FORBIDDEN ART, A SPLENDID REVIVAL

I have early recollections of being taught that it was strictly forbidden to draw or write on anything but paper...namely walls, doors, kitchen floors, my sister's chest of drawers, etc. I knew what the consequences would be, so I refrained from creating beautiful murals and kept my artistic displays on paper. My social circle did not follow the previously mentioned parental counsel as well as I did. Oh, how envious I felt when I entered a friend's home and saw a freshly scribbled masterpiece displayed on the walls of the entry way. Alas, even though I secretly wished I could draw rainbows and sun faces on the doors and walls of my own abode, I never "wrote on the walls" during my childhood!

Adults often have a way of seeking out the things they were deprived of as children. Of course, this is not about running with scissors or hastily dumping the unsorted silverware from the dishwasher into the silverware drawer. There is no classy and mature way to do that.

It is heart-warming to see that many fellow crafters have found that long lost creative spark and revived their art in a mature and crafty fashion. I have seen increasing popularity in the use of vinyl decorations on household surfaces. Walls--more particularly wall pops. What a beautiful way to add a personal touch to your own home!

Cricut designs, shapes, and letters are showing up on the walls of more and more homes around the world! And now, with Cricut Imagine, it is even easier than ever to turn your home into your statement! Cricut Imagine can both print and cut images from Imagine cartridges and traditional Cricut Cartridges. You could say Cricut has brought crafting to the next level of excellence. Click here to learn more about the Cricut Imagine, which will be coming soon to a store near you.

So, it seems that if you wait long enough, the dormant creative crafter from your childhood emerges again to finish what you wish you could have started. That would definitely include signing your own name to your work!

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's cartridge exploration of the October 31st, Pumpkin Carving, H20, Baseball, and Basketball Cricut cartridges. Enjoy a clever tip for re-purposing an old garden trellis in a crafty way and glean savvy wisdom from our customer support Floor Sweeps. As always, I wish you well in your adventures.


Happy Crafting!

**Header project made by Sue Helfrich using the Cake Basics cartridge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Glass Block Night Light
• Vacation Photo Card
• Black and White...and Pink All Over!
• 8 yr old birthday card: pagoda dragon

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Linda D. Stough
About: I am the stay at mom of two great kids, ages 10 and 12. They keep my husband and I busy with baseball, softball, football, and track. As a family, we enjoy camping and biking together. I've been scrapbooking and paper crafting for over 10 years. I love making fun and beautiful scrapbook pages, cards, and other paper crafts. My Cricut definitely helps me achieve this and I find myself falling in love with it over and over again!

Linda's Project: House Rules

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

Today's tip comes from message board member CarleneC. Thanks for sharing your tip!

"I repurposed an old garden trellis (a small one). I cleaned it up and looped my ribbon through it. Now I'm going to hang it on my wall. It's very pretty and gives me easy access to my ribbons while I'm crafting."

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

This past week I was at CHA in Chicago, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many wonderful Cricut fans! Provo Craft introduced the latest Cricut Machine, the Cricut Imagine. I can't wait until I can get my hands on one of these machines. In today's exploration I will cover the October 31st, Pumpkin Carving, H20, Baseball, and Basketball Cricut cartridges.

To review, Basketball and Baseball are part of the Cricut Solutions family. Both of these cartridges are sports related (obviously). The Basketball cartridge provides images of different basketball stances, plus the basketball and the hoop. Phrases include: "Slam Dunk", "Fast Break", "Shootin' Hoops", and "Nothing' but Net". The Baseball cartridge covers phrases and images that surround baseball, for example: baseball hats, catcher's mitt, umpire uniform, scoreboard, and hotdogs. Each cartridge also includes the names of all the player positions. Both of the cartridges are now on the retired list, so you had better pick them up when you see them. Once they are gone, they will not be available again!

Pumpkin Carving is a wonderful new Cricut Seasonal cartridge. It's perfect to use as a template for carving pumpkins! Sue, one of the Provo Craft designers created this adorable make and take for CHA (see witchy pic). They had a few supplies left over, so I grabbed one to make for you to see. She used the circle witch, pumpkin cutout, and the stencil word "Boo". Some other examples of images on this cartridge include: circle hand, circle spider web, square pumpkin faces, round spider, four different styles of pumpkins, seven themed phrases, circle vampire, circle cat, and a circle skull. MyPinkStamper from the message board used this cartridge to create a card (see pic or click here). She also used the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder to emboss certain pieces.

October 31st is another cartridge that is themed around Halloween. This cartridge comes with images of cats, bats, witches, spiders, a pumpkin patch, a house, a candle, an owl, a scarecrow, squiggly eyes, and six different borders. Phrases on cartridge include: "Trick or Treat", "Beware, and "Pumpkin Patch". Brigit from the message board used this cartridge to create this candy dish--which is perfect for handing out Halloween candy (see pic or click here).

H2O is about summer and swimming! Some examples of the phrases on this cartridge are: "Splish Splash", "Sunburn", "Day in the Sun", "Water Park", "All Wet", "Water Fun", and "Cannonball". Images include a sandcastle, sun lotion, "No Swimming" sign, sun, water slide, swimming pool, and a few people in swinging gear. ~embellishartist~ from the message board just got this cartridge and created this adorable ?H2O? layout (see pic or click here).

Well, it's time to wrap up this week.s exploration. I hope you have as much fun playing with these cartridges as I have had. I want to give a big shout out to all the Cricut fans at CHA this past week. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Happy Crafting!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

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

Click here.

HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the hot topics in Customer Support this week:


Q. When reading the message board, how do I subscribe to that specific post?

A. Along the top of the post, you will see the word "Subscribe". Just click on that and you will receive an email each time a member replies to that post. To un-subscribe, simply click on "Remove Subscription".

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Q. I am interested in a cartridge, but it's marked as exclusive. Will it ever be available?

A. Many exclusive cartridges do become available eventually. Be sure to let us know if there is a cartridge you want that is currently exclusive. Customer Support keeps a tally of all the requests, by phone and by email, asking about exclusive cartridges, and we pass those numbers along.

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Need some help? Provo Craft Customer Support is here for you! Never hesitate to call in; we have people ready to help you! We are currently open Monday through Friday 7am to 6pm Mountain Time. If these hours do not work with your schedule, please send an email to support@provocraft.com.


Have a great week!

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
~ Pablo Picasso