The Cricut Crafting Struggle is Real

My paper crafting journey began shortly after my youngest grandson was born twenty-one years ago. I purchased a scrapbooking kit I found on sale and began with that. A year or so later my sister met someone who sold Creative Memories and we both became fans of that representative, Cyndi Newman, and her products.
 We went to our first crop which is where we became aware of the Cricut Cutting Machine and immediately became fans. My friend Patty was also at the crop and was already using the Cricut and advised us about which cartridges to buy. As soon as we got home we went on Amazon and purchased a used Cricut and the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge.
My first struggle was trying to remove items from the VERY STICKY MAT! After ruining many a cut I learned to pull the mat away from the paper instead of the paper away from the mat. My next and more pressing struggle was trying to understand how to size objects. If I had stopped there I would not be writing this blog. But a wonderful thing occurred. I found Cricut Craft Room online.
There were certainly some struggles with that because of some connection and program configuration issues. That all changed when Ashish Arora became the CEO.
None of this prevented me from buying the next generation of Cricut Machines which was the Cricut Expression. Owning this machine put me on my current path and I am now the proud owner of the Explore Air 2.
You know that the Maker is in my future!!!

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE COMING SOON

First Cricut Class

After a totally frustrating day attempting, and failing, to print the student handouts I led my first Cricut class last night at the Parkville Maryland Joann store. I had three students who were so talented they barely needed my help. We had some struggles with internet connections, but they all creatively used their phones or ipads.
The best part was that they didn't just use the plans in the teaching guide, but made their own unique designs.
My hope is that all of you who have Cricut machines that you still have not taken out of the box will be brave and take the leap to try it out. If you don't want to do it on your own find a class or watch youtube videos.

Cricut Easy Press Guide

Just a quick note to let Easy Press owners/users know that there is a new downloadable heat setting guide. Go to Cricut.com online and scroll down until you find it. You can open it on your computer and/or download it. It is much easier to follow than the one that comes with the press. There are also pictures to enhance the directions and an explanation of the icons used in the instructions.
If you make projects using iron-on vinyl the Easy Press is a great addition to your crafting supplies. It provides even pressure and covers a larger area than your regular iron. If you also get the pressing pad you won't need to set up your ironing board. This is a big plus for me.
I like it so much that I use my press for some of my regular ironing also.
Although it is not listed as an iron on surface, my friend and I ironed vinyl on a piece of wood. I was amazed at how well it turned out. If she gives me permission I will post of photo of it.

Learning to Video With Melody Lane

As a crafter interested in teaching others what I have learned it is necessary to make youtube and, nowadays, live presentations. I've made some youtubes (which you are welcome to watch) which I find very boring. My voice is monotone and my presentation mundane. Well, tonight, I will start learning to video and live stream from one of my favorite presenters, Melody Lane. As mentioned in other posts, she is so generous with sharing her knowledge and I am so grateful that she has decided to offer this training. The only cost is through her regular Patreon Program. In the past, I have signed up with people offering grand solutions to make the most of online work and have been very disappointed. With Melody Lane, I know that I can trust her to provide freely and generously of her knowledge without a hidden agenda to ask you to keep signing up in more, and more expensive, programs. And, hopefully, it won't be long before I can, unashamedly, ask you to watch my future videos and join some live presentations. Wish me luck.

Cricut success after much drama

I spent the entire morning struggling to connect to my Cricut machine. I could easily access the Design Space site and open my design, but could not get either of my computers to connect to the machine. I repeatedly followed the on-screen directions to reset the connection to no avail. I repeatedly turned everything off and on. I went online to seek help from Google. HOURS !!! Although I haven't used the cord since I bought the machine, since it has Bluetooth, I searched the house to see if I could find it. Also to no avail. Just as I was ready to give up entirely it occurred to me that others might be experiencing the same problem and checked Facebook. Sure enough, that was the case. Thanks to whoever it was that posted suggestions on resolving this as they worked and I was able to complete my project of personalizing my machine.

Cricuting, Crafting, and Cardmaking While OCD

Yes, I'm OCD. Not Monk OCD, I don't do repetitive rituals or anything like that. So how does OCD play out in my life? Especially my crafting life? Well, let me give you some history. My family and friends used to point out to me that they could always pick out my car in a parking lot because my car was always neatly between the lines. When I was a hairdresser I was the world's slowest hairdresser because I couldn't finish until I felt my work was perfect. When I make paper copies in a copier I can't tolerate crooked or pale copies or wrinkles in the paper. Part of the reason for this is that I had the idea that there is ONE right way to do things. And that led me to strive to perform every task correctly.

Well, you might be able to guess by now that it could be difficult for me to manage the inconsistencies in paper crafting. And you would be right. Especially in the beginning when you imagine that everyone else has it all together and never get blobs of glue all over their embellishments. And always get card layers evenly spaced. And OH the horror of stamping fails. I was soooo happy to learn of the MISTI. But, of course, I could still find ways to mess that up. When you blame yourself for paper cutting or folding bombs that you now know are due more to paper quality or type than because you are a complete DUNCE.

So, you may ask, how have I managed to, not only stick with it but, improve to the point that I am teaching a card class and just became a Cricut instructor at Joann Fabric. The truth is that I love creating, solving puzzles, and learning. I had enough success, in the beginning, to believe that I could, at the very least put a card together if I needed one in a hurry. By now I have become one of those crafters who has spent thousands to put together a card I could have paid five dollars for. But, I didn't start making cards to save money. It was because I wanted cards that accurately reflected what I wanted to convey.

Why did I think I needed to post this topic? I get so frustrated when I see on facebook posters who say they bought a Cricut but haven't even taken it out of the box. They are convinced that they won't be able to produce what they see others producing. They are paralyzed by their notion that they shouldn't make mistakes or have to ask for help. The truth is though that Cricut makes it very easy to get started by providing ready-made items and plenty of help from their staff and facebook support.

I hope that this post will encourage others to take chances. Do it in private if you must, so that no one need ever know your work wasn't perfect. Or, better yet, find a group or live classes so that you can get help and support from others who started out just like you.

Cricut Instructor

Yahoo !!! I'm so excited to announce that I was hired as a Cricut Instructor at a Joann Fabric store in Parkville Maryland. My first class is scheduled for August 10th and is an Intermediate Class. We will make a layered card, cut and adhere sticker vinyl to a coffee cup, and complete a layered iron on tee shirt. All in three hours! Whew, that's pretty fast. If you live in the area I would love to see you in a class, but if you live elsewhere and want classes look for a Joann's near you and ask if they are teaching Cricut classes.