Yeahp- you saw that right- I'm shouting, not just typing all in CAPS, email-from-Mom-style.
Why am I so Cricut-Crazy tonight?
Maybe you're something like me- prone to excitement, a tad obsessive and suffering from a severe case of SILHOUETTE envy.
You know what SILHOUETTE envy is- it's the feeling you get when you're cruising the scrapblogs with your mouth open, drooling a bit over all the classy cuts the Silhouette can do...
Then, you turn to your Cricut. It's sittin' at its spot. Staring at you, like a kid with a runny nose.
Before I get too far with my story, let's take a trip down memory lane.
I got my first Cricut a little over a year ago. It was the 'baby' Cricut. Is that the Cricut Create? The Cricut Personal Cutter? I can't remember its official name and I'm too lazy to open a new tab on the old browser here and Google it- but you know what I'm talking about- the 'baby' Cricut that cuts on those 6x12 mats. Yeah, that one.
I didn't buy my Cricut at a store. I got it from a scrappy co-worker, who had recently upgraded to the Expression. I kinda lucked into CricutLand. She even gave me a cartridge (Home Accents). My first Cricut and my first cartridge! What a day! Because I have such an obsessive personality, I didn't have 'just one cartridge' for long. That evening, I was combing Wal-Marts and lucked into a couple of 'lite' cartridges in the clearance aisle for 7.00 each. I also scored DON JUAN. I'm guessing someone tore up the box for the Cricut machine it was packaged with- as an employee had found it and it's keypad overlay and taped them together. The cashier didn't know what to do with a box-less, no book-no machine cartridge so she let me have it for 7.00, too.
I was hooked! I loved cutting things out. I'd cut things out just to watch the machine cut them out. When I saw (about two months later) that MICHAELS was going to sell the BRAND SPANKIN' NEW and beautiful CRICUT EXPRESSION 2 at their 'open at 4pm on Thanksgiving DAY sale,' I took that as a sign that YES, I must buy it... So, after Thanksgiving din-din, I bugged my Mom into braving Michaels with me. And BRAVING, it was. The place was packed. And crazy. As I cruised aisles with my CE2 in my cart, no less than SEVEN women started up conversations with me by saying, 'Ohhhhh! You're gonna make a girl happy on Christmas DAYYYYY!'
Yeah. No less than SEVEN women assumed I was there to buy the thing for a lucky little lady back home. The first lady, I crushed her excitement by exclaiming, "WHAT? WHO? HUH? WHAT THE HELL YOU TALKIN' BOUT?! THIS BE MINES!" She looked as if I'd hit her with her own knock-off Coach bag. Huhhhhhh? I didn't know it provided a vicarious thrill, imagining another lady opening up a Cricut on Christmas morning.
So, the rest, I allowed their joy. I told great stories. Nice stories, too. Nice, sweet stories. Even while I fought the urge to make up a story like, "Yeah, I'm trying to make it up to her, for sleeping with her sister- hope the new Cricut does the trick!"
Wow- how I digress.
Anyways. I ended up being the head of a two Cricut household.
But shortly after my big CE2 purchase, I began seeing all these Silhouette cuts on all these kick-ass layouts. Dangit.
I started shopping for a Silhouette. No store carried this elusive thing. I don't know if you're like me and/or I don't know if you know this about me- but I HATE to order things online. I hate paying for something and waiting for it to arrive. I go crazy. And then I usually end up needing a vacation day from work on the scheduled delivery day so that I don't have to risk the mailman putting a slip of paper into my mailbox cuz the box was too big and THEN HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TIL I CAN MAKE IT TO THE POST OFFICE DURING THE TEN MINUTES THEY'RE OPEN WHEN I'M NOT AT WORK to pick up my treasures. Therefore- I've remained Silhouette-less.
But this week, something magical happened.
I began to USE my CE2 again. While cruising online for Cricut tips, I downloaded the newest Cricut Craft Room software onto my MacBook. I know this isn't a brand new thing and you're probably gonna shout "WHAT'S NEW AND EXCITING ABOUT THAT?!"
Well, it's NEW to me. Not so new to me, as I used the 'online only web version' a tiny bit, in the past, while pretending to be working but really just playing at the office. But now, with the app on my computer- I had a brainstorm. A real hurricane. (Sorry, East coast.)
See that?! Silhouette style frames with attached WORDS! Yeah! And IT'S EASY! Click on an image. Resize it. Size it. Weld letters to it. Make a new shape by sticking another shape on its side. (Note to my readers: going forward, I have changed the terminology. 'Sticking' means 'welding.'
And there's those cute little effers all cut out. I'm in love.
Couldn't stop cutting all night. There's an arrow with a word attached!
And...well, I'll stop with the show-n-tell, now. It just kinda went on like that for hours and hours- 'designing' in the Cricut Craft Room, cutting and squealing like a pig in CARRIE.
Thank you, Cricut Craft Room. You made me love my Cricut again. I still want a Silhouette. Sure, I do. But I no longer feel like the ugliest scrapper at the crop.
-kory
