The real reason my Cricut Explore is still in the box

Posted on Dec 29, 2014 in Crafts | 1 comment

I’ve had a Cricut Expression for several years and love it.  Made many holiday party decorations, assorted crafts, and even hundreds of Christmas cards one year with it (I don’t recommend that project unless there’s 10 people on your card list!).  So when the new Cricut Explore came out in March with the ability to cut SVG files and other files that I could design MYSELF, I jumped on it, $300 price tag be damned!

Nine months later… it’s been sitting in the shipping box, next to my desk, unopened.  When my super craft friend Jen Goode bugs me about why its still in the box, I explain how I haven’t cleaned off my card table that I use for crafts since last Christmas so I have no room to use it.  But, I think I know the real reason I haven’t opened it.

CreativityMy creativity has been MIA this last year.  Maybe I burned myself out with all the Christmas crafts I made as gifts last year.  I’m definitely working too hard sometimes with my day job of being an Affiliate Manager and keeping this blog alive while trying to simultaneously revive Food Askew and Girl Scout Guide, too.  I feel like a shit, because this is just one more thing that I’ve bought to “make things easier” that still sits in the box.  It joins the ranks of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer (at least I got that on super sale on Black Friday a few years ago) and my Wii Fit that I asked for and my lovely husband Dominic got it for me for Christmas and yet… never used it.  The only reason it’s not in the box anymore is because Winston the Wonder Pug peed on it, so I had to remove it to make sure no pee got through the inner packaging onto the board (it was safe).  I recently bought Zumba Fitness for Nintendo Wii in an attempt to motivate myself to (1) work out more so I eventually take my ass to the gym I still pay $30/month for and (2) use the damn Wii Fit board.  I’ve had it a couple months and haven’t cracked it out yet, either.

So, what’s wrong with me?  Am I just frivolous with my money?  No, well… sometimes, but my financial frivolity usually involves 99¢ phone cases on eBay or a trip to my local Dollar Tree.  Never a $300 crafting machine, $200 stand mixer, or $100 Wii Fit.  So what gives?

Cricut Unleashed from it's Box

Cricut Unleashed from it’s Box

It’s not that I don’t think it’s amazing.  It’s not that I haven’t had opportunities to at least use it for crafts I’ve done before for holiday parties, like for Thanksgiving.  It is that I didn’t clean off that card table, but, that’s more of an excuse cause there was nothing but energy and motivation stopping me from putting the stuff sitting on that table away in my craft bins in the garage.  I’ve found myself devoid of ideas that warrant what I’ve deemed as the “hassle” of cleaning off the table and making something.  Serves me right that it’s taken me so long – like I mentioned, I paid around $300 for it when it was released in March, so seeing Black Friday sales for $175 HURT A LOT.  Laziness tax, I guess 🙂

So with 5 days off for Christmas, I forced myself into gear when I finally had an idea.  I received a bunch of pictures of my nieces and nephews just before Christmas, so I wanted to do something simple to get the hang of the new Cricut Design Space app to turn a 12×12 scrap booking page and 12×12 frame into a collage frame for all the various sizes of photos I was sent.  I enlisted my friend Rachel to kick my ass into gear and come over and help me clean off the table and put everything where it was supposed to go.  So with the table cleaned off, I opened up the Explore box, set it up, and got to work with my idea.

Niece & Nephew FrameThere was definitely a learning curve for figuring out the new software and trying to get the images I wanted to cut where I wanted them!  Luckily I cut a test page before cutting the final page.  I had to utilize the expertise of other Cricut users via the I LUV my Cricut Facebook group to learn some things about the program, but in the end I’m happy with the end result.  I haven’t hung it onto the wall yet, but I am excited to use the Cricut more with the upcoming New Year’s Eve, annual Oscars party, and maybe even some random crafts.  I decided that since the table was cleaned off, I might as well leave the Cricut out for awhile and browse some recommended sites for free or inexpensive SVG files and think of some projects to do when I have New Year’s Day and January 2nd off to keep busy.

Hopefully in January I have the motivation to bust out the Wii Fit and get my fat ass in gear.  And sometime this year, I will open the Kitchen Aid!  Just need a suitable reason… and to clean off some counter space (the Crock Pot may have to find some shelf space!).

If you had a Cricut Explore, what project would you make with it?

One Comment

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  1. Chrissy @ Adventures in DIY

    Sometimes, I do the same thing! Maybe it runs in the family. lol
    But, for me, as excited I am about whatever it is that I bought, the learning curve of knowing how to use the darn thing is what throws me off. I find that once I take the time to properly use things, I will jump at the chance to use them.
    I actually have a Cricut Expressions too and rarely use it. I hardly scrapbook anymore, so didn’t have many opportunities to use it. But, I’ve learned that I could use it for a lot of my other crafts I do (home decor, etc), so I need to finally learn how to operate it so I can actually use the darn thing!