Cricut Explore

Wow! It's been ages since I've had the time to blog (or craft for that matter). Not sure what happened?

But, I'm back and I have a super exciting new crafting toy to play with- the Cricut Explore. I've been desperately wanting/needing this since I saw it launched in the USA and it's finally made it here via Create & Craft. I've always loved Cricut machines but this one is soooooooo good!

I've made 2 projects this afternoon, 1 that was super quick and another that took most of the afternoon- but was well worth it.

I'll start with the simple one:-

I wanted to use one of the materials included in the kit for my first project as I knew the new material selector dial would be matched exactly to that material and would give me a great cut. I decided to decorate my machine using the silver vinyl sample.

I used a star design that was already in the Design Space software, cut it from the vinyl and then attached it to the machine- it was so easy and looks fab!

The second project took considerably longer but looks great too.

I've finally started work on my Harry Potter scrapbook and this is the title page for my photos of Diagon Alley. I wanted a silhouette  of the street on the page but couldn't find anything suitable in the  Cricut design library so I made my own! I found a photograph of Diagon Alley and imported it into the paint programme on my computer. I used the fill and eraser tools to remove the background of the photo and draw a white line around each of the shops to define them. I did the same with the windows, doors and other highlights. I then changed the colour to black and white leaving the silhouette. I saved this image and then opened it in the Cricut Design Space software. I then simply resized the image and then cut it. It isn't perfect but some of the windows panes didn't have very big gaps between them so it was my error and not the machines. It still looks great though.

The title Diagon Alley was also cut using the Cricut but with a font from my computer (it does that too!).

I love it and it's exactly what I wanted. It sounds a cliche but this Cricut Explore is definitely only limited by your own imagination and I certainly have plenty of ideas!!!