Friday, March 19, 2010

Lots of New Cartridges this month - time to update your Design Studio!


Yesterday was "Hello Thursday" and a number of new cartridges were announced.  As there are more and more cartridges to choose from it is important to look at them carefully to decide which you want to add to your collection.  I think it is getting to the point where most of us (despite our "collector" tendencies) can't have them all!

Fortunately, Provo Craft is doing a great job of announcing the cartridges, providing full digital handbooks and software updates and giving selected bloggers early copies to make actual samples with the new designs.  You can see some wonderful ideas in the projects created by the Everyday Cricut owners showcased on their personal blogs - Joy at Obsessed with Scrapbooking and Melanie at Courtney Lane Designs.  Joy and Melanie have twelve cartridges to give away between them so you will definitely want to visit and enter for a chance to win.  The Pink Stamper and Creative Critter Tammy are also previewing cartridges with giveaways - you will be busy blog hopping to see everything!  I do not know if there are any other previewers this month - I will add links if I find out about any more.

The new cartridges that were announced are:

Three full cartridges: Create a Critter, Nursery Rhymes and Robotz.

Three Summer seasonal mini (limited edition) cartridges:  Independence Day, Summer in Paris and Summer Vacation

Four Cricut Cake cartridges:  Cake Basics (which will be packaged with the Cake machine), Birthday Cakes, Elegant Cakes and Holiday Cakes.

There will also be two more cartridges going into retirement - Stamped and Tags, Bags, Boxes & More.  If you don't have these cartridges and are interested in them you should try to buy them as soon as possible.  One of the very first cartridges that I "had to have" was Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and I do find it very useful.

You can find the sample sheets and the downloadable handbooks for all of the cartridges on the Cricut.com site on the Cartridge Library page of the Information tab - here is a LINK.

The other exciting announcement was that there will be Cuttlebug folders specifically designed to coordinate with certain Cricut cartridges - the example shown in the email was a set of four for the Robotz cartridge.

I haven't had a chance to look through all of these new cartridges in detail - you can add them to your Design Studio program by downloading the latest font pack update.  Then you will be able to start designing with your favorites and be ready to cut when the cartridges are available to purchase!



If you have the current version of the software (1.0.31101.0), you will only need to download and install the updated Font Pack.  You can check your version by using the "help" menu and choosing "About" to pull up the information box.


To update your Design Studio program to include these cartridges, go to this LINK (you will need to be signed in to the Cricut.com site) and download the Font Pack.  Be sure to SAVE the download and then run it to install the new cartridges.  Your Design Studio software should be closed when you do this.  When you open the program, the new cartridges will be included in the "All by Category" list.

Here is the sample sheet for Create a Critter from the Cricut.com site


 You can download the full digital handbook at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Nursery Rhymes from the Circut.com site:


You can download the full digital handbook at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Robotz from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the full digital handbook at this LINK.

The next three cartridges are the Summer seasonal mini cartridges - these are limited edition cartridges with fewer images.  They are Independence Day, Summer in Paris and Summer Vacation.  These cartridges do not have handbooks.

Here is the sample sheet for Independence Day from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the product card at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Summer in Paris from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the product card at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Summer Vacation from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the product card at this LINK.

The last four cartridges are for the Cricut Cake machine which will be available soon.  However, you can use the cartridges and cut the images with any of the Cricut machines and I think these all look like they will be great choices for paper crafting.

Here is the sample sheet for Cake Basics from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the full handbook at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Birthday Cakes from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the full handbook at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Elegant Cakes from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the full handbook at this LINK.

Here is the sample sheet for Holiday Cakes from the Cricut.com site:


You can download the full handbook at this LINK.

I will try to post my reviews of these cartridges soon - it will take a while to look through them all!   Right now I am most interested in the Cake cartridges - and I don't decorate cakes!

It will be fun to explore all of the new possibilities.  Have a great weekend!

12 comments:

  1. I sure wish they would come up with a Design Studio for Mac's
    Thanks
    Linda in Stanwood

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  2. At least half of the time when I jump on your blog I learn something completely new.

    Today, your post led me to the cartridge handbooks on the Cricut Web site.

    I had NO idea those are there! What an awesome thing! I can finally see what's on an ENTIRE cartridge before purchasing! Woohoo!

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  3. Thanks for posting so much info! I really appreciate all of your helpful tips and wonderful advice.

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  4. What website are the handbooks at? I am able to get the links you sent to come up, but can't get to a main page to select other handbooks? Thanks!!!

    J
    jeanette.rule@me.com

    p.s. - I wish they would come up for DS for the Mac also! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Jeanette,

    I thought I had listed the page but there were so many links I guess I left it out - I've gone back and edited the post.

    You can find the sample sheets and the downloadable handbooks for all of the cartridges on the Cricut.com site on the Cartridge Library page of the Information tab - here is a LINK.

    http://www.cricut.com/information/cartridge_library.aspx

    I know there are many people who are hoping for a Mac version. I have no idea if that will happen but it would be great - lots of people use only a Mac.

    Diane

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  6. I agree with CuddleBunny. I learn so much from your blog. I am new to papercrafting and have so much to learn. Thanks for the link to the handbooks to help me choose where to spend my craft money.

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  7. Love the carts. My favorite are all the cake carts. Going to be hard to choose.

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  8. Okay, I've updated my DS, now if only I would take the time to learn how to use it. I love your site and read it every day. You are so talented. It's a beautiful sunny day in the NW....very rare!

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  9. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL INFO. IT'S GOOD TO HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO AND THEY HAVE THE INFO!

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  10. Thanks for the information, off to update my design studio.
    Kim xXx

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  11. I love the cake cartridges, I see I will be adding lots of cartridges to my birthday wish list.

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  12. I love all the new carts, wish I could buy them all, but limited

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