You guys!!! This #cricuteverywhere week just keeps getting better and better!! Today’s giveaway is for an iPad Mini 2!! But first, check out this super simple and fun project:

This little paper ball is perfect for storing cute things! (Hello, don’t we all need cuter storage in our lives?!)

What you’ll need:

Cricut Explore Air
Geo Ball Design
Card stock (I found mine at Michaels!)
Hot Glue Gun.

The Geo Ball project is a Make It Now, which means all you have to do is load your mat and press go! Seriously, I made a GIF of the entire process so you can see just how simple it is!

To enter to win an iPad Mini 2 all you have to do is download the Design Space software (either on your desktop or iPad, don’t worry its free!!) play around with it to your hearts content and then follow this link and leave a comment about what your favorite feature is! You have 24 hours to enter this giveaway! Get to it!!

Make sure to come back tomorrow, the giveaway is going to blow you away!!

The post Metallic Geo Ball + iPad Giveaway!! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Oh man! We’re halfway through the #cricuteverywhere week of inspiration (and PRIZES!) I cant believe it!

A few weeks ago took a little trip up to Salt Lake to film some fun video with Cricut for this campaign. You guys. I wish you could have been there. It was SUCH a blast hanging out with everyone and learning how these types of videos come together. Especially getting the product shots. That was (surprisingly) way harder than the interview part. They asked me about everything under the sun (and yes, I may have cried.) but we’ll get to that in a second.

2 things, 1. if you don’t love leather I don’t know if we can still be friends, and 2. You deserve a cute luggage tag.

These are SIMPLE. Because it is a Make It Now project, everything is perfectly sized and ready to roll. All you have to do is plug in your info (unless your name is Margo Phillips and your phone # is (123)456-7890 then today is your lucky day!)  Ps. When I was working on this project, I asked Janae for a cute name. Margo was her suggestion, so there you go!

You’ll Need:

Cricut Explore Air
Leather that measures at least 6”x6”
Leather string
Midnight Pen
Hot glue gun or fabric glue

Once you have your name and other info on the design, select Weld and load your mat. It’s show time.

The luggage tag is double sided, so once everything is sketched and cut out, you’ll need to glue them together.

Use the leather string to attach it to your luggage and you are ready for some major adventuring. I feel like Margo has something exciting planned.

Are you guys ready for today’s giveaway?! They only get better from this point forward FYI.

YESSSSS!! A Cricut Explore Air of your very own!!!

All you have to do is watch this video, and then follow this link to answer a question about it!

I thought it would be fun to share some of the other videos that we shot, to answer your burning questions, like What is in my fridge? and hear me talk about Court’s addiction.

You only have 24 hours to enter this giveaway, so hop to it!

The post DIY Leather Luggage Tags + Cricut Explore Air Giveaway! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Remember yesterday when we talked about inspiration not being a destination? How it can happen anywhere, at anytime?

A few weeks ago after a particularly hard mom day (you know those days where you know that no one in your family walked away unscathed?) I was trying to get Dylan in bed. She’s 6 and stubborn and had been fighting me on everything, all.day.long. After trying unsuccessfully for an hour to get her to go to sleep, I finally stepped away for a minute and took myself out of the chaos of the situation. I know on days when I am in a fighting mood I usually just need someone to love me, and that is what she needed too. So I grabbed a book off the shelf and snuggled in for a little story. She fell asleep almost immediately and it gave me a few minutes to breathe. Flipping through the pages and reflecting on life gave me a second to soak up a little inspiration.

I called Jamie (because she is the brilliant mind that illustrates my madness) and told her that I wanted to do a few Madeline inspired row houses. Something that the girls can help me do.

To make this project, you will need:

Cricut Explore Air
Vintage Revivals Row House designs
Black vinyl
Paint

Start by downloading the row houses in Design Space. They are a Make It Now project which means that they are perfectly sized, all you have to do is load the vinyl and click go.

Typically when you cut out a design in vinyl, you “weed” all the unnecessary parts out and toss them.

DON’T DO THAT!!! hahaha

Weed the inside of the design (the house and the windows/doors) so that it looks like this. Do not weed outside the design!

This is what you are going for:

The next step is to take the outside of the house (the part that you would normally throw away) and put it on the wall. It doesn’t have to be perfectly straight, wonky is embraced at all times on Vintage Revivals.

Then you are going to paint inside the shape. I only did one coat because I sort of the love the splotchy variation for this project.

Peel off the vinyl, and now (finally!!) you can throw it away.

Paint all of your houses, and after they have had at least 12 hours to dry you can start to put on the vinyl.

If you want to use transfer tape you can, but we placed everything by hand. I showed Dyl a picture of the houses on the computer and she did her best to match it.

Can you picture an entire wall filled with these guys? Oh my gosh, someone needs to do that.

Today’s #cricuteverywhere giveaway is such a good one,  1 year subscription to all of the images on Design Space, or Cricut Craft Room!!

Just to clear up any lingering questions… Design Space is a free downloadable software, you are not winning that (because everyone already wins! It’s free!!) you are winning yearlong access to over 50,000 single images, image sets, and fonts, including all of the Make It Now projects (like this one!!)

To enter this giveaway: All you have to do is a post a photo on Instagram of your favorite spot in your house! Hashtag it with #cricuteverywhere and be sure to follow @vintagerevivals and @officialcricut. Please tag me in your picture, I want to see!!

For more info on today’s giveaway click here.

Pssst. If you are ordering a Cricut Explore Air, use the coupon code STARTER to get 50% off any starter set (this one is my favorite!)

The post DIY Row House Wall Art (so fun for kids!!) appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Oh man are you guys in for a treat!! All this week I’ve partnered up with Cricut to talk all things inspiration, share some ridiculously fun new projects that Jamie and I have designed, AND give away a whole slew of prizes (like $500 in Cricut products, 2 year long subscriptions to Design Space, 2 Explore Air Machines, and 2 iPad Mini 2!)

Today is all about inspiration. Where to find it, and how to be ready for it.

(Video by Janae Godfrey)

For me, inspiration is not a destination. There are a million places to go online and in our real lives to see beautiful things. There are more projects on Pinterest than one could do in 15 lifetimes. Its not about hunting down and actually finding it, it’s about the way that it effects you and changes you. Its about going into things (like the thrift store!) with an open mind and heart and a willingness to see past the way things are.

And just because I love you, we (Jamie) created a fun downloadable print to remind you that inspiration is everywhere. Download this print free (this week only!) here.

For over a year I have shared with you my love of the Cricut Explore (a love I never thought would happen ever.) I am a pusher…not a drug pusher, a project pusher. The biggest thing that I want people to understand is that the Cricut Explore Air is just a tool. Like a saw, or a drill. The only thing that can limit you is your own creativity.

Cricut just launched a brand new machine, the Explore Air. (If you have recently purchased an Explore don’t freak out inside like I did.)  The Explore Air is just like the original Explore, the only difference is that instead of using a Bluetooth adaptor, the Explore Air has wireless capabilities already built in.

And that works perfectly with the new….Design Space App!!

That moment that inspiration hits can be magical and fleeing all at the same time. With the DS App for your ipad, you can literally create a project anywhere. Even sitting on a couch at the thrift store…(been there, done that)

Today I am giving away $500 worth of Cricut products!!

So to enter today’s #cricuteverywhere giveaway, all you have to do is follow this link  (or click the picture above) and finish the sentence Inspiration is _________.

Make sure to check back tomorrow for an awesome idea for a Madeline inspired little kids room, and another giveaway!!

The post Inspiration Is _____ + $500 Giveaway! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Dear Readers on the Upper East Coast,  please don’t hate me.

The weather in St. George this week has been freaking amazing, T shirts at the park kind of amazing. I was planning on saving this tutorial until things warmed up everywhere, but I thought the survivors of #blizzard2015 would appreciate the irony? Maybe?

Tell me that is not the cutest vintage cooler that you have ever laid eyes on. (2 secrets! Its not actually vintage, and you can totally make it!!)

Does anyone recognize that font? Possibly from this project? Jamie the Amazing designed an entire font (by hand!??!) and this is just one of the projects that we are using it on! Its so good right? We are in the process of turning it into a downloadable real life font as we speak, so creating with it will be snap!

Those of you with a Cricut Explore are the luckiest ones that don’t have to wait! This project is available right now as a Make It Now project!

So here is how it goes down. The cooler is completely adorable and currently for sale at World Market. Once you have your cooler (or art, or pillow, etc.) all you have to do is load the materials into the Explore and click Make It Now.

Once the Explore has expertly cut the materials (vinyl in my case) you weed it (take out all of the bits that are not part of the final design) and you are left with something like this:

Then you cover it with a piece of transfer tape:

Line it up on the cooler so that it is level:

Lift up the bottom of the transfer tape (don’t peel it all the way off or else it wont stay level!) and remove the vinyl paper.

The press it down and smooth it out with a scraper tool or a credit card.

Pretty cute right?

Hope you have a cool day! (Har har har)

The post Chill Man. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Do you remember the ipad of the 80’s? Lacing Cards.

You know the kind right?

Well this project is like that, only its really cute and something that you actually will want to hang on your walls!

To make this project you will need:

Cricut Explore
Cricut Explore Markers (see my alternative option here!)
110# Cardstock
String
Teeny bit of tape

This is a Make It Now project that I designed for the Cricut Explore which means all you have to do it click the Make It Now button and it automatically sizes and cuts everything exactly the way that I designed it!!

One of the features of the Cricut Explore that I love SO much is the write and cut feature. It does it all in one pass, so it is perfectly lined up every time!!

Just make sure that all of the dotted lines are covered with yarn. Dylan my 6 year old super loved this project, so it is definitely for smaller kids, as well as older ones. (Or kids a heart for those of you who are like me and love it as an adult.)

You can check out each of the projects on Design Space here:

Big Dipper and Little Dipper
Orion
Leo

Want more info about the Cricut Explore? You can see all of my posts about it here! And while you’re already nominated for mom of the year, check out these other kid friendly projects!

The post Kid Friendly Constellation String Art appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Ahhh the smell of a leather project in the morning. It just does a girl good, am I right?

I have whole heartedly loved getting to know my Cricut Explore. That thing just knocks my socks off every time I get a harebrained project idea.

Do you ever see projects on Pinterest, and on blogs that you LOVE but don’t actually want to do the work involved in creating? Did you know that only a very small percentage of people who consider themselves crafters actually like to come up with the ideas? The vast majority just want to follow the instructions and have it turn out exactly like the picture.

Your creative lives are about to become 79% more simple. Cricut came up with this amazing idea called Make It Now. Basically they have designers (like yours truly) create fool proof projects that you can make with a click. ONE. CLICK. Everything is designed and laid out, all you do is load the materials into your Explore and press Go.

Of course I had to start off my Cricut marriage with Leather. Because leather it is my Spirit Animal.

You do need a Cricut Explore to make these projects,  GREAT news! They just lowered the price from $299 to $249!! So get on it girl!!

First things first, head over a and pick your favorite design (there are just so many cute ones!)

When you click the file it will take you to Design Space. All you have to do is click the little green button at the bottom of the window that says Make It Now.

That will open up the files.

Click Purchase and Go. Once you buy the files, they are now yours. So if you want to add your own image to the notebook template you can. Or if you want to make another one of the notebooks that I designed you would just have to purchase the single image that is drawn, not the entire template again!

Each mat represents a different material. The first mat is the leather cover. The Explore will start by drawing the image

Then it will cut the cover out.

Your second mat is a piece of colored cardstock.

The remaining mats are the notebook pages.

Remember when you are taking paper off your mat to peel the mat off of the paper, not the other way around, or you will end up with a curl-fest. (This tip was one of the hacks I talked about here)

Now it is time to assemble!

Start by folding your colored cardstock in 1/2 and placing the white pages inside.

Add the leather cover and make sure your holes are lining up. (If your leather is really stiff you might need to crease it to break the fold. Rolling pins work super good!)

Wrap leather cording or masonry line through the holes a few times

Then knot it.

So simple right?!!

Now, a word about the leather. The stiffer your leather the better the markers will write. I have only had this project go south once and the leather was suede,  super thin and had ZERO structure to it. Couch leather works perfectly,  stiff leather works even better.

Here are just a few of my favorite designs,

There are SO many more,  check out all of the Vintage Revivals Cricut projects HERE.

If you are thinking about buying a Cricut Explore, let me be the first to tell you, that it is an AWESOME idea. I love mine so so much, and there are so many cool projects coming down the pipeline, I don’t want you to miss out!

Have the best Monday my loves!

The post DIY Leather Notebook appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

The more I use my Cricut Explore, the more I think it should be legal to marry a machine of your choosing. You guys. I am OBSESSED with it. Jamie and I have midnight conversations about it nightly (blogger hours mean that you know your bestie is going to be up way past midnight and it is totally kosher to call them.)

I have shared my reasons for loving it waaaay more than the Silhouette Cameo, today I thought it might be kind of fun to share some behind the scene hacks that I have found that have made my exploring even cooler.

Hack #1 Upload Your Image As A PNG.*
(Please note the asterisk, if you have the capabilities of uploading as an SVG that is better, but if you don’t, PNG is the way to go.)  We are working on a post all about creating SVG’s, so keep an eye out for that!

When you are creating your image, start with a transparent background. Create your guts out, and save it as a PNG file. Then when you upload it into Design Space, you don’t have to “weed” the image,  everything is already removed for you!

Hack #2 Pen Options Abound
The pen holder that comes with your Cricut Explore is created for a specific type of pen. The downside is that because it is a new product, the color options that are on Cricut.com are sort of limited. You can rig something that will hold other pens, BUT why would you do that if you can draw with pens that fit perfectly and come in a rainbow of colors? American Craft Slick Writers have the exact same pen tip as the Cricut pens. Boom.

Hack #3 Peel Your Mat Off Your Project, Not the Other Way Around.
Those diehard Cricut-ers might know this, but it changed my life. When you are using a new mat that hasn’t been “seasoned” i.e. gunked up yet, peeling paper off if it often results in this:

Yuppers. Curly paper.

Instead, flip it around and peel the mat off of the project.

No curls = No tears of anger.

Hack #4 Cleaning Your Mat
So, remember when you were and loved getting sticky hands out of the gumball machine? Remember how bummed you were when it was covered in dust and hair and would no longer stick to the ceiling? Same idea, different generation. The more you use your mats, the less tacky they become. If you “wash” them they are reusable for longer. Using lukewarm water with a little bit of soap and small circular motions, rub your fingers over the mat. This will get rid of a lot of the residue. Let it air dry. I have been cutting a lot of leather lately and this has saved me time and again.

Hack # 5 Layering The Smart Way
Back in January, I was getting frustrated while cutting my wooden business cards. The problem was that the outer edge was being cut first, before the detailed logo. This is a pain because it doesn’t have the stability* that it needs to cut small details if it is wiggling around. After playing around with it a bunch I figured out that the program will cut from the bottom layer up. *This isn’t a huge issue unless your mat isn’t very sticky.

Follow along, I promise this will make sense.

This is what your project looks like in Design Space:

When you start cutting, this happens. (The outline first)

Because the bottom layer is the outline.

BUT!

If you swap that layer and put it on the top (you will do this right before you cut, so that you can still design) it will cut the outer layer last.

Hack #5 Just Keep Cutting, Just Keep Cutting Just Keep Cutting, Cutting, Cutting!
This epiphany was REVOLUTIONARY for me this weekend. In fact this one tidbit of info inspired this entire post.

Sometimes when you are cutting things that are a little bit unconventional like wood or leather you need an extra boost to make it all the way through the material. Settings in Design Space will let you run 5 passes at a time, but what if that just isn’t enough? What if you need 7 or 11 or 100 to make it through the material? You might want to sit down for this one.

You can run as many passes as you need. When you hit the “C” on your machine that signals it to start cutting. When it is done, the load/unload arrow starts flashing indicating that your cut is finished and your mat is ready to be unloaded. BUT if you hit the “C” again it will cut your design again. The mat has to be manually unloaded, if you don’t unload it it will cut your design in the EXACT same path as the first round. And you can hit that “C” as many times as you want.

Can you see why my obsession just keeps getting deeper and deeper?

The Cricut Explore is on sale right now with a bundle of my favorite tools,  snatch one up before they are gone!

The post 6 Cricut Explore Design Hacks appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

*Originally posted Feb 2014, updated with current info and pictures!

Get ready to have your mind blown by Cricut.

Now. I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing (and verbalized it A LOT).

Cricut? Like the scrapbook paper cutter that makes things in cutesy fonts and pastel paper? No thank you.

Cricut? Like the company that only lets you create with predesigned cartridges? Nope, I like to design things myself, thankyouverymuch.

Cricut? Like the pinnacle of Mormon Housewife-hood? ( I can say that, I’m Mormon.)

Cricut was not my friend. Cricut was something I was super judgy about.

Let me give you a little bit of a back story on the whole situation so you know where I am coming from. I have this friend,  we will call her Mallie…because that is her name. We met when Vintage Revivals was 3 months old. At the time she was the PR girl for Deco Art. We got to know each other so so well and I completely love her. About a year and 1/2 ago Mallie moved to Utah (from back east) to work for Cricut. I was pretty sure that we would have to not be friends any more about it. Then just over a year ago while I was in Salt Lake,  I met Mallie and a few other amazing people for lunch to talk Cricut. She basically told me that even though she could tell me NOTHING about the new machine, or where the new CEO was taking the company, that I needed to trust her and get on board.

Up until this point I had been pretty hardcore Team Silhouette. There were issues that I had with the software, and the machine, and the company in and of itself,  but not anything huge enough to willingly give it up for Cricut (me being judgy again). But it was Mallie, and I knew she wouldn’t lead me astray. I fought with it for a while. Finally after realizing that there were a lot of places that Silhouette was coming up short and that there did have to be something better,  I took a huge risk and stopped posting about Silhouette completely so that I could give the blog a chance to breathe. (I didn’t want to tell you to buy a Silhouette, then the next week tell you how fantastic a Cricut was.)  So a year later, here we are. If the Cricut didn’t change my mind, then I could go back to blogging about Silhouette and no one would notice.

In September I had a chance to go to Cricut headquarters to get a sneak peek of the Explore and the new user interface Design Space. You guys. I literally started to cry while I was there because everything was just SO GOOD. They had exceeded every expectation that I had ever had. They had addressed every concern and problem that I had ever encountered with a machine. They had taken ideas that were so far ahead of where anyone else was that, well,  it was beautiful (insert sob).

Cricut knows the way that they are perceived (not unlike the way that I used to feel about them) but they are changing in massive ways.

So I would love to share with you the 10 things that converted me completely. Please keep in mind that I have both the Silhouette Cameo and the Portrait and have had my Explore since December. So I have had a good amount of time to really test it out. And I have werked it.

1. The Cricut Explore Is Just A Tool:
The most perspective changing thing that I discovered (hands down) was that the Explore is no longer in the same class as their previous machines or as Silhouette’s. The Explore is a just tool. Just like a saw, or a drill. You aren’t limited to what you can make with a drill,  the Explore is the same way. No longer will projects be defined by a specific look because that is what you are limited to using. You can use it to create on virtually any material (more on this next!) and you are not limited by what they tell you you can make with it.

2. Cutting Materials That Will Blow Your Mind:
I love to push things. I don’t know, its just my nature to go as far as I can. When they told me that I could cut leather,  wood,  extremely thick fabric,  and about 50 other materials I was like, GAME ON CRICUT. And that is exactly what I did. Check out my business cards. Awww yeah,  they are cut out of  1/32” Birch Plywood.

I used sticker felt and my Cricut Explore to make a custom stamp that I used in Macie’s Bedroom Makeover. Just a little something that I had never seen before. This was totally new territory. I went to Joann’s and bought sheets of really thick stiff felt that had an adhesive backing. The Explore cut it like butter.

3. The Machine is Intuitive and Simple:
One problem that I had with the Silhouette was having to manually adjust the speed, and pressure,  as well as adjusting the blade length on the dial. The Explore has the Cut Smart system that senses the pressure that the material needs,  changes speed based on the design and has one dial that has presets for everything from lightweight paper, to poster board. There is also a setting for a Custom Cut. In the Custom Cut drop down menu there are materials listed that you have never dreamed of cutting. Or you can create your own by setting the pressure and the # of times you re-cut it. Speaking of re-cutting (this is a simple thing but I just had to share it with you!) when the Silhouette does multiple passes on an image it cuts the entire image and then does it again, and again. The problem with doing this is that it frequently gets out of alignment and your project is ruined. When the Explore cuts multiple passes, it cuts the same section of the design multiple times before it moves on to the next. Genius.

4. User Friendly Design Interface:
So Simple. Always up for a challenge, I can usually figure a difficult task out, and if something is too simple I feel like I don’t have the ability to really create something spectacular (does that make sense to anyone else? Bueller?)  Design Space is so simple Ivie my 10 year old can use it, but I don’t feel like they have dumbed it down and lost any of the abilities that I want. It is simple and fantastic. Design Space is a web-based software. This means that all of your projects are stored in the cloud. No crying over losing files if your computer crashes.

Design Space works in Layers like PS, but it is SO simple. I think I have used the word simple about 15 times in the last paragraph. If you look closely in this picture you can see how quick it is to change something from Cut to Write or Score.

5. Cut Wirelessly AND From Your iPad:
This is HUGE!!! All of the machines have a port for a wireless adaptor (you can buy it here). Cricut has also developed an app for Design Space so that you can cut and draw, exactly like you would on your desktop on your iPad. This is the great thing about having a web based software,  all of the updates are automatic and the app will be free to use.

6. You Don’t Need A Cartridge EVER AGAIN!
This was kind of the deal breaker for a lot of people,  you could only create what was already created. That is now dead in it’s tracks. You can upload JPEG,  PNG,  GIF,  BMP, SVG, & DFX files for FREEEEEEE! If you are the happy owner of a Cricut cartridge or 73 good news,  there is a port on the Explore that you plug them into and you also have the ability to upload them to your Design Space account and they will be saved on there forever! You never have to plug in the cartridge again! If you have already linked your cartridges to Craft Room they are also linked to Design Space (just se the same log in when registering your Explore!)

7. Drawing!
The Explore comes equipped with a dual carriage that has a spot for cutting, and a spot for writing or scoring. and when I say writing, I mean writing. The pen just clicks in and any image that you upload can be changed from a cutting project to a writing project with one click. I love that I can create a font in my own handwriting and the Explore can sketch it out. Check out the detail on the this leather notebook. The entire thing (minus the stringing) was make with my Explore!

8. Storage!
Being a messy creator I am ALWAYS misplacing tools. Taking the Gold Medal for best idea ever, the Explore has 3 different compartments for your tools. The cup on the top,  the large storage on the bottom will hold all of the Cricut tools, and the small one on the right has a magnet for your blades so they never roll away. One other bit of fantastic engineering is that the Explore is up on legs, and your mats will slide right underneath and out of the way.

There are about a million other reasons that I love the machine,  but the one that I am most excited about involves YOU!

9. Make It NOW!
For REALS!! Cricut has asked a handful of extremely talented bloggers (Gabby from Design Mom,  Kim from TomKat Studios,  Emily, Nicole, and Jenna from Small Fry,  Kelly from Studio DIY,  Amy from The Idea Room,  Rachel from Handmade Charlotte, Jen from Tatertots and Jello, Jen Goode, and myself  pssst! I don’t know how I was included in this group) to create projects exclusively for Design Space using their new tool Make It Now. We do all the hard work,  all you have to do is pick a project, click the Make It Now button, and load the materials that you are cutting. Everything is cut, sketched, scored, and sized to create the project EXACTLY like we have designed. How cool is that?! I will have more info on this in a few weeks when the first projects roll out!

10. Ashish:
No I didn’t sneeze. Ashish is the CEO that has changed everything for Cricut. His passion and excitement are like nothing I have ever seen before. He makes things happen that are only a dream. He thinks that everyone should have the chance to create and is doing everything in his power to make that possible. He truly listens to feedback. In fact,  while I was at ALT, I was sitting by Ashish at dinner. They had announced the Explore the day before and were getting a lot of feedback from customers who were upset about not being able to cut SVG files for free (they were part of the new subscription plan). So he decided that it needed to change,  and made me pinky promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone before he could, that SVG files were going to be available for anyone in Design Space to cut for free. Its like Cricut is run like a small town business and not a huge corporation. It is amazing and really fascinating to watch.

Phew that was a lot of words. I just want to make sure that you are equipped with the information that you guys need to make an informed decision.

The Cricut Explore on sale right now! Check it out here,  What are you waiting for?! Get your cute butts over there now so that we can be Cricut buddies!

I am completely and utterly in love with my Explore and I cant wait for you to get one too!

Make sure you come back tomorrow,  I am spilling all of the hacks I have learned with my Explore!

The post Meet the Cricut Explore: 10 Reasons Why I Switched To Team Cricut appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys!! I am sharing all of my secrets this week! I am an over-sharer to my core,  so now that I’ve started, well hold on, cause its a whirlwind.

One of the biggest secrets that I have had to keep tight lipped about (and when I say tight lipped I mean the NDA basically said that they would own my family if I blabbed…)

Get ready to have your mind blown by Cricut.

Now. I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing (and verbalized it A LOT).

Cricut? Like the scrapbook paper cutter that makes things in cutesy fonts and pastel paper? No thank you.

Cricut? Like the company that only lets you create with predesigned cartridges? Nope, I like to design things myself, thankyouverymuch.

Cricut? Like the pinnacle of Mormon Housewife-hood? ( I can say that, I’m Mormon.)

Cricut was not my friend. Cricut was something I was super judgy about.

Let me give you a little bit of a back story on the whole situation so you know where I am coming from. I have this friend,  we will call her Mallie…because that is her name. We met when Vintage Revivals was 3 months old. At the time she was the PR girl for Deco Art. We got to know each other so so well and I completely love her. About a year and 1/2 ago Mallie moved to Utah (from back east) to work for Cricut. I was pretty sure that we would have to not be friends any more about it. Then just over a year ago while I was in Salt Lake,  I met Mallie and a few other amazing people for lunch to talk Cricut. She basically told me that even though she could tell me NOTHING about the new machine, or where the new CEO was taking the company, that I needed to trust her and get on board.

Up until this point I had been pretty hardcore Team Silhouette. There were issues that I had with the software, and the machine, and the company in and of itself,  but not anything huge enough to willingly give it up for Cricut (me being judgy again). But it was Mallie, and I knew she wouldn’t lead me astray. I fought with it for a while. Finally after realizing that there were a lot of places that Silhouette was coming up short and that there did have to be something better,  I took a huge risk and stopped posting about Silhouette completely so that I could give the blog a chance to breathe. (I didn’t want to tell you to buy a Silhouette, then the next week tell you how fantastic a Cricut was.)  So a year later, here we are. If the Cricut didn’t change my mind, then I could go back to blogging about Silhouette and no one would notice.

In September I had a chance to go to Cricut headquarters to get a sneak peek of the Explore and the new user interface Design Space. You guys. I literally started to cry while I was there because everything was just SO GOOD. They had exceeded every expectation that I had ever had. They had addressed every concern and problem that I had ever encountered with a machine. They had taken ideas that were so far ahead of where anyone else was that, well,  it was beautiful (insert sob).

Cricut knows the way that they are perceived (not unlike the way that I used to feel about them) but they are changing in massive ways.

So I would love to share with you the 10 things that converted me completely. Please keep in mind that I have both the Silhouette Cameo and the Portrait and have had my Explore since December. So I have had a good amount of time to really test it out. And I have werked it.

1. The Cricut Explore Is Just A Tool:
The most perspective changing thing that I discovered (hands down) was that the Explore is no longer in the same class as their previous machines or as Silhouette’s. The Explore is a just tool. Just like a saw, or a drill. You aren’t limited to what you can make with a drill,  the Explore is the same way. No longer will projects be defined by a specific look because that is what you are limited to using. You can use it to create on virtually any material (more on this next!) and you are not limited by what they tell you you can make with it.

2. Cutting Materials That Will Blow Your Mind:
I love to push things. I don’t know, its just my nature to go as far as I can. When they told me that I could cut leather,  wood,  extremely thick fabric,  and about 50 other materials I was like, GAME ON CRICUT. And that is exactly what I did. Check out my business cards. Awww yeah,  they are cut out of  1/32” Birch Plywood.

I used sticker felt and my Cricut Explore to make a custom stamp that I used in Macie’s Bedroom Makeover. Just a little something that I had never seen before. This was totally new territory. I went to Joann’s and bought sheets of really thick stiff felt that had an adhesive backing. The Explore cut it like butter.

3. The Machine is Intuitive and Simple:
One problem that I had with the Silhouette was having to manually adjust the speed, and pressure,  as well as adjusting the blade length on the dial. The Explore has the Cut Smart system that senses the pressure that the material needs,  changes speed based on the design and has one dial that has presets for everything from lightweight paper, to poster board. There is also a setting for a Custom Cut. In the Custom Cut drop down menu there are materials listed that you have never dreamed of cutting. Or you can create your own by setting the pressure and the # of times you re-cut it. Speaking of re-cutting (this is a simple thing but I just had to share it with you!) when the Silhouette does multiple passes on an image it cuts the entire image and then does it again, and again. The problem with doing this is that it frequently gets out of alignment and your project is ruined. When the Explore cuts multiple passes, it cuts the same section of the design multiple times before it moves on to the next. Genius.

4. User Friendly Design Interface:
So Simple. Always up for a challenge, I can usually figure a difficult task out, and if something is too simple I feel like I don’t have the ability to really create something spectacular (does that make sense to anyone else? Bueller?)  Design Space is so simple Ivie my 10 year old can use it, but I don’t feel like they have dumbed it down and lost any of the abilities that I want. It is simple and fantastic. Design Space is a web-based software. This means that all of your projects are stored in the cloud. No crying over losing files if your computer crashes.

Design Space works in Layers like PS, but it is SO simple. I think I have used the word simple about 15 times in the last paragraph. If you look closely in this picture you can see how quick it is to change something from Cut to Write or Score.

5. Cut Wirelessly AND From Your iPad:
This is HUGE!!! All of the machines have a port for a wireless adaptor (you can buy it here). Cricut has also developed an app for Design Space so that you can cut and draw, exactly like you would on your desktop on your iPad. This is the great thing about having a web based software,  all of the updates are automatic and the app will be free to use.

6. You Don’t Need A Cartridge EVER AGAIN!
This was kind of the deal breaker for a lot of people,  you could only create what was already created. That is now dead in it’s tracks. You can upload JPEG,  PNG,  GIF,  BMP, SVG, & DFX files for FREEEEEEE! If you are the happy owner of a Cricut cartridge or 73 good news,  there is a port on the Explore that you plug them into and you also have the ability to upload them to your Design Space account and they will be saved on there forever! You never have to plug in the cartridge again! If you have linked your cartridges to Craft Room they will transfer over to Design Space when you register there!

7. Drawing!
The Explore comes equipped with a dual carriage that has a spot for cutting, and a spot for writing or scoring. and when I say writing, I mean writing. The pen just clicks in and any image that you upload can be changed from a cutting project to a writing project with one click. I love that I can create a font in my own handwriting and the Explore can sketch it out. Check out the detail on the this leather notebook. The entire thing (minus the stringing) was make with my Explore!

8. Storage!
Being a messy creator I am ALWAYS misplacing tools. Taking the Gold Medal for best idea ever, the Explore has 3 different compartments for your tools. The cup on the top,  the large storage on the bottom will hold all of the Cricut tools, and the small one on the right has a magnet for your blades so they never roll away. One other bit of fantastic engineering is that the Explore is up on legs, and your mats will slide right underneath and out of the way.

There are about a million other reasons that I love the machine,  but the one that I am most excited about involves YOU!

9. Make It NOW!
For REALS!! Cricut has asked a handful of extremely talented bloggers  (Kim from TomKat Studios,  Emily, Nicole, and Jenna from Small Fry,  Kelly from Studio DIY,  Amy from The Idea Room,  Rachel from Handmade Charlotte, Jen from Tatertots and Jello, Jen Goode, and myself  pssst! I don’t know how I was included in this group) to create projects exclusively for Design Space using their new tool Make It Now. We do all the hard work,  all you have to do is pick a project, click the Make It Now button, and load the materials that you are cutting. Everything is cut, sketched, scored, and sized to create the project EXACTLY like we have designed. How cool is that?! I will have more info on this in a few weeks when the first projects roll out!

10. Ashish:
Ashish is the CEO that has changed everything for Cricut. His passion and excitement are like nothing I have ever seen before. He makes things happen that are only a dream. He thinks that everyone should have the chance to create and is doing everything in his power to make that possible. He truly listens to feedback. In fact,  while I was at ALT, I was sitting by Ashish at dinner. They had announced the Explore the day before and were getting a lot of feedback from customers who were upset about not being able to cut SVG files for free (they were part of the new subscription plan). So he decided that it needed to change,  and made me pinky promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone before he could, that SVG files were going to be available for anyone in Design Space to cut for free. Its like Cricut is run like a small town business and not a huge corporation. It is amazing and really fascinating to watch.

Phew that was a lot of words. I just want to make sure that you are equipped with the information that you guys need to make an informed decision.

The Cricut Explore on sale right now! Check it out here,  What are you waiting for?! Get your cute butts over there now so that we can be Cricut buddies!

tl;dr I am completely and utterly in love with my Explore and I cant wait for you to get one too!

Make sure you come back tomorrow,  I am spilling all of the hacks I have learned with my Explore!

The post Meet The Cricut Explore: 10 Reasons I Switched To Team Cricut appeared first on Vintage Revivals.