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Faster & Smarter

Today is the day we have all been waiting for here in South Africa. What seems like forever has indeed only been a little while in the grand scheme of things. Let’s take a quick look –
The Cricut Maker 3 has ALL of the features of its predecessor, but it has the added ability to use matless Smart Materials. Game changer right there for so many reasons. Smart Materials allow you to do larger projects in a single long cut, with a length of 3.66 meters, and without a cutting mat. Smart material is thicker than normal materials like vinyl and Iron-on that lets it feed into the machine without needing the extra backing firmness of a cutting mat. The quality of the smart materials are amazing and I love how easy they work as well. The Maker 3 also cuts twice as fast, and if you are still in doubt you really have to see it in action – because its fast really really fast. And no more mats means quicker project turn around times. And in today’s hectic world that is a bonus.

And did I mention colour – the Maker 3 comes in a gorgeous soft pale blue – now personally I would have loved a pretty plain white, yes I am that boring, but in a perfect world this colour is what dreams are made of. It really is the perfect colour – adding some soft colour into your craft space but being neutral at the same time. So that is a true win in my book.

So key feature changes includes the buttons at the top – which isn’t really an issue apart from where did the cute little critter “C” go – I mean that button makes me smile every time. A sleek play button replaces the “C” button, and the fun arrow now makes way for the sleek up/down arrow button. The rest is pretty much the same. And after all its only a button – function meeting form and performance. And for me these buttons are symbolic of the speed associated with this machine, because a fast machine like this really needs a sleek fast button.

Taking a quick look at the machine compared to the Maker and one can see it is still the same amazing machine, and yet so much more. But the proof is in the performance and this guy performs on every level.

Look out for some amazing projects coming your way using this amazing machine with smart materials. and in the meantime you can just drool over your screen or head out to one of our retail partners and get your very own smart cutting machine. Smarter and Faster has come to town.

Organizing Spice Jars with Cricut Joy

I am not big on cooking at all. The quote “I have a kitchen because it came with the house” couldn’t be truer for me. In fact, I have a kitchen because I need to wash stencils, clean ink and paint brushes etc. – you get the idea right? But having said that, it doesn’t mean that I am happy to live with that organized chaos. I often struggle with the notion that with all things beautiful in life, whats with those ugly coloured spice bottles – really, its like having a kitchen is meant to be discouraging. So it was time to take matters into my own hands and do something about it using my Cricut Joy.

So off I went to Mr Price and bought a functional 3 tier stand. I also picked up these gorgeous little bottles from the plastic shop. They are glass and perfect – I definitely need a few more of those, or do I. I think we have enough spices for just looking pretty.

And enter my Cricut Joy to the rescue. This little power house machine is simply amazing – and as someone once said – labeling everything is a thing if you have a Joy!

I used white Cricut Permanent Vinyl scraps. Added the scraps onto my Cricut Joy cutting matt and made sure they were securely in place. Opened the app on my phone and typed out the spice names. I chose to stick to a plain font and made all the heights the same, or as close as possible.

Once I cut the words I started weeding. I must say that the Permanent vinyl is a dream to weed. Keeping the vinyl on my matt also helped with the small bits inside the “e” and “a” when weeding.

Slap on some Cricut Transfer tape and you are ready to go. Remember that with the Permanent Vinyl and Cricut Transfer tape you need to really burnish well on the front and the back – it takes a lit bit of elbow grease but done correctly its an absolute dream to transfer.

Then remove the white backing and you are ready to transfer the names onto your glass jars. I simply “eyeballed” them and transferred them onto the glass jars. Not perfect – but compared to those ugly spice jars and brightly coloured lids, perfection is close. And what was once an eyesore is now a neat array of bottles – bottles of “Joy” {pun intended} that is.

The Cricut Joy really is for everyone from young to old – this little machine is mighty in making all the labels you want, crafting on the go made easy and accessible for everyone! I pretty much think Cricut got it so very right when they made this little bad boy.

Even a few missing “dots” don’t bug me – because I am sure they will turn up in the washing, on the dogs or on the floor a few weeks from now.

Labelling all the things got a lot more interesting and cheaper using my Cricut Joy than my branded Brother labelling machine that’s for sure. What I spent on tape and batteries alone is a fraction of what the Cricut Joy and vinyl will cost you. Plus I can get 1000 x more labels done on my Joy and its way more fun! Here’s to small victories labelling and organizing and having way too much FUN with this little guy on my desk.

Recycle with Cricut

It’s so easy for us to buy and toss these days – I guess instant gratification has us all justifiably doing so right? Well in an attempt to have a lighter footprint I am always trying to recycle where I can and use things again and again instead of just tossing them. So came this little yogurt tub. I keep thinking how awesome they are, sturdy and can be used for so many things like painting, snack jars and so much more. Today was the day!

I started off by cleaning the tubs and giving them a good wash. Once dry they are ready to go. Next up I found this awesome rainbow border on Design Space and instantly new my Cricut Holographic Vinyl was the one.

Careful weeding and some StrongGrip Transfer tape and I easily assembled the rainbows before adhering them to the tubs all around the edge. How fun are they?

These are perfect for kids – when you need some snack jars that are cute and sturdy and can’t break. Think next to the pool, kid’s parties, after school snacks or for popcorn when watching movies. Or just make cute jars that you can use for adding paint to when art journaling. There are so many reasons that these cute recycled jars make sense. So next time think twice before throwing things away. Living light and recycling with my Cricut Maker makes so much sense.

2007731 Cricut Holographic Vinyl Sampler – Opal, Pink, Blue (30x60cm, 3 Sheets)
2007002 Cricut Maker (Champagne)
2007792 Cricut Explore/Maker LightGrip Machine Mat (30x30cm, 1 Piece)

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