CHA Wrap-up, Favorites – Cricut /Provo Craft, Spellbinders, Crafters Companion, Ranger and more–PART 1 (Cricut, Cuttlebug, Provo Craft)

I thought I’d better get back to blogging and finish telling all of you about my CHA highlights, after needing a few days to recover from being on my feet for 4 days!!

Let’s start with Provo Craft – Cricut, Cuttlebug & more:  Here’s what new & fabulous:  Can I get a Halleluiah??  FINALLY—they are releasing a new version of the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 Cricut cartridge (TBBM2), which IMHO is a “have-to-have” cartridge for every Cricut user!  They’ve done some very smart things with this updated version, including having the optional ability to have some of the boxes cut out in 2 pieces (that you can then tape together), which means you can make much larger versions of those boxes than if you could only cut it them in one full piece!!!  WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! 

But hold on Cricuteers, there’s more!!  They are also releasing a SCORING BLADE that will work with this cartridge and selected others in the future!!  In other words, many of the images on this new TBBM2 cartridge have score lines built into the designs, so at some point when you’re cutting, the machine will allow you to insert your scoring blade, then it will go through and add all the score lines that have been pre-designed into these particular images.  So when you’re done and pull your cut images off the Cricut cutting mat, they will already have the score lines all done for you---and please note that we are talking about actual score LINES and NOT those little tic marks that had been designed into images on previous cartridges (and that soooo many of us really don’t love!)!!  HOWEVER, this is for cartridges going forward, it is not backwards compatible because none of the previous cartridges have had the score lines built into them.  (But wouldn’t that be an AMAZING update to the Cricut Craft Room Design program??  Are you listening Provo Craft???  Could you please go into all the images on previous cartridges that have those “tic lines” built into them and through using Cricut Craft Room only, give us an option to change those tic marks to score lines instead???  THAT WOULD BE AN AMAZING THING TO DO FOR US!!!!  If you agree with me, please make sure you add a comment!!!

Next update for the Cricut is that they finally came up with their own Cricut Gel Pens and Gel Pen Holder.  I saw several examples at CHA where they had used the most DARLING “hand-writing” font off the new TBBM2 cartridge with the gel pens and added the sentiment INSIDE of greeting cards (so it actually looked hand-written!!), or another great use would be for journaling!!!  I am soooo in love with this particular font from TBBM2, I know I’ll be using it all the time (especially because ,my hand writing is pretty pitiful, LOL!!!)!

Next up is Cuttlebug:  First, Provo Craft has recognized that their embossing folders have had an issue in that the design doesn’t extend all the way to the edges of the folder, so we haven’t been getting a full imprint.  Well, they are changing that, so on their new designs going forward, the design will extend to the edges of the folder. So no longer will you have to try to figure out exactly how to position the paper up against the line(s) where the design starts and stops. THANK YOU Provo Craft!!  Next, Josh from Provo Craft assured me that going forward, when they release new 5x7” Cuttlebug folders, they will also include a matching border embossing folder with it!!!  I LOVE THAT!!! WOOHOO AGAIN!!!!!!

FYI, because I have sooooo much to tell you about, I’m going to segment my blog posts into either by Manufacturer, or by similar products.  So please be sure to check out all my blog posts about CHA!!