Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you believe it is the most wonderful time of the year again? I love this time of year. I am reminded of the precious gift that was given to mankind over 2000 years ago. I see it in the lights that decorate the night...because light always penetrates the dark. I hear it in the songs we sing about Ole Saint Nick and Deck the Halls. Yes, I even feel it in the hustle and bustle of gift buying...giving to others because we love them.

So this year, thanks to the gals from Christmas with the Cricut, I am making all my gifts. They inspired me so much that I also made my own Christmas wreath. I went to Joann's and went crazy on their sale but if I budget correctly, I believe I will spend less than $200.00 on 13 great gifts, a huge Christmas wreath with lights and my Christmas cards. Can you believe it? Here is a picture of my buy and the finished wreath.

Over the next few weeks I will show some of the gifts I created and some of the decor I created with my Gypsy and my Cricut. I think I am going to buy two more wreaths (at 9.99 each at Joanns...I feel like I am stealing them) and decorate them using my G, my Cricut and my YourStory.

Gypsy Goodie Bags

I went to a retreat this weekend called the Winds of the Revolution. By the way, God was there and he said to say, "Hi". I used a white gift bag from Walmart and included the following items:

• Prayer Journal (altered composition book)



• bag of chocolate (Angel Kisses)
• bottle of water (Living Water)
• Purse Card
• tissues
• pen
• gum
• mints
• small bottle of shampoo
• small bottle of cleansing gel
• disposable razor

I used composition books from Walmart and covered the inside, outside and front and back of each journal. I was a Valentine paper pack that I already had but never used. The candy bag was made with small candy bags from Walmart and I cut off about 3 inches from the top. Then I stapled it at the top. I then cut two circles from the same Valentine pack (one at 5.75 inches and one and 5.25 inches) and glued them together. I punched two holes across from eachother and pulled the ribbon through it and tied knots so that they couldn't be pulled out. I then stamped a sentiment from CDstamps.com and created a border around it with two pieces of cardstock from my scrap stash. I then, used my ATG gun and taped the folded circle over the top of the goodie bag. I created a purse card that is a tri-fold from GBS cartridge, using my Gypsy. I then borrowed an idea of wrapping the water bottle from Tammy with Christmas with a Cricut. She was a guest designer at Hallmark Scrapbook Blog. You can view the video here on how to make it. I made the goodie bag with things us gals normally forget when we go to a weekend retreat.

I have to tell you a little story about the prayer journal. As I was going over ideas in my head about how to decorate the journal, I couldn't make up my mind. I look through all my existing paper pads (you know the ones we all have) and just couldn't make up my mind. I went to stores and nothing stood out. So I decided to pray about it and ask God what He had envisioned. And He told me to make Love Journals. He said we are His Beloved and He wanted us to write to Him all our desires, hopes, dreams, joys, pains, and losses. So I took out a Valentines pack I purchased in January and never used (now I know why) and started to make the books. I knew He said "Love Letters" but when I went to the retreat website, I saw it was called "The Winds of Revolution". It didn't sound like anything to do with Love Letters and I started to doubt the word I heard. But in obedience I did it just like He asked. Well, on Saturday, after the morning a session, they gave us an assignment for the afternoon that we are to do in quietness with just us and God. And they said, "I want you to get out your journals that you brought to take notes and I want you to pen LOVE LETTERS to our Beloved. He has told me that He wants love letters from all of you. I just turned to all the women I made journals and my mouth just dropped open. We all had journals that said "Love Letters." Can I get an amen?

My first blog award!

I am so excited. I received my first blog award. Thank you Jeannelee! Check out her blog MyTinHairMusings. Ok so here are the rules. I am to answer a few questions with one word and share the award with five fabulous people. And then go to their blog and share the love.

So here is who I want to share with:

Loves to Create-she has the cutest craftroom and does some great crafting

Bug Junkie--the most amazing shape books made with the Cricut

These girls I call the Gypsy Chics...everything you want to know about the Gypsy

TheBugBytes

Myamagoo

Alicia Garcia

So here I go:

1. Where is your cell phone? couch


2. Your hair? short


3. Your mother? Home


4. Your father? Home


5. Your favorite food? Menudo


6. Your dream last night? funny


7. Your favorite drink? cherry Limeade


8. Your dream/goal? famous


9. What room are you in? living room


10. Your hobby? Studying


11. Your fear? failing


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy


13. Where were you last night? Bible Study


14. Something that you aren't? fashionista


15. Muffins? Banana Nut


16. Wish list item? creativity


17. Where did you grow up? Texas


18. Last thing you did? drive


19. What are you wearing? shorts


20. Your TV? on


21. Your Pets? 5


22. Friends? amazing


23. Your life? joyful


24. Your mood? bliss


25. Missing Someone? Stepson


26. vehicle? Pacifica


27. Something your not wearing? shoes


28. Your favorite store?By Design Scrapbook Boutique


29. Your favorite color? green


30. When was the last time you laughed? hour


31. Last time you cried?month


32. Your best friend? husband


33. One place that I go to over and over? cricut.com


34. Facebook? yes


35. Favorite place to eat? Spanish Flower

Shape Book Video

I have a three part series on how to create a shape book on your Gypsy. There are so many things going on in my life that it is hard to take a moment to make them. I may have follow up videos on how to complete your project. But right now, the main goal of these videos is to get you started on brainstorming your own shape books.

I have Bible Study tonight so I will get parts one and two uploaded before I leave, however, part three will come after Bible Study. They were really quick so kind of raw but you will get the idea. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will get to hone in on my video skills and produce better videos. I am new at this, so be gentle. :)

Happy Gypsying!

There is an update today!

Here is a list of the items that were updated today on the Gypsy. I did the update and I am in the process of testing them. Here is what the update offers. I put my notes next to update if I tested it.

Cricut App Version 1.2 Build 0142: 11/04/2009
Added Features:

You can now share files between Cricut® DesignStudio and the Cricut App on your Gypsy™. Yes it works.

The Cricut App now supports multi-page design. Sort of. It will bring all images over to the Gypsy but they are all on one mat. I stand corrected. There is a little plus sign to the left of the mat that allows you to add pages. YEAH!!

By holding down the Zoom button and selecting an image on the keypad, Gypsy will now display a full screen preview of the image so that you can see the details of the image without having to go to the mat screen. Yes it works. You have to go to the keypad, hold the zoom button down, tap the image you want to see full screen (just tap, don't keep your stylus on the screen) the full screen image will appear, tap it to make it go away

The name of the cartridge displayed on the keypad window now shows in non-bolded red text if you do not own the cartridge. If you own the cartridge it shows in bolded dark green. This works. However, in order to see green, you have to tilt your Gypsy just so and tilt your head like this. However, the ones I don't own are in red.***this is on the Keypad screen

On the keypad screen, if you tap and hold an image in the image queue, the cartridge name to which that image belongs will be displayed. Clicking the cartridge name switches the keypad to that cartridge. This works...this is what you do. If you are on your mat and you forget where you got an image, highlight that image (make it blue), hit the keypad, put your stylus on the image on the top bar and hold it there until the name of the cart comes up in a little box, if you want to go to that cartridge, then tap the box, if you don't want to then just tap anywere in the white bar at top

Enhancements:

Welding preview is now faster and shows a progress bar. Yes it is faster and yes, love the progress bar...yeah

Welding preview no longer has to be redrawn when you zoom in or out (you can now enter preview mode and zoom without having to wait each time you zoom). This works.

Dragging large groups on your mat is now faster. OMG yes it is so much faster....yeah.

Load and Unload button on the cutting menu is now smart. If you have a mat loaded in the Cricut machine the Cricut App will only display the "Unload Mat" button. If you do not have a mat loaded it will only display the "Load Mat" button.

Updated keyword database. I tested "pumpkin" it did not use to show Gypsy Wandering Pumpkin and now it does...still may need further testing.

Updated the warranty to expand the warranty coverage form 6 months to 12 months (please read the warranty for details). I will wait until someone else reads. I didn't read the first one.

New firmware for the Cricut machine that enables some of the features above and improves the reliability of cutting.

You can now use the zoom and pan buttons to scroll up and down through your file lists when opening and deleting files. Yes that works.
Fixes

Reported welding issues have been fixed. I have not cut yet but it looks better on my preview

Selection boxes that appear around images and groups have been improved so that the show correctly even when they spill over the edge of the mat. The boxes display while they are being dragged. They do not show when at rest. Yes it works, you don't get a big black box around when you run off the page.

The Cricut machine remembers if you are in mm or inches after you shutdown and then restart. Yes this works.

Designs that contain templates, where the template contains images you don’t have the rights to cut, can now be cut*.
*Note: Previous to this Circut App release, if you attempted to cut a design based on a template containing an image you don’t have the rights to cut (even though the template does not cut) the entire design would not cut.

Gypsy Sync Software (MAC/WIN): 11/04/2009
Added Features:

• Add the ability to transfer files to and from your Gypsy. Files that can be transferred are *.gypsy files. Yes this works.

Know Issues:

• Skewing/SlantingWe are aware of an issue with Skewing/Slanting. This capability does not function properly when transferring files from Cricut DesignStudio and Gypsy. Files that have Skewing/Slanting in them may not have the same Skewing/Slanting or in some cases the Skewing/Slanting is completely removed. This only happens when transferring files. You can transfer files and then add Skewing/Slanting. This is known issue that we are still working to resolve. Images that have skewing/slanting that are transferred might not cut properly until this issue is resolved.
• Multi-page FilesTransferring designs with multiple pages from Cricut DesignStudio to Gypsy is available. You will also be able to create new multi-page designs on your Gypsy and cut them on your Gypsy. When transferring any multi-page design from Gypsy to Cricut DesignStudio the pages will all be combined into one page. This includes designs that were created in Cricut DesignStudio, transferred to Gypsy and then transferred back to Cricut DesignStudio. We recommend that you keep a copy of the original Cricut DesignStudio files when transferring them to the Gypsy and vice versa.
• Gypsy Sync (Mac)The installer does not automatically close the old version when installing the new version. You must close the old version when installing the new version.
• Gypsy Synch (Windows)The file list does not automatically refresh. You must refresh in order to see the updated file list.
• Gypsy HelpThe help files have not been updated since the previous version.
• Cricut Firmware Upgrades When Gypsy recognizes that the Cricut firmware needs to be upgraded the Gypsy will not tell you this until you hit the exit button. You can upgrade your Cricut firmware manually by pressing the menu button and selecting Upgrade Cricut.

I have a family to attend so I will be back later with a video of the updates and to test cutting. Off to church.