Finally! The Cricut Imagine is in my house!

So I was able to catch a great sale on the Cricut Imagine machine today.  Last night I waited until 9:45 to catch the 10pm Black Friday sale at Walmart where the Cricut Imagine was going to be on sale for $187.  That deal was just too good to pass up, considering I've been waiting for over a year to get this puppy.  I could not believe the crowds when I got there.  I nearly had a panic attack trying to find a parking spot.  Had I known that I could have just gone to Walmart much earlier than 10pm, I could have had a much easier time trying to navigate the store without the gridlock.  I spent a good 30  minutes trying to find this machine only to give up and go home.  Apparently my Walmart did not have this machine and I did not see anyone with it in their carts either.  I wanted to have it that night so I could play with it the next morning. Sad panda.

I drove my disappointed self home wishing I never decided to brave the cold to go out in the crowds.  I searched the Home Shopping Network's website trying to justify doing the flexpay option (5 payments of $99) but just could not wrap my mind around spending $500 on a machine when my heart was already set on paying less.  After all, if I had that kind of money I would have bought it last year when it debuted.  I told myself that I'd sleep on it and would try another Walmart 10 minutes away in the next town the next morning and if I didn't find it, I would get it through Home Shopping.  

I left the house at 10am this morning and for good measure, scoped out my Walmart one last time for the Imagine.  Nada.  So I went to the Walmart in the next town and looked around.  All I saw was some Cricut Lites and a few Cricut Personal Cutters and Create machines.  I picked up the Block Party cartridge after resigning that it would be all I was going to get this Black Friday since it looked like no Imagine for me!  On the way to the front of the store was an Imagine staring right at me.  It was the last one left!  I'd hoped that since most folks weren't scrapbookers and only a niche audience knew what this machine was and what it is used for, I'd find one today.  I put the Block Party cartridge down, put the Imagine under my cart, paid for it and high-tailed it home.  Now I can finally say I own an Imagine.  My machine came with the Imagine More, Industrial Glow and the Elise cartridges.  All I need now is to find a good deal on the Buccaneer cartridge and I'll be good to go.  After all, Buccaneer is the cartridge that sealed the deal on whether I really needed this machine or not.   I still can't help thinking that had I known that I would find my new toy today by 11am, I could have gone to bed earlier last night.

The Imagine in the spot where I imagined it would be

The cartridges that came with my machine

This cart is now officially on my wishlist.

A Few of My Favorite Projects Part 2

I didn't post yesterday because I couldn't tear myself away from the Korean drama I was watching.  Time flew by and before I knew it, the day was over.

Here is a simple, yet elegant card.  Somehow this card made itself.  I used the Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug embossing folder and a stamp set from Gina K. Designs.  I added some Stardust Stickles to the trees and finished it off with a black and white polka dotted bow that I got from Walmart.

Next is a card I made for a baby shower last August.  I really had fun with this one.  I used the DCWV All About Boys Stack and chose the paper with the circus theme for the mat.  I cut out the lion image from the page and made a shaker using the plastic that envelopes new Cricut cartridges.

Here's a better picture of the glitter in the shaker card.  I had to shake it a little since all the glitter settled to the bottom of the window.

And finally the inside of the card:

I took this picture before I stamped CONGRATULATIONS! inside.  I added a sticker from the paper stack for a finishing touch.  I'm addicted to adding stickers or cutouts on the inside bottom right of my cards. I don't know why I didn't think to snap a photo of the card AFTER I finished adding the sentiment.  I suppose it was because I was in a rush to get it done since I had to leave my house early enough to find the house where the shower was being hosted.


I made the slider card below for a 3-year old using the same paper stack.  I loved the black background with all the robots and felt the Cricut Robotz cartridge was in order.  My sister-in-law and I worked on this one together.  I used googly eyes on the robot's face since I thought it looked better than the ones that are cut out on the Cricut.

And here is it once it's opened:

And finally, here's an invitation I made for a little girls' tea party at spring last year.  I used the Cricut cartridge, A Child's Year, for the cutouts on the front and Wildcard for the actual card base.  I used the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder and punched two holes with my Crop-A-Dile so that I could use a ribbon to tie the card shut.  Invitation details were printed on the computer on the Large Ovals Nestabilities dies.  You can see it peeking out from behind the opening.

There will be more cards from the past year in my next post.

A Few of My Favorite Projects Part 1

So here are a few projects that I've been working on this past year.  I've picked some of my favorites as the highlights of 2010-2011.  I've picked up a lot of pointers from the craft world and I try to incorporate many of them in my work.  Here is a card I made for a friend who had his ups and downs trying to find a job during the recession:

It flips open from top to bottom.  I adapted this design from a project that Laura from Following the Paper Trail did last year.  The papers are from Graphic 45 and is called A Proper Gentleman. I would say this is my all-time favorite card.

Next is this slider card I made using the same paper line:

Front of Card

Back of Card

I don't have a great picture of how it looks while opened.  I may add it later when I figure out how to crop it to the size I need.

The last card in this post is made using yet the same paper line.  I ended up selling it to someone last year.  It was so hard to do that but a client needed a card to give to her husband and I thought that this one would do the job:

And the inside:

I loved this card so much I wanted to marry it.  But alas, somebody needed it more than I did.  Check in tomorrow for a few more cardmaking highlights during the past year.

Well the ban is over...sort of...I think

Remember last week I said I was not buying anything because I'm broke?  I guess I lied.  Custom Crops had a good deal on the Cricut Disney Classics cartridge.  I had to get it because I'm working on a scrapbook for my next Disney trip and I needed a Captain Hook cut for one of my pages.  See, this is why I have no money.  I'm sitting here trying to figure out when I'm going to get the Best of Pixar cartridge.  It's a good thing I paid my car note first. Ha!

Biting the bullet

I've decided that I was going to start 2011 off by jumping into this blogging thing.  My Cricut Expression and my Gypsy are my BFFs.  Right now I'm on a craft spending hiatus because "my money is kind of funny and my change is looking strange."  It's hard to get all these 50% off coupons in my inbox from various craft stores and not be able to do something about it.  But let's be real here.  I have way too much paper and tools.  There's always that one tool or machine I think I need and after that I often say I won't need anything else.   This year I'm going to concentrate my efforts on actually using the stuff I already have.