My other new "toy"

Well, after perusing eBay to bid on cricuts, I decided to start off with getting a personal cricut and upgrade to the expression later on. I found a great auction and won a brand new factory sealed cricut for only $99.00! The cricut also came with the George and Basic Shapes cart so I've been experimenting with my new toy since it had arrived this past Friday.

I would like to invest in more carts but I may have to wait a while since my paypal account is down to $8 and the hubby isn't going to transfer any more money into it for the time being. We do have bills to pay and he has been more than generous with the amounts he had originally transferred in there for our spending pleasure!..lol

However, I did run to Walmart Friday night to buy a few necessities for the cricut. I bought a pack of extra cutting mats, a pack of replacement blades and a spatula. I also eyed up the cricut sophisticated colored pens but I figured I'll invest in a pack on my next trip. They are pretty inexpensive and a substitute for variety until I can invest in more carts.

My Cuttlebug Cover

Completed Layouts at the Crop

My Cuttlebug dies/embossing collection

I won a lot of 24 assorted cutting dies on eBay for my cuttlebug. I unfortunately may not get them in time for the crop but I have other dies I can work with, as well as some embossing folders.
The lot includes:
4 dies of Garden creatures
4 dies of Tiny Tags
4 dies of Winter
4 dies of Buckles/Ribbon Slides
4 dies of Zoo Animals
4 dies of Asteriks

Right now I have the 5 piece die/embossing set which came with the machine, The Baby Face Alphabet set which has 95 shapes and letters, multiflower die set, a set of the Paisley dies, and 3 packs of embossing folders: Flowers, D'Vine Swirl and Princess.
That should hold me over until my new dies come in!..lol

5 days and counting!

Michelle and I will be attending a local crop this Saturday from 9 am-9pm. Concidentally, that same weekend, the yahoo group memoryscrappers will be having a weekend retreat at our fearless leader Jenn's house. Unfortunately, Michelle and I can't be there in body since Jenn lives several states away from us but I believe we can still join their live crop via online.

Cuttlebug Cover

My BFF Michelle had found this wonderful lady named Heidi who makes custom cricut and cuttlebug covers. Heidi has a great assortment of fabric patterns to choose from and the price is just right as well!
Well, the cover came in the mail today and it is awesome! Heidi did a fantastic job and I recommend her to anyone interested in having a cricut and cuttlebug cover custom made!

I'll post a pic of my cover in a bit.

My new toy

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to invest in a die cutting machine. Although I had my heart set on the Cricut Expression, it's not in the budget right now.

After doing some internet browsing, I came across the Cuttlebug. I figure this would be a perfect die cut machine for me since I am still technically a beginner in scrapbooking and eventually move up in the ranks of die cutters.

At the time, Michael's had a sale on the machine for 50% off. It was regularly $79.99 but I went out and bought it with the sale price of $39.99!! I couldn't pass up that great deal!

Although it had come with a die and a couple of embossing folders, I bought an extra pack of embossing folders and a set of dies which were also on sale. Total cost with tax? $56.00!!

I felt like a kid at Christmas when I purchased the merchandise!