I have decided to feature another holiday poem in the newsletter. Scrapping and preserving memories in a creative and fun way is the objective of many a crafter. Poems, quotes, and metaphors are always fun to use in scrap pages and projects. Everyone has their favorites that apply to certain subjects, occasions, and events. I thought I would take this opportunity to share a lighter holiday poem with you.

The Shopping Hordes

The shopping hordes are scary
They push, they even shove
I'd hoped they'd all be merry
Oh where oh where's the love

I saw the perfect Teddy Bear
It had a big red bow
I spied it, then I saw her glare
She wanted me to know

That it was her's, I had no chance
And so I turned away
Maybe a pony that will prance
So I can live, another day

I'm looking for a bed spread
In green or even blue
Could you help me sir? I said
He turned and, as if he knew

That I would find another
To help me with my needs
And so I turned, and just by luck
A working friend, to help in deed

Then as I walked out to the car
I took a chance to vent
What's the deal? Is this a war?
No peace on Earth was sent

So then I stopped and took a breath
I thought, "What would I want?"
This shopping spree is worse than death
And I am feeling gaunt

I saw my friend, she sure did laugh
She saw my flustered face
What are you doing, do the math
This is just, a big rat race

Go on home, and make a memory book
With pictures, poems of love
And then just stop, and find a nook
Relax my turtle dove

Make a scrap book, part of you
That's what your family needs
Share your feelings, make them real
And fill it full of deeds

A work of art, your life to share
In pictures, art and rhyme
Your thoughts will make the difference
With love, your gift, you'll sign

~Dave Smoot

A. The "little" Cricut weighs only 9 lbs. and is easily transported. There is a lift handle on the back of the machine and well as finger grips in the sides to easily lift, carry or reposition the Cricut. A specially designed tote is available with handy pockets and soft touch zipper closures. It has in-line wheels for easy maneuvering and a pull-up handle that is well padded to protect your machine.

This week I finally get to write about the new Cricut Design Studio software that came out last week. I love this software and am so happy to finally be able to share this great new program with all of you. You will definitely want to add this to your Christmas list because this program will be something that you will use with your Cricut cartridges for the rest of your life.

Have you ever wished that you could create your own word and hook all the letters together? Well this new program lets you weld words, letters, and images together. Just think of the fun things you can write and be able to connect them to make your own titles or sidebars for a scrapbook page. Other fun possibilities that you can do with your letters, words, and images are: shearing (make the image go diagonal), Compressing (expand or shrink the image), Kerning (move the letters or words closer together, you use this when you are welding letters together), Stretching, Flipping, and Rotating. Now you have a lot of different ways to create your own project or scrapbook page. There are two ways to weld letters into words. One way is by using the feature called "kerning"; when you use this feature all the letters must be in the same box. When using the kerning feature, start with the farthest right letter and move the letter closer to the letter on its left. You must make sure that you click on each line of each letter; you will see the letter turn into little dots then you know that you can click on the kerning arrows to move the letters. You would follow this process with all the letters making sure that all the letters are overlapping a little and the welding box is checked. The second way to weld letters into a word is by placing each letter in its own box. This way you will need to make sure that each box has the welding box checked and then you will use the top little circle on each box to move the letters to overlap each other. With this way of welding you can turn the letters on different angles to give your word a more creative look.

I decided to experiment with a saying to place on my wall. I can use the vinyl to place directly on the wall or use a frame, either way the experiment turned out really cute (see pic). In my experiment I used the cartridge Alphalicious and typed in the phrase "Family makes a House a Home". With this software you can use letters from different font cartridges or images; you can mix them all up on the screen mat. I used the kerning for the words to move them together and the word "Home" I welded the letters after placing them in their own box. If receive your own cut file, just click here!

This program will work with both Cricuts and all the cartridges in the Cricut family just make sure that you own the cartridges that you are using in your project or you will have to run out and buy the cartridge you need. You must own the cartridges to get your project to cut what you have created on the screen mat, even though this great software will let you play around and design with all the wonderful cartridges. This is a great way to preview all the cartridges and help you decide which ones to purchase next. Have fun welding words and creating phrases and check out next week as I continue to give tips on the new software and explore one of the new cartridges.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Crafty Kimber

Here are some basic guidelines on how to draw with your Cricut machine:

1. Load marker into the black arms (right where you would usually place the green blade assembly).

2. Load paper. It is important that paper is lined up with the top right corner of the mat, and be sure you start your drawing there if you intend to cut the image out later.

3. Choose and draw the image(s) with the markers by pressing CUT. (Just as an added reference: type out the entire phrase all at once instead of individual letters.)

4. Once your Cricut is done drawing the image, switch out the marker for the blade assembly (without unloading your paper or turning off the machine).

5. Now press the Load Paper button. This will take you back to the beginning of the paper where you first started drawing.

6. Press the Repeat Last button. It will enter in the same characters that you have just drawn.

7. Press the CUT button. It will cut out the image directly over the color outline.

After this process you will have an awesome cut with a colorful outline! Hopefully this will clear up most of the confusion with the markers, but if you ever have any other questions on how to use them please contact us. You can reach us by emailing us at support@cricut.com or you can give us a call toll free at 1-877-727-4288. Here are some basic guidelines on how to draw with your Cricut machine:

-AdminBecky