I still can't believe this...

Last Friday, during the Cricut Circle gathering in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, I reconnected with Cyndy and Fumiyo and a few other women I met the week before at CHA.  Here's a picture of the three of us (Fumiyo is on the left, and Cyndy is on the right):

Shannon from Provo Craft gave away quite a number of items: cartridges, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and machines ("I don't want to take anything back with me!").  Cyndy won a Cricut Cake machine (a Cricut machine that will cut edible materials for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc...).  The woman in front of us (I'm sorry - I don't remember your name!) had won a Cricut Expression (a Cricut cutter that will cut up to around 12" x 24" - the original machine that I have cuts up to around 6" x 12").  Cyndy already had a Cake, and the woman in front of us already had an Expression.  They swapped machines.  I won an "October 31st" cartridge, which is all Halloween stuff.  Cyndy loves Halloween, so I gave it to her - I wouldn't use it very often.

Well..... Cyndy gave me her Expression!  I protested, but she insisted.  She said she already had one, and I didn't.  I am completely baffled, but I'm thrilled!  I did have to rearrange my craft room a little so I could leave the Expression set up away from my normal work area, but that gave me more room for another plastic 2-drawer cart.

Now that I know how to edit and upload videos, I recorded my "inaugural cut":



After I very carefully spatula-ed (yes, that's a technical term) the letters and shapes off of the mat, I finished my scrapbook layout on the hotel where Steve and I stayed during our trip to Chicago last October:

I think the page turned out quite well!  I used Stone Script for the title and Heritage for the flourishes.  Since I've been promoting hand-written journaling (see this blog post for my thoughts on this), Steve wrote out our thoughts on our hotel:

Okay, I added my own thought at the end there, and I used a Slick Writer to write on the front of one of the photos:

That's it for today.  I'd like to thank Cyndy profusely for giving me such a generous gift!  I can't wait until I have a chance to cut something really large.

Yes, I promised you a blooper reel.  That will come tomorrow...  I need some more time for editing.