I LOVE my Cricut Explore machine!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to Terrific Tuesday here and over at EXPLORING CRICUT and MORE! Today I am sharing one of my first projects made with my new Cricut Explore machine! I am so loving it and can see so many fun possibilities ahead!! For those of you who may not know, the Cricut Explore is a new machine from Provo Craft designed to work with the online design software called Cricut Design Space.  The calendar project that I am featuring here, is one of many free projects available there! The simplicity of just hooking your machine to your computer and clicking go is truly a reality! I will do my best to explain what I mean and I apologize, in advance, if my pictures just don't do it justice! :-)  Here are a few pics of what I made and then I have a few pics I took during the process and even a video of this amazing machine writing out the calendar numbers! (Actually, I couldn't get the video to post so I'll have to add that to this post when I get that figured out!)  :-(

The solid-colored pieces cut out separately and are adhered behind the top layer that has the design and the month cut out and the calendar written out with the Cricut Antiquity pen. 

Just had to show you where my new machine is sitting in my craft room close by my Imagine and my E2. They have been very welcoming to this machine since I assured them that I will not forget about them! :-)

Ok, here are the pics that I'm not sure turned out very well - but, as you can see, this project required 17 different mats. But what made it so easy is that I just put my paper on, select my paper type and click GO! The first few mats were cutting the solid-colored backing pieces. When I got to the top pieces, it would write and then cut - as long as I had the pen snapped in the appropriate holder. I didn't have to remember to tell it to write! It automatically knew to do that since this was a "Make It Now" project!  I took a video of the pen writing out the calendar numbers because I thought it was soooo cool!! I will figure out how to post it here as soon as I can!

If you look carefully, you can see where I have chosen the 2014 calendar on the left middle. Once I click on it, I get the screen below.

Another view of the Mat Preview screen.

I wanted to show this pic of my mat after cutting because EVERY piece that was cut stayed adhered to my mat and these are some tiny pieces!! That's how cleanly this machine cuts! It's just awesome! 

Another couple of close-ups showing the great precision of these minute cuts!

Here they all are hanging on my wall! I just love how they look! I thought that I missed January when I was cutting all of these but, apparently, they didn't include January because it had already passed when this machine came out! :-) 

I hope you have enjoyed this little peek into the world of the Cricut Explore! I know that I have lots of fun ahead as I learn even more about this fantastic machine! Be sure to always check out EXPLORING CRICUT and MORE for lots of Cricut inspiration everyday!