2 Free Cricut Cartridges when you buy the Cricut Expression Machine

Cricut is offering two free cartridges when you buy the Cricut Expression:

Buy the Cricut Expression at any retailer to receive the Printing 101 and My Community cartridges for free. Valid October 15, 2008 to December 15, 2008
(Must purchase the Cricut Expression between 10/15/2008 and 12/15/2008)

This is what you can cut with the free cartridges:



Check this layout about the Three Piggy Opera where Lisa uses the "My Community" Cartridge.

A $7.95 processing fee applies. Click here for the Rebate Form : https://www.creativexpress.com/rebate/index.php

www.customcrops.com has a great offer on the Cricut Expression right now, it's selling for $219.99 and includes two cartridges. If you add the two free cartridges for $7.95, you get the big cricut, and 4 cartridges for $228. The cartridges themselves are worth at least $120.
This is the best price I've ever seen.

40% off Coupon at Michaels

50% off at The Scrapbookers Dream store in Tewksbury MA

For those of you in MA, The Scrapbookers Dream Store has a great sale this week, 50% off. See the add from Laurie, the store owner and for more details, offers and events, check the website: http://www.thescrapbookersdream.net/

The store is awesome, she has tons of paper and the latest and greatest products. I went to the Black Friday sale , there was 40% off the entire store and goodie bags for the first 25 customers. I also got entered into a raffle. I have my fingers crossed! If I win the price ($250 in supplies!), I promise to share... not the price, but the pictures of my creations! just kidding, I'll share it with my scrapbooking friends.

I went back yesterday to the 50% off sale, and this time, I had promised myself to get something other than paper, so I got lots of ribbon and a calendar kit .

Last night, I started working on the calendar and I realized, I don't have any Christmas themed paper!! I'm going to have to go back! :-)

_____________________________________________________________________
Starting at noon on Monday, December 8 and continuing until 6 p.m. on Monday, December 15, the
ENTIRE STORE WILL BE ON SALE 50% OFF! (some exclusions do apply)

Joann Fabrics Specials

See Friday-Sunday specials here

Michales Coupons!

Cricut Cartridges will be on sale for 29.99
Saturday, November 29, through Sunday, November 3

Additional coupons:
http://mic.michaels.com/holidaymadnessa.aspx
http://mic.michaels.com/DoorbustersNE11-29.aspx
http://mic.michaels.com/HotBuysNE.aspx
http://mic.michaels.com/DoorbustersNE11-28.aspx

Free Photobook from Snapfish.com --> http://www.snapfish.com/freebook2008

I got this email from my friend Theresa. I think it would make a great gift and much easier that traditional albums!

_______________________________

Hi-

Just thought I’d pass this along in case anyone was interested. If you go to Oprah’s website, you can get a free photo book from Snapfish.com worth $30. It is an 8 1/2 x 11in book w/ 20 pages. (can have multiple pictures on one page). The only ‘catch’ is that you have to complete the book by this Sunday.

So…could be used as a great ‘free’ Christmas gift - - will just have to pay shipping, I assume. Once you create an account on Snapfish (if you don’t already have one), the book shows as a credit in the ‘Your Account’ information.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7

The book was promoted as a way to store children’s artwork (take a picture of it and then store in a photo book, rather than keep the original) - - but can be used for anything. Since my in-laws don’t get to see the kids in their daily lives, I’m hoping to make a ‘day in the life’ book - - -starting when the kids wake up today, going to the busstop, picture of their schools, etc. and ending at bedtime. (that’s if I can be organized enough today to get the photos I need)

Have a good day-

T

ACMoore Coupon 50% off

Here are two coupons for ACMoore, one is for 50% off one item and another one for 40% off one item!
http://images.acmoore.com/Coupons/46_08%20coupons.pdf

The cricut cartridges are also on sale for $39.99 !

http://images.acmoore.com/FlyerImages/46_08%20a.pdf

ACMoore 50% off coupon.

Happy Halloween Card

I made this card using the Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge. The letters are GoreFont downloaded from the internet and cut using SCAL.

Disney

These were the easiest pages ever. I got these pre-made pages at the NH convention. They're from Keller's Creations. Unlike the "Time Flies" series, these pre-made came all cut. READY to use! I like the good quality paper that she uses too. I honestly can't remember how much I paid but the sticker says $12.

After I finished the layouts, I still have 10 extra circles to use !

Happy Halloween

I used the Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge for this pages. I cut the letters with the Cricut using the software SCAL and the font is GoreFont.

Fire Engine

This is yet another set of pre-made pages from Time Flies. Don't judge me, they were on sale that day at the CM Scrapbooking convention!. Besides, this was from my "happy birthday present budget". And I'm not a very talented scrapbooker either, so I have to use other people's creativity too.
I have to admit that I was tired of cutting everything by hand and I ended up cutting the letters from the title with the Cricut.

Truck Day (2)

This is another set of pre-made pages by Time Flies.

Truck Day

Last year there was a Truck Day at the Cummings Office Park here in Woburn, MA. I took the kids and they had a great time. Well, Danny was a little scared.
I got these pre-made pages at the CM Scrapbooking convention in NH. They're made by Time Flies .

They looked really nice at the boot but I didn't realize that all the shapes came uncut! I had to cut everything by hand which was a lot of work.

If you're going to scrap with your girlfriends, these pre-made pages come in handy because you don't need to bring all your supplies, all you need is your scissors and glue and you can spend a nice afternoon scrapping without having to think of a nice layout. It's already there ready for you to cut. I still have a train design waiting for me...

Sea World

Sea World

I got these layouts at the CM Scrapbooking Convention in NH. They are laser cuts from EZLaser Designs. They make scrapping very simple. Is that cheating? Well, maybe. I have so many pictures from our Disney vacation that I want to scrap that I have to use some pre-made pages, otherwise, I'll be scrapping this for the rest of my life.

Sesame Street Live

Michaels 40% off Coupon !

Here's a coupon you can print! Enjoy!

Cricut Solution Cartridges for $37.49

Joann has the Cricut Solution Cartridges on sale for $37.49 and many others for $59.99.

At www.joann.com, I tried adding one Solutions Cartridge to my shopping cart and applying a 40% off coupon and I was surprised to see that it worked!. The shipping and handling was 7.95 and.

Adding shipping and the price of the cartridge (with coupon), the grand total was $37.94!
The code for online 40% coupon is EED236 and the coupon that you can bring to the store is this.



The Solutions Cartridges include:

Baseball Cricut Solutions
Basketball Cricut Solutions
Blackletter Cricut Solutions
Camp Out Cricut Solutions
Christmas Cricut Solutions
Stone Script Cricut Solutions
Soccer Cricut Solutions
Street Sign Cricut Solutions
Wedding Cricut Solutions
Home Accents Cricut Solutions

Another website with good deals on Cricut Cartridges is www.customcrops.com

Free Cricut Design Studio from Michaels

Ladies,

Cricut is offering a free copy of the Design Studio (full functionality, not just the trial version) with the purchase of 3 cartridges from Michaels.

The Design Studio is a software that allows you to create your own designs using the shapes and fonts from the cricut cartridges. You can weld, rotate, flip, etc. the images and then cut the design with your cricut.
For more information, see the Cricut website: http://www.cricut.com/getDSfree/

The offer is valid July 26, 2008 to August 8, 2008.

Angelina

Sale at the Scrapbookers Dream Store

For those of you in MA, the Scrapbookers Dream Store is having a sale on August 16th:

Christmas & Halloween in stock items are 50% off, papers &
embellishments included.

Check out the website for more details.

Melissa's Family Album - Part 1

My friend Melissa created a family album. She must've done around 50 pages in all. Here are some of them.

Cricut Cartridges $38.99 at www.customcrops.com

Custom Crops has a huge sale until 7/29th. Check out their website: http://www.customcrops.com/index.php

Cricut Cartridges $40 at Michaels

Michales has all Cricut Cartridges for $40 each.

Look at today's advertised specials

Cricut Cartridges 50% off at ACMoore

This week, ACMoore has the Cricut Cartridges and accessories (not including the machines) at 50% off (no coupon needed). I think it's a good opportunity to get replacement blades, cutting mats, paper and cartridges (also www.customcrops.com has always good deals on cartridges and machines).

Here's this weeks specials.

More Fonts and Shapes for your Cricut Machine

I recently installed the software "Sure Cuts a Lot" by Craft Edge on my computer. It works with the Cricut machine in a similar way than the Cricut Design Studio does. The difference is that you don't need to buy cartridges to cut shapes or fonts when using Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL). The software lets you cut any True Type Font font available on your computer.

Also any shape available in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format can be cut.
I've been using it for two days and so far, I'm very pleased with the results.

The software costs $75, which may sound like a lot of money, but considering that, out of the box I had 75+ different fonts to choose from, that's about $1/font (compared to $50 or more for a cartridge), the cost of the software seems like a bargain.
Besides, there are hundreds of free fonts available online to expand your collection.

What about the shapes?

a) You can use some of the shapes that people share on the Craft Edge's message board.
http://forums.surecutsalot.com/viewforum.php?f=9

b) You can try some free SVG's available online:

http://www.openclipart.org/downloads/0.12/openclipart-0.12.zip
They claim to have over 3100 images submitted by over 200 artists from around the world (although not all are suitable for cutting in the cricut unless you edit them).

c) You can also create your own designs. I tried using InkScape (free software) and it worked perfectly. I draw a dump truck that I copied from a pre-made page and considering that I’ve never used the software before and I’m not at all a graphics artist, the results were awesome. I’ll be adding this layout later and you will see for yourself.

I have to tell you that InkScape was a little intimidating at first but I found two tutorials available online that took me step by step into making my first creation.

Is there a trial version of Sure Cuts a Lot?

Yes, you can use a trial version of SCAL. The downside is, that it cuts a few straight lines across the design as a "watermark" before and after your design is cut. Some people have found a way around it by setting the blade on the Cricut machine to depth 1 when it stats cutting because the straight line is cut first and at the end too. I tried it and although it is possible to get your design without the watermark, it's a bit of a hassle.

In a nutshell, these are the steps to get everything installed on you computer:

1) Install Cricut Desing Studio (CDS)

- Download and install a free trial version of the Cricut Design Studio available at
- Follow the install guide.
- Once the installation is complete, open the Design Studio and follow the instructions to "Update Firmware"

- That's all you need to do with the CDS, of course you can also use it to cut shapes included in the cartridge that came with the machine (George Basic Shapes if you have the Cricut and Accent Essentials and Planting Schoolbook if you have the Cricut Expressions)


2) Install SCAL
- Download a trial version of SCAL from the Craft Edge website:

http://www.craftedge.com/download/download.html
- Install the software
- Create your first design and Cut!

I’ll be adding a How To guide with images later on. Thanks for looking!

Angelina

Higgins Armory Museum

We went to the Armory Museum a few months ago. These are some of the pages that I've made so far.

ACMoore 25% and 50% off coupons.

ACMoore Coupon 50% off May 31st.

CKC Scrapbooking Convention - 2008 Latest & Greatest with BasicGrey

2008 Latest & Greatest with BasicGrey
This class was sponsored by embellishIT. It was a 1 hour class and the cost was $21.
We worked on 4 double page 12x12 layouts using some of the newest products on the market from BasicGrey Papers, Bazzill Cardstock and Imaginisce Embellishments. The class moved fast but we had time to complete one page of each layout (without pictures). The other half of each layout was sold separately at the boot.
We used a white ink pen to decorate the scallop borders on the brown paper (sold separately for $2) and I loved it. I even go a second one for my sister.
The instructor was Shelby Dredge. She was great!
The class kit included the materials to make 1/2 of the following layouts (4 12x12 paper, 3 12x12 sheets of stickers, all the cut to size pieces of paper, paper flower, brads, etc.)
Of all the classes that I took, this had the best paper.


Here are the pictures of the layouts with and without pictures.