Whining Part 2

Along with my angst over losing all my digital files, photos and cut files for my machines, I was angry with Provo Craft.  I have been a loyal customer and own over 240 Cricut cartridges.  I have purchased every machine that they ever came out with. 

When they discontinued the Imagine after only one year it left me feeling.....well, cheated.  I had paid around $500 for that machine and bought every cartridge that was released for it.  Now it was being abandoned.  I loved the way that machine did print then cut with layers.  Most of the cards that I shared previously on this blog were done with the Imagine.

I found the Cricut Expression 2 Anniversary model to be not so user friendly.  Every time I wanted to use that machine I had to get out the owner's manual.  Updates never went quickly or smoothly and the darn thing kept cutting lopsided, wonky circles.  Boo.

They discontinued the Gypsy.  That happened also too soon in my opinion.  Many people still love and use their Gypsys.

Disgruntled, I took a break from Cricut too.  I haven't bought a new cartridge in several years.

When the announcement came that there was going to be yet another new machine released, there was NO WAY I was going to be jumping onboard again only to have another disappointment.  I waited a year and then finally, inevitably, predictably, caved in and bought the new Cricut Explore.  All I can say is WOW!  What an improvement over the Expression 2.  Easy to use, cuts beautiful intricate designs and no more wonky circles. What makes it so innovative is it's ability to write and cut or score and cut without having to change out the blade housing.  Sweet!  It's the quietest cutting machine I own.  It will support SVG files, jpeg and more. The print then cut feature is a welcome addition.  While all of this is not necessarily new technology - competitors have been doing so for years - this was a giant leap for Cricut. CEO Ashish Arora and his amazing team are very customer service oriented.  I'm a fan again.

Enough whining about my crafting challenges the past few years.  All is well now and maybe eventually I'll even start messing around with Photoshop again in time.

This next project is something recently done.  Not my idea - and I am not always very good at remembering where I get my inspiration from.  This is something I need to work on so that I can give credit where credit is due.

The plastic candy container is the bottom of a water bottle. Love re-purposing and recycling stuff!  The tag was cut using a file from Cricut Design Space and the Cricut Explore. 

The text was done with the writing feature.

Thanks for looking and listening (reading).  I have quite a few Tim Holtz tags that I have been working on and need to take pics and get them uploaded.  Also coming soon.....vinyl projects with the Explore.  So many crafts, so little time. I'm back!