Graphicus Openday

[Marie]

:p Well I had a lovely trip to Graphicus today, met Glenda and Adrian and got some nice stamping and embossing goodies! Arrived later than I planned but I'd booked in for lunch and enjoyed a roast turkey dinner cooked by the very funny and friendly David! I met a couple of great ladies from Sunderland called Maz and Loz who were hilarious and we ended up discussing crafting and various purchases from Anne Sumers over lunch, I haven't laughed so much for ages!
I got a chance to see the Cricut in action and the Cricut Expressions, which Maz bought to replace her little Cricut. I hadn't realised just how much stuff you get on the cartridges, everybody was saying how good the machines are. The lady who was demonstrating works with Jo who was on IW yesterday and was raving about it all. She was really nice, although I can't remember her name, but it was great watching her and she really knew her stuff.
Then on to the shopping....I was very good and didn't overspend by getting the Glimmer mists, but got a good basic selection of inkpads, a heat gun, embossing stuff and shrink plastic. So I'll be playing with that lot this weekend! Also got the lovely K & Co paper kit - 150 sheets beautifully boxed for around £15. It's gorgeous and if somebody wants to get you a nice Christmas pressie, this is a lovely idea, even with the p & p it wouldn't be more than about £20. I also got the Tim Holt DVD "An Altered Journey" as I've wanted this for ages.
So I had a great day out, even better Maz and Loz told me about Craftsulove.co.uk which sells cut price cricut cartridges, so I've ordered the Design Studio for £44.99 to go with my new toy! Can't wait to get that!
This has been a lovely week, ordering my cricut yesterday from IW and then my trip to Graphicus today, I've got so much lovely new crafty stuff. And with the AG stuff I got with my birthday money last month, I feel like a real crafter now, lol! I doubt I'll ever get as much new craft stuff in such a short space of time again, I'm so looking forward to playing with it all!
Anyway back to reality next week, I'd better get my head down and do some work! But it's been a lovely crafty couple of days, a really nice treat to take some time out and indulge myself.:)

[Phree]

Sounds like you had a lovely time Marie, I have never been able to go to one of the Graphicus Open Days because I work Friday and Saturday nightshifts and the open days are always on Friday & Saturday - would love to get to one sometime because they sound like a lot of fun! Hope you enjoy all your new purchases and have fun making stuff with them.

Oh and btw I think it might be Annette who demos the Cricut - she demo's the Cuttlebug and does some Cuttlebug workshops for Graphicus, and as both machines are made by the same company so I would guess she also does the Cricut demo's for Graphicus too.

[LorraineJ]

Glad you had a lovely day Marie. Sounds as if you have got a great weekend planned too.

[SUPERCOOLWILLOW]

sounds like you had a lovely time marie

[kriskros]

Nice to hear about the cricut machine, am undecided which one to go for. Don't want anything too elaborate. Is it worth going for the cricut create or the more basic one?

[Marie]

Check out the details here at http://www.craftsulove.co.uk/cricut1.htm at craftsulove, shows the additional functions of the Cricut Create. It's also an even better price than IW, at £229.99, even better than the IW club price of £242.24. The basic model is £179.99 which is the best price I've seen as well. I don't know if you saw the IW show on Thursday, I was hoping that there would have been a better explanation of the new features but they didn't have a lot of time. However I do trust Jo (who was demo-ing on IW) and her friend who I met at Graphicus and they both say that it is worth getting the Create, as the additional functions make it easier to use and more practical. The main point is that the Create is basically the same as the bigger Expression with the only real difference in the size of paper that it can take. But then again everybody who i spoke to who has the original raved about that as well. Also, a few months ago I recorded the show on C&C where the original was shown. I was watching it again this evening and even without the additional functions I think it looks like a fantastic machine.
I went for the Create as I'm a bit of an IT geek and I like experimenting with different functions and seeing what they can do. But as there is a £50 difference in price and you don't need anything too elaborate, the original might well be the right one for you. If you can catch the original show on C&C over the next couple of weeks it would be worth watching to see if this is what you're after.

[Wellington]

What a fab day Marie - I'm trying hard but I'm afraid I'm going green :D Maybe it's just as well that I can't get to Graphicus with any kind of ease - it's bad enough browsing online, never mind being let loose amongst all that loverly stash