Best Buy Cricut/Gypsy Bundle

Hello Everyone!!

Did you know that the cricut and gypsy have made their way into BEST BUY stores all across America!?  Yep... the Cricut Demo Army has been busy demonstrating the new bundle for weeks now.  Provocraft and Best Buy have teamed up and bundled the Baby Bug & Gypsy together for only $299.  To sweeten the deal, they also put the SUMMER IN PARIS seasonal cartridge in the bundle.  Great deal for someone who is new to cricut.





So, anyway... I personally am demonstrating the baby bug and the gypsy in two different Best Buy stores.  Talk about funny!  The demographics that we are demonstrating to are definitely the 'non-crafter' and are mostly made up of the 'techie-fans' who are amazed at what these little machines can do.  My first weekend in the stores, I probably demo'd more to the employees of the stores than to anyone else!  Here is how it went:

ME:  Hi there!  My name is Tammy and I am your demonstrator for the Cricut products in your store!

BEST BUY MGR:  Great!  We were wondering what this thing did!  The pallets arrived 4 days ago and nobody knew what it was.

ME:  Okay, (chuckling) just let me set up and I will be happy to show everyone!

(set up my display and started demonstrating the gypsy to the employees... I was surrounded, wish I had a picture of it, it was hilarious!)  Next thing I know, someone from the Geek Squad approaches me...

GEEK SQUAD GUY:  "They" say that you can make anything you want with that gypsy thing and then cut it out?

ME:  Well, not quite anything, you are still limited to the shapes and fonts that are available on the Cricut cartridges and you must also 'own' the cartridge in order to cut with it.  BUT... because there are basic shapes, most things can be made by welding shapes together or changing already existing shapes.

GEEK SQUAD GUY:  Hmmmphf... well, can you make our 'Black Tie' Protection logo?



ME:  Well... that looks easy enough... how about this:



The tie is from PAPER DOLL DRESS UP and the open ended circle is actually the letter 'C' on it's side, shadowed both with a circle from GYPSY WANDERINGS.

GEEK SQUAD GUY:  Hmmmm... okay... that was good... but I bet you can't make our GEEK SQUAD logo!



ME:  Well.... give me a minute (I love a good challenge! lol). 

The oval background was easy enough... found that on GYPSY WANDERINGS too.  I didn't actually have white cardstock with me, so I substituted grey and believe it or not, I had black and orange cardstock.  The word "Geek" looked like GYPSY FONT to me and it was pretty close...



... see the 'G' is a little different and so is the 'k', but I thought they looked good.  Of course, the word 'squad' was cut using MICKEY FONT.  What do you think?  hehee



I think it would look better with the white cardstock instead of the grey and while it is not an exact match (therefore hopefully not breaking any trademark laws, lol), it would look great on a scrapbook page if my son worked for the Geek Squad or something.

GEEK SQUAD GUY:  That's sweet!  Can I have it?

ME:  Thank you... of course, you can have it!  (smiling & wishing we had really bet something! lol)

Naturally, I had to expand my new Best Buy cricut horizon and make the BEST BUY tag logo too!





This one was easy... I took the tag from PLANTIN SCHOOLBOOK and made it shorter and taller, shadowed it with a black shadow and used good ole' MICKEY FONT for the title.  Again, it is not exact, but I already know what scrapbook layout I'm going to use it with!  I have pictures of my sscrubby & son waiting in line all night for the release of a new game!  Hehee... I bet that there are several of you who could use this cutfile!  Let me know and I will make the cutfiles available!

So, there you go... that is my experience at Best Buy with the Cricut.  It was so much fun... can you believe we actually get paid to do this!?  I've really enjoyed meeting so many people... both cricut fans and cricut newbies.

Come back tomorrow, because I am kicking off my WINTER WEDNESDAYS with the newly released CHRISTMAS CARDS Seasonal Cartridge!  Warning though... you are going to 'need' this cartridge for your Christmas cards!

Don't forget to leave a comment HERE for a scholarship to a CARA MILLER Cricut class of your choice at http://www.mycreativeclassroom.com/!  Winner will be drawn on Monday!

Cricutingly yours,

Online Cricut Classes - Cara Miller

Hello Everyone!

You all know how I love to stay busy!  Well, I have been designing the following projects for a friend of mine who teaches online cricut classes:

B IS FOR BOY





BOYS WILL BE BOYS





CELEBRATE WITH FLOURISH



CREATE A CRITTER



GRAPHICALLY SPEAKING





JUST BECAUSE





LOCKER TALK





ROCK PRINCESS

(this one is my favorite... isn't the model cute!? lol  He is an AUDIO TECH, hence the headphones with music coming out of them)






These projects are only a small part of each class that explores a cartridge and walks you through the creative features and other projects.  The classes cost $15 and are three weeks long and.... well... I should let Cara tell you more! LOL!

Please allow me to introduce you to Cara Miller!



"I am a teacher …that is it. Plain and simple…and I want to help you learn all about the Cricut. I teach classes online at My Creative Classroom. I offer Classes To Go … a cd to have with you whenever you want. And I teach Cricut workshops at Croptopia Getaways. My blog www.caramiller.com tells you all about my classes and how to get started.

If you are like me …and many of my students…you were really excited when you finally got your Cricut. You couldn’t wait to cut those amazing intricate titles and cards. Now your pages were just to knock your socks off! But….….does this sound familiar?


After opening the box and staring at all the parts and pieces…you thought “oh I have seen the infomercial and I have watched my friends…I know what to do!” So you dive in …select a title, load the paper and press cut. So excited….the machine eats the cardstock. Hmmm …. spin a few dials…load another mat and press cut. Nothing…machine wizzes around and the paper gets a few scratches. Crap…the phone is ringing.

Hours later..after picking up the kids and making dinner and doing some laundry … you look at the mess and decide you will learn the Cricut another day. And that day is still not here.

Well I am here to tell you that you too can fall in love with your Cricut. I will help you figure out how to be in charge of that little green bug.

A little bit about me: After my degree in education came babies…5 of them… and there was not really time to pursue my dreams of kindergarten teacher. The years went by and the baby went off to college. As my treatment plan for Empty Nest Syndrome I went back to college too, earning my Masters in Education. During that time the Cricut came into my life and I was bitten by that crazy green bug! I could not get enough. My dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher changed into Cricut teacher (very similar …paper, cutting and snack time!) and I have never looked back. I love my job!

I have a special offer for all of Tammy's readers... anybody that enrolls in a class by September 13th and posts “Tammy Sent Me” in their introduction will be entered in a Creative Critters contest. I will give away a free seat in a cartridge class of their choice this semester! 

Click on CARA MILLER to see Cara's schedule of cricut classes!  She offers everything from Design Studio to several specific cartridge classes!

Click on MY CREATIVE CLASSROOM to enroll or to even take some FREE classes that are offered!  It is so cool!

I will add my own little giveaway and will gladly offer a SCHOLARSHIP for one class of your choice with Cara Miller!  Just leave a comment on this post anytime this week!  Winner will be randomly drawn next Monday!

Enjoy everyone!

Cricutingly yours,

Download Cricut Cartridges to the GYPSY!!

Yep... you read it right.  Everyone has been asking for the option of downloading cartridges and/or single images to the gypsy!  Looks like Provocraft is 'testing' it out with Cricutmachine.com.... check out this link:

http://www.cricutmachine.com/product_info.php?products_id=515

Really cool! Hope it leads to more downloads!

Have a great weekend everyone!  I'll be cropping all day today with my church group and demoing the expression at the Plano Michaels store on Sunday!  So see you again on Monday!  I've got some great projects to share with you!

Cricutingly yours,

Tammy

PICTURESQUE, CHRISTMAS NOEL & GYPSY FONT: Vinyl Window Decorations:

Hello Everyone!

Just another quick project from last year... many of you are new followers and many of you may have missed some of them, so I'm just sharing a few of my favorites.  This one was with vinyl... gotta love vinyl... and my gypsy... gotta love the gypsy too!  I have also added a new label titled SEASON - CHRISTMAS on the right side of my blog.  That should make it easier for you to find the holiday stuff when you need it!

Can I just tell you that I am addicted to my Gypsy! Yes, my name is Tammy and I am in love with a GYPSY! Forget TEAM EDWARD...forget TEAM JACOB! I vote for TEAM GYPSY!! Lol! I had another dentist appt (ugh) today and the only good thing about going to the dentist these days is that it gives me the opportunity for some extra 'Gypsy Time'. I actually designed this project plus another one for later all during the 'wait' times at the dentist.

I used the 12x24 mat on my gypsy...

"Jingle Bells" was welded together using the GYPSY FONT (4") that comes with the gypsy. If you don't have the gypsy, you can still use other fonts for this project... the gypsy just makes it much easier and that font is the BEST cursive font to weld together. Don't ya love that red vinyl!

The bells are from CHRISTMAS NOEL and were cut in white (cotton) vinyl at 4". These bells were the inspiration for the whole thing. Cute, aren't they?

I was originally going to just cut straight strips of vinyl for the strings on the bells... but as I looked at the PICTURESQUE cartridge more, this swirl caught my eye and I realized that it was perfect for my string! I used lime green vinyl and cut two out at 3", then stretched one out to 11" wide.

DH loves this project too... because it meant no more hanging a wreath on our back door, that moves everytime he goes thru it! We compromised on the garland, lol!

This was such a fun project! Remember that vinyl isn't just for wall art... this would also look great on your car/van/suv window. Think of all the window space you might have that is just screaming for some vinyl! 

Hmmm.... now I 'm thinking about decorating that back door for Halloween! 

Have a great day everyone!

Tammy

ASHLYN'S ALPHABET - Family Photo Birdhouse

HELLO EVERYONE!

Well, just over a year ago, I along with two friends, Joy & Melanie, we started a little ole' blog called CHRISTMAS WITH THE CRICUT.  Wow... it was an awesome adventure.  Provocraft was our main sponsor and we had many other great paper companies sponsor us too.  That little ole' blog is now called the EVERYDAY CRICUT... and Joy & Melanie are still working their tail-ends off with posts almost everyday!  They have gathered quite a talented 'Saturday crew' and together post some amazing cards and scrapbook layouts, not to mention some cool giveaways!  We counted down to Christmas... a total of 22 weeks if I remember correctly.  While I no longer have the time to devote to that many projects & blog posts each week... starting September 1st, I will be posting a Cricut Christmas project every Wednesday until Christmas here on my blog.  In the meantime, hop over to the EVERYDAY CRICUT blog, because the girls are posting some cute Christmas cards this week!

In the meantime... I will be re-posting some of my favorites from last year here on my blog.  This one is a great gift idea and little did I know when I made this that we would lose my father-in-law to cancer before Christmas... made this particular gift even more special.


This is from the ASHLYN'S ALPHABET cricut cartridge. I love crafting... and I love making personal gifts for the ones I love. Homemade gifts can be expensive, sometimes more expensive than simply buying the gift. But, here is an idea that is not only unique, but very inexpensive to make. With a little thought and planning with the pictures, not only is it fun and easy to make, but makes a great gift!




This is a gift for my inlaws. We had these family pictures taken together because I think it is important that my kids have pictures with their grandparents. My inlaws are retired and they are fortunate to be able to RV full time... so while they have this awesome RV, there is just not alot of room for photo frames on the walls. We bought them a digital photo frame last Christmas, which was perfect... but I KNOW my mom-in-law is going to love this birdhouse WAY more and I know right where she will put it too. There's a great spot right over her kitchen sink in front of this little window. It will make her smile everytime she does the dishes... I mean, seriously, don't we all need motivation to 'smile' while doing the dishes! LOL!



I bought the little birdhouse at MICHAELS for $1!



My supplies are:


- unfinished wood birdhouse


- one piece of paper from a K&Company stack


- white craft paint


- mod podge


- some glitter


- 3 pictures (4x6 in size)




My tools are:


- bone folder


- foam paintbrush


- my cricut (even the baby bugs can do this one!)


- ASHLYN'S ALPHABET cartridge.


I started with finding a frame for the bird hole. ASHLYN'S ALPHABET has some really cute frames which I think are worth the purchase of the cartridge alone... not to mention the THREE different fonts that it offers!



I measured the opening of the hole (1") and added an inch for the frame... so my first cut was 2". I decided to go ahead and cut a 1.75" and an 1.5" to see which one comes close to fitting best. It was the second one (1.75").



Look at this medallion! It was perfect for my peg embellishment.



Now to find a border for my trim...



I liked the top part of this one, so I cut it in half.




Used plain white cardstock for my practice cuts...



Time to cut the pictures and paper to fit.



CRAFTY TIP: USE YOUR BONE FOLDER TO FIT THE PICTURES INTO TIGHT SPACES, THEN SIMPLE CUT THE CREASE ON YOUR PAPER TRIMMER. Your photo will fit perfectly everytime.


I love that photo of my inlaw's hands... they have been married for 50yrs and I think that their hands tell their love story.



Now, all my pieces are cut and laid out. Time to paint.



After the paint dried, I applied a coat of mod podge to the birdhouse...




...and a thin coat to the back of the pictures/papers and then placed it on the birdhouse.



Once you have mod podged everything on, paint another coat of mod podge over the top of the photos/papers. It will be milky, but will dry clear. Be careful of your brush strokes, like painting, you want them to be uniform.




After completely drying, I added some glitter to the peep hole, the peg and around the base... just to give it some sparkle.




See... don't you just love the picture of their entwined hands? I do. It's my favorite part.




I love making these personalized birdhouses. I've even made several with different themes, like...

"Birds of a Feather, Flock Together" (pictures of friends)


"Love Birds" (couples)


"One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" (silly face pictures)

Get creative with it and have fun.

Cricutingly Yours,

Tammy