Monthly Archives: August 2010

Finally got Design Studio activated

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My husband called Provo Craft at their activation number in Design Studio listed on the “activate by phone” page. For some reason, she helped him get it activated when previous calls didn’t, nor did any help she or others offered to get it to “activate by internet” work … always outcome of “Error Code 3:” which means it’s already activated by another computer in their server. No matter that they “said” they cleared it and it’ll work, it never did. Others said nothing they could do unless we called. When called a couple of time it was run-around like, and they couldn’t do anything.

It wasn’t that we tried every day. I tried via email and via website support form fill-out with follow-up emails several months. Multiple times I initiated a new round of “please help me” and after awhile I did have 3 different people respond via email that they had cleared it and I should be able to “activate via internet” though never could I.

So getting it done yesterday was only because I got on the bandwagon again to get it done. I suppose it could have been done via the phone eons ago, but it just is something that went against us, it just didn’t work out the times we tried. So it’s done now. I guess my laptop will die or need to be OS reinstalled or something, rendering me with the problem again. FWIW

I have yet to hook my laptop up to my Cricut Expression, but just knowing it SHOULD work is enough for now. I opened a few files in Design Studio, and also tagged most of my cartridges that I own as “My Cartridges”, that’s it.

I have bad Fall Allergies the last few years, and this year is the worst of them all. I expect next year to be worse. And the year after that. So anyhow, I just don’t feel like doing much. Taking Benadryl & Sudafed (classic, not PE) & Advil round the clock.

BSOD after Sleep, Windows 7 x64

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My Toshiba Satellite A505 laptop has worked fine until yesterday. I had an occasion where the laptop went to sleep, and upon waking it up and entering my password my desktop showed briefly, then a BSOD occurred.

I didn’t look for the dump file. It had never happened before, hoped it was a fluke. It was, until just a little bit ago, when it happened again.

I looked online for anything written on it and it’s a plague with no specific answer for many computers. Simply though, the answer of take “sleep” off of the power options that are saved. Meaning, don’t let your computer sleep. Just let it run out of power if running on battery, or keep it plugged in. This is problematic for me as I’ve loved using my computer with it’s huge battery without being tied to a power cable all of the time. It’s worked fine this whole time I’ve had the laptop since March 2010. Except for twice since yesterday. The thing about it is some Microsoft updates installed on the 16th. So I used System Restore to put me back to the 15th.

I did change my power options though. I just am unhappy about this issue, don’t want ANY crashes. I have Fedora installed on this computer (dual-boot) but don’t use it as ACPI issues keep it from letting me know how much power, or how little I have, or about impending power off’s. This Windows 7 issue then, on a laptop which I like using the battery with, is secondary to the Fedora problem, but similar. At least, in theory, it will still tell me to plugin soon or else. But I have loved shutting my lid and knowing that the next day I’ll have enough power for an hour or two or three. No more, if I don’t want those dratted BSOD’s.

I’ll test it out without letting Windows Update re-update my computer. But that will be a test I’ll not be able to stay with. How to find a solution, I don’t know. The last thing I want to do is search forever for a BSOD problem when all I want to do is use my stupid computer!

Windows 7 is way better than Vista was for me (on a different computer.) I’ve had problems nil on Win 7 until now. About 6 months of computer bliss. Now what? Slave to what Win XP would do to me … miserable. Vista was moreso a sluggish pest of aughhhhhh! Than BSOD for me. Whatever. I don’t like errors, especially when it wasn’t anything I did. I didn’t install anything. Just regular old Windows Updates. Whoa, maybe I did. FLASH asked to update at some point recently. So I’ll see what happens.

CKC-Charlotte Review

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CKC-Charlotte is over. It was good, but something I’m not sure about repeating exactly.

  • All About Me mini-album by The Paper Loft

I found the first class OK, wasn’t crowded. Daughter and I each had empty spots on the side, with us sitting next to each other. It was warm in the room, but not overly warm since it wasn’t a room full of people.

  • Simple Summer Album by Creating Keepsakes

The next class was warmer, much fuller than the first class, double class-room too. Besides being warm I was feeling OK, which made it tolerable.

That was it for the day, except for doing some looking in the Vendor Faire (no buying until Saturday.)

  • Deliciously Different Recipe Book mini-album by The Button Farm

On Saturday we got there just in time for our class, and had a hard time getting two seats together, like we needed. There were about 3 seats available, and three people, but no seats together. I had to make a class helper help me get people to move so we could sit down. I was about to just say forget it, get our kits and leave.

We got seated somehow anyways, to my detriment. I’d have loved to just “do the kit” myself. It was extremely hot in that filled-up to the brim class. The seats we had were towards the back a couple of rows forward. The women in the back were chatting constantly, the teacher of the class had no microphone. We couldn’t hear her very well. We could hear them too well.

Not too far into the class the teacher talked about Zip Dry glue, and anyone who had some got it out. That included me. I glued down the first page to the acrylic page and prompty put the glue away. It made me very, very sick. It’s very stinky, horrible. It was so hot in there already and it seemed there were more than a few using it behind me. Me quitting using it made little difference.

Anyhow, I was fighting a migraine coming in that morning, and with everything from stress to heat to stinky glue, noise, stress … I got very ill and fought just standing up and leaving. Instead I muddled through the project and messed a few things up but not too many (paper cut too small or something like that, glue on edges of paper instead of center) and just plain didn’t do certain parts of the project for each page.

First off there was less room than there should have been. The people on either side of my daughter were disgruntled to some degree and didn’t move their stuff into their own space, so I was fighting a migraine, suddenly very sick feeling migraine, and fighting for space to just plain open my ruler on my cricut personal cutter so I could cut the right size. I couldn’t keep direction on top of the pile, I had to root around for everything, plus help my daughter know what to do, cut things, etc.

All in all it was a nightmare, and it was the class I was so looking forward to.

I liked the project still, still do, and would love to do more Button Farm projects. I didn’t really need to be there to do anything. I didn’t learn anything, it was simply “follow directions” and I’d have done better sitting at home with the kit for sure.

If I hadn’t been sick then I’d have enjoyed the class more. If we’d gotten there earlier (we tried!) then we’d have been set up closer to the front maybe. But all in all Zip Dry Glue is not my friend. Who’s friend is it? You need great ventilation in the room when using it. How about 20 people using it at the same time, probably more people than that???

It was enough to have made me sick probably. With or Without Migraine help. I’m sensitive to chemicals. I just didn’t think ahead at how bad it would be with multiple bottles of that stuff in use in a stuffy room.

Vendor Faire

We went to the Vendor Faire after that Saturday class. I felt miserable and never felt better until much later, after we were gone from there. I bought some things, nothing small. I wanted some things I could do stuff with, ended up with a 7Gypsies 4×6 printer tray in black. Vinyl 12×24 sheets in several colors, a pack of 12×24 different colors of cardstock. A Cricut Cartridge, Robotz. A Pioneer 12×12 album (Warren Kimble flag graphic design). 2 Clear Stamp sets from Tattered Angels.

The cardstock and vinyl were from cardstockonline.net … and I wanted to get a bunch more paper in 12×12 size, but with my headache I couldn’t figure out what to do, what it all meant, whereas it was simple to get the pack of 12×24 paper, special size, special price. The vinyl was priced per piece, easy peasy.

So I came home with good things, but nothing good to work with outright. I mean, no small (ha ha! 12×12) paper to cut up or use for anything. I wanted some good white paper. A lot of it. Other colors. Patterned paper. Just so much you can do with a Migraine sometimes.

I guess I need to find another Vendor Faire somewhere else to make-up for my pathetic buying at CKC-Charlotte.

Also I guess I’d like to get some kits from The Button Farm … but her website is terrible. I wasn’t into shelling out $52 for a bigger Recipe Album kit, or other things … I mean I had only so much and I wanted to get product to use, not just one project, though maybe I should have … she had a cute “cat” mini book, also a gorgeous “Christmas” book. Printer Trays with paper and embellishment kits. But I got a plain tray and that’s that. No special paper, just the special sized paper to use with my Cricut from cardstockonline.net. (Their site is merged with Couture Cardstock & I find it just as not what I want to shop as my trouble was at the Vendor Faire with a migraine…)

Charlotte

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We are in Charlotte for CKC now. Left mid-morning and arrived early afternoon. We are staying a few miles from the convention in order to have the services of the hotel of choice that we like.

I have everything we need for the classes we are going to. We found the extra brown inks we needed at Archiver’s, in the Inkadinkado line (newer inks recently on the market, apparently.)

We have two classes tomorrow, and one on Saturday. Looking forward to it all, though a bit anxious about it since I’ve never been to an event like this, never has my daughter who is attending with me. I’ve been to other things, but not to anything large scale like this in years. Never to a “craft” oriented event, in other words. Major part of that all is my Introvert status. I’m iffy when getting into unfamiliar territory, even if I WANT to be there. FWIW

Things I need for CKC: Update 2

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List is things I need thus far:

  • Dark Brown Ink
  • Light Brown Ink
  • Brown Chalk Ink
  • Roll of Foam Tape (Scotch)
  • New Glue Dots
  • Mini Glue Dots
  • Either Zip Dry Paper Glue or 3-in-1 Glue
  • A more portable 12×12″ paper trimmer
  • A new white writing pen
  • Inkssentials Blending Tool
  • Glossy Accents
  • Crop-a-Dial

I have found most of the things I need to bring in August to CKC. Ink is troublesome so far. I did buy some ink, but don’t know if it’s right or good enough for the event. I mean, most things are just “pigment” inks at Michael’s, and the one’s that are the Dye I’m looking for aren’t in Brown of any kind.

The thing about it is for sure, it has to be quick drying to use in a class that’s an hour long. Right? Right. Pigment won’t be right then.

I did buy a big (EK Success) Inkadinkado Black Ink dye ink pad … I just tested it, OK crisp really black lovely fast fast fast drying.

I also bought a giant (Ranger) Archival Ink Sepia ink pad … it’s brown, of some kind, so I need to find a darker one, anyhow, it dries very fast on regular types of paper. OK but it’s not dark nor is it light, it’s really in-between, and I guess it could stand in as light brown if it must, but not dark … no way.