Sharpening Cricut Blades

So I was curious today and thought: there has to be a way to sharpen Cricut blades and so I began a search today. I own a Craftrobo and users on their sites have always told us to use heavy duty aluminum foil, and it has worked for me. I still have my original blade with my CR. But my Cricut, I have bought in two years over 20 to 30 blades! That is about $150 just in blades, so today we went to Walmart and I bought some heavy grade sandpaper and heavy duty aluminum foil and I am going to experiment and see which is better. But on the web today here is what I have found from several sites:

Blades can be sharpened with heavy duty aluminum foil. Simply cover your mat with the foil. Create a file with several straight lines, a couple of circles, and a few squares. Set the speed to slow. Set the thickness to 1.
By sharpening them occasionally, you can increase the lifespan of the blades.
Lint can sometimes get caught up in the blade. Remove the cap and check the blade under a magnifying glass to see if any fibers are present. If so, use some compressed air to get rid of it.

So my idea of sandpaper, definitely did not work…so it was worth the try, but unfortunately it didn’t sharpen my blade, but made it worse. I think my mat needs to be stickier to use the aluminum foil…so I will try it.but like the website suggests, is to sharpen before the blade gets dull.

My goal is to find a way to sharpen these blades, because I go through so many. If you have found a way to sharpen your Cricut blades, be sure to post it here and I will definitely try it.

Thanks! Enjoy!

Blog Candy

So I was checking out some new sites and came upon this site and she is fantastic! Her work is top of the line..I love her colors and her techniques. I plan to keep following her blog…so check it out…I hate to say it…but I am probably going to do a little scraplifting.

Jodi%27s+Birthday+Candy+%231.jpg

So go and check it out and sign up for her blog candy it ends July 31st.

Another Beach/Pool page with adorable penguins

This weeks class ended up being on a Tuesday evening because my beautiful baby girl had her 20th birthday on Monday and wanted to spend the day with me without my having to leave to teach a class, so I thought that was pretty sweet of her. But guess what? As the day went on, she received an invite from a friend she hadn’t seen for a while to go to dinner, so I told her to go and have fun. So class took place on Tuesday evening and it was a reunion of sorts. Our friend from Florida is up for the summer and her and her daughter who lives here both came, and another dear friend who hasn’t been for a while also came, and of course one of my regulars came and so we had a wonderful evening and everyone’s pages came out beautiful.

I hope you enjoy seeing our pages, and how when made with different paper and rearranging the layout, each taking on their own personalities. Enjoy :)

Jamie had some beautiful Close to my Heart paper that she used. I love this paper.

These next few layouts are Nina’s, Annette’s and Rubies, here we used photo copied cardstock for our mats. This paper came out of a pack and we didn’t have enough for everyone so we photo copied it!

Usually we chalk or ink all our pieces but this week we only did a little on our tree and used micro black pens and a white gel to add some detail to some of our pieces…they came out so cute, and the added little extra was some hemp for the bow on the bathing trunks, it just added that little extra.

Our Palm trees were missing the coconuts…and so with a pair of scissors, not the Cricut, the girls cut these cute coconuts and added it to the layout…how cool is that?

These cuts were made using Myscrapchick penguins…I own everyone of their files! Literally! I used the Make the Cut software to do all of our cuts. I love this program. Learning new things everyday on what it can do.

Be sure to leave a comment…we love to hear from people!

Cricut Lite Carts in stores now!

 

Here's the list of the new Lite Cricut carts:  24 new Cricut Lite cartridges available at Walmart starting this week - price point is $39.99 OR less (people have found them for less...).  These cartridges are bigger than mini cartridges, yet smaller than full size.  There is one feature key but many of the shapes have four layers, making some nice die cuts!

I have to say, I am so glad I have my software…I am going to save a ton of money! If I had to buy all these cartridges, I’d be broke and my scraproom would be bursting through the seams, hahahhhha! But I thought I would share with all of you the new cartridges, but you will have to travel, I think the closest place to us that would carry any or all of these would be Bangor….so having the software is so worth it. Also, if you look closely, on almost all of these cartridges, there are designs that you will find on another cartridge, so be sure to check them over to make sure you get the most for your money.

Plus there are new ones just in this month, also available in Walmarts…but not in our town :(

3 New Seasonal Cartridges Introduced

H20 Seasonal Cartridge
Quench the summer heat with the H2O cartridge! This seasonal cartridge is full of water themed images like suntan lotion, a lifeguard, swim goggles, water park, beach ball, and more. So if you’re looking for the perfect image for your summer pool party invitation or that scrapbook page, this cartridge is sure to be a hit!

Pumpkin Carving Seasonal Cartridge
Get ready for Halloween with the Pumpkin Carving cartridge! This seasonal cartridge features fifty themed images that are perfect as jack-o’-lantern templates, party décor, scrapbook backgrounds, and more.

October 31st Seasonal Cartridge
You will absolutely love the clean and classic designs on this cartridge, including haunted houses, gravestones, jack-o’-lanterns, and more. These images are a great addition to any scrapbook, party décor, or other project!

 

Summer in Paris Seasonal Cartridge

Independence Day Seasonal Cartridge

Independence Day Seasonal Cartridge

Design Studio Update - LITE Cartridges

You can now download Design Studio to include the LITE cartridges. Click HERE.
FYI - DO NOT uninstall Design Studio. DO download the DesignStudio Font Packs (2nd Download Button)

Four new cartridges are coming out next month.

Country Life

Happy Hauntings

Rock Princess

Winter Frolic

 

HSN Special - 3 Birds on Parade Cartridge

This cartridge is available exclusively from HSN.
The 3 Birds on Parade cartridge is filled with images of birds with different themes such as holidays, seasons, and sports. These cute layered images also have coordinating phrases and a complementary font.