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Cricut Imagine Product Review

Posted by christy in CHA | Craft | Cricut | Events | Projects | Reviews - (2 Comments)

I’ve had almost a week with my Cricut Imagine now and I’m still figuring out some things but I thought I’d share my first thoughts.  The video is a little long.  It includes a bit of a tutorial on how to use the machine and then shows how I made some paper dolls.

The beginning includes a basic overview of the machine. At around the 2 minute mark, I start adding images and using the screen. At 6:26, you’ll see loading the mat, printing, and cutting. The finished items are shown at 9:20.

The GOOD

  • High quality printing using HP technology and inks
  • Touch screen is intuitive and easy to use
  • Perfect for cartridges that have a lot of layering as it saves time since you don’t have to change out your papers
  • Quick way to make your own scrapbook paper and embellishments to match
  • Uses the same blades and cartridges as other Cricut products

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

  • Ability to save your work
  • More design flexibility (across all Cricut products)
  • Mats, mats, mats!
  • Could use more designs and images on the Imagine Art cartridges
  • SIZE! This thing is really big
  • Cost. I have yet to price the printer cartridges  and find out how long they last. But, that will be an added expense

OVERVIEW

Should this machine replace your Cricut Expression? Probably not. The ability to print and cut is a nice feature but for me, it doesn’t justify going out and getting a whole new machine. This could be just the type of machine that avid scrapbookers would want but for the crafting I do, it is a bit redundant to have this and an Expression.

For the ease of use and high quality production, I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. It lost points on the size, my mat problems, and the fact that for me, it isn’t quite different enough from the Expression to make it worth the upgrade.

What do you think about the  Cricut Imagine?

The Cricut Imagine was a gift for attending their gala during the Craft & Hobby trade show. I have not been compensated for this post and the opinions are my own.

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Despicable Me Crafts: Thumbprints to Unicorns

Posted by christy in CHA | Challenges | Craft | Events | For Kids | Paper | Projects - (0 Comments)

This post is all about my creative process and how most of the time my ideas don’t work and I come up with something completely different.

I had some really great craft ideas surrounding the movie, Despicable Me.  Most of those had to do with the little minions.  My kids LOVE those little guys.  I thought I might be able to make a lot of little minions using thumbprints.  I was smart enough to practice.

When it was clear that my thumbprint minions needed some work, I changed directions and started going in the fluffy unicorn direction. You can see my amazing rendition of a fluffy unicorn.  Drawing is not one of my strengths.

Cricut to the rescue.  There is a sweet unicorn in the Once Upon a Princess Cartridge.  I cut that out and decided to cover it with fluff.

Recognize the card?  It was part of the Dinotalk Scrapbook Invitational.  The fluff is cotton layered on top of some tacky glue.  I also had to throw in a rainbow for good measure (also on the Once Upon a Princess cartridge).  The clouds received some fluff, as well.

It is all on top of some glittery paper and, because it is a product from Dinotalk, it talks!  The inside says, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!”.

So, there you have it.  That’s how I went from thumbprints to unicorns.

Dinotalk is the sponsor of next month’s craft challenge.  If you’d like to try out their products, you can sign up for the challenge until Sept. 30th. I have a limited number of the products so when they’re gone, they’re gone!

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Online Sewing Resources

Posted by christy in CHA | Events | National Sewing Month | Sewing/Fabric | Stuff I Like - (0 Comments)

Where do you go online for the best sewing resources?  I thought I’d share a few of mine and we can continue this discussion in the comments.

photo from Spoonflower. Click to order this fabric.

Spoonflower is a site where you can design your own fabric or purchase designs made by others.  If you can’t find that perfect fabric, just make your own!  I have yet to try out the design side of the site, but I know the finished product is high quality and the ordering process is easy.

photo from Sew, Mama, Sew. Click for post and tutorial.

Sew, Mama, Sew! is a shop, blog, and forum full of sewing info, tips, and inspiration. I included the picture of one of my favorite projects on there…the ticker tape quilt.  What a great way to use up those super tiny scraps!

Shannon, from The Nina Line, has some amazing videos on her site (among other things).  I met Shannon at CHA and she’s even one of the product sponsors of the craft challenge this month!  Go by and check out here site.

Did I get the ball rolling?  Where do you go for online sewing resources?  I haven’t even scratched the surface here.

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Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Posted by christy in CHA | Events | Reviews | Stuff I Like - (0 Comments)

The Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner was my favorite new tool from the summer CHA show.  A lot of other people agreed because it won 1st prize for Innovation.

It is a small and portable scanner with a lot of capabilities.  You don’t need a computer to use it.  It uses an SD card to store the scanned images and then you can use that to upload to your computer, take to the photo kiosk, or put in your digital frames.

I rarely scan in my old photos because my scanner is so big and clunky.  Not only that, but it is connected to my old desktop that I never use anymore.  This could easily solve that problem.

I also would like the option to scan in some of my projects.  I’d like to make a greeting card and then just pull over my scanner, plop it on top, and grab the image.  Nice.

I can see so many uses for this and I really want to get one.  They are taking pre-orders at this time and the first 100 orders before August 16th receive a free (additional) 2 GB SD card.  Watch the video to see it in action.

I have not used this product extensively but I did get a chance to use it a little bit at the trade show.  I have not received any product or compensation in return for this post.  However, the links included in this post are affiliate links and if you do decide to purchase one, I would receive a few dollars.

CHA Trendspotting: Flocking and Lace

Posted by christy in CHA | Events | Stuff I Like - (0 Comments)

The paper pictured above is from Anna Griffin and it is flocked.  Flocking is the process of applying small fibers onto a surface.  Flocking has been around for a long time.  On my trip to Europe this summer I even saw some old wallpaper that had been flocked.  It was gorgeous!  Using this technique on scrapbook embellishments isn’t new but I did see a lot more of it this summer than in the past.

This paper, from Little Yellow Bicycle, isn’t a traditional lace but fits the trend.  Most of their lines included some lacy cut-out frames, paper, and embellishments. This is from their Christmas Delight line.

One of my favorite things from CHA was seeing the flocked heat transfer rolls from Silhouette.   You can cut out your designs (using a Silhouette machine, other personal cutting machine, or even by hand) and then they are ready to iron-on.  I definitely want to try some of that out!

Are incorporating flocking and/or lace into your own crafts?  Would you?

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“My Own Monster” from SEI Crafts

Posted by Refibered in CHA | Events | For Kids | Projects | Reviews - (1 Comments)

[Hi, I’m Kelly/refibered. My "day job" is being mom to a darling 4 year old, and creative genius behind "refibered" -- sewing aprons and clothes for kids and making quilts. This past week I was Christy’s minion/assistant at the Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show in Chicago, where my mission was to seek out interesting booths and report on new products. ]

SEI crafts has a fun new line called “My Own Monster” –  it’s a sheet of pre-printed iron-ons with a monster theme. There’s a basic body shape, and several pieces that can be used as eyes, freckles, noses, hair, arms and feet. (You can also add your own fusible-backed fabric to make purses and other accessories.)

Their booth samples show several of their iron-on lines, all of which are darling! This seemed to be the most popular booth at the show, since there was always a line of people waiting patiently for their chance to make-and-take a fun t-shirt. Every monster was different, and it was fun to watch people making these.

The project assistants at the booth suggested cutting out the body shape, but the other pieces could be peeled off. (One assistant did say the body could be peeled, too.) Peeling the shapes was a little tedious, and there were a few ripped and torn pieces, but that could still work for a monster.

Making “my monster” might be a fun birthday party project, letting kids build their own (ironing should be supervised, of course).

The make-and-take participants could choose either the pink or blue monster, but there are other packets in this line, including a little vampire, witch, Santa and snowman. The green monster packets can be purchased online and all lines should be available soon in larger craft shops (Michael’s, JoAnn, and Hobby Lobby).

-k

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Dinotalk Scrapbook Invitational

Posted by christy in CHA | Cricut | Events | Home Decor | Paper | Projects | Reviews - (1 Comments)

Guess what?  I’ve got some of my projects in the Dinotalk Scrapbook Invitational contest.  Could you take a moment and vote for me or one of the other participants?  We are competing to win $100 gift card for us and $100 gift card for the charity of our choice.  Many of you know that my oldest son has autism.  If I win, I would donate my prize to the Autism Family Network.  It is an organization that provides support and help to families and friends of people with autism.  I can’t tell you what an amazing resource that has been for me and my family.

This is one of the projects I made for them a few months ago. It is still one of my favorite projects. Dinotalk products are really fun because you get to record a message. On this project I used some rub-on letters to write out the word “Play”. The picture I chose gives that word a double meaning because it shows my kids playing and also gives you a hint that if you press the frame, you’ll hear a message. You’ll just happen to hear my kids say, “We love you, Grandma & Grandpa!”.

You can vote for this project by emailing CN-3 to contest@dinotalk.com.

This was another frame I did for them.  I doodled on it a la Zentangle.  I used a Sharpie poster paint marker directly on the frame and it looks great!  I pretty much want to zentangle everything now.  I’ll be doing another post about that later.

This next project will also be part of another blog post, but wanted to show you since it was also a entry in the invitational.

This is a recordable paper greeting card and when you open it up it says, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!  It’s so FLUFFY!“.  It’s a shout out to Agnes from Despicable Me and if you haven’t taken your whole family to see that movie yet…DO IT!  So cute.  My kids loved that movie and my daughter listened to this card at least 30 times before I packed it up for the trip to Chicago.

I hope you’ll take the time to vote for your favorite for this contest.  It’s for a good cause and it will give you a good idea of all the great things that you can do with the Dinotalk Naked collection.

I received all of the Dinotalk products featured here for free but was not compensated in any way for this post or my opinions on this product.  Those are all mine.

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eCraft Cutting Machine and Project Runway

Posted by christy in CHA | Events | Reviews - (0 Comments)

Are you all excited for the new season of Project Runway?  I’m a big fan of that show and thought it was really cool to see Suede from Season 5 at the show helping to promote the eCraft cutting machine.

I first reported on the eCraft last summer after CHA.  It was their first showing back then and the machine looked a lot different!  What I love about Craftwell is they took advice!  The new machine has so many of the features that consumers wanted.  This one will be a true contender in the personal cutting system market.

If you clicked on the link above for my post from last year, you’ll see the difference between the machines from just a year ago.  This machine is more sleek and user friendly.

I haven’t had the chance to try this machine out more than making a few cuts at their booth so I’m not an expert on how it works.  But, I will give you some of my opinions on the features and from what I’ve seen on the machines in the past year.

PROS:

  • no cutting mats! There is still the need to use some stabilizers if you plan to cut non-traditional items like felt, fabric, etc…
  • upload your own designs! eCraft gives its consumers the ability to make and cut their own designs (it uses .svg files).  Not only that, you will be able to upload your images to their sharing site and sell them iTunes style.
  • ability to purchase individual designs! Mentioned above, the iTunes style sharing site allows you to purchase designs from others without having to invest a lot of money in a cartridge where you might only want a few of the images.
  • rechargable battery! This makes the machine super portable for crops or for ease of use around the house.
  • no limit on length! Using a paper roller attachment, you can cut out images to any length.

Cons:

  • pre-loaded images on SD cards are  not too exciting.  I was not too inspired by the images that came with the machine.  There was also no way to get to a specific design quickly (using the machine alone) without scrolling through all of the designs.
  • colors of the machine. Personally, I was surprised with the color choices of the machine.  There is a bright pink (they named it Pinc), purple (Purpleberry), a light blue (Skye) and white (Glacier).  Aside from the names, I felt the colors were a bit juvenile.  The bright pink and purple just weren’t my style.  And, I guess that’s what it all comes down to.  Personal preference.  For me, the color choices end up in the cons.  For someone else, they could be a big pro.  I would definitely choose Glacier for my own machine.
  • not readily available. It’s been a year and we still don’t have the machines in stores.  I’m glad they waited to implement some positive changes into the machine, but I question whether or not it is *really* ready to sell to the public and what stores will eventually carry them.

The retail price on this machine will be $349.  Is it something you would consider buying?  Would you replace another cutting machine you might have with this one?

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Craft Challenge has a New Look

Posted by christy in CHA | Challenges | Events - (0 Comments)

The craft challenge got a new look over the summer and we’re ready to get started again!  I think  you’ll like what is coming.  You can now purchase your craft challenge packet for August from my shop.

I’ll be at the Craft & Hobby Trade show all week bringing you reports from the floor on my Facebook page.  If you want to see the latest new releases, head over there and “like” me!   I’ll have more in-depth blog posts coming this week as well.  I’ll have one of the first looks at the new Provo Craft machine on Tuesday morning.  Sounds pretty amazing and I can’t wait to see it in person!