A Few Questions and Answers...

I am finally getting back to nearly normal after this nasty spring cold and I spent Monday catching up on some household chores and projects.  I also have been doing some more digital projects that I can share soon...and I did some more research for my "secret" project (it won't be long until I can explain this...).

I thought I'd try to answer a few of the questions I have received recently.  It seems that many people often have the same or similar questions, even if they don't ask them - so I thought it might be helpful.  Another reader might be able to help with some questions since I certainly don't have all of the answers!  Please leave a comment if you can add some more help or have a different view on a topic.

Design Studio Updates

Several people have asked whether Design Studio will still be updated since the Cricut CraftRoom online design tool is supposed to be launching soon.  I have been told by several PC representatives that Design Studio will continue to have font updates to add new cartridges, however, no more program updates are planned.  This means that you will be able to work with new cartridges in Design Studio but none of the "quirks" in the program will be fixed and no improvements will be made.

I find this frustrating because the Gypsy is too small and too slow for a lot of the complicated welding that I like to do.  A full page lace mesh that previews in a matter of seconds in Design Studio often takes nearly ten minutes to preview on the Gypsy.  The CraftRoom, once it is finally ready, is only available if you are online and there are circumstances when internet is not readily available or very expensive.  Design Studio is still worth having even with the "quirks" but it could be great if just a little more attention was given to fixing a few of the problems so we wouldn't have to do so many "workarounds" to get the desired results.

Why don't I like the Gypsy?

I don't dislike the Gypsy, but I do find that it doesn't do some of the things that I can do in Design Studio such as color previews to help plan a project.  I can see very well when I zoom in but the small screen makes it impossible to get a clear preview of a full page design as a whole.  I find it tiresome to tap and tap from screen to screen to do something that I can do in a few keystrokes on my computer (such as entering a new height and width).

Many of the things that people love about the Gypsy (saving paper, planning a full page at once, previewing the contents of cartridges) are the same things I like about Design Studio.  The portability is not an issue for me - I don't spend a lot of time in situations where I am waiting around for kids or appointments and I have a laptop so it is easy for me to connect to my Cricut and cut.

I do like the storage of the cartridges in the Gypsy.  I never minded plugging in the cartridges (and I try to design using as few cartridges as possible) but it is handy to take them with you in the Gypsy instead of bringing individual cartridges along on a trip.   I wish that it would be possible to cut from Design Studio with the Gypsy plugged in as a "mega-Jukebox" without needing to convert and move files to cut my designs.

What do I think about the CraftRoom...

I was able to do some testing of the new CraftRoom and it has a lot of potential.  The main drawback is the need to be online to use it.  I also wonder if it will be able to keep up with large numbers of users online at the same time.  Lots of the improvements and changes suggested by testers have been incorporated and it continues to get better.  Working with the Imagine colors and patterns is really a lot of fun and it adds some of the things that are not possible with the Imagine alone, such as scaling of the patterns when filling shapes of various sizes.

I haven't had particularly good luck while testing and have found that things bog down frequently.  I haven't been using it lately so there may be some more improvements that I am unaware of.  I do not know when it will be available to everyone and I hope that it is truly ready when it is fully released - it is definitely worth waiting longer to get something that lives up to the potential instead of being frustrated by a program that doesn't work as promised.

Cartridges  "missing"  from Design Studio

Several time a week someone asks why a certain cartridge is not in their Design Studio program.  It is important to update the program every time a new set of cartridges is added.  Right now, the program is current up to the March "Hello Thursday" cartridges.  If you go to THIS POST, you will see the information about updating by downloading ind installing the font pack.  For some reason, the download page has not been changed to reflect the cartridges added since last November.  You need to click on the download link to see the number on the update.  The most recent version number was V110308 and we are waiting for the update for the April cartridges.

If you are missing an older cartridge, it is possible that you do not have the most recent version of the software installed.  There hasn't been a program update since May, 2010 and the current version is 1.0.40422.0 (you can check this in the "Help" menu by clicking on "About").  If your cartridge is from earlier than May, 2010, but not one of the original cartridges, it would have been rolled into the program update. 

To download updates, go to the Cricut.com site the "check for updates" in the program does not work.  Here is a LINK to the page - you will need to sign in to the Cricut.com site to get access to the update page.

New Cuttlebug System

I had a reader tell me that she had purchased and returned the new Cuttlebug All-in-One system because she had trouble with the paper puckering and leaving marks around the embossed areas.  I tried these at the ProvoCraft booth at CHA and this didn't seem to be a problem but it was just a quick demo so I don't have the experience with these to be able to help with a solution.

There is a video on the Cricut Blog (click HERE) where Kristy demonstrates how to use the system, however, she embosses papers that are the same size as the plates, so the problem would not be evident.  Has anyone else used these folders and can you offer any advice - thanks!

Well - that turned into a very wordy post - so here is a photo for comic relief!  These are my bugs in a bucket from the Cricut Cruise - I think you can use the photo as wallpaper for your phone if you are so inclined!

(the butterflies at the top of this post are something I'll be writing about in a few days - aren't they pretty!)

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Official Cricut Blog and a Cuttlebug offer

Last week, a new Official Cricut Blog was announced. This will be a place to find out information about new cartridges, promotions and contests with posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.

Since the April "Hello Thursday" cartridges handbooks haven't been added to the Cartridge Library yet, this LINK will give you a look at the sample pages, the cut book images and some projects made with these cartridges.  (Cut books are the large binders full of samples of every cut on a cartridge that are shown at the trade shows and some other events).

When I checked late on Sunday the names of most of the cartridges had been added to the Cartridge Library page on the Cricut.com site, so I hope that the handbooks will be posted soon.  There is no update for Design Studio yet - I'll keep checking and let you know when I see it.  There were no new cartridges officially released for May (though some people did see some new cartridges before the decision was made to hold off until June for release).

The Official Cricut Blog is highlighting a special offer available on Cricut.com for the new Cuttlebug All-in-One system that was shown at CHA in January.  I had a chance to try this out at CHA and I like the flexibility the system allows.  Each set comes with a number of plates in various sizes that you place in the 6 x 9 folder to create your own customized design for embossing.  The sets are on sale for $14.99 (regularly $19.99)

The plates come in a storage case so you can keep everything together neatly.  It reminds me of the puzzles we used to have when I was a child - you have to make sure to fit things into the right compartment.  The whole system is also a lot like a Lego set and when our boys were young we could never have enough Legos (and still have most of them today!).  I think the sets that allow you to create monograms will be very useful - there are two alphabet styles available now (and most likely there will be more to follow...).

I am starting to get over this cold  - I took it very slow and rested a lot this weekend.  I hope to be back to normal this week - thanks for your patience for the past few days.

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Something you might enjoy...

 

I found the Wordle site a couple of years ago and wrote about it HERE  This is a great resource for designing word clouds that can be used for all sorts of projects.  I think they would be fun for t-shirts for a graduating class with all of the names listed.

Every so often, I try making a wordle using my blog feed as the source of the words.  The one at the top of this post is the most recent - I think I have been a little preoccupied with flowers lately!  (The size of the word is determined by how frequently it appears in the text used to create the cloud).

Click HERE for the direct link to the site.  Fair warning - you can spend a lot of time trying all of the variations.  I think you will have fun with it - try putting in the text of a famous speech or your child's history paper - anything goes!

The weather was beautiful Saturday but I did not get out to enjoy it.  I am hoping that another day of rest and some medicine will knock this cold out so I can get back to normal.  Thanks for all of the get well wishes!

I'll try to catch up with a new challenge and discussion topic next week.

link to Discussion Day #4  -  How do you decide?
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Under the weather...

The sun is finally shining here and I have come down with a dreadful cold.  I was fine yesterday morning, started with the sneezing and watery eyes last night and woke up feeling terrible.  Very little crafting was done today.  I do have things to share but, unfortunately, I have no energy to edit the photos and write up a "normal" post.  I can only hope that I recover as quickly as I caught this!

I have received several emails with questions about welding.  Welding is the key to the way I use my Cricut cartridges.  I usually work with Design Studio because it is easier to see and I prefer the speed of the computer for the complex welds that I like to make.  I sometimes forget that not everyone has been reading my blog since the beginning and since there is so much information in older posts that is helpful, I thought I post a few links to some of my tutorials and videos about welding.

There is a words and pictures post explaining welding HERE.   If you prefer videos, there is a list of Design Studio videos HERE. 

One of the things that is a little tricky is welding inside a frame - there is a video explaining how to do this HERE.

If you want to keep the detail or "webbing" cuts inside shapes that you weld together, you need to follow certain steps - this LINK will take you to the posts that explain how to do this. 

Blogger is giving me some trouble with the links so I hope that you will be properly directed - I'll try to check all of the links Saturday morning - while sipping tea and fighting off this nasty cold!

I hope you have a nice weekend!

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Take an idea and run with it!

Once you get started with an idea it can take over.  I decided to make some more flower and knot designs using letters in my Cricut cartridges.  There are so many possibilities - I have just started to explore the most promising fonts.  All of the designs I am posting today are from an older cartridge - can you guess which one?

Here are some of the designs I made.  I created them in Design Studio and then took some screen shots so I could bring them into my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 program and digitally color the designs.

 

I kept things simple and just used solid colors and gradients to fill in the elements of the designs.

This is a variation of the flower that is at the top of the post.

This design is made up of one letter repeated four times - can you spot it?

 There were some tricky angles to figure out on this one.

I added a little jeweled bee from the CM Dress it Up Digital Embellishments to this final design.  I will try adding some digital papers to the same designs and see what I can create.

I can even combine many of the same design along with some stripes to create my own paper.

I wanted to cut out some of these designs, however, I managed to "snip" my thumb while cutting off the boxtops for education coupon and my thumb is bandaged so it is not easy to manage the mats and paper right now.  I'll give it another day.

Only a couple of people have taken up the Playing Card Challenge.  I'll try to get my project finished and post it on Saturday.  If you want to do a last minute project, here is a LINK to the post with the inspiration cards.  The linky will expire at midnight on Friday.

I'd love to see any designs that you try using letters as the elements for new designs.  For those who asked, I will try to put together a video showing the design process and explaining how to make the welds work properly. 

We saw a little bit of sun trying to get through the clouds Thursday - maybe it will stop raining soon...

link to Discussion Day #4  -  How do you decide?

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