PEACH AND TOMATO SOUP (MIXING IT UP)

I recently watched a cooking show which featured a cold peach and tomato soup. I wasn't sure if such a soup would be a delight to the taste buds or a recipe for disaster. To my surprise, every judge who tried the soup liked it. Sometimes it can be good to mix unlikely ingredients of the kitchen together.

On that same note, some of our fellow crafters have found crafting success by mixing shapes and fonts together from unlikely matched cartridges. Be brave, be bold, but do not be boring my friends. Unlikely matches often make a compatible pair. Enjoy exploring the palate of your creativity using our fabulous Cricut machines and cartridges!

I'm personally looking forward to all of the fun upcoming occasions and events in this new year. Birthdays, thank you cards and gifts, showers, weddings, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Ground Hog Day (which, by the way, is one of my favorite minor holidays for no particular reason). April Fool's Day will also provide inspiration for my crafts, projects, and scrap booking fun.

This week, be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Groovy Times, Nate's ABCs, and Zoo Day cartridges. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

**Header project made by Georgina Jarvie using the Robotz cartridge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• New Vintage Using Storybook and Calligraphy
• Friends in Snow Places
• Some Super Cute Valentines Boxes
• Framed
• First Bike

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Heidi Sorensen
About: 2011 has started out great for me, because now I have a Gypsy! I love crafting, stamping, scrapbooking, and all things girlie. I live in Raleigh, North Carolina and am a dental hygienist. I love my job but wish I could have more time to create! I made this canvas artwork using the Cuttin' Up and Serenade cartridges. I love how this project turned out. I made it for my friend's baby nursery. It looks great on the wall and is very unique. She has great style and loves how they turned out!

Heidi's Project: Canvas Artwork

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member AllisonF. Thanks!

Q. "Although I've only had my Cricut Expression for about a week, I'm already dong some monogramming on trays. My question is this: what is the best and easiest way to apply the vinyl once its been cut? So far, I wind up with a sticky mess. I'm having the most trouble applying the lacy borders on the plastic trays. Any help will be appreciated."

A. "What you need to use is transfer tape but there are a few other options. You can use blue painter's tape or, for really large pieces, I know people have used clear contact paper. Transfer tape is the least sticky to use, which makes it easiest to peel off after you apply the vinyl, but I have had just as much success with painter's tape.

What you want to do is weed the excess off your vinyl and leave your cut on the paper backing. Then, using pieces of tape, smooth it down over your cut (I often use smaller pieces and just overlap them). Then remove the now two layer piece from the paper and apply it to the item you want to vinyl. Again smooth it down with something like a thick ruler (I have a vinyl tool) and then carefully remove the painter's tape. The vinyl should stay on while the tape comes off. I often re-use my pieces of painter's tape, as they get easier to use the more you use them. I just stick them back on the roll."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

I got a new, exciting box this week full of new Cricut cartridges to explore! I started off by diving into Groovy Times, Nate's ABCs, and Zoo Day. I know you are wondering about this unusual combination, but I love 70's era music (I think I just dated myself, opps). Groovy Times is a fun vibrant cartridge, with a few images of dancers, fun phrases, and other fun images. A few examples are: British Flag, TV, female and male sign, Disco boots and dress, roller skates, a mushroom, flowers, music notes, smiley face, ray gun, guitar, airplane, and a bicycle. The creative features included with this cartridge are: Layer 1, Layer 2, Silhouette, Phrase, Shape Phrase, and Shadow. A few samples of the phrases you can cut out with this cartridge are: "Get Real," "Stylin," "Cool," "Flower Power," "Hippie," and "Foxy." There are hearts that could be used with a Valentine's Day card. You could make a prom invitation, a dance party invitation, or scrapbook old photos from the era. Use the Cricut Cake and cut out the ray gun to decorate a cake. Use this cartridge with your Cricut Imagine and cut out all the Shape Phrases with a fun striped texture, then glue your phrase on top of the texture paper for a different way to create a tag for that special scrapbook page. The tape cassette image with Shape Phrase feature pressed has an image that looks like a bone. Hmmm, I feel another dog party coming on!

Nate's ABCs is a delightful cartridge that's designed for boys. Any of these images would work great for birthday invitations, cards, and cut with gum paste for the cake. The creative features for this cartridge are: Layer 1, Layer 2, Phrase, Font 1, Font 2, and Font 2 Shadow. Some examples of the images that come on this cartridge are: car, wagon, puppy, dog dish, boots, quail, elephant, rabbit (would make a cute Easter card), toe-truck, worm, zebra, snail, lion, tent, little boy, boy reading a book, goat, paints with paint brush, and a school bus. You also get two different font types; with Font 1, the letters are in a flour sack design. You can cut upper- and lower-case letters, plus numbers and some symbols. A few examples of the phrases included on this cartridge are: "School Days," "Trains," "Load the Wagon," "is for Rabbit," "is for Truck," "is for Owl," "is for Wagon," and "is for Elephant." You can make a quiet or alphabet book for your child.

Zoo Day is part of the Cricut Lite collection. This cartridge is designed with animals in mind; it also comes with some animal paw prints! Each of the animals that can be cut out has a letter that can be attached to the animal. You also receive some phrases with this cartridge, for example: "Crazy," "Wild," "Zoo Day," "Little Shark," "Roar," "Boys Only," "Buddies," and "Grrr." The creative feature that comes with this cartridge is called Zoo Font. You can cut out letters and numbers--these are perfect for a presentation poster board.

This wraps up my exploration for this week. I hope these glimpses of the cartridges proove helpful! As always, you can go to www.cricut.com for more information about these cartridges and don't forget to upload your projects and share with the Cricut community what you have created. Happy Crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

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HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Q. I am interested in a cartridge, but it's marked as exclusive. Will it ever be available?

A. Many exclusive cartridges do become available eventually. Be sure to let us know if there is a cartridge you want that is currently exclusive. Customer Support keeps a tally of all the requests, by phone and by email, asking about exclusive cartridges, and we pass those numbers along.

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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

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."
~ Paul Valery