A MOMENT PRESERVED IN TIME

My family reunion is coming up this weekend. One of the activities we enjoy there is sharing and reminiscing about old family photographs. Pictures of grandparents at various stages of their lives have always been fascinating. Several years ago, I came across an old photograph of my grandmother. It was still inside its original paper frame that bore the name of the photography studio. She was 16 years old and all gussied up with a short crimped hair-do, a flapper dress, and pearls. A touch of blush enhancement had been added to her cheeks. She displayed her necklace by holding part of it up and letting its strands of pearls hang from her fingers. My teenage grandmother had a natural sparkle in her eye and a subtle grin. It only took a glance to observe that in that very moment of her young life, she felt very pretty and possibly important. I?m glad it was preserved.

The photograph to which I'm referring survived ten children, two house fires, two floods, and was lost in a basement archive for 30 years only to return to the light of day, for the most part, in mint condition. Not many people do that, let alone an eighty-five-year-old picture!

I never had the opportunity to meet grandma. My aunts and uncles still tell colorful and amusing stories about this generous and sassy woman. I have a hunch I would have liked her. It's funny how you can feel so close to someone you've never met. I scanned my grandmother's portrait and made a scrapbook page dedicated to her and all the old timers who have done so much for me and influenced the outcome of my life. I wonder if any of the photos of my goofy sixteen-year-old self will be viewed by my posterity. I didn't have beautiful crimped hair and a strand of pearls, but I did have ridiculously tall claw bangs and fake neon pink beads.

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the Cupcake Wrappers, Lacy Labels, Hoot 'n' Holler, and Chore Chart cartridges. Enjoy a clever tip for using a tracing wheel to create a faux stitched effect on your project, and glean savvy wisdom from our customer support Floor Sweeps as they share technical advice about Cricut products. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.


Happy Crafting!

**Header project made by Gina Jarvie using the Heritage cartridge.

SWARM WINNER

There were only 4 of us this day but it doesn?t matter if it is 2 or 20 of us we enjoy getting together and working on our scrapbooks or any other projects we have!

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Summer Shape Book
• SAND-TASTIC
• Best Catch Of My Life!
• Hubby's birthday card
• Jake the Water Dog

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Jennifer D. Ebright
About: I am a 26 year old mom of one. My daughter's first birthday is June 19th and I decided to throw a Sesame Street themed party. I knew with my Cricut it would be no problem to make the decorations myself. I've been do using my Cricut about 2 years now and I love Expression!

Jennifer's Project: Sesame Street Lawn Decorations

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's clever tip regards adding faux stitching around the edges of your project and comes to us from two cleaver messageboard members. Thanks for sharing what you've learned ladies!

"I like to use my tracing wheel from my sewing basket. I swipe it across an ink pad and then roll it on the paper and it looks like stitching." - Shirley

"I used pliers & bent alternating tips off a spare tracing wheel. This way the holes could be spaced further apart for bigger 'fake stitching'. If you run a marker across the holes it really looks like stitching. If you run two lines offset a bit then it could look like zigzag stitches or cross stitches." - KarenRichardson4

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This week I was feeling really patriotic, what with the 4th of July. My sister made us matching shirts for the parade using the Yudu and they turned out great. I want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July! I spent most of my weekend exploring more of the new cartridges that you can only purchase at Wal-Mart. I think a few of today's cartridges are falling into my favorite category, because they are just so dang cute and creative. The cartridges that I will explore today are: Cupcake Wrappers, Lacy Labels, Hoot 'n' Holler, and Chore Chart.

These cartridges have a new plastic case and trifold design. Each of these cartridges also come with reward points that you can collect and redeem on the rewards website. The handbook is a trifold with each of the images and the complete layer feature shown, so you know exactly how to assemble the artwork. For examples, click here.

Hoot 'n' Holler is, yes, all about owls. All of you owl collectors have a cartridge just for you! But really, any Cricut fan will want this cartridge. It has "Happy Birthday" phrases, plus tons of cut different owls, homes, and trees. Other examples of (the adorable) phrases that come on this cartridge are: "Hoot Couture", "Owl be there for you", "Party Owl Night", and "Owl miss You". Other images that are included are: party hat, hearts, Santa hat, egg shell, balloon, and three different types of branches. As a reminder, this cartridge only comes with 50 themed images and word phrases, but the options that you have let you be as creative as you want. I think I want to get a pet owl! Hmmm...do you think the dogs would be okay with that Probably not!

Chore Chart is the next cartridge I explored. Do you have kids? Do you get frustrated that they don't help around the house? (Do you think I could get my dogs to do chores?) Well, here is the best solution ever: this cartridge will help you set up a fun creative chore chart so that you can get the kids to help clean up and learn how to work. Some examples of images on this cartridge are: set the table, laundry basket, dishes, window with cleaner, trash can, mop, vacuum, toilet, hair, sink, toothbrush, chore chart, water can, rake leaves, bed, and toy box. I think the reason that some of these are on this cartridge are because making your bed or brushing your teeth is something smaller kids can do. Word phrases included in this cartridge are: "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday" etc., plus "Done", "Good Job", "With a Star", and "Feed", "Clean Pickup", "Wash? (these are cut out under the Layer feature). The artist has used a lot of the layer features to include different words that you may want when building your chart.

When I first looked at the Cupcake Wrappers overlay, the images all looked like eye lashes, a bunch of different shapes. But when I got a close look (or put on my glasses), then I could see that this really was cartridge is full of a variety of different cupcake wrappers. I know that cupcakes are the latest craze everywhere. I look online and I see people make special cupcakes. I think that now I want to get on board with the rest of the world. One quick note: none of these wrappers have bottoms, so once you have cut out your wrapper, just wrap it around your finished cupcake. It's so easy with this cartridge! One different thing about this cartridge is the extra feature that comes with the wrappers is classified as Toppers. I would also use them as tags to go with the cupcakes or with gifts. So, you can cut the image out by itself (this is perfect for cards or party invitations), or with the shift key make the topper. Each of the toppers compliments the wrappers, so you have a wide variety to choose from for your special occasion. The wrappers come in all sorts of images designs. You can have wrappers for winter, spring, summer, or fall, baby showers, Valentine's, birthdays, etc. There is also a crown, flowers, paper dolls (boy and girl), witch, butterfly, stars, flag, and gifts. You also have a few word phrases, "Friends", and "Rock On".

Lacy Labels is the final cartridge that I explored this week. The name of the title describes this cartridge very well. You get 50 themed images that use the Layer features to create some adorable labels. These can be used on bottles, cards, tags, party invites, and frames for your photos, frames for special thoughts or moments, or even to label book that belong to you. Some examples of the word phrases are: "welcome", "adore", "all boy", "all girl", "home", "you & me", "thank you", "congratulations", "bliss", "to", "from", "love", and "thinking of you". Please note that the word phrases require the Shift key to be used with the Layer creative feature. I think I have found a way to label all my children's story books so my nephew and nieces won't be tempted to take the books home--he he.

Well that wraps up this exploration. Check back next week and see what else I explore of the new exclusive Wal-Mart cartridges. Happy crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

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HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the top topics in Customer Support this week:


Q. Will my regular cartridges work in the Cricut Cake Machine?

A. Yes! All Cricut cartridges work in all Cricut machines.

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Q. Can a cartridge be de-registered?

A. Yes. Just contact customer service, and AdminBecky can take care of this for you.

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Q. Does Provo Craft have Quilling kits

A. We have Cuttlebug Quilling Kits! These kits just make the craft go by easier. Here is the link to the new message board for quilling: http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tt.aspx?forumid=342. We would love to see what you are creating!

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Q. Why was my post/thread deleted?

A. Just a friendly reminder: when posting to the Cricut message boards, please refrain from posting full names and locations. This is part of the Message Boards Rules and Policies. You can review this at http://www.cricut.com/popups/popup.aspx?id=MB.

The boards are supposed to be a fun and creative place to me. If you have an issue regarding the boards please know that you can call into Customer Support to get help, or PM or email the administrators and/or contact a Bug Guide. We are here to help you!


Have a great week!

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."
~ Aaron Sussman