f The Bugbytes: December 2010

Welcome - Copyright & Disclaimer

Welcome to The Bug Bytes a site/blog mainly for Papercrafting and some photography and other stuff thrown in here & there. Add in some die cutting machine, scrapbooking tools, cameras, scissors , glue and...... My name is Pam. If you have been redirected from Papillon Digital Design you have come to the right place.Hope you get inspired by the projects, videos and files. Would love it if you could leave comments and become a follower. (Word verification is turned ON to avoid spam. Sorry for that inconvenience.) Would love it if you would also share your project here . If you find a linky under the post do share your project by posting link there or if you do not find a linky post your link in the comments.Thank you for visiting. The website Papillon digital designs has changed to Papillon Digital Design so if the link gives and error or takes you to page with chinese characters then please drop the 's' in the link at the end of papillondigitaldesigns and try . That is change papillondigitaldesigns to papillondigitaldesign and try the link.

December 30, 2010

Some Q & A for new gypsy users

Some info and Q & A for new users as many of you might have got the G for Christmas.


1)No gypsy does not come with manual as it is online and also on your gypsy itself. And as it dynamically keeps changing with updates it is better this way
http://www.cricut.com/gypsy/download/User_Manual.pdf

2) the power button is Not the round silver button (that's the menu button) but the black button on the side of the gypsy.

3) yes the power cable does protrude a bit out when inserted near the gypsy. DO not push too much as it is known to fall inside when you use excessive force

4)And no we cannot see if Gypsy is charging or not. But when you swicth on the gypsy and navigate to battery you will see an icon - plug symbol inside the filling battery ( :) wow what  a phrase choice but seeing the icon will make sense more)

5) Do not start linking cartridges immedeiately. Wait altleast after updating and playing with it for a while. You have to link the cartridge with the linking cable for you to cut. You can design without linking but can only cut when you link. And once a cartridge is linked it cannot be linked to any other gypsy and can be only sold with the gypsy. So wait and be sure you want to link the cratridge and not sell it ever as this is a permanent process - marriage without divorce[biggrin].So that raises the question what if I need to reformat can I link cartridge again and what happens if I loose the gypsy?


The cartridges have the serial number of the gypsy written. So as long as the serial number is the same the cartridges will relink. If you loose or something happens if you call PC - PC will reserialize the new gypsy so that it will link. That's why it is preferable you register as the number can always be recovered.



6) Out of the box the gypsy is not updated so you have to update your gypsy. First register your gypsy at

[url]https://www.cricut.com/gypsy/link/login.aspx[/url]. Use your cricut.com email address to register. Also preferably add to your cricut.com assets (I do this for all machines and cartridges). Then update your gypsy (user should have administrative privelege on your computer). Some of the common things to check

The correct Operating system (OS)

Your computer also might need to be updated for the proper OS configuration.If Mac then - MAC OS X 10.5 and above and if windows especially XP then should have service pack 3 atleast. check if your computer has them by going to control panel - add or remove programs.

For windows to see if your XP has the right updates- In control panel- Check on the show updates and you will see the .net frameworks. If you do not have them then add that as an automatic scheduled update and it will then automatically update. If you run into problems then check in msn.com and search with error code. Common procedure (Microsoft suggestion) is if the update gets corrupted for some reason and does not proceed - is to uninstall manually all the .net frameworks and then reinstall them in a particular order. Do check this thread -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923100
http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windowsupdate/466256-solved-net-framework-3-5-error-winxp.html or any other thread like this

For vista it should be in Netframe 3.51 SP 2. So do update if your OS requires.

Once OS is proper

Always run your G sync as admin (do not double click)

If the firewall or antivirus interferes and the cricut sync has error then uninstall and reinstall with it turned off.

Also be sure to turn off the pop up blocker for this program.

Use a 2.0 USB port ie a data port. In some old computers it is usually in the back.

I would recommend any gypsy user to read post #2 in this thread (from Gypsy MB ) by Mercy. I would say a must read

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=5553391

Also read further into the thread as many scenarios and problems have been overcome and yours may just fall under this category. Note though that gypsy sync in this thread has been replaced with cricut sync now



7)The cricut E, original and create does need to have it's firmware updated. This is preferably done using CDS if you have windows. Even a trial downloaded one will do. In fact I recommend that this be your first choice. If you do use your gypsy please connect your gypsy to ac power while doing and sometimes you may have to force the install in cricut


Forced Re-install of Cricut Firmware

1) Connect the Gypsy to your Cricut.

2) Plug the AC power into your Gypsy.

3) Power on the Gyspy.

4) Select the Cricut Application.

5) Plug the AC power into your Cricut

6) Hold down the STOP button on the Cricut and push the POWER button. Continue to hold the STOP button until the Cricut beeps one time.

7) Click Update your Cricut on the Gypsy.
a) Your Cricut will restart.
b) The Gypsy will display a screen allowing you to select the Cricut you are going to update.

8) Power off your Cricut.

9) Hold Down the STOP button on the Cricut and push the power Button. Continue to hold the STOP button until the Cricut beeps one time.

10) On The Gypsy, select the Cricut version you want to update.

a) The Cricut will restart.

11) As soon as the Cricut restarts power off the Cricut, hold down STOP, push the power button on the Cricut and do not release the STOP button until the Cricut beeps one time.

a) The Cricut will restart.



12) Follow the prompts on the Gypsy to finish the update.

" 8) After updating and playing with your gypsy and watching some gypsy videos you can start linking. But take it in bits and bites maybe about 4 to 5 at a time - not more. And here too I would advice keeping your G connected to power (also while cutting with cricut)



9) Regularly update your gypsy through cricut sync and yes cricut sync unlike CDS (design studio) can be loaded on multiple computers and you can update from any cricut sync. Whenever there is a new cartridge released updates follow which are called content updates - cartridge info(also known as font in CDS). Other updates are firmware updates which changed the way the gypsy itself behaves.

The cricut does not need to be updated each time but you can always check. Till now to my knowledge there has been a couple of times it had to be updated.



10) And yes the Imagine works some what with the gypsy. You cannot add patterns from Imagine as yet but Imagine works like a cricut with the G now. You will not see the connected symbol on Imagine but press cut on the G and you will see it in Gypsy.



11) Sometimes when you have some problems you will need to troubeshoot or reset your gypsy.

First try resetting your gypsy - always. Reset does not disturb your saved files or mess up your gypsy in any way it's like pressing ctrl alt del on your computer or just restarting your computer .There are two ways to reset

i) This is also used when your G does not switch off for some reason. for this method the G always should be on. Just unscrew the top cap of your stylus and poke the prong like thing to the back of the gypsy in the appropriate small hole.

ii) The 2nd way is when the gypsy is off press the top left zoom button, the round right menu button and the power button all at the same time till you get a multicolored varigated screen. Then proceed according to the directions. This also calibrates your screen. Calibration when you cannot reach any portion of your screen like the extreme top left or right can also be done from the settings menu on your gypsy.

But sometimes while an update has not gone well or your gypsy is acting up even after resetting it might need troubleshooting.

This might reset your files so always back up or save your files when doing this. The troubelshoot itself willa sk you to do that

This is done through the help menu in cricut sync.

See this link for more details and pictures http://www.thebugbytes.com/2010/11/cricut-sync-troubleshoot-for-gypsy.html]

There are 2 types of problems. One that the cartridge info while updating did not go well.

Then choose yes for the first question after saying yes to troubleshoot


This will NOT remove linked cartridges (almost never) . This method should be your first choice and do try doing this more than once before doing the next one. This method will rebuild your cartridge data. Eg when one cartridge is not added or clicking on cartridge brings you to welcome screen

But if there is a problem with firmware and 1st method does not help then you will have to do the 2nd one and this will reset your G to factory settings and you will have to relink all your cartridges.



Note once again this method will wipe out all linked cartridges and you will have to update all over again as G is got back to factory settings.

well if these two method does not help you you will have to call PC CS and send your g back in.



12) well that covers almost all except these two. Sometimes you will go to the welcome screen when clicking on a file or your file will not upload. Then change your file name as spaces and sometimes even underling and numbers in the same file may throw an error to load the file.

Or it may be date format error when the date is not in US. Or commonly now if you are converting from CDS to gypsy and NOT one page is set in preview mode in CDS (yes :) atleast one page in CDS needs to set with preview ON) then file does not load.

You can see this by checking the file in gypsy on cricut sync (not on gypsy but connect it While On to cricut sync and see the cricut sync window). When there is an error it will fail to load or if it loads the kilobytes wil say 0. That's your clue that something sis wrong. So appropriately take action on the file.

13) Sometimes you get doube cursors or something going on in your G. Just press the zoom button - zoom in and then get back and the screen will be refreshed.

14) yellow and green lines can be seen when lines on image coincide on the gypsy. That's normal. But sometimes you just get what we call ghosts. Zooming in and then out will take care of that.

[lol] Well that's what I could think of

Just keep playing and blog hopping and video watching and refer back to some threads here and you will start enjoying your gypsy
Oh this brings two more things to mind

15) gypsy does not have autofill or fit to size - copy and paste works for first - just copy and fill first row and then copy all that to the next lines.

and a great tip page by mercy

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=5600870&mpage=18

So enjoy your gypsy and remeber to visit [url=http://www.tuesdaytreats.com]tuesday treats[/url]. Once you are comfortable be sure to send us an email to be a designer and design on this blog as it is a gypsy learning and showing blog

December 28, 2010

Let It Snow Layout

Hello friends and fellow crafter's!  My name is Lisa aka Bug Junkie.   Like many of you...I am addicted to paper crafting. :)  You can see lots of projects on my blog at http://bugjunkie.blogspot.com/.  Hope you stop in soon!


I was so happy to get the opportunity to create a project for Tuesday Treats.  I decided to do a very simple one page layout.  If you are like me you are very busy this time of year and a little short on crafting time... so I wanted to show you how to take a simple layout and quickly bring it to life.


The good news is...you only need ONE Cricut cartridge to recreate this layout.  Yep, Winter Frolic is the only cartridge needed.  :)  To get the "snow" border on the bottom of the page...hand tear a 3"x12" piece of white shimmer or glittered cardstock and ink the top edge in blue.
For the mitten border on pg. 41 of the handbook... design on your Gypsy at 11.69" x 3".  To really try and bring them to life...I did not use the layer feature for the cuff of the mittens, but rather embellished them with Liquid Applique and a heat embossing gun.  Then added ribbon bows.

The photo mats are the tags on pg. 70...top mat is 6.19"x5" and bottom mat is 6.81"x5.5".  Use hide contour to hide the hole in top of tag.
 "Let it Snow" on pg. 29 is cut at 31/2" on the Cricut and embellished with Liquid Applique.  Snowflakes are the border cut on page 28 at 3.83"x1.66".  Cut three of them and layer the flakes.  Ink edges and add a little Liquid Applique if desired.
 This little snowman on pg. 29 was cut at 41/2" on the Cricut.  Then I decided I didn't want the pipe that was originally cut out of the top layer so I did the top layer on the Gypsy so I could hide the pipe.  I inked the edges and of course added more Liquid Applique for snow.  Glossy Accents help the eyes to stand out and orange Stickles give the carrot nose a little bling.  I think that just about covers everything.  Thanks so much for looking!    

December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas everyone

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
Hope your stockings are full :)
Maybe some of you got a cartridge or two ?
Mine had some lenses! for my camera. So what is in your stockings? Do post what santa got you

December 20, 2010

Gingerbread Layout

Good Monday morning all you Bug Byte fans.

This is Melin from CookingWithCricut.com and this is my first post here at TheBugBytes! Thank you to Pam and the girls for letting me join in the fun! I am super excited to be here :-)

I needed to work on a Christmas themed project. I had a very dear friend in mind when I made this project.  She loves gingerbread and keeps some perfectly appointed pieces in her kitchen throughout the year. She has two super sweet little “grandkids” that she loves to scrapbook. So I thought, what a great way for her to capture her little lovelies during the holiday season while getting her beloved gingerbread in too!
Here is a look at the entire layout.cricut gingerbread layout idea using cartridges and gypsy
I used:
  • Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge
  • My Community Cartridge
  • My Gypsy
The gingerbread cookies are from Paper Doll Dress Up. I used my Gypsy to “Hide Contours” of the eyes and the different cuts that are on this piece. Because it is an accessory piece, it doesn’t have its own “blackout”. So that is what I did with the hide contours, I made it a “blackout” I did this so I could add my own version of eyes and white doodles. The eyes are from the same cartridge. The rest is just doodles with a white and red pen.
gingerbread cricut cut close up

Next, I took the same gingerbread cut and created a border in my Gypsy by welding that same “blacked out” gingerbread person.  I used the same techniques to decorate these cuties.
gingerbread border cricut closeup

Lastly, I used the My Community Cartridge and my gypsy to create this gingerbread house. I did make it a little taller and thinner than the original die cut by using my Gypsy. I did also once again, hide most of the contours on the house base. I wanted to be free to add the decorations of my choosing, the way I wanted. I used red marker and green marker on the candy cane pieces. I then added stickles to them. I used some dimensional paint for the roof and chimney top. This gives it that nice dimensional look without any hassle. I just used a tight swirly motion as I applied it to give it that more dimensional look. I then inked the rest of the pieces and used some more Stickles to give them a sugary look.
cricut gingerbread house idea cut close up

I did finish off the layout by adding an MS punch border and did a little faux stitching on the border strips to give it a little more finished look. I hope you enjoyed today’s project.

If you would like the Gypsy Files, just click the add to cart button and it will walk you through to get the free download.You will need the Paper Doll Dress Up and My Community Cartridges to use these files with your Gypsy.
Add to Cart

Have a wonderfully Merry Christmas!!!!

Melin
CookingWithCricut.com

December 18, 2010

CHRISTMAS SNOWFLAKE CANDLE HOLDER

Hello, everyone!  It's  Audrey @ cuteandsome.blogspot.com and I'm back again with another project.

First, as always, I'd like to thank Pam for letting me be on her design team; however, this month I must apologize for not having the time to do a Gypsy or Cricut project.  If any of you are familiar with me and/or visiting my blog, you know I have been extremely busy.  So, I only have this handmade project tutorial to share today before getting back to a work assignment I'm sneaking away from  -- I hope Pam doesn't mind this being a "no machine" handmade project.

What I'll be sharing is this cute and super easy little candle holder with a base:


What you'll need to make this is:

1-  8.50" x 8.50" sheet of vellum ( I was fortunate to find some with the snowflakes already printed on it)
1-  8.50" x 6" sheet of black cardstock
1- battery operated votive candle (you can purchase from any Dollar Store)

Start with vellum and very gently, so as not to tear the vellum, score along the top at 8.50" sides at 2", 4", 6" and 8"; turn paper once to the right and score at 2" all the way down.  What you will essentially have is a 2-4-6-8 box pattern as shown below:


Next, cut along the score marks of each bottom section up to the 2" score line forming your tabs; cut out the 1/2" tab entirely:


Fold along the score marks, glue or use double-sided tape to put your box together: 
 

Great, now let's make the base.  Do the same scoring with the black sheet of cardstock at 2", 4", 6" and 8" along the 8.50" top, cutting out the tabs and the 1/2" tab:


STOP!!!  Instead of folding it into a box, at this point, we're going to cut out a half circle between the first long panel (I used the bottom of my glue container):


Here's a close up of what your half circle should look like:

Now fold all four (4) of the panels together with the tracing on top but leaving the 1/2" extended, like this:



Okay, now cutting through all 4 sections, cut out the half circle  When you open the paper your pattern will look like this:


Now you can fold and put your box together.  When that's done you'll have this:



Now we're going to glue the bottom of the vellum candle holder to the top of the black cardstock base to get this:

All that's left is to decorate it and drop in your battery operated candle!   It's so east!!!

I used gold tape to cover my seams where the holder and base meet, and for fun I pop-dotted my initial to it.  You can decorate yours any way you like!!!  I preferred mine tall because I'm going to do them in pairs and I thought that would look nice, however, you can adjust yours to be shorter if you'd like.

Soooo, are we ready to see what it looks like all lit up?!!!  Okay...


I hope you like it!!! 

Well, as I said, I'm really very busy, so I gotta run!  But I'll see you again next month.  In the meantime, you can always drop in and visit with me sometime -- I love company at my place!!!

December 16, 2010

Santa is!

or rather Fedex is bringing in my  new laptop today. :)
I thought it was Santa but then   Santa must have  got confused by the magnetic storm! since the laptop is coming from Japan!! Or you think Santa decided to take a wayward tour?
Hmmm. Maybe!
Say what? Say What? from Japan
Yes I was surprised too. Hubby ordered a Sony Viao for me and would you believe it gets assembled in Japan and ships from there too. I have been of course scolding hubby as to why he makes things complicated as I just needed one last week and could have ordered of amazon! But nope order from Sony site directly he did and it takes abysmally long!!!
But I think I will like this one though at least for the fact that I configured it myself! added this and removed that! knowing less than a whit about what I was doing . ha ha. It was so nice to act in control at least on one thing in life now.
I was so tempted to go the Mac route but unfortunately all my softwares are windows! and having heavily invested in that and more in provo products I will stick to windows for a while yet!
Sorry Mac!
So I will be playing with my new toy. Yeah Santa has been good to me this year. A fact my hubby will not agree with as he will point out and show me the proof of his dented wallet.
But atleast he should be happy because if I am happy the family can be happy too right? See - it's all for the family honey!! :)

December 15, 2010

How much I love my iphone

My laptop as I have mentioned barely works but had decided not to communicate with printer and scanner and video cameras. Sd cards are ok but ports nope.I had to have something sent in by email and I suddenly had a brilliant idea why not use my iphone. I took a pic and sent it by email . How cool!!
Of course it then occurred to me I could have have taken a camera shot and plugged in the sd card.
But oh well. It is still cool!!! Yeah!!

December 14, 2010

Christmas Ornaments

Hello Gypsy friends! I am Jeanne Lee and you can see me at http://mytinhairmusings.blogspot.com/ A few months ago, Pam, asked for some new friends to come and be guest designers and I signed on...MY First time doing this here! So, with Christmas fast approaching, I wanted to share a very simple project. Lets face it, with only eleven more days till Christmas time is short! I needed some quick ornaments for my Sunday School class to be able to put together so I came up with this one!

Using the Christmas Cart, I turned on the Gypsy and found that #23(counting from the top left) on the keypad was a perfect design.

So I picked the main image for the top of the ornament and then hit the shift key for the under layer. The width 2.96" and 5.71" for the height of this ornament. BUT I wanted to have a front and a back...so I copied the main image...went to my advanced tab and then hit the flip icon.

Using Mariposa card stock...I used the sparkly cs for the outside and red/blue for in between the outer layers.
I layered them together, glued them and added some gold cording...
... and was done! Beautiful and QUICK!
**Thank-you to the Tuesday Treat Gals for letting me share!

December 13, 2010

Photography challenge - Sweet Vice

At the Circle MB we are doing a photography challenge hosted by Myamagoo and Makeupgirl217.
Last week was feets and this week is Sweets Treats . Ha Ha I am calling it more like sweet vice.
So where is the photo you ask me?
It's in my other blog Papillon Digital Designs.
Click on the photos there to see a larger view.
All your comments so appreciated. :)

Photography challenge - Sweet Vice

This week's challenge at the cricut circle board is your sweet vice as I call it.
This was shot with my Nikon d5000 in aperture mode with 50mm 1.4 nikon lens. And I think the it was 1/60 or 1/90 at f1.8
Here is one of mine




post signature

December 9, 2010

Wreath of Stars ~ Guest Designer Today

Hello!  I am Lori from ScrappinMyStressAway and I am so excited to be here on thebugbytes once again!!  Here is my Wreath of Stars!

I have not really used my Imagine as much as I wanted yet because I haven't had a ton of free time to decicate to learning the ins and outs.  This is my first big project with my Imagine so far.

I found this paper from the Imagine More cartridge and was dying to use it!



I started out by loading George and Basic Shapes in my Imagine. Once the I finished thinking, I loaded the Imagine More cartridge. I selected the cricut cartridge symbol in the bottom left hand corner and selected the star from George.


I just tapped it with the stylus (loving the new stylus by the way!) and it appears in the Que.
 
Then, I tapped the Imagine cartridge shape.


I tapped the star and then tapped the pencil to edit my design.



My color choices appear below (this part is way fun)!



I selected the Sheet Music paper pattern by tapping on it. I love how it fills in the space according to the size of the image. The smaller the shape, the smaller the details on the paper.
 
I changed the size to 3 inches.
 
I selected the Sheet Music paper pattern by tapping on it. I love how it fills in the space according to the size of the image. The smaller the shape, the smaller the details on the paper. 

Then I selected Apply.
 
Now I am at the Project Preview screen and I can see my star on the mat.
 
Since I need a lot of stars, I select the Auto Fill option and get 9 stars per page.
 
I loaded white paper on my mat and here are my stars ready to go. I made 27 stars (3 sheets of paper) for my wreath.
 
Here you can see how small the music notes are ~ they are soooo cute!!


Next, I inked the edges of my stars. This took a while!
 
I cut out a circle frame from Lyrical Letters at 10" so I could glue my stars on and actually keep a circular shape!


I left a little space between the stars on the first layer, then overlapped the second layer.


For the last 5 stars, I used pop dots to attach them around the wreath. I did not pop dot any stars where my bow is going to be.
 
Here is a close up of the layers.
 
I found this bow from Celebrate with Flourish.
 
Here is the bow on the wreath. It seemed a little flat, so I cut out a second bow and pop dotted it on top.
 
I added a picture of my 3 stars (I mean sons) to the center. This is one of the photos on our Christmas cards this year.
 
I cut out Christmas from the Christmas cartridge and the 2010 from Lyrical Letters.

And here it is all together. I will make a coordinating "highlight" page with 2" pictures cut from the holiday cards and photos we receive this year!

Have a Wonderful Christmas season and a special thanks to Pam for showcasing my work!!!

Lori