Thursday, September 16, 2010

Something New that Might Be Helpful...


At the rate new Cricut cartridges are being released, many Cricut owners are getting overwhelmed with the sheer number of cartridges.  In the early days of the Cricut it seemed entirely reasonable to try to collect all of the cartridges.  Now, with the release of the Imagine cartridges, there are about 200 cartridges and there will continue to be many new cartridges for both the original machines and the Imagine.

The incredible variety of cartridge themes is both a blessing and a curse.  Even the most compulsive collector will have to stop and think about whether they will actually be able to use every single cartridge that comes out.  Some of the cartridge images are very specialized and not necessarily in a style that appeals to everyone.  It is important to "pick and choose" the cartridges you want to add either because the images can be used for a wide variety of projects or because a more specialized cartridge is perfect for a specific project you want to do (for example, you are in charge of a "Carnival Day" for your elementary school - the Carousel Lite cartridge would be just the thing!)

One of the difficulties with a large collection of cartridges is that it becomes nearly impossible to remember what each cartridge has to offer in full detail.  There are search functions in both Design Studio and the Gypsy but they don't always give you the results you are looking for.  The keywords on Design Studio are terribly out of date and many cartridges do not have any keywords assigned.  The Gypsy has been kept more up to date but not every Cricut user has a Gypsy and the keyword system is not able to do certain types of searches.

I had an email from the owners of a new website that I think will be very helpful to many people.  Through a lot of patience and hard work they have created an easy way to search for images on your Cricut cartridges.  When you search for an item, the site pulls up images of the handbook pages for the cartridges that contain that item.   There is an advanced search function to allow you to search in alternative ways.  The website just opened a few days ago and the owners are looking for feedback on how the site works and any suggestions for improvements.

The site is free but there may eventually be more features added on a subscription basis.  Check out CricutSearch.com and see what you think.

(The hydrangea in the photo grows by my garage - the color is so pretty in autumn as the season changes).


Subscribe to Capadia Designs        Share/Bookmark

27 comments:

  1. Wow! This sounds like such a wonderful resource...thanks for sharing it! Hopping over to check them out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so right Diane, the number of cartridges is overwhelming, and from someone that must have them all, I have given up. It's just too expensive.

    I'm going over to the new site now and have a lookee see, sounds like just the thing we need.

    Hugs xx

    PS - thanks for getting the Lite cartridges over to us - still haven't had time to play with them though....LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diane that new site is brilliant and having the page show up certainly saves having to hunt for the handbook each time because the images on Design Studio are sometimes so small you can't see the details. It is perfect, I have bookmarked and will certainly use it.
    Kim xXx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Diane...I am definitely going to check it out right now. Your thoughts are exactly my thoughts. I was well on my way to collecting all of them but they went crazy and I stopped buying. I'll make do with what I have.

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, sounds like a great site! I will definitely check it out. Beautiful hydrangea!
    Jean

    ReplyDelete
  6. The photo is beautiful.
    Thanks so much for the web sight great idea I went over and checked it out.
    Thanks so much,
    Linda
    http://cardsbylinda.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you Diane for sharing our site with all of your readers, and thank you to everyone that uses our site.

    As Diane mentioned, we are brand new . . . we just launched on Sunday September 12, 2010 . . . so if you see things that we might have "missed" PLEASE contact us and let us know. We want this site to be something that you use, so it has to work for you and what you are doing.

    Thanks again,
    Shawn Mosch
    The Mom of the family behind CricutSearch.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. thanks for sharing this info., i've already bookmarked it for my holiday seasons work!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for a wonderful resource. Love the hydrangea too. This has been such a good year for their blooms. I have several different varieties myself. I love to use the dried flower heads in Christmas arrangements.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you, Diane! What a wonderful resource. I can see where this site will be extremely useful and time-saving. (and will probably prompt me to buy even more cartridges!)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love that site and have been using it since it launched. It sure helps me decide which cart I'll buy. You flower color is spectacular.
    Mary Ann

    ReplyDelete
  12. Diane:
    Just checked out the new site - WONDERFUL!!! I can actually SEE the images! I have shared the site with my scrapbooking group and I'm sure we will all be constant visitors! Thanks for the info!
    jackie

    ReplyDelete
  13. This site sounds like an answer to my prayers. I get so frustrated when I type in a keyword and get one response when I know I have it on several of my carts. I am headed right over there. You are the person in the know Diane!!!

    ps Beautiful flower.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a terrific idea!!! I can't wait to investigate! Thank you for letting us know about it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awesome. Thanks for the information. I went to the site and it is great and will save a lot of time and money.

    ReplyDelete
  16. VERY OVERWELMING, if I could afford them I would buy all but they are getting costly to keep up, this website is AWESOME just came from there and it takes all the work of searching and has it done in 2 minutes!!!! LOVE IT and already have it bookmarked. Thanks for the awesome tip!!
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  17. WOW - just jumped over to the site - it's fabulous! I even tested it against my Gypsy search feature and it pulled up more images! AWESOME!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your insight is bang on, Diane, I have felt overwhelmed by the influx of product and it has slowed my buying. The site is terrific, thanks for sharing it and your creativity.

    J

    ReplyDelete
  19. Diane,
    Thanks for great comments. I was happy to get an expressions machine and have had it a little more than 8 months. I have about 40 cartridges. I purchased 3 of the lite and won one. I will not be purchasing the new machine for a long time. I have a cuttlebug, and Gypsy. I have not had time to try the Gypsy yet. I hope that maybe if you can put the new cartridges in the Gypsy that you could still use them to cut in the Expressions. Thanks for the web site. I will check it out........

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks for the link, Diane. I'm going to bookmark it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks for sharing this information! Can't wait to try it out. I agree that it is extremely difficult to keep up with all that the Cricut cartridges have to offer. I'm sure this site will be a real help to everyone who uses it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you for sharing, I am one of those overwhlemed compulsive cartridge collectors.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The site worked just great. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I just went to the website and tried it...it's wonderful!! I sent them a comment praising the fact that they show all the books for the cartridges that have that image and even show the page itself. It's so much easier than going from cartridge to cartridge and still having to search for the key with the image. I'm so excited!! Can you tell?

    ReplyDelete
  25. thanks so much for sharing this site with us - it's really great to get this kind of help - you are terrific!

    ReplyDelete
  26. i tried out the site and after putting the martini glass i was looking for, nothing happened. then i went to the 'advanced search' and it led me to all the carts with that martini glass. i saved the link to my desktop and commented on their link letting them know i think it's wonderful. when using design studio, it's frustrating not being able to find what i'm looking for when out of 120+ carts, i know it's there somewhere. i think this will be a very useful tool when designing my cards. thanks for the headsup.
    katschriber
    cen30611@centurytel.net

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thanks so much for this info! I've posted a link to this post on my blog and also a link to the new reference site. I don't tell you enough how much I appreciate your info, but I really do.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I love to hear from the people who read my blog. I moderate all comments to keep spam off the blog without making you decode the squiggly letters so your comment may not appear immediately.