Teachers, hang in there! The school year is drawing to a close. Summer relaxation, fun in the sun, and gardening are just around the corner. You can dust off those crafting supplies and really dive into all those projects that have been put off until you had more time. You are heroes to so many people.

All of us have been blessed by heroes in our lives. They come in all shapes, sizes, and forms: older siblings, younger siblings, family members, neighbors, citizens, and strangers. Many come from obvious hero stock and some simply surprise us. Actually, everyone has potential to make a difference and touch the lives of others with deeds both big and small. As as a token of thanks, we crafters often create gifts, crafts, cards, and pages dedicated to our favorite heroes both alive and fallen. We here at Cricut would love to hear more about your heroes on the message board. Your heroes will be featured in upcoming weekly CHIRP newsletters.


Happy Cricuting :-)

Paper Saving Tip

Many Cricuteers want to know the dimensions of a shape before cutting it out. For instance, if you set the size dial at 3 inches, you can be sure that the shape will be 3 inches. However, does that mean that the shape will be 3 inches wide or does it mean the shape will be 3 inches long? To get around this issue, some have cut out each shape in each size and saved it in a book for future reference. This can be fun, but it is not necessary.

To avoid wasting expensive paper, it is wise to know the orientation of the shape you desire to cut out and what its dimensions will be. To avoid an unexpected outcome, try cutting an "air shape" before you cut the actual shape on the paper of your choice. Here's how to do this:

1. Set the blade depth to 1.

2. Set the pressure dial to 1.
NOTE: The Cricut blade will not cut anything if the blade depth is turned to 1 and the pressure dial is set to 1.

3. Load the cutting mat into the Cricut machine with the plastic cover, some regular computer paper, or the paper you are planning on using.

4. Select the shape you want to "air cut" and set the size dial to the size you desire.

5. Press the CUT button and watch the outline of the blade as it moves in the air above the mat. Make a mental note of the dimensions of the cut and how much area the blade moved over on the mat.

6. If the shape was not big enough or small enough, simply adjust the size dial only and cut another "air shape". Watch the Cricut blade and make mental notes again.

7. Once you have found the desired size, set the blade depth higher to the appropriate depth for the paper you are using and set the pressure dial to a higher setting appropriate for the paper you are using.

8. Load your mat with the paper you desire to use and position the blade where you wish to commence cutting.

9. Select the shape you wish to cut and press the CUT button.

Mother's Day weekend was beautiful. I decided that I needed to purchase edge trimmer, because there was bush in my mother's yard that had grown crazy this last winter. So I came home and spent the day cleaning up the yard, and yes, I did trim down that bush. I don't know if that was a super exciting Mother's Day gift, but I sure had a ball trimming up the bushes--it was super fun and oddly satisfying. The other big event of this past week was playing with the Life is a Beach cartridge. This last creative feature is one of my favorites, and I will tell you why shortly.

To review a little about this cartridge: you have a full alphabet and numbers set, plus a bunch of summer images, and some word phrases. What more could you want with a cartridge? The creative features are: Layers, Title Words, Border, Photo Card, Square Card, and Charm.

I had a ton of fun exploring all the features on this cartridge, and to finish off this exploration, I will talk about the last creative feature: Title Words. This is great because you can now cut out special phrases for your scrapbook pages, or maybe use them on a school project or presentation. Some examples of the title words that are on this cartridge are: "Jungle Fever", "Paradise", "Aloha", "Adventure", "Daydream", "Fantasy Island", "Little Mermaid", "Heat Wave", "Catch the Wave", "Happy Birthday", "Tiki Tropics", "Party", "Summer", "Under the Sea", "Summer of Love", "Gone Fishin", "Family Fun", "All hands on Deck", "Explore", "Smooth Sailing", "Play", "Beach Bum", "Flip Flops", "Friends", "Serenity", "Retreat", "Whale of a Time", "Splash", "Enjoy", "Surfs Up", "Bon Voyage", and "Relax". Yes, most of these title words will only work with some summer or vacation pictures, but you can also use them with beach.

I found a layout on the Cricut message board that used one of the title words; it is so cute--check it out! This layout was created by MelissaAllore.

KimBerlyHall created a birthday bouquet, she used a few of the title words in her design--check it out (see pic or follow the link).

If you want more ideas about what to do with this cartridge, check out the message board at: www.cricut.com.

Happy Cricuting!

-Crafty Kimber

A: No. You can unload the paper and remove just the pieces you need. You can then reload the paper at a later time and navigate to any open area to resume cutting. NOTE: If you immediately use the same mat again for your next cut, use the "Load Last" button instead of "Load Paper". This will automatically return the cutting head to the last place it was cutting from on the previous cut.