Friday 28 April 2017

Going Small

What can I make for fashion dolls with my Cricut?
Cards, Invitations, Envelopes, Books, Shopping Bags, Signs, Labels, Boxes, Holiday Decorations.
Then something more interesting.... Fretwork frames and panels, Doors, Shelves.
Plus, logo's on fabrics like bags, tops cushions and detailing on fabric's. 
I'm sure there will be other things as I go along.... 
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I have been collecting a few items to use with my Cricut over the last few months.
These items are made by the Cricut company but do work out more expensive than generic items that I'm sure would be just as good.
 Look out for deals on the Cricut website or on Amazon.
Card of all colours and thickness
 Sticky back plastic
 Foam both normal and sticky back and glitter
 Coloured film, plastic, Perspex, Plexiglas  
 Glitter and patterned card 
 Mirror paper and textured card
 Wrapping paper
 Tissue paper
 Wood effect sticky back plastic
 Patterned paper
 More patterned paper

The Cricut will also cut most fabrics and leather but I don't have enough room to show all of these LOL
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I've stuck with using plain paper and card for now to save money and the last two days have been a mix of fun and frustration.
Finding things to make small was easy but not always workable. Some were just to small when cut to make and another issue was how to fit things together once cut. I contacted Cricut about the later and apparently there is a web page with the details of most of the items. Making things small and using computer paper was not always the way to go either as once you pealed it from the low tac mat it rolled up.
But these items came out OK, and with a few small adjustments will most certainly work.
 Drinks carrier. The cut outs I can use as lids. A Chinese take-out carton. I tried a more fancy one but it was a disaster but I might try it again in a larger size. I think the card was maybe a little think and not so easy to manipulate as a thinner card? 
 A couple of small boxes could work well as mini doll boxes?
 Next up some sort of wedding invitation set. I thought they would be to small but actually worked.


 Lastly a couple of box files with 'TOP SECRET' on them, this worked out very well.

What did not work was putting more than one print/cut item on a page at once. Just worked out a hot mess!

Next I wanted to try something of my own. Under the 'Insert Image' is the 'upload image' button and you can use this to upload a picture/design of your own or one from the net (copyright permitting). Then it all went wrong! The Adobe shockwave plugin kept crashing. I tried re-booting and all that stuff but nope! I use Chrome and found that Chrome is not compatible as it has it's own shockwave? So removed it, added it, re-booted it, changed it and no idea what else I tried??? Anyway the end result is I have NO shockwave and it won't up/down load until I turn of Chrome??? How the heck do you do THAT??? Soooo I will have to see if I can install Cricut on my ipad instead of using it on my computer until I can find someone to sort it all out! 
Must add here that this is NOT down to the Cricut but my stupidity and lack of computer knowledge. 













Wednesday 26 April 2017

After a break I'm back with the Cricut

At first I was oh, *dang* it still wont work!!! But I had given the next week over to making ....something so I carried on! Bloody CRICUT it hates me I mumbled. First it said I needed to update my Acrobat reader....so I did. Then I needed to re-boot computer..so I did. Then it said I needed to update Acrobat reader...so I used rude words. They worked and I was allowed in. 
Next I went to the design centre and looked for something to cut out,  found something and tried to cut it out but it said I needed to pay for it! It had the green (a) meaning it was free with a years subscription... I had the subscription! THEN I realised I had not logged in! Oops!!! That would explain a lot, so I went back to the main page and logged in.
So back to the design centre and watch the wheel go round.. and round...and round???? WTF?
OK, try again...same???
Click on something and get a 'updating/downloading message'?
Make a cup of tea and still the wheel is turning!
Try again...same! Log out ...Log in....same!
Log out try again design centre opens but I can't use it as I'm not logged in!!!WTF?
So then I notice you can log in once you are in the design centre by using the drop down box on the left IT WORKED!



ow back to the Cricut machine...
Found  pattern AND CUT IT OUT!



Repeat just to be sure AND IT WORKED


So now it's time to go small and work out how to make this stuff work in my doll world

Next I decided to have a look at all the items available to subscribers all 33072 of them. Of course you can design your own as well. 
After an hour my eyes started to boggle and that's when I decided to write this an go back to the Cricut page later. 

Things are just not working out!

I should have posted this way back at the beginning of March but was having a bit of a melt down with this dang machine so I decided to leave it for a while.
Going back to 02.03.2017
So I thought I would have another go at finding my purchase on my Cricut machine... still nothing? Then I thought I would join the Design Access thing, you get the first two weeks free and then it's a monthly or annual fee...NOPE it would not work? Is it my card or Cricut? No idea, so I e.mailed them and received my automated reply...WTF??? 5-7 WORKING DAYS???? I did try the robot helper but that was no help. I could phone them but the cost from UK to USA I'm guessing it's not a free service?

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Hello,
Thank you for emailing Cricut Customer Care. Your email is important to us. Due to the high volume of emails we are receiving, please allow up to 5-7 business days for a response.
For quicker assistance, please contact our 24-hour chat (Mon. 5 am - Sat. 5 am EST) and 11 am - 8 pm EST on Sat. and Sun. Here are a few links to additional support resources:
? Help Center - http://help.cricut.com
? Cricut YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialCricut

Thank you,
Cricut Customer Care
1-877-727-4288
Monday- Friday 9am-8pm EST

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So I'm stuck for now! Oh, I messaged them on Facebook as well. I still think if you are in USA these issues would not come up and it is somehow something to do with the company being in USA... but then why the UK website and the prices in sterling (£)????