Love My E2 and a Sneak Peek

I know some gals are complaining about their Cricut Expression 2, but I must say that I've fallen in love with mine.  I was asked to teach an E2 class at my local scrapbook store and in preparing for the class I really learned a lot about the E2's features.  Being able to use multiple cartridges and sizes on one screen/mat is amazing.  Being able to see where your cuts are going to be placed - woohoo! Anyway, I designed two projects for my gals to cut during class.  I tried to build in as many features of the E2 as possible when I created these.  I did not embellish, ink, doodle, or add anything (except ribbon) because the purpose was to do everything with the E2.  I'm sure when they took the projects home, they applied their own special touches.  

Our first project was this card where we used the fit to length feature and learned to move the images on the mat to that we could cut 4 different colors at the same time.

 

On this page layout, we used fit to length, the reverse/flip button, and cutting different sizes during the same cut.

 

I had two gals come into class saying they hated their machines.  They left with a much better appreciation of all that the E2 can do and I think they'll be a lot happier when using their machines at home.

Mission Accomplished!

 

Monday will be my debut for the Getting Cricky design team which I've recently been asked to rejoin.  I hope you stop by and see what I'm sharing.

Here's a sneak peek

 

 

First E2 Project and Some Notes

Woohoo!  My E2 arrived a week earlier than expected.  I used CricutSync to update it and made this card while my Gypsy was updating.  I used the preloaded Cricut American Alphabet - I think I'm going to LOVE this cartridge.  I cut Doily9 at 3".  I figured out how to move the cuts around the virtual mat so that I could place all four papers on the sticky mat to cut the images at the same time (you can't drag and drop).  It will be fun learning how to use the machine to its fullest advantage.

While I was updating the Gypsy, I got a "missing fonts" message.  Although my G showed that the latest updates were installed, when I clicked on the newest carts, my Gypsy returned to the start-up screen.  After reading the message boards, I discovered quite a few gals had this problem.  It's solved by reopening Cricut Sync, reconnecting the G to the computer and turning it on.  Click, "don't update now" so you can get to the Help menu.  Click "yes" to the next three questions and Sync will reinstall all Gypsy content.  It took a little over an hour.  When I clicked out of Sync, disconnected the G, turned it off and then back on, it all worked.  All new carts (from the E2 and Hello Thursday) were listed and could be brought up on the screen. Yay!!!

I made a practice cut with the Gypsy connected to the E2.  I used Mini Monograms and it cut just fine.  I've read that the pre-installed carts, although they show up on the Gyspy, can't be cut from the G yet.  There's no way to show your G that you own those carts so they're listed in red.  A future Gypsy update will solve this problem.  I'm sure it has something to do with having your E2 registered, so be sure to do that right away.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn