AG Dolls, Move Over

Maggie's and Emma's birthdays are next week. They'll be 8 and 7. How fast the years have flown! I didn't know what to get them for their birthdays - money is tight. I started thinking about their AG dolls and decided that I would sew up some doll clothes. Going through my fabric stash, I realized that I didn't have much to choose from. Most of the fabrics I have left over aren't suitable for dolls.

When I was at band practice last night, I saw my friend, Roberta! She's a seamstress and has a basement full of fabrics. She gave me lots of satins and silks when I wanted to make my son's ring pillow. I asked her if she had any fabric scraps big enough for 18" doll clothes and she looked at me as if I were crazy. "Do I have any fabric scraps?!? I have a huge bag just waiting for anyone to come and take it!" Wow! I made arrangements to come to her house the next day.

She gave me several "pieces" that are large enough to make Maggie and Emma each a sundress. There are all sorts of pieces for the dolls. Solids, coordinating prints, kittens, "suede", corduroy, flannel, fleece, sateen, velvets, black lace (ooh-la-la!). I'll be making doll clothes for a long time.

I went to Michael's and bought two of the 18" dolls, $10.07 each (with my 40% off coupons). That's a significant price difference when you consider that American Girl Dolls are almost $100. Maggie and Emma always drift to the doll aisle at Michael's and they've each chosen the doll they want. I wasn't going to get the dolls for them, because they already have AG dolls that they got for Christmas, but the last time they were there, they told me that they wanted them "very, very much, Nana".

I wish I had time to get Jimmy to make four beds, or two bunk beds. I've been imagining myself crocheting bedspreads or making "quilts" for the doll beds. I could make pillows, mattresses, blankets....

Thanks, Wayne!

After all the trouble I went through with the Cricut and not being able to get through to ProvoCraft, I was ready to explode!

The answer to my question of why my Cricut DS kept telling me that my (only) 6x12 mat was the wrong size (there is no other size for my original Cricut) was finally given to me, not by Cricut personnel and not by ProvoCraft personnel, but by someone on the forum page. I still don't understand why I couldn't get through by phone, email or fax.

I finally got an email from a guy named Wayne, from ProvoCraft. He was sorry it took so long to get back to me and what was my question? Oh, boy! I wrote back to him, explaining that I had gotten an answer from another crafter on the forum page. I did ask him why it took over two weeks to hear from someone. He never answered that one, but instead, he offered me a cartridge of my choice for all my trouble!

I jumped at the chance to get one that I had wanted: Storybook. I told him that I was saving up for it (the cost is extravagant! $90!) and if he was serious, I'd love to have that one. He wrote back and said it was on its way!

A few days later I opened the mailbox and there it was! Storybook. Mine. All mine.

I've had fun using it. It has a nice font with all types of changes, plus all types of swirls, leaves, flowers, birds, a crown and some word phrases. In with that, there are several creative features: Tall/border, shorty with holes, fancy corner, accent frame, shadow and accent blackout.

Newest Birthday Cards

I decided to get a head start on making Maggie's and Emma's birthday cards. Maggie's is the pink princess crown. I cut it with the "Indie" cartridge from Cricut. After cutting out the crown and the background, I cut the front piece from silver foil cardstock and glued it to the pink crown. I used foam squares to adhere those two pieces to the background crown. These three pieces are glued to a piece of glittery matstock. It's not noticeable in this picture, but it is very glittery. She'll love it!


Emma's card was made using the same "Indie" cartridge. The guitar and "U ROCK" are cut from dark lavender linen textured cardstock. The wings are cut from that same silver foil cardstock. I chose this one for Emma because she getting pretty good (for a soon-to-be 7-year old) at Guitar Hero. She'll get a big kick out of it!

Trouble In Cricut Land

I've been having a hell of a week. My Cricut Design Studio wasn't working and I couldn't get in touch with ProvoCraft or Cricut. I tried emailing them. No response. I tried faxing a letter. No response. I tried calling them.

When you call the 877 number you get a selection of menu choices. After you've made your choices you are put on hold and told to listen to the music. At first, the music is ok, then it turns scratchy, fading in and out, popping and cracking and then it just becomes a big ice pick digging in your ear. I tried holding the phone away from my ear, but then I was afraid I'd miss hearing if a person came on the line. After holding for about 30 minutes, I gave up. I do have a life, ya know.

Each time I called, I gave up after 20 - 30 minutes. I found another number and tried that. No change. Same voice, same menu, same selection, same waiting, same music. Aaaagggghhhh!

My problem was that the Design Studio said I had a larger mat in my Cricut than on the screen and I needed to change it. I have a 6x12 mat in the Cricut and a 6x12 mat selected on the computer screen. I finally decided to get on the Cricut forum page and ask for help from all the crafters. I got several suggestions that didn't pan out. Finally, someone wrote and told me how to fix it! I won't bore you with the details, but just know that it worked!

Then my Cricut LED screen became all pixelated. Good grief! I couldn't tell if what I had selected to cut was actually what I was going to be cutting. What the heck caused that? This was a brand new machine! This was causing my brain to hurt. I already knew that I'd have to mail the Cricut to Utah for repairs and pay for shipping both ways, plus the fee for fixing it if it wasn't included in the warranty. No way could I afford to do that. I just wanted to cry.

I had gotten out the little pamplet that came with the Cricut and saw the sales slip that I had taped to the inside cover. Wait a minute! Joanne Fabrics has a 90-day return policy. Hope springs eternal.

Today I took the Cricut back to the store and explained my problem. The cashier asked the Assistant Manager to come up to the front and asked her if they could take it back and give me another. "Of course we can" she said. She said it was easier for them to return it than for me. I totally agreed! Yeaaaaah!

I came home, set up the Cricut, opened the Design Studio, connected the Cricut to my computer and away we went! I started making Alex's scrapbook pages.

I'm back on track.

Well, Thanks Bunches, Walmart!

It's right there on their advertisement - We honor all competitors sale prices! I took an ad in to purchase a Cricut. Joanne's Fabrics had it on sale for $99.99. It's usually $199.99. This is a great savings! When I approached the Customer Service person, she said she didn't think it would be honored. She then called over one of the Assistant Managers. He left to go ask someone else. I knew then that this wasn't going to happen.

He came back with a pretend sad face and informed me that they couldn't let me have it for that price. It was too great a discount. I asked him about WM's statement in all of their ads about honoring competitors' sale prices. He shrugged his shoulders and said "Sorry". I shrugged my shoulders and said I had wanted to keep Front Royal money in Front Royal, but now I was going to have to take that money to Winchester. "Sorry" was all he could say.

I've never been able to get a competitor's sale price on anything at Walmart, except for items that are maybe less than $5.00. If that's what WM means by honoring sale prices, they should put that in their advertisements. "We honor all competitors' sale prices as long as it's less than $5.00."

I had tried last year to get the Cricut Design Studio at WM, using another store's advertised sale price. The CS person told me that the competitor's store had to be outside a 50-mile radius. Since it was for A.C. Moore, that left me out.

I wish they'd just print out their exceptions.

One Almost Dead Cricut

About two years ago, I purchased my little Cricut cutting system. I got it with a 40% off coupon at Michaels Craft Store in Harrisonburg. The Michaels in Manassas wouldn't let me use a coupon, so when I went to Harrisonburg, I thought I'd try my luck there.

I really enjoy using the Cricut and I've subscribed to the Cricut Newsletter that comes every month. I like seeing what other, more talented, people create using their machines. I kept coming up on all these abbreviations that I didn't understand. Finally, I realized that "DS" meant Dear Son, "DD" was Dear Daughter, "DH" meant Dear Husband, and so on. They even abbreviated the titles of the cartridges, or "carts" as they call them. For a long time I was totally confused, but finally got the hang of it. The only one I didn't understand was "DS" being used as in "I used my DS to create this design. Huh? She used her Dear Son? How? And why? "DS" was doing an awful lot of stuff. How old were these kids, anyway?

When I needed to call the company about something one day, I asked her what else did "DS" stand for? That's when I found out about the Design Studio! Ah ha!

Months later, I was able to purchase the Design Studio and I've loved it ever since. Until Friday. Well, to be honest, it's not the DS that I'm upset about. It's the Cricut. It seems that the motor is going. I've only had it about 2 years and I need to send it to Utah for repairs. I can't afford that. The repairs will probably cost around $75 (if I'm lucky, he said) and I'd have to pay postage both ways, plus insurance. I'm thinking that I'd be better off if I bought a new one. Crap.

You'd think that Provo Craft could have manufactured it a little better with a stronger motor so that it would last more than 2 years. This one doesn't even get heavy use. I'd say it gets light to moderate use. I have never taken it out of the house to use anywhere else, the g'daughters don't use it without supervision, and Kara has used it occasionally. That's about it. Never dropped it, never lent it out, never bent, folded or stapled it.

I first noticed trouble when it wouldn't cut all the way down the length of the mat. I had tried to cut "Congratulations" using Base Camp at 1". It cut "Cong" and then traced the rest of the letters. I reinserted the mat and typed in "rat" and cut that. Reinserted it again and cut out "ula". It took forever, but I finally got the rest of the letters. After talking to a Provo Craft rep, she finally told me how to reset my machine. I followed all the directions, waited 1/2 hour and tried it again. It worked!

Until the next time I used the machine, about a week later. Same problem. I tried the "reset" procedure. It worked, but it only lasted through one cut. The very next cut only cut about 1/2 way down the mat. Each additional cut was shorter than the first. Finally, only one letter. I reset it each time I want to use it. This takes 1/2 hour for each cut. Yikes!

This last time, the technician told me that it must be the motor. Unfortunately, I can't afford to get it fixed.

'I'm very disappointed.

Alex's Sock Monkey

I finished Alex's sock monkey! When I made the monkeys for Maggie and Emma, I had two socks left, so I went ahead and cut out the pieces and put them in a zip-lock bag with the pattern. You simply never know when you'll need another sock monkey!

I made him a pair of pants with some green starred fabric I found in my scrap box. When I was going through the box looking for something suitable, I realized all I had was girly fabrics. Pinks, flowered, satiny, lacy, frilly - but nothing for a boy. The green starred piece was just big enough to cut out a pair of monkey pants.

I made him a pair of socks with the leftover piece of sock. When I didn't find anything for a shirt, I embroidered a red "I love you" heart on his chest. To finish him off, I embroidered Alex's name and the year on the monkey's butt.

I'm going to try to find a straw boater hat. That will look great!