It was always an exciting event when my family welcomed a new sibling to the family. Someone new with a lot of the shared characteristics and family ear marks to pal around with. Well, Cricut has just introduced another new addition to its line of crafting machines. It has many of the same "ear marks" of it's two siblings but it is definitely a unique one of a kind bug. Infact, it has "Baby Bug Portability and Big Bug Functionality!" Now you have even more ability to "Cut what you want, when you want!" Look for the Cricut Create in a store near you.

Combining the very best features of Standard Cricut(TM) and bringing in the advanced features of Expression(TM) comes the new Cricut Create(TM).

This cartridge-based system does not require a personal computer and allows you to cut thousands of intricate and detailed characters from .25" (.64cm) to 11.5" (29.21cm) with just the touch of a button. Cricut Create(TM) works with paper sizes up to 6" x 12" (15.24cm x 30.48cm), and offers new exciting features in a convenient portable size.

The Cricut Create(TM) is similar to the Original Cricut Personal Cutter in size, but can compete with the Cricut Expression for its functionality. The Cricut Create(TM) has five new functions (which are also available on the Cricut Expression(TM)): Rotate/Portrait, Fit to Page. Auto Fill, Flip and Center Point. It also comes with a completely new featured cartridge, DonJuan(TM).

This impressive machine is also compatible with all of the existing Cricut cartridges. Creative Features built into every Cricut cartridge allow you to add special effects to characters. There are literally thousands of custom combinations you can use to make each project uniquely your own.

FEATURES
-No computer required
-Use the entire library of existing Cricut cartridges
-Cut portrait or landscape
-Mat sizes 6" x 12" (15.24cm x 30.48cm)
-Cuts from .25" (.64cm) to 11.5" (29.21cm)
-The machine weights around 3kg so is easily portable
-Comes with the DonJuan(TM) cartridge and soft touch keypad overlay, to get you started
-Fully compatible with Cricut DesignStudio(TM) and Cricut Jukebox(TM)
INCLUDES
-User Manual
-DonJuan (TM) cartridge
-Cartridge binder
-Keypad overlay
-Handbook
-Blade assembly
-6" x 12" cutting mat
-Quick Start Guide
-Power adapter
-Instructional DVD

Our group of SWARMERS is named the "Lightening Bugs." We have 10-12 members in the group, but we have SWARMED with as few as two and as many as seven. We are going to love it when everyone is in town and can make it! We meet every month and as the "Coordinator" I am the one who makes sure we get registered and also sends in the information about our SWARM to Provo-Craft. We have been SWARMING for about 11 months now, and we get more and more addicted to our Cricuts each time we meet. Normally we all do 2-3 projects that one or two of us have created, and then we will share new cartridges, tips, and spend time looking at new techniques, like DesignStudio. The group is full of clever crafters and each person brings her own unique ideas to the SWARM. We use the original Cricut, the Cricut Expression, DesignStudio, many, many cartridges, and in August we will be sharing the Jukebox. Someone always purchases something new between the weeks we don't meet and loves to share it with the group. We keep each other posted between SWARMS by email and phone calls.

Thank you so much for selecting us. We love our Cricuts, we love to SWARM and our plans are to keep on SWARMING and growing till we need a bigger place to meet!

Sincerely,
Penny K. Harrison, Lead Bug - Organizer of the Lightening Bugs SWARM

Registering your products is easy! You can register your products online at any time. Make sure you have your products near you as you will need the serial numbers off your products.

I know I say this every week, but where does the time go? It seems just yesterday that I was writing about something or another and here it's time to do it again. This week I decided to reorganize my TV room. Wow, what a chore--and a lot of back breaking work (moving furniture), but the end results make all the aches worth it. Then I spent the rest of the week playing around with my new Storybook cartridge. I just love this new cartridge. As a reminder the six creative features that are in this cartridge are: Tall/Border, Shorty/Holes, Fancy/Corner, Accent/Frame, Shadow, and Accent/Blackout.

This week I want to focus on the Tall/Border and Shorty/Holes features. Last week I talked about all the images and letters that were in the cartridge, with the Tall/Border feature you can know create your own border. For example, the butterfly image with this creative feature adds a nice curly line that's placed at the end of the butterfly so it shows the path that the butterfly has been flying. Other examples of the images in the border area are: bird sitting in a tree, the flowers create a flowery design (see pic: the top image is the original and the bottom is the border), the leaves create leaf design across the page, and the dandelion flower has three flowers all connected together. For the alphabets you can now cut your letters really tall and skinny. This would look great on a child's report card or even a bulletin board in a school. The images have their own unique border that would look great on any scrapbook page, or even for a quick card. Some of the designs would look great on home decor projects as well.

The Shorty/Holes feature in regards to the alphabet and numbers is opposites then above. This font will give you short fat letters or numbers the thickness of the letters will help anyone far way see what you've written. This font would be great for signs or even some vinyl words for your home decor. I love the way the letters standout so well. This font would also look great on school presentation or even a bulletin board. I can also see these letters looking great on a card or anything that you want to stand out. (I have all sorts of ideas running though my head, but the real question is which idea do I start with first--HUMMM.) The Holes feature that come with this button, is just like its name. This feature will add holes to the different images.? You're probably thinking, "Why do I want holes in my images," but the holes can? help the image to stand out a lot better. For example, the flower has holes in the leaves which add a nice touch, the branches with leaves all have holes in the leaves, the branch with little flowers has holes in the center of the flowers, and swirls have little holes added to the sides (see pic). Also, as I am playing with my Cricut and cutting these images out I am noticing that the images are slightly different, kind of a shadow likeness but when you add the holes the image stands out. You could say that the images are slight fatter but still very recognizable and cute.

I am still waiting for the DesignStudio to add this cartridge so I don't have any cut files yet to give you on this cartridge. I have been spending so much time on the TV room and then with my little Cricut bug, aka "Eddie", that I haven't designed anything new for you in DesignStudio. Check out next week and I will have something for you from the software.

Have fun Cricuting!!!
Crafty Kimber

A: This feature duplicates the selected character(s) as many times as possible over the remaining page area based upon the selected dial size.