GRANDPARENTS

I was fortunate enough to have known three of my grandparents. I’m a grandchild from the tail end of both sides of my family so by the time my siblings and I came along, our grandparents were getting along in years and their pace of life had slowed down a little. They did not bring us out to ballgames, shopping, or many of the activities that youthful grandparents do. Nonetheless, we knew they loved us just as much as the “big” cousins. They preferred to sit by us and share their stories about what they were like when they were our age. We sang songs and even watched daytime game shows together. They listened to our silly childish jokes and offered up genuine laughter for our attempts at comedy. We often found them bragging about our accomplishments to friends and neighbors. The cycle of life continues and I find my own parents playing the role of their predecessors.

My family enjoys watching them fulfill their “callings” and strives to document as many of those family moments as possible. Cricut® makes scrapbooking and preserving these priceless memories so easy. Creating cards and gifts for grandparents on special occasions and even random “just because” occasions is a delight with Cricut products. Be sure to create a meaningful gift or tribute for your loved ones this Grandparent’s Day. You’ll be glad you did and they will too.

Also, check out Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Dude and Love You a Latte– WM Cartridges in today’s Chirp. Read about helpful Cricut 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!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Dreama Bordeaux

About Me: I've been a scrap booker since I was a young child collecting gum and candy wrappers. I've progressed a lot since I now use my Cricut for most projects. I am working on scrapbooks for my six grandchildren, but am a little behind. Sometimes I just have to break loose and work on other things.

Instructions: I used the new Word Collage cartridge with Cricut vinyl for the collage cut at 5 inches. Flowers were cut using Cricut vinyl as well as Wall Pops for the various sizes of flowers. (l", l l/2", 2" and 2 l/2") Using transfer paper, I placed the collage in the center of the plate and randomly placed the flowers cut from Walk In My Garden.

Cartridges Used: Walk in My Garden, Word Collage

TIPS TREASURE CHEST

Today’s tip comes from Provo Craft’s own Cricut wizard, Chris.

Q: My Cricut Imagine does not cut, but only prints. I used it a month ago and everything went okay, but today I tried to cut and nothing happened. The paper went in and forward, but the blade just moved about 2 inches to the left and then went back, cutting nothing at all. I tried updating with the Cricut Sync, with no results. I tried to restart it, change the cartridge, change the Image, setting "print and cut", then setting "cut only", even tried the calibration, with no results.

A: It sounds like it is not recognizing the mat. It needs to be able to see the black lines around the mat. If they are covered by paper then it will fail. Also, there may be a small scratch in the line right where the cutter head is looking for the mat. That can affect it. Take a black sharpie marker and darken the line. Try turning the mat around and inserting it from the opposite end. Also, try using a new mat.

Chris
Provo Craft

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Grandparent's Day Card
• Quick Grandparent's Day Card
• Monster Hugs!
• It's Your Day
• Sailor Boy
• My Grandson's First Solids Layout

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This week the theme for my exploration centers on Grandparents. In my eyes there are two types of grandparents, those that are older then you and then a grandparent is also a mom or dad. As I played with cartridges this week I thought of how my parents look forward every summer to having my nieces and nephews spend time with them down on the farm. Dad takes the kids out for tractor rides while he is plowing the fields; mom pushes the kids in the swings. Mom and Dad both love spending time with their grandkids, especially riding around on the four-wheelers. Somehow it’s a toss-up on which is the best ride, rides on the four-wheelers or the tractor. As always I try to make a project and I found the cutest pictures of my nephews Brent, Mark and their sister Carolyn riding a four-wheeler. I instantly had a project that my mom will proudly hang on her wall.

To make my project I needed a cartridge that could cut out a four-wheeler. After looking through the cartridges I found “Dude”, one of my favorite boyish style cartridges. This is a great smaller collection of boy hobbies or actives, for example images that you can cut from this cartridge are: four-wheelers, snowmobile, hiking boots (this would be great on a hiking card/party), stop sign, surfing, surfing vehicle, “Wicked” hand sign, ocean wave, flame (this would be great for a camping scrapbook theme), sparkplug, skateboards (now you can scrapbook a few pages on all the skateboard accidents- lol), skiing, snowboard, and dirt bike examples. The way this cartridge is designed the creative feature is a layer feature, what this means is you can cut extra parts of the images in different colors of cardstock then just assemble the layers. Check out my project that I used the four-wheeler image on- I think my mom will love it.

The other cartridge that I thought would fit the Grandparents theme is “Love you a Latte”. This cartridge is perfect for parties or scrapbook pages of you and your girlfriends drinking coffee or tea. When I first looked at this cartridge I thought it was adorable and as I explored with it this week I fell in love even more. I used some of the images to make tags for a few gifts that I’m going to give to some special friends of mine. Want to make something for your grandparents on grandparents day? Here’s a quickie project: find out what their favorite drink is then buy a few individual samples, place them in a clear gift bag add a ribbon and a cute tag and you are all done. I made a few gifts myself- I have a friend that adores tea so I put together a tea bag for her and a coffee bag for another friend. I even included creamer and sugar packet (I must confess I stole them from a restaurant, when I was eating dinner the other day). I think the most time I spent on these projects was cutting the images from the cartridge.

Other fun projects that you could use this cartridge with are: party invitations, tea time parties, some of the images would be great on a wood sign for a kitchen project (nutmeg container, espresso machine, tea pot, “Have a cup”, tea container). You could do the same thing only use all the different style coffee cups that come on this cartridge, it would be fun to see the cups cut out of vinyl then stuck on a long thin strip of wood. Make sure the wood has been painted or stained and add some ink to the edges or sand them so the wood looks antiqued. I hope you can see my vision- I think I will have to make one of these! Some other images that come on this cartridge are: sugar cookie, doughnuts, coffee pot, cupcake, cinnamon roll, and bar with bar stools, coffee house, coffee grinder, and newspaper. Any of these images would be great on invitations or scrapbook pages; you could even cut out all the sweet stuff for a cute nursery. The creative feature for this cartridge is also Layers, so now you can make your projects pop by using different colored cardstock for each layer. I love it when a cartridge has a layers feature built right in-my projects go so much smoother.

Now, that I’ve finished my goody bags I better take them over to my friend’s house or they will get lost in my craft room- if you know what I mean. I hope you have enjoyed these projects how what you can do for your grandparents on grandparent day. Yes there really is a grandparent day-lol. I wish you all tons of creativity on your crafting projects. If you are a grandparent in any way, happy grandparent day to you, if you are not a grandparent yet- your day will come. Happy Cricuting!!!

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!
Customer Support

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure.”
- Gene Perret