Hello Thursday News - Design Studio Update

Today was "Hello Thursday" and four new Cricut cartridges were announced.  They are all full cartridges.  Three will be available in mid-March  - Give a Hoot, "Just Because" Cards and Preserves.  The fourth cartridge, Straight from the Nest, will be available exclusively from the Home Shopping Network (HSN), also in mid-March.

Here are the cartridge samples from the Cricut.com site:

This is Give a Hoot.  You can see more info on the Circut site at this LINK and download the full cartridge handbook HERE.

 

This is "  Just Because"   Cards.  You can see more information on the Cricut site at this LINK and download the full cartridge handbook HERE.

This is Preserves.  You can see more information on the Cricut site at this LINK and download the full cartridge handbook HERE.

 

This is Straight from the Nest.  You can see more information on the Cricut site at this LINK and download the full cartridge handbook HERE.

It was also announced that Serenade, the cartridge that was bundled with the Wal-Mart Black Friday solid-colored Expressions will be available in mid-April.  This is great news for many people who wanted this cartridge but didn't need a new machine.

Finally, there are four cartridges that will be "retiring" - this is the first time any of the cartridges have been retired.  They are all Solutions cartridges - Blackletter, Christmas, Sans Serif and Street Sign.  

I have Blackletter and Christmas and I like them both a lot.  The Christmas Solutions cartridge has wonderful images, including the swirly tree, intricate ornaments and angels, wintry houses and church and door,window and sign images.  I am surprised to hear that this cartridge would be retired .  If you don't have it, take a good look at the images and, if you like them as much as I do, try to get this cartridge before they are gone.

The Blackletter font is great for Halloween and there are some interesting emblems and shapes that I have used in some designs I have shared.  

 

Here is a LINK to the posts where I used Blackletter for projects.  Two of them are pictured above and below.

I am very happy to see that Provo Craft has been coordinating the announcement of new cartridges and adding all of the information  about the cartridges to website, including the full handbooks, right away.  It used to be so frustrating to try to find all of the images available on the various creative features keys.

The most exciting thing for me is that the updates for Design Studio and the Gypsy are ready simultaneously with the announcement so, even though the cartridges won't be available for about a month, we can start experimenting with the images, making designs and deciding which cartridges we want to add to our Cricut libraries.

To update your Design Studio program to include these cartridges, go to this LINK (you will need to be signed in to the Cricut.com site) and download the Font Pack.  Be sure to SAVE the download and then run it to install the new cartridges.  Your Design Studio software should be closed when you do this.  When you open the program, the new cartridges will be included in the "All by Category" list.

Your Gypsy will update with the new cartridges when you run the Sync program.

Some bloggers were given the cartridges to preview - you can see their projects on these blogs:

Joy Obsessed with Scrapbooking

Melanie  Courtney Lane Designs 

Tammy Creative Critters Cricut Club

Robyn My Pink Stamper

There may be others - these are the ones I know of so far...

I haven't had a chance to really explore these cartridges yet but I do have them in my Design Studio to play with!  Our older son and his girlfriend arrived from California tonight and we are so happy to have them here for a quick visit before they head to Washington D.C. Our snow is already melting and my cold is improving - things are looking up!