of your choosing or the artist sets up a monthly subscription for their content.  There are several levels with various rewards or perks.  It is kinda like giving a tip.

You Are Not Paying For Videos
You get to see my videos earlier than anyone else.  However, if you decide not to become one of my Patreons, that is ok.  I know that some can not afford it.  My videos will always be free to the public.  It is just a matter who sees them first.  My files that go along with the videos are available to my Patreons only from this day forward.  Don't worry, I will still offer a freebie now and then to those who can not or choose not to become one of my Patreons.

For more info and to see my subscription levels (rewards)  click here or go to:  http://www.patreon.com/paperthisandthat 

One of my milestones includes giving away a Cricut Explore Air and another an iPad!!!!!

Cricut Design Space 2.0 File Share and Projects For Yesterday

Good morning on this frigid morning.  It is about 2 degrees F out this morning with a wind chill of -10.  The kids school closed today because of the cold temps and I got to call off today.  No one was able to stay with the boys today.  You know what that means?  I am going to be crafting some more today.

Yesterday I had a vacation day at my main job because I had some real estate business to do.  I have a closing on Monday and had to fax stuff to the closing company.  Someday, being a Realtor will be my main job :)

Anyhow, just wondering what you all thought on the new Design Space.  I created a couple things yesterday.  I made a little notebook using my bind it all and I cut my first piece of chipboard on my Cricut Explore.  It cut great.  I set my dial to custom and there are a couple chipboard settings, one for light weight and one for heavier chipboard.  I cut the key out.  Then I used copper metallic craft paint to paint it.  The notebook measures 4 x 5 inches.  I made chipboard covers and covered the front with a vintage advertising designer paper.

My second project yesterday is a round shaped card.  In Design Space, I welded 2 circles together.  Then I chose the top layer cut from the image library.  It is a scalloped circle with trees, a baby deer and a squirrel attached to the circle frame.  Next, I did a Melody Lane thing and got out my Pebbles cream chalks and colored some of the die cut image to add interest and depth.  The cream chalks are much richer in color.  On my wish list are some of the Pebbles classic chalks.

I am going to share my file for the above card. I do have a score line attached to the base card.  If you don't have the scoring tool, just go through the motions and let the machine do its thing.  You can score it on a score board later.  Let me say also, subscribe to the image library.  It is soooooooo worth it.  Click Here for the Design Space File.  You need to be logged into Design Space so that you can save it.  Or you can copy and paste the following into your browser window

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/25127811

Lastly,  leave a comment below telling us what your favorite new feature in Design Space 2.0 is.