A NEW TRADITION

On June 28 of 1894, the United States Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday. Since then it has been a day off for most workers complete with popular activities which include picnics, camping, barbecues, and in some areas, even fireworks. We call it Labor Day! In fact, we have stretched the day into a weekend encompassing Friday night, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. To many, it's like the mini holiday prior to all the big holidays.

Unfortunately, my clan likes to celebrate this holiday by working our brains out. Somewhere along the line, the name Labor Day was taken literally and it became the three-day weekend at the end of the Summer in which we try to get all of the odd projects done that we had promised ourselves we would scratch off the "to-do" list by Summer's end. This year's list contains things like: clean out the closets, organize the garage, clean out the storage bay, detail and wax the car, clean the carpets, tile the downstairs bathroom, and many little projects like unto it. Suffice it to say, we haven't had a lot of picnics this way.

This year, I began a new tradition and mixed things up a little. I have plenty of scrapping projects which I had hopes of finishing before the end of the Summer.... The weatherman said it was supposed to be a rainy a weekend anyway. I counted my blessings and used my Cricut pals to help me whip up a scrapping storm of my own.

This week, be sure to read Crafty Kimber's in depth cartridge exploration of the Rock Princess cartridge. Enjoy a clever tip for creating crafting supply storage. As always, I wish you well in your crafting adventures.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Cricut Imagine is launching at midnight EST Sept.14 on HSN and we invite you to join us!

Provo Craft will be sharing lots of valuable information on Facebook all day including photos, videos, tips & tricks, Q&A, and live broadcast "meet the expert" and "creative break" segments. Come celebrate the launch with us and learn all about Cricut Imagine!

FEATURED PROJECTS

MESSAGE BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

This week's highlighted threads are:

• Back to School Teacher Gift
• Teacher's Lunchbox and notecards
• Back to School Bookmarks and Teacher Gift
• Hall Passes

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Janette Childs
About: I made this pillow for my daugther's "spot" for preschool this upcoming year.

Janette's Project: Julia's Pillow

YOUR NOTABLE TIP

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

Many of you probably already know about the three tips that I am going to share. I did not think of these myself. I found them online and just modified them (although others have probably done this before me).

1. I was looking for something to store my ribbon in and found this video of someone that used shoe hangers. I went to Target and the shoe hangers that go on the door seemed small and only able to hold a few pieces of ribbon. I then saw something that was the same concept, but was for holding jewelry. It has 24 pockets front and back.

2. I needed something to hold all my buttons and brads and I saw that someone had taken spice jars and lined them on a rack. I found parmesan cheese shakers for $1, but I figured that would get expensive, so I decided to use a spice rack. The one that I have spins around and has two layers (16 jars in all).

3. I was looking for a project to do with picture frames and found this site that had uses for old picture frames. One of them was for a key rack. I thought that it would make a good picture frame. I went to the local thrift store and bought a cheap frame. I then applied command hooks and a pretty piece of paper to the frame. The project is a clever idea, except mine didn't come out straight. I then went to a hardware store and bought wood top panels. They have a predrilled hole in the middle. I then bought some paint and their cheapest knobs. It may have been a bit more expensive, but I think it is cute!

CARTRIDGE EXPLORATION

When I looked at the schedule this week I got really excited, because I get to go back and thoroughly explore the Rock Princess cartridge! This cartridge is on my favorites list because it is so cute, but kind of edgy too. To refresh the particulars about this cartridge, the creative features are: Layer 1, Layer 2, Phrase, Heart Font, Skull Font, and Shadow. Yep, this cartridge comes with two different fonts! The Heart Font cuts out all the alphabet (uppercase and numbers) with a small heart attached somewhere in the design. If you use the Shift key, you can also cut out a shadow outline of the same letter. With this same feature you also get a few symbols and extra images, like the girl skull with the bow, or the guitar with a heart in the center.

The Skull Font is a skull and crossbones with a letter in the middle of each design. If you want boy skull and crossbones, just cut the letters out regularly; if you want a girl skull and crossbones style then use the Shift key and cut away. That's cool that you can cut out the correct gender to fit your scrapbook style.

The Layer 1 and Layer 2 creative features are designed to let you cut out additional colors to help your cut outs have that personal touch. For example, with the girl rock star with a microphone, you can cut her hair out with Layer 1 and the accents by using the Shift key. With Layer 2, you can cut out the arms, and with the shift key cut out the microphone top. If you want your image to stand out, you can always use the Shadow feature and cut out a background. owendbypugs from the message board used this layering technique on her "Divia Card" (see pic or click here).

The other creative feature is the Phrases key, which will give you all sorts of sayings that complement the images on this cartridge. A few examples of those phrases are: "Little Angel", "Tuff Girl", "Punk Princess", "Glam Baby", "Queen of Hearts", "True Love", "She's a Firecracker", "Rowdy", and many more! A fun tidbit about this feature is that you can cut each phrase in two different styles. Without the Shift key pressed, each of the Phrases will cut an image with the saying. For example, "She's a Firecracker" is cut out with stars attached to it. If you want the phrase by itself, then you will need to use the Shift key. Another way to use these features is to layer them; cut out the standard phrase in one color, then cut out the phrase again with the image in a different color. BAM! Your title will stand out. If you are still looking for other ways to make these phrases stand out, there is yet another option. With the Shadow creative feature and the Shift button pressed you can cut out a shadow layer for the phrase that coordinates. I was so surprised to discover this! I'm sure I'm the last one to know, but just in case, I wanted to point this out. Ameri-brit-gal from the message board created this adorable "Rock Princess" scrapbook layout (see pic or click here).

Since I already went through all the images in my previous exploration, I won't go through them in depth in this report. I hope you have all discovered the joys of owning this cartridge. This cartridge is makes a wonderful addition to our Cricut cartridge library! See you next week!

Crafty Kimber

WEEKLY SURVEY

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HELP FROM THE EXPERTS

Here are the hot topics in Customer Support this week:


On using the Cuttlebug with other dies:

This sandwich stack will help you with your Cuttlebug when using dies from other companies.

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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 Circle questions); 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

"There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it."
~ Mary Wilson Little