Making my Cricut work...maybe?

The set up is pretty easy

1. Plug it in to the power socket

2. Open the machine (button on the left)

3. Plug in to the computer (if your not using bluetooth)

4. Turn on the power

It's all in the iOS device setup, there is another leaflet for Windows and Mac... both have photos and very easy instructions.

Now things get more interesting

You get a third leaflet with photo's and information on the machine itself along with www.cricut/support (does not work), www.cricut.com/supportvideo-library (does work but gets you onto the help section) and
www.cricut.com/support/faq's (Again gets you into the help section?)
Along with contact phone numbers no idea if they work as I have not tried them.

So if you live in USA THIS is the website https://home.cricut.com/
Instructions and videos are http://learn.cricut.com/
FAQ's http://help.cricut.com/top-answers

It is worth spending some time watching the videos and looking at all the links ...there are quite a few. 

At the bottom of the page if you scroll down there is a link to the 

UK website http://uk.cricut.com/home

Canada website https://shop.cricut.com/en_ca

You will find that some of the links within these sites do not work but you can soon work it out as the site has been designed to be easy to use.


So once you have everything set up and have found the right country you are ready to start.
As part of the set up you are shown how to make a simple card.

Everything you need to make the card is included in the items supplied with the machine. I should add here that I have the Explore Air and it might be a little different with the other machines. 

I then went back to the website and found a couple of free ideas you can make. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. 

 I made these two boxes on my first go with my machine and as I did not at the time have a scoring stylus I used a pen.

I did set up an account and brought me first design but not without a lot of confusion. 
The order bit was easy but paying was a whole other matter. In in Uk and was on the UK website the sale was in GB pounds (actually it was 69pence) anyway after four attempts I still could not pay and then the phone rang as my bank thought a fraud was being attempted so the robot and I had a little chat and I thought things had been sorted but still my card would not work? So I used another card and this one did work. This is not a Cricut issue but if you are outside of USA just worth remembering.
I then received a notice that  it had been paid for and a reference number so I thought I would have a go at using it... trouble is I can't find it? I tried support and this is where I think Cricut need to make some improvements. The robot gave me what I can guess is the usual blurb.. trouble is I had no idea what it was saying and although I tried to follow the instructions I still could not find my purchase. 
It's now the next day and still I can't find my purchase? I feel that until I do find it I can't buy anything else so will start looking with the help of good old google for some free template's. 

There are 1000's of things you can make with the Cricut and this is only the third time of me playing with the machine so I'm hoping it will get easier as I go. 

I made this box today.