My Cricut Expression Birthday

My birthday was on Friday. We were out of town for a family wedding. So compensation was in order to amend how that was for me. My big present was:

A Cricut Expression machine.

If you click the above link you can see that, right now, the msrp is $499.99. We bought it from Costco online … for $349.99 (+ tax) and the price includes S&H. Well that was a few days before my birthday that we ordered it. We arrived home on Sunday night, and my package was on the doorstep.

I didn’t open it until the next night, being tired from the trip and lots of things to re-organize, and being so tired …

I played around with it a bit, and then yesterday I watched the DVD disc that comes in the package, then went and tried a few new things. I made a rectangular “bag” for my daughter, to put some of her small hair accessories in. I put flowers on the two wider sides as well. All this from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge that comes with the original package. I then made a {belated} birthday card for my sister using the same cartridge. I didn’t finish it until today, putting some of it together last night, and the rest today. One of the fun things I did, was to make heart confetti to put in the envelope with the card.

I was more creative with this stuff than I’ve been in months and months (with no cutting tool except my scissors and craft knife … blah.) I didn’t want a Cricut when they first came out, but since the Cricut Expression has come out I’ve thought about IT here and there and finally came to realize that this is the tool I wanted the most, not a manual cutting system, and I liked how it seemed to work (from afar) and just decided it was right for me. I was very happy to be able to get it for my birthday, for a decent price.

So then I started writing this post, and I went to the manufacturer’s site and then to Costco.com to look at the product on each site. That is when I about blew my stack when I looked at the Costco page and saw that, “what ….? $269 …? What is THIS!?”

the Cricut Expression page on Costco’s site.

So then I went to our bank online and looked at the transactions to verify the Costco.com charges, and sure enough, we paid a lot more than that. So my hubby called our Costco store and they assured him they’d be able to adjust the price for us, corporate Costco, so he then called the right number and sure enough, they will refund the ajusted amount withing 48 hours. How nice, and how right for them to do so, with just a week or so between our purchase and the price change, or less than that, I don’t know for sure.

I finished my sister’s card today, then decided to cut out a few things for potential scrapbook pages, then got inspired to make another card, one for a friend, for no particular reason except for that (being a long-distance friend.) I have all the basic parts, just need to finish the inside ideas, then put it all together. With this card I went and made shadows for my title. Wow does it look great, and it wasn’t hard to put them together with my glue stick. (Yes, using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, again.)

I didn’t take a picture of anything yet, I haven’t sent my sister’s card yet, but I have it sealed up, so I can’t take a picture of it anymore. I will try and take a picture of my next card, maybe the “bag” I made. I’m sure I’ll make a new bag next. A rounded one out of 12×12 paper/cardstock. 🙂

The best thing about this is I have ideas for cards and now I can implement them easily, and make a coordinating envelope out of really nicely patterned paper so easily (when before I’d just use a stock plain envelope, or no envelope at all for cards to immediate family members.)

I’ve always liked scrapbooking, and using scrapbooking supplies to make cards and other stuff, but I haven’t always made stuff very often, and I haven’t really scrapped much at all, in reality. I have scads of photos in boxes, and even more now that are digital (way more photos taken since going digital!) Now the Cricut Expression will have me making projects galore, and hopefully that will include getting several scrapbooks completed before the years end.