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Flexibility Through Combinations
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On their own, each cartridge is a playground of shapes with a single theme. When you combine two cartridges to create something, you open up a whole new set with which to play! Let’s see what happens when we use Christmas Cheer and Celebrations together. They are both by rob and bob studio so the styles work in perfect harmony.
Obviously, you can use the gift box shapes from either set for Christmas, birthday, or other special days interchangeably, but have you noticed the candy shapes in both? Those are interchangeable, too. How about using the stars in Celebrations on a Christmas layout?
| Other ideas might be to use the numbers and tags from Celebrations in combination with some of the tags in Christmas Cheer to create a fun and unique Advent calendar, or to cut out the words “celebrate” (from Celebrations) and “Christmas” (from Christmas Cheer) to make a headline for a layout or a party invitation. |
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You could even cut out the birthday cake stand and use it as a Christmas tree stand for the various trees found in Christmas Cheer! Cut out the balloons (without the ribbons), turn them upside down and you’ll have even more Christmas balls to put on some of the whimsical trees.
Go ahead, pull out these two shape sets, some great paper, and experience the joy of cross-cartridge explorations!
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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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So Versatile
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There are so many different things you can do with each cartridge, and Celebrations is about as versatile as it gets! The Creative Features, as shown on page 78 of the Celebrations handbook, show various ways the shapes can be used. One of the most-used elements of those features is the Card Creative Feature.
When planning out what size of card you want to cut, keep in mind whether or not you want an envelope to go with it. Since the maximum size of shape cut out is 5.5”, remember that is the total height of the envelope shape (Foundation Shapes, handbook page 17) you will have; the card shape will be half that size in height.
What does that mean? If you set your shape size to 5.5”, your actual card shape will be 2.75” in height so that it will fit in the finished envelope. The envelope (bottom right hand corner of the overlay) will be 5.5” before you fold it.
If you want your card shape to be 4.5” in height, then set your shape size to 4.5” and turn on Real Dial Size prior to cutting.
Think of the cute card/envelope combinations you can make with Celebrations, and then think of all the different sizes you can make them in... oh, the possibilities!
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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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Shaping Up
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Now that we have a plethora of shape cartridges to sort through, it's time to find a way to organize them. It takes precious crafting time to flip through each handbook, looking for the perfect piece to finish a project when we can have that information right at our fingertips, in a single binder, box, or maybe even a cd.
I love simple organization ideas, and for me, that starts with big, black binders. With each shape set, I looked through the handbook to find a single page that shows the Creative Features for that cartridge in full use, such as page 102 (elephant) in Animal Kingdom. Online, under the products tab at Cricut.com, I found the corresponding page from that handbook and printed it out. This gave me a brief overview of the artistic style and content from the cartridge, as well as an example of the Creative Features. On the bottom of the page, I wrote the title and artist name as a reference for that page. In my binder is at least one printed page (8½ x 11") for each shape set.
The next step in my quest for simplification included cutting out samples of specific shapes, using Linda Scott's Cheat Sheet by Alpha. She and others have posted about this list often on the MB and I find it a valuable organizational tool. Using the list, I chose items that I would be using a lot, such as bookplates, butterflies, cards, hearts, and "I love you". Setting the size at 3", I cut samples of each one, some with shadows or other Features. On a single page, I glued all of the bookplates, referencing the cartridges used, the Feature, and the size (3"). Then, I inserted it into a page protector and added it to my binder. Repeating these steps for the other items previously cut, I ended up with over 20 pages of frequently used shapes. When I have a couple of free hours, I'll add pages that show shapes that I think are particularly awesome, such as the 'hydrangea' in Walk in My Garden to this section in my binder.
There have been several posts on the Cricut Message Board about alphabetizing precut shapes, keeping a running list of all the Cricut shapes, and even cutting out ALL the shapes a cartridge has available, gluing them onto paper and filing them away. Find what works for you, then adapt and streamline as your library grows with each new cartridge. Feel free to share your ideas and pictures with us - we'd love to see what you do for craft spring cleaning!
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