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Cartridge Overview
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All of the cartridges have two Creative Features in common. They are Shadow and Blackout. The function of these two keys are exactly the same in all circumstances: Shadow perfectly mats the original graphic and Blackout gives you a general shadow of the original but with no interior cuts (such as the two holes in a capital letter B).
Discovering the rest of the individual cartridges Creative Features is like embarking on a scavenger hunt where you shriek "ah ha" every time you try out a new one. Doesn't it make you excited to find out what new ones the Cricut team will come up with next?
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Samples
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This week, I decided to share with you a trick I use to find the perfect font set for a specific project. Much has been said on the message board about how to keep track of what you have in your library from keeping the handbooks at your fingertips to printing 8.5 x 11" copies of the individual handbooks. Here's what works for me. Instead of printing the entire graphic set from the online font handbooks, I chose four different letters (E, G, T, W). From the online handbooks, I printed out only those pages. Then, on those pages, I wrote what set it was from. I inserted the pages into sheet protectors and organized them by putting all "E" pages together, all "G"s, and so forth. Since I have all the font cartridges (except for the much-hoped-for, rare Doodletype!), I did this for all the sets. 
If you choose to try this method of Cricut library organization, decide for yourself what letters of which you want samples. I chose "E" because it is an oft-used letter and for it's single-line height when lower cased. The "G" was picked for its 2-line height (below the main line) and because the lower case letter comes in many different appearances. The "T" was used for its 2-line, (above the main line) look and its frequent use. Finally, the "W" was used to identify clearly which font sets have rounded, sharp, classic, or funky features.
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Features in Common
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Many Cricut users have purchased all of the cartridges currently on the market. Using coupons, sales, the internet, LSS’, and TV shopping shows, the country’s going buggy in a big way!
Not including the special cartridge available through QVC or George and Basic Shapes, there are six font cartridges and six shape cartridges. The fonts include: All Mixed Up, Base Camp, Jasmine, Mini Monograms, Stamped, and Teardrop. The shape cartridges are Animal Kingdom, Beyond Birthdays, Celebrations, Christmas Cheer, Doodlecharms, and Tags, Bags, Boxes & More.
All of the cartridges have two Creative Features in common. They are Shadow and Blackout. The function of these two keys are exactly the same in all circumstances: Shadow perfectly mats the original graphic and Blackout gives you a general shadow of the original but with no interior cuts (such as the two holes in a capital letter B).
Discovering the rest of the individual cartridges’ Creative Features is like embarking on a scavenger hunt where you shriek “ah ha” every time you try out a new one. Doesn’t it make you excited to find out what new ones the Cricut team will come up with next?
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Where to Start!
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Wow! Have you taken a look at what Heather Lancaster has designed in the Base Camp cartridge? You’ll find a fantastic font set, two Bonus Shapes, four Foundation Shapes, six Creative Features, and ten phrases.
Did you know that you can use more than one Creative Feature (cut separately) to create a more visually appealing die-cut than using the die-cut by itself?
Here’s a colorful example of how this works:
- Cut a 3-inch pink “kiss kiss hug hug" phrase.
- Then, press the Shadow key (Creative Feature), press ‘repeat last’. Cut a 3-inch orange “kiss kiss hug hug” phrase.
- Finally, using the Shadow Blackout key, press ‘repeat last’, and cut out a 3-inch red “kiss kiss hug hug” phrase.
Layer the 3 die-cuts, with the red one as the foundation, the orange one as the mat (in the middle), and the pink one on top. Now, you have a die-cut that has depth, is perfectly matted, and that adds that “zing” factor to whatever you are creating!
Try this method with the font set and any of the phrases and see what amazing, artistic things you can come up with.
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