SPREAD THE JOY!

I love jam?especially freezer jam spread over a thick slice of bread! The ingredients are few and so simple to whip together: fresh pieces of fruit, sugar, and pectin. Half the fun of making jam and creating crafts is sharing them. Likewise, the basic recipe for creating a great craft project is simple; an idea, a Cricut^® machine, Cricut^® cartridges, crafting materials (e.g. paper, chipboard, fabric, cardboard, magnet paper, vellum, etc.), and glue. Mix them all together and you?ll end up with something worth sharing!

I enjoy sharing my homemade jam and my love of crafting with others. Sharing a decorated bottle of jam and a friendly card with someone will always make the recipient smile. How have you shared your love of crafting with others? I would love to hear about your ideas and projects.

There are so many ways in which we share our love of crafting with others. How have you shared your love of crafting with others?

You?ll find helpful Cricut^®crafting tips and glean great crafting ideas from the 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

How do you do that?

Today?s tips come from message board bug guide Scrapalette. Thanks for the tip!

Q: I am new to the Cricut Cake^® machine. I have the Cake Basics cartridge that comes with the machine, but I can't seem to figure out how to get a letter to work. I need to cut the letter S, but I don?t know what buttons to push to get the letters. The box and the information booklet show letters—I just don't get it yet.

A: On your Cricut^® machine, there are 50 keys for the base characters. On the overlay, these are the white keys with tiny images. If you press just one of those buttons, you will cut the base image. If you press one of the character buttons and the Shift button, you will get a different image. If you add in the feature keys, which are the six gray keys to the left of the character keys, you can access additional images.

Look at the handbook and find the page with the letter S on it (p. 49). The base character is the butterfly, and if you just press that key, you will cut the butterfly. In order to cut the S, you will need to press the Font feature and the butterfly key. If you want an uppercase S, you will need to press the Font feature key, the Shift key, and the butterfly key.

All of the cartridges are programmed the same, so once you know how to read the handbook "code" and where the keys are, you'll be able to cut all the images on any cartridge!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Jennifer Hudson

About Me: I am a third generation native of Gainesville, Florida. I have four children and a grandson. I am a voracious reader and love trivia. I'm also addicted to my Cricut^® machine! I?ve been a crafter from a very young age, and paper crafts have always been a favorite of mine. When I'm not crafting, I love to hang out with my family, read, or watch my favorite TV shows.

Instructions: This two-tier castle cake is fit for a princess! All of the decorations are made from icing or fondant. With the exception of the princesses and the turrets, everything is edible.

• I used the Cricut Cake^® machine, the Cake Basics cartridge, and the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More^® cartridge to cut the turret, castle cake tops, doors, and windows.
• Use the Simple feature on the Cake Basics cartridge to cut the turret and castle toppers. I used the Cricut DesignStudio^® software to weld three 3 ¾” x 1 ½” borders together and remove the diamonds inside the borders.
• The castle door and windows were cut from the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More^® cartridge using the rounded top tag. The door is 2 ¾” x 3”, the castle windows are 1 ½” x 1”, and turret windows are 1 ½” x ¾”.
• The flags on top were cut from paper using the Princess Party cartridge. I flipped the pennant on its side and welded two of them together so they measure 5/8" x 4".
• ? The flowers and the bottom border on the cake and turrets were made using various cake tools. This cake is just one element of an entire princess-themed party created for my niece's first birthday. You can see the rest of the projects here.

Cartridge Used: Cake Basics, Tags, Bags, Boxes and More^®, and Princess Party

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week’s highlighted threads are:

• Milk Carton with Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2
• Home Sweet Home
• You're my Lucky Charm...
• Lucky Leprechaun St. Patrick's Day Card
• 30th Birthday Card
• I Spy.......the Birthday Guy
• Minnie Mouse Birthday Banner

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

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.”
— Charlotte Brontë