SCRATCH AND WIN

Spread the word! For a limited time, four of our new Cricut cartridges will contain Cricut Tickets. Scratch yours off and see if you've won one of the great prizes!

One lucky Cricuteer will win a 7-day Caribbean cruise for two people and $10,000 spending cash, plus a chance to win $100,000! Nineteen first-prize winners will win a 7-day Caribbean cruise for two, as well. Three-hundred second-prize winners will win a free Cricut cartridge.

How about that! A Chance to win $100,000 and a 7 day Caribbean Cruise, plus hundreds of other prizes. This is just not any cruise, but a "Craft Cruise"! As you know, several new and wonderful Cricut cartridges have been released recently. These are the Cricut cartridges that will contain the Cricut Tickets:

Wall Décor and More
Cindy Loo
Freshly Picked
Mini Monsters

From June 1st running through June 30, 2010, you could win a Craft Cruise with special crafting workshops and events! Simply look for our four new cartridges in participating stores. Buy one or purchase all four if you like, you could win a free Cruise!

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Freshly Picked and Wall Décor and More cartridges. She will also be featuring our next retiring cartridge All Mixed Up. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

Happy Crafting!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bazzill Basics Paper Company?s Creative Escape is an event not to be missed! This year Provo Craft will be sponsoring the Swap Room at this most amazing event that takes place each August in Chandler, Arizona. A place for creative minds to meet and learn from the craft industry's most inspiring teachers and artists. Check out Creative Escape at www.creativeescapeaz.com.

SWARM WINNER

This group has been meeting once a month in Melbourne Village, FL to scrapbook and make new friends. We had 10 ladies at this swarm, but on some months we have had over 20 ladies attend. You can always hear at least 1 Cricut Expression running during the day. Everyone is always willing to share new ideas and techniques that have learned, and any information they may have gotten off the message board.

FEATURED PROJECTS

SPECIAL GUEST EXPLORATION

Hello, everyone! My name is Melanie Brown from Courtney-Lane Designs and Everyday Cricut, and this week I am here to review my all time favorite cartridge: the fabulous Picturesque!

This cartridge had me in its clutches when I saw the Corner, Tag, and Framework creative features. I mean, seriously, who doesn't like a good corner or tag for their projects. I have made many projects with this cartridge and still, my creativity with it has not run out of steam!

The projects that I have for you today highlight some of the fantastic aspects of this cartridge. The pretty daisies and matching corners on the scrapbook page were easy to create but add a lot of punch and drama. Looking for something to write your journaling on? Why not try one of these tags? Adding ribbon and a button will make this tag look like something you purchased in a scrapbook store. The butterflies and flowers are made using the Framework feature and they make your project multi-dimensional and, again, look like an expensive embellishment that was purchased, but at a fraction of the cost. The title is cut using my DesignStudio and the Elegant Cakes cartridge.

The card is made using the Card feature and was completed in less than a half an hour. It is just turn key. Pick your paper, cut, and assemble. You can add as much to the card as you want, but the intricate cuts in the card give a sense of elegance without much else being added. Simple beauty is what this card feature is all about.

Let's talk about what exactly makes this cartridge so much fun:


the beautiful floral cuts - Can you see the pretty daisies on the scrapbook page I made? Do they not just put a smile on your face! They are not the only ones either. There are also peonies (which can double as a nice rose bloom as well), tulips, roses, cherry blossoms, and a six petal flower that works as a hibiscus or poinsettia.

the Framework feature - This feature adds a bit of depth to your cuts and give a little more flexibility with your creativity. As a matter of fact, you can just cut the Framework without a Blackout, Base, or Shadow and have a cut that is both beautiful and unusual. I used this feature to make my daisies.

the Tag feature - This tag feature is not the garden variety "plain Jane" tag. It is a tag feature with flair. The tags have cut outs that are beautiful when glued to another solid tag. Perhaps you want the tag with the cut without a Blackout tag, well you can do that too for a elegant tag fit for any gift, card, or scrapbook page.

the Card feature - This aspect of the card is a shining star because the cards are tri-fold with a matching seal. This makes your card not only easy to put together, but adds a touch of elegance. As a card maker, I know that sometimes you want a quick card, but I don't want to skimp on the class. This feature affords you that without a doubt!

the Corner feature - This is feature is what makes this cartridge a must have for your crafting arsenal. Think of all the paper projects that will be made just a little bit better by adding these beautiful corners. I think that even cutting them in vinyl for your home décor needs is also a great option. I cannot express enough how much I love this aspect of this great cartridge. You can see my use of this in the scrapbook page that I made. It just adds that little bit more and brings your scrapbook page from one that you put in a book to one that you frame on your wall.

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Be sure to check out Melanie's blogs: Courtney-Lane Designs and Everyday Cricut! And keep an eye out for the Picturesque cartridge, coming soon here on Cricut.com!

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• WHAT'S UP
• Fathers Day Card
• Graduation Hat Cards
• Horsin' Around
• May All Your Wishes Come True

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Gina Piazza
About: I have a Masters Degree in Fine Art & have always worked as an artist. I don't have any children, but I do have a big lovable, messy dog named Clancy who thinks scraps of paper are candy!

Gina's Project: Disney Castle

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member and Bug Guide, Scrapalette. Thank you for sharing your tip!

Q. "I used DesignStudio to weld a word together for party invites, but I can't figure out if there is a way to copy and paste the word multiple times on the page. I want an easy way to repeat a few words like 40 times! Is there a way?"

A. "Since there is no group feature in DesignStudio, there isn't an easy way. But, if you didn't rotate any of the letters, you can type them all in the same text box (one set of arrows around all the letters) and then you can move the letters within the box using the nudge buttons and copy and paste, even resize the entire group.

If you are rotating any of the letters, you won't be able to put them in the same text box. Once you have them the way you want, you can select each image and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the image (counting the number of clicks) and then move the other images that same number of clicks."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This week in exploring I was assigned to explore All Mixed Up (retiring), Freshly Picked and Wall Décor and More. I was so excited to play with Freshly Picked, and Wall Décor and More this week, I couldn't wait to look through the handbook and see all the images I could cut with my Cricut. I also found a scratch ticket in each cartridge. Wouldn't you know it when I scratch my cards it said I wasn't a winner, oh well!

Freshly Picked has one of my favorite images: the gnome. You can even cut out a Merry Christmas gnome or a female gnome. Some other images are: flowers, flowers in flowerpots, mushrooms, herbs, herbs in flowerpots, gate, gazebo, overalls, garden hats, garden tools, and a wheel barrel. The creative features are: Layers, Layers 2, Shadow, Words, Signs, Seeds, and Frames. The Seeds creative feature lets you cut out the image in a seed packet that you glue together. Some examples of Word feature cuts are: "carrots", "beets", "grow", "veggies", "rosemary", "thyme", and "bulbs". This cartridge is perfect for those garden pictures or playing in the park pictures. Ameri-brit-gal from the message board created a really cute flower card (see pic or click here). For other ideas on ways to use this cartridge or up load your ideas to share click here. Another idea for this cartridge for is to label your herb garden. Plant a small herb garden in the house and then make small labels for each of the rows. I feel a new project coming on!

Wall Décor and More is vastly becoming another of my favorite cartridges. I love home décor projects and am in the middle of painting my room. Cross your fingers! I will finish it this week then I can cut some of these images out of vinyl and personalize the walls a little. Some images from this cartridge are: butterfly, crown, dinner plate, rooster, ballerina dancer, shoes, key, pear, lighthouse, bird, leaves, branches, owl, flowers, star, and paint brushes. On an exciting note: you can cut these images with swirls and leaves, or use the Shift button and cut all the same images in solid form without the swirls--cool huh! The creative features are: Monogram, Font, Font Shadow, Phrase, Border, and Card. Wow! You get two types of fonts: the Monogram style has swirls throughout the letters, or you can use the Shift button and get the same letter solid. I love the Border feature as well, because now you can create borders for your cards or scrapbooking, or cut them out of vinyl for a creative design on your wall. AllisonF from the message board created a scrapbook layout for her baby (see pic or click here). The last creative feature that I think I should mention is the Card feature. These are quick and easy cards. This includes using the Shift button to help you cut out the solid card. How this works is, you cut out the card, then you cut out the solid panel, and glue the solid panel to the back of the front of the card. You might want to make sure you cut out a different color solid panel so you can see this color through the cut out of the image on the card.

All Mixed Up is being retired, so if you don't have one for your collection you might want to pick it up. This is a font cartridge and the creative features are: Circle, Square, Tag, Silhouette, Shadow, and Shadow Blackout. It's super cute and child-like!

Hope you have enjoyed this exploration! Check back next week as I continue to explore new cartridges. Happy crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

Don't forget to take this week's survey!

Click here.

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the top questions in Customer Support this week.

From Becky:

How to upload a picture in a post:

1) Click on "Post Reply". In order to attach an image in your post you must use the complete reply form. You cannot post an image from the "Fast Reply" area.

2) Under the File section, click where it says "Click here to upload".

3) Browse to your file. Remember your file must be in a .jpg, .txt, or a .gif format and must be under 200 kb in size.

4) Click okay and wait for it to accept the upload and click okay again to return to your post.

5) Under the File section you may also want to checkmark the "Embed picture in post" option. This will allow your image to show in your post. Otherwise people will have to click a link that is provided in your post to see the image.

6) You will not see the image in your preview window. You will not see it until you have made your final post. Add your text if you haven't already done so and click OK to post your image and text.


From Brittany:

Q. Click in this link to find the Educator Spotlight. You will be able to find details and instructions for bulletin boards and classroom ideas.


Have a great week!

From your Customer Support Sweeps:
Mark, Brightly, Brittany, and Becky, "The Floor Sweeps"

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"When we ask advice we are usually looking for an accomplice."
~ Charles Varlet de La Grange