TRAVELING WITH THE MINI AND KIDS

Taking a summer vacation during the month of August is prevalent practice around the globe. Getting away from one's own everyday grind and taking the kids out into the big old world to visit and explore someone else's everyday grind can be refreshing and exciting. The creative scrapper goes on vacation equipped with a camera and possibly a Gyspy or laptop. These small and portable tools facilitate the scrapper in documenting the fun highlights of a vacation and capturing moments of crafting inspiration with ease and convenience. Now with Cricut Mini, there is one more jewel to be added to the traveling scrapper's portable and light-weight bag of terrific crafting tools.

Cricut Mini is a small, lightweight, ultra-portable way to make almost anything you want ? out of many different types of materials, including thick and thin paper, fabric, vinyl, magnetic material, craft foil, and lots more. It works with any PC or MAC with a standard wireless or wired internet connection. Connect it with the new Cricut Craft Room where you can see and design with every Cricut cartridge and start making projects on the spot! With Cricut Mini, it's easier than ever to make projects and be more creative wherever you're at! You could have a mini vacation album complete and ready for viewing upon your return;).

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Cricut Elegant Edges and Paper Lace 2 Cartridges. Read about some helpful crafting tips and glean great crafting ideas from Cricut message board members in this week's newsletter.

As always, I wish you success in your crafting adventures!

Lonna Joy Smoot - Editor, Cricut CHIRP!

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Swimming With the Dolphins
• Disney Layouts
• Monogram Letter Frame
• Wild Island Waterpark Layout
• Ballerina Card
• Hippo Birdie 2 Ewe
• Makin' Biscotti Layout

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Felicia Wallen

About Me: I'm a 27 year old mother of one soon to be two! I live in New York. I love all thing crafty and have been crafting since I was a child.

Instructions: I used onsies I bought at the store, iron on transfers, the Cricut Imagine machine, the Imagine cartridge Buccaneer, and Life's A Beach. I cut the words "where's me booty" from life's a beach. The skulls are from Life's A Beach. Sized the "where's my" at 1inch and the letters "bty" for booty at 2 inches and the skulls at 1 1/2 inches then filled them with Imagine Buccaneer pattern paper. Then I cut the pirates at 3 inches. Finally I ironed the transfers to the onsies following the directions on the package.

Cartridge(s) Used: Life is a Beach, Buccaneer

TIPS TREASURE CHEST

Today's tip comes from message board member and bug guide Carol. Thanks for sharing the clever tip.

Q: I would like to alter one of those clear paint cans? I'd like to make one for a b-day gift and I can't figure out how to get the circle cut out for the handles.

A: It depends on the type of can you have. On some cans, you can actually pop the handle off ... in this case, simply mark your paper where you want the hole to be and cut out the hole using a paper hole punch. If the handle does not come off, then cut a slit from the top of your paper, down to where the handle is, and again use a paper punch to cut out the hole. If you do not have a hole punch the correct size, you can draw a circle and hand cut it out (a coin, like a nickel or quarter, will generally give you a good pattern size). Once you have your base layer on your can ... decorate as desire!

Another thought is that if you have a clear acrylic can, you can actually place the paper on the inside ... this way you do not need to worry about cutting around the handle sprocket thingy (I don't know what you call it). Then just embellish the outside of the can. One advantage of doing it this way, is that you can change the background paper anytime you wish.

Here are some videos that you may find helpful (found on YouTube)...

• Altered paint can part 1 of 2
• Altered paint can part 2 of 2
• The Magic of Oz Altered Paint Can
• WOC Designer Call: Altered Paint Can
• Paint Can Scrapbook from Sandi Genovese

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This week the theme for my projects was traveling and I spent some time looking through scrapbooks that my mom had made of the family trips I went on when I was younger. One fond memory is when the family packed up the trailer and hooked up the truck, at that time the family was small and the truck was blue. We hit the road and somewhere on the drive my mom helped us write a song about the trip, it was titled "The Old Blue Truck", we had so much fun writing this song and even more fun looking at the pictures later remembering the fun we had. Everyone goes on trips from spending the day at the park to visiting the zoo; we are always creating memories that can be scrapbooked to help remember them. I decided that I would create a mini book, (I love creating mini books, I'm obsessed with them) and then I came up with an idea for a traveling project-I'm looking forward to writing down fun trips that I have planned this fall. Along with my projects I explored "Paper lace 2" and "Elegant Edges".

"Elegant Edges" is the perfect cartridge for creating those fun mini books that everyone seems to love. There is even a creative feature that's call "Book" which provides one side the book with a straight line to create that perfect fun book. Note the button is the cover of the book and when you use the shift button you can cut out the inner pages. The other creative features included in this cartridge are: Frame, Oblong, Border, Oblong Frame, and Shadow. There are so many creative styles included that it was hard to choose one design to create my Mimi book. I love that you can cut square and oblong frames for your scrapbook pages. Any of these designs would be great for a book, picture frame for scrapbooks or cards. Any of these designs would also work great for a banner, for examples cut out the letters of "Happy Birthday" then cut the same a number of Eyelet 3 on page 68 in the handbook. Blue the letters to the background and connect each of the backgrounds with ribbon or rope. Also, note that you can cut out a border to match each of the designs- use these around cup cakes for a party or as part of the banner, you create for the party. I love this cartridge, make sure to pick on up when you get a chance- it is a great addition to the Cartridge library.

"Paper Lace 2" is another great cartridge for creating mini books to capture those fun traveling memories. The creative features on this cartridge are: lace 1, lace 2, Font, Base Shadow, Lace 1 Shadow, and lace 2 Shadow. Each design reminds me of a quilt square with a different design add the Base shadow and now your design is really sturdy. Use these for creating mini books, cards, or party invitations. I used the Lace 2 design to create my traveling project. I cut the flower design out of material (remember to use a new blade so that you will get a great cut) took out the glass of a square frame and then sewed buttons into the center of each of the flowers. I cut out the patchwork base shadow to use as tags and wrote a few memories (see photo). I will keep writing on the extra tags as I take trips this fall. Don't forget that you can cut upper and lower case letters, the style of the letters has a feminine look to it. I should also mention that this cartridge comes with some phrases a few examples are: "thank You", "happy birthday", "thinking of you", "celebrate", "best wishes", "Just because" and "get well soon". Each of the designs also comes with an icon that matches so you can cut out individual cuts to give your project a pop-up look. This is a great cartridge will is a wonderful addition to the Cricut cartridge family. Pick one up when you get a chance- you will love it!

This wraps up my exploration; I hope you have enjoyed it. I cannot wait to make some more mini books using either of these two cartridges. Make sure to note when you are doing fun small or big family trips, because those are the best photos to scrapbook. Happy Crafting!!

Crafty Kimber

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

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

"As you parents know, a small child can go for weeks without going to the bathroom at home, but once you hit the road, it becomes pretty much a full-time occupation."
- Dave Barry