I suppose maybe I wasn't all that deeply interested or maybe I was just waiting for it to be gifted instead. Ha! Wishful thinking? Well, it so happens my dear husband actually attempted to buy me one a couple years back. Sadly, he failed. He's one of those who likes to research and read a gazillion reviews before buying things or committing to a purchase. What's that? You do that too? Hmm... you mean you're not supposed to add all to cart and checkout ASAP? I see. Well, then I guess you'll understand my husband's train of thought then. He went off on his researching rampage and came up with the reasoning that the Silhouette Cameo would be a much better purchase, based on said reviews. He even went as far as to ask his sister for advice, or rather approval, as to which machine would be best. She told him to get me the Cricut.
Come Christmas morning I have a huge package to open because he didn't take it out of the Amazon box and just had me wrap it like that (yes, I have to wrap my own presents). I open it up and let me tell you that at this point I didn't even know what a Silhouette was. In fact, I didn't even know Cricut had any competition! So, I'm opening the box and my sister in law is all excited, because of course he got me a Cricut, and she believes I will just love my present. Ha! I end up taking out the Silhouette and I'm all sorts of confused... uhhh what is this? My husband then goes into his spiel about reviews and such and "here I'll send you a link to a video you need to watch and so forth". I watch the video. Ok. I'm getting convinced, albeit also a bit nervous that I may not even know how to work it.
Here comes the kicker. It wasn't even the Silhouette Cameo. (Insert laughing/crying emoji here.) Honestly, I don't even remember what it was called but it was more of an embossing/ die cutting machine. Thats not what I was expecting. He apoplogizes and tells me to return it because he made a mistake since it said Silhouette and he assumed they were all the same and soon as they refund him he'll order me the Cricut. Blah, blah, blah. That didn't happen. The Silhouette Non-Cameo machine was returned and I ended up without a Christmas gift.
Fast forward to 2017. I still don't have a Cricut. Then why even have a blog called My Cricut Journey you ask?
I JUST ORDERED ONE.
(and a bunch of other things I don't even know if I'll need but it seemed like a good idea at the time)
Without further ado, I will now proceed to list and attempt to explain each everyone of my purchases, or rather justify. These are all stock pictures but I will upload my actual loot once I get them in the mail. Hopefully, it gets here soon. I absolutely loathe paying for shipping, so it's all coming standard shipping. Although I must say I was aaaaalmost tempted to click on that next day button.
My main purchase was the Cricut Explore Air 2 in Serenity. I had such a difficult time deciding on which Cricut to purchase. It so happens that Anna Griffin's Anniversary with HSN was yesterday and she actually co-branded a Cricut! Initially, I was in love with it because it looked so classy with the ivory and gold. Then I started looking up other options and came upon this beauty. Let's start by telling you my favorite color is blue. Really any kind, of blue but especially royal blue and baby blue. It should have been a no brainer, right? Go for the blue and all, but Anna Griffin's Cricut came with 7 cartridges already installed! Each cartridge is about $29.99 which would make her Cricut an absolutely phenomenal deal! Alas, I went back and forth, back and forth and yet again back and forth. In the end, I just knew I would regret buying the gold one even with all the nice add ons.
Naturally, I had to buy the Cricut Explore Essential Starter Tool Kit. How else would I do all the weeding that looks oh so therapeutic in videos? I think my next post will have to be a wishlist post because I already have things in mind that I want to buy. For example, Cricut sells separate
end caps in blue that will make all my tools match! Oh and they also have a cute blue pouch to store them in!
I bought this Cricut Light Grip Adhesive Cutting Mat in 12" x 12" not because I NEEDED it but because it's blue and it'll match so well with my Cricut? Not a good enough reason to have purchased it? Ok, how about this. According to a couple bloggers, the light grip is essential for working with delicate paper crafts.
It was also mentioned that it would be useful to have more than one mat in case I had more than one project going at a time. I bought this Cricut Standard Grip Adhesive Cutting Mat in 12" x 12" because it was on sale, how could I not?
This is the Cricut Standard Grip Adhesive Cutting Mat 2-pack in 6" x 12" and it was also on sale plus I also read that maybe I will be needing a longer mat for certain projects. Again, how could I not add to cart?
This is the Cricut Cartridge 3-pack in Lyrical Letters 2, Photo Booth Props and Bits & Pieces. I bought this set because they seem like things I can actually use. I'm delving into sticker making for planner and I liked quite a few of the images I saw.
Of course, I had to buy the Cricut Printable Sticker Paper for said sticker projects.
I'm also really interested in creating vinyl images but I had no idea where to start on this. I saw the Cricut Vinyl Sampler and figured it would be great for me as a beginner since it provides several colors to work with and it's not permanent vinyl. I bought two. I see plenty of vinyl projects in the near future.
More vinyl! Glitter! Yup, also on sale but I only picked up one of the Cricut Explore Glitter Vinyl 6-pack.
This is the Cricut Clear Transfer Tape in a 12" x 48" Roll needed to use with the vinyl in order to be able to apply the images with a bit more precision than free hand. I bought 3 of them. What can I say? I love a good sale.
I bought the Cuttlebug in Serenity because, well, it's so darn cute! Seriously, it's the cutest little thing ever, but I mainly bought it for the embossing capabilities. It's one feature that the Cricut Explore Air 2 cannot do. Did I need this? I'm not sure, yet.
The Cuttlebug used dies and embossing folders, but again it's all so overwhelming. I decided on getting this Anna Griffin Wishful Thinking Dies & Folder Set. It'll be great for card making!
Phew! You made it to the end of the post! Congrats! My first post and it almost became a book, but as the title hints "I'm all in!". I decided to take a dive instead of just getting my feet wet. If you have any recommendations on products I should also try out, please let me know. I would love to hear them.
