ST. PATRICK’S DAY PROJECTS

It’s a leap year, so we have one extra day to enjoy in February. I think I’ll get a jump on my March crafting and spend part of the 29th creating fun St. Patrick’s Day projects with my friends! I love this holiday with all of its fun traditions and yummy dishes like corned beef and cabbage, cottage pie, and lamb stew. I shall remember to wear green and create some festive green badges for any unfortunate folks that have forgotten to wear some green of their own.

Be sure to check out Crafty Kimber's excellent cartridge exploration of the Spring Holiday Cards cartridge in today’s Chirp. You’ll also find 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!

TIPS TREASURE CHEST

Title “Cut Out” method without the Cricut Craft Room™ design tool.

Today’s tip comes from message board member Liberty Lyn.

Q: I’m a newbie to the message board, but not to Cricut^® products?I’m on my second machine, but I have only used it for basic letter cutting. Recently I was inspired by something in one of the first issues of the Cricut Magazine^®, but the directions seemed lacking to me. I would like to cut a title (letters 2 inches high) across the bottom of my 12" x 12" sheet. I want to punch out the letters and place that 12" x 12" sheet over another sheet of patterned paper so the letters show through. The magazine layout used the Doodletype^® cartridge for the letters and the George and Basic Shapes^® cartridge to cut circles elsewhere on the layout so the patterned paper showed through there, too.

How do I set the machine to cut at the bottom of the sheet and then set the text correctly so that when I am done my title reads from left to right across the bottom of the page?

A: It was the APR/MAY 2011 edition of the Cricut Magazine^®. Use the measurements on the edge of the cutting mat to set your cutting blade ten inches from the top. You can use the arrow keys around the CUT button to adjust the starting position. (If you have a Cricut Expression^® machine, set it to Portrait mode so you can see what you are doing.) Move the blade to a new position for each circle you want to cut.

Of course you can use any font cartridge you like and lots of carts have circles. Hope this helps.

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Renee Cooper

About Me: I am a stay-at-home mother that loves to paper craft in my spare time. I maintain a crafting blog that mostly features projects created with my Cricut Expression^® machine, Cricut Imagine^® machine, and Cricut Cuttlebug? machine.

Instructions: Although there are a lot of images in this project, it really isn't difficult if you have a Cricut Imagine^® machine. The recipe mini album itself is one of the bonus items on the Kate's Kitchen cartridge. I simply cut it once without printing (Fit to Page) and then print and cut two more (Fit to Page) to cover the chipboard. The inside sheets are another bonus item. I print and cut twelve of these at 8.5". Most of the images are cut at 3" using the layers feature so that each page would have dimension. The speech bubbles are cut at 1", 1.5" and 2". I inked most off the edges in Peeled Paint and added jewels throughout the mini album.

Cartridge Used: Cricut Imagine^® Art Cartridge, Kate's Kitchen

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week’s highlighted threads are:

• Cheers!
• St. Patrick’s Day
• Lucky Leprechaun St. Patrick’s Day Card
• St Patrick’s Day Cards

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

Since February is almost over, I realized that it’s time to pull out my St. Patrick’s Day decorations. I don’t have very many, so I thought this week I would create a clover piece to add to my collection. The Spring Holiday Cards cartridge is filled with festive images that can be used for cards or home d?cor. This cartridge is one of the Cricut^® Seasonal cartridges?if you can find one, snatch it up before it’s gone!

The cartridge has card ideas, boxes, seals, and envelopes. You can use any of the designs as stencils on other projects. This collection comes with ten background cards that can be used in the layering process. Each background provides different options for the outlines so you can create a card that you are truly happy with. You can cut three different envelopes and three kinds of boxes. The envelope seals have a smiley face on a heart, clover, rabbit, or flower. (You can use the Cricut Craft Room? design tool to remove the smiley face if you want to.) This cartridge has images for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. The cards all have phrases on them, but the sayings are easy enough to remove if you use the Cricut Craft Room? design tool.

To create my 3D clover decoration, select one of the background designs and remove the smiley face from the clover. Adjust the sizes to fit the plaque and then cut them out. Then take the heart seal and remove the smiley face. Reshape the heart seal to fit the three-leaf clover. Cut out twelve hearts and fold them in half down the middle. Glue four hearts together to create an accordion. Once the three accordion hearts are dry, glue them in place on top of the clover to give your project a 3D touch. Glue the background piece and clover to a wooden plaque. Top it off with a drawer knob embellish with ribbon. This project can be done pretty quickly if you use glue dots to adhere the paper pieces together, Terrifically Tacky Tape^® to glue the background to the plaque, and a hot glue gun to secure the drawer knob in place. You can also check out my Cricut Craft Room™ file that has all the pieces ready for you to cut!

I hope you enjoyed my exploration of the Spring Holiday Cards cartridge! Be sure to start making your St. Patrick’s Day projects now so you can get your cards in the mail for a March 17th delivery.

— 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 Cricut Circle? questions); we have people ready to help you! We are currently open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. 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

“May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.”
— Irish Blessing