CHA Super Show Friday

Today was the first day of the CHA Super Show - the consumer portion of the show.  There was a special event for members of the Cricut Circle before the Super Show started.  We had a great time meeting people from all over and I was extremely flattered to be recognized by several people who follow my blog.  Near the end of the meeting a special guest arrived - the Cricut "Bug,"

After the session there were lots of photo opportunities.  Here are Cindy and Shantaie, my former Design Team buddies, with the Cricut "bug."  There were some great giveaways of various cartridges and machines.  Fortunately the Yudu winner had come by car to the event (that is one big heavy machine).  Two lucky people also won a new Cricut Imagine Machine!  Everyone who attended received a small packet with some Cricut markers, blades and a new charm for their bracelet.

When the Circle meeting was over we went downstairs to the consumer show.  This show is very different from the Trade Show.  There was much more noise since the aisles were not carpeted and all of the booths are selling instead of simply showing their merchandise.

Just to give you an idea - here is the crowd in the Papertrey Ink booth.  This is actually the line of people waiting to pay.  I did the make and takes at Papertrey Ink - there was a card and a pin made with felt and paper flowers.  The felt that they offer is really a great weight and quality.  I don't have photos of my projects to share tonight but I did take some photos of the samples in the booth.  Here is a series of inspiring ideas...

 I think they have the best designers and no matter what they make I always seem to like it!

 It was fun to have the chance to meet Emma (My Creative Time) at the Peachy Keen Stamps booth.  She does beautiful work and has a new DVD about the Gypsy that will be available soon.  You can check her blog for details.

There is another special room for Circle members in the Provo Craft Booth.  This is the sign that hangs on the side of the little booth.

These photos are for Okie who first introduced me to the headless women on My Favorite Things stamps.

This was one of the cakes at the Provo Craft stand.  The chocolate crown on top was most impressive.

I was also excited to meet Taylor Van Bruggen of Taylored Expressions.  I bought a few stamp sets from her and also some great boxes for altering that will hold a set of cards very nicely.

I had to leave mid afternoon to get ready to go back to Wisconsin.  I needed to get back but I am sorry I missed the dinner get together of many people from the Cricut Message Board - I was there in spirit!

It was a tiring but exciting few days.  Here is one last photo with my roommate Susan, Joy and Melanie.  I will look forward to getting together in person again soon.

If you have been considering joining the Cricut Circle I think it could be a good idea to join.  We heard about a lot of the plans and surprises that are planned and they are very exciting.  The start has been bumpy and there are still things to be sorted out but I have every confidence that ultimately things will work out.

The bus ride back was uneventful and I went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant with my sister.  It was so funny when I saw that the chopsticks were Cricut green!  I have never seen green chopsticks before...Cricut has truly taken over my life!


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CHA Day Three

I want to share some pictures of a few things that I saw while checking out the other exhibits at the CHA trade show.  As I said yesterday, there is an overwhelming amount of color and pattern and interesting things to look at.  So this will just be a taste of things that caught my eye today...

The photo at the top is of a few more Imagine projects - I am so excited to try out some of the great possibilities.  There are so many ways to expand the use of the machine beyond cards and pages.

Some of the booths are quite elaborate - Doodlebug Designs had this cute little "house."

Retro themes are very popular - this is the outside of October Afternoon's booth.

Here is a closer view of one of the layouts from October Afternoon.

On the top of the Little Yellow Bicycle booth was (wait for it....) a little yellow bicycle.

Graphic 45 had some amazing displays for Halloween...

and Christmas.

This pink decoration was really eye catching  - many of the companies made fairly elaborate hanging displays to help you spot their booths from far away.

There are new Nestabilities dies that are enormous - and a new machine to go with them that will cut 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

Here are a few Christmas cards made with Nestabilities - there was lots of inspiration for Christmas all through the show.

This Halloween layout uses some of the Shapeabilities.

Some of the Halloween dies look fantastic cut in metal.

I looked for Tim Holtz but missed seeing him in his booth - here are a few fantastic tags and of course they are displayed on a birdcage!

Suede, from Project Runway, made some incredible dresses from paper that were on display in the e-craft booth.

Core'dinations has some really interesting embossed papers.

There were all sorts of beautiful samples in the Prima booth.

There were lots of lovely layouts on display (you can click the photo to see it larger).

Isn't this dress adorable?

Here are more Prima layouts.

One more fun thing that I did was to watch a demo for making a tote bag with the Yudu.  You apply glue through the screen and then add fine glitter in any color you like.  After the glue and glitter dries you need to heat set the design.

You can't see it very well but I am holding the tote bag here.  This is Jinger Adams who I am sure you have seen on HSN and in many Provo Craft videos.  She is so sweet and friendly and does a great job in the demonstrations from the stage in the booth.

I hope you enjoyed this mini tour - it is really just the tip of the iceberg.  The Super Show starts tomorrow and I will be attending the Cricut Circle meetup tomorrow morning.  I am looking forward to meeting some more Cricut friends and checking out the show.

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A few more CHA photos

It was another busy day here at CHA.  There are so many exhibitors that it can be exhausting to try to cover the entire show.  I wanted to catch up with the videos from the Gala yesterday but  I had technical difficulties...  There are so many bloggers here I am sure if you search YouTube for CHA videos you will find a lot to watch.

In the Provo Craft booth there are a number of products being demonstrated.  First and foremost of course is the new Imagine machine,  There have been demonstrations from the stage throughout the day.

There is a new Cuttlebug machine. Here is a picture of it closed.  One really nice feature is that the handle folds down so it will be easier to pack if you go to crops.

The sides fold down just like the original Cuttlebug.  The Cricut Companion Cuttlebug folders were on display along with a few others.  I will try to get photos to share tomorrow.

There are also new inks for the Yudu including beautiful glitter, foil and flocking.  I don't have a Yudu and some of the projects I saw are tempting me to add another machine to my fleet of machines!

In one area there are demonstrations of the Cricut Cake.  These cakes are really beautiful when you see them "up close and personal".

There was a special room set up for members of the Cricut Circle to visit.  Inside you could look through large binders of cartridge cuts.  Some were for recently released cartridges and there were even some with images from cartridges that will be coming soon.

There were lots of samples of projects done with the new Imagine.

The Imagine gives you the option of printing, cutting or both.  You can also choose to cut the image in a single layer or print multiple layers and build a dimensional design.

It is possible to add inking to the edges of the printed and cut pieces.  The inks are not waterproof but they were described as waterfast by the demonstrator.  The machine also gives you the option to add an outline to any cut.

Here is another project that caught my eye.  I really like the way the pattern works on the giraffe.  Once again there is a lot of layering.

Here are a couple of projects where the design was printed on fabric and cut out.  You can print on anything that can be put through an inkjet printer.   This opens up a lot of possibilities.  There will also be printable Cricut vinyl which will be fantastic for home decor projects.

Here is a design that was printed and then cut in a scalloped circle.  There are many colors built in on the machine and you can match any color of your existing cardstock and paper by using RGB values (Red-Green Blue).

Here is one more example of a cut that is done in layers, cut and assembled...

and the same cut done as a single layer.

This is Brandon who showed my how to use the machine on a make and take project.  Unfortunately it was late in the day and the machine needed some recalibration so I will wait to show you new sample cuts tomorrow.

Here are a few notes about the machine.

You can use all of your original Cricut cartridges and there are also new content and color and pattern cartridges for the Imagine.

The machine has a touch screen for the controls.  You place both cartridges in the machine in the areas to the right and left of the screen.

You can cut just like you do with a regular expression, you can print on cardstock with the printer function or you can print and cut.

The maximum page size is 12 x 12.

There are two ink cartridges a black and a tri-color.  You should be able to print 120 to 150 full sheets for an average cost of 23 cents a sheet.  (I heard different page counts from different people so I am not sure if this is accurate).

The mat is new and you must use the Imagine mat in the Imagine.  It has dark black lines used for registration.  You can use these mats in the regular machines as well.  The mats have a new adhesive and are expected to last longer.  The new adhesive is great - it will not come off the mat onto the back of the paper.

There is  currently no ability to add photos to print on the page but this may be coming in the future.

The machine is compatible with the Gypsy and the Jukebox but not with Design Studio.

Near the end of the day there was a giant giveaway for those who had done the make and take or a watched a demo.  There was a huge pile of products given away (machines, cartridges, Cuttlebug folders, books).  It was an excited group that waited to see if they had a winning ticket.

This evening a group of Cricut Message Board members met up for dinner and conversation and we were joined by some special guests from ProvoCraft.  It was very nice to have a chance to give some feedback on products and services and I hope that there will be more opportunities like this.

That's all for now - I have to get some sleep before it all starts again!

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