Pink Cricut Explore One Giveaway...

Sometimes people see titles of news articles, clippings, blog posts and such and read the piece only because the title caught their attention. We often bypass something really news worthy because we don't think it is of interest. I learned that during my short journalism major stint in college.

For instance, the title of this blog post is "Pink Cricut Explore One Giveaway" and it can seem to mean that I am giving away a Pink Cricut Explore but the truth is the giveaway was my previous post that was titled "Did You Read The Explore One Reviews?". And before anyone cries out "that's not fair" I will tell you I don't care. I did it that way on purpose because I wanted the winner to be someone who reads this piece of crap blog that I put hours of work into instead of someone just coming to win something. The only requirement was to leave a comment on that post, there were no hoops to jump through like there are in most giveaways, no one had to follow my blog, follow me on facebook, share the post in 5 different places or anything else. All they had to do was be someone who regularly read my posts and leave a comment....just that simple.

I would like to thank everyone who read all the reviews and commented whether here or on Facebook. I also appreciate all the comments about you guys trusting my opinions and having faith in my honesty when I review products, that really means a lot to me.

To chose a winner I used a number generator and the winning number was 36. I then copy and pasted all the comments that were left before the deadline of midnight Sunday, September 6th. I guess I could have printed them all off and then drew a winner from a hat, or probably a bowl since I don't have any hats, but I didn't want to waste my printer ink or time sitting there and cutting them all apart. This method was just a lot easier for me and let's face it...I'm lazy!

And the winner of the Pink Cricut Explore One is ES who commented "Thanks for this giveaway Okie. I rolled my eyes a bit when I read your "requirements"... should have known they weren't real. :)" and I had to laugh at her comment being the winning one since she directly commented about the requirements to win. 

ES please EMAIL me your contact information so I can forward that to Provocraft and they can send you the prize.

Did You Read The Explore One Reviews?

I know some might think my reviews were short and not enough materials cut but I really didn't need to do more than I did to know that I really really really like the E1! Like I said in my first review the machine is a cheaper price but it still has the same excellent cutting accuracy, aside of the settings glitch that might just be my machine, as the Explore. From what I found the E1 can be bought for about $50-70 less than the Explore Air and if the features of having the built in pen holder and built in Bluetooth isn't an issue it is a great machine to save some bucks on while still having the fantastic cutting capabilities. If you want to cut wirelessly the Bluetooth adapter does work in the E1. I have found I do like to be without the cord because I don't have to worry about it getting in my way.

When Ashish asked if I would be willing to do a review of the Explore One and do a giveaway I told him I wanted to review the machine first before I would tie my name to a giveaway because I didn't want to giveaway something that was a piece of crap that I didn't like. I figured he might tell me to forget it then but instead he agreed *okie sometimes wonder if that man is a little off is rocker*.

After my posts I guess you can tell that I do indeed love the Explore One as much as the Explore and I am in fact doing a giveaway!

This giveaway is for a Cricut Explore One machine, pink in color, and to enter the giveaway you must do the following...

1. Go and like my Facebook page

2. Follow my blog

3. Join my YouTube channel

4. Scratch my back

5. Jump through 3 flaming hoops

6. Register to be one of my minions

7. Do 3 somersaults and 2 back flips while chewing bubble gum........

This is my machine, the winner will receive a new E1

*okie falls out her chair laughing* Okay I am joking but don't ya get the feeling in most giveaways that is some of the idiotic stuff you have to do in order to enter? I mean seriously...why in the hell do you have to follow someone's blog, YouTube channel and Facebook page to enter a giveaway? Personally I think it's to boost their ego's and have them believe that people adore them. Aren't you glad that I don't give a FU..., er....FLIP if anyone adores me or not.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment ON THIS POST by midnight Sunday September 6th. Yes that is tomorrow night. I am doing it short and sweet as I want those who actually read the reviews to have a better chance of winning! The winner will be announced on Tuesday September 8th. Once the winner is announced I will need the information where Provocraft needs to ship the machine.

So ya see...it's as simple as that!

P.S. I have to approve comments to avoid spam so if your comment doesn't show up right away it's because I haven't been able to approve comments. Please refrain from making multiple comments. 

Cricut Explore Review 4 - Regular Paper

So we know the E1 will cut onion paper, adhesive backed paper and construction paper but how will it do with regular paper? Well I found out when my friend asked if I would help her daughter with a car wash sign.

I thought they were going to bring construction paper but instead it was regular weight paper, like copy paper, in neon colors much like the picture on the left. I didn't tell them I never cut this type of paper in a machine before as I didn't want them to think they needed to go get different paper and I was curious as to how well it would cut in the E1. 

Using Make The Cut I designed the sign the night before they came over so I could just cut it once they came over. I already had it loaded up and saved in Design Space so it was just a matter of opening up DS and get to cuttin. 

As you can see the paper cut fabulously and of course Katy had the cutest sign at the car wash. Evidently it was so cute they decided to laminate it for future use since the Cougann's do fundraisers throughout the year. I did use cardstock making the car and there were like 4 different varieties used and once again the E1 cut them all like a champ. 

Cricut Explore One Review 3 - Construction Paper

I know the Explore will cut construction paper beautifully as I used it to cut out a bunch of tiger paws for my youngest Goddaughter and I wondered if the Explore One, which will now be called the E1 because I'm too lazy to keep typing Explore One, would do just as well. Luckily...I guess it was lucky, my Goddaughter needed a few more paws because she got more residents after I got the E1 and I decided to try it out with construction paper. 

I would like to give a complaint about the E1 at this time. The settings for the paper seem to be a bit off. With the Explore the settings seem to be dead on but with the E1 I had to adjust cutting the construction paper with the light cardstock setting and when cutting light cardstock I had to adjust to the regular cardstock setting. While that might be a huge issue I still see it as an issue. I know how precious our materials are to us and if you are trying to cut something out of your last sheet of paper you want it to be able to cut accurately. For now I would suggest doing some test cuts on different materials to see if your machine is the same or if this is a glitch in my machine.

So after getting the paper setting correct the E1 did a fantastic job of cutting out all the tiger paws from the orange construction paper. Even though the cuts were large and not a test on how accurate it cuts small items on construction paper I was still impressed with the accuracy of the machine.

The white paper used was the Georgia Pacific from Walmart that use to be of fantastic quality but they downgraded it a few years ago and my Expressions and even my Pazzles had a hard time cutting it but the E1 cut it like butter. I used the regular cardstock setting to cut it even though I would consider it light cardstock. 

My Goddaughter was over the other night so we could cut out more signs, footballs this time. for her residents doors. Evidently this is something WE are going to have to do every month. I swear that girl gets me involved in things I neer would have dreamed of doing! But on the upside she did say all the residents left the name paws on the doors for the whole month. 

Cricut Explore One Review 2 - Adhesive Backed Fabric

So like I said yesterday I didn't ease into review the Explore One I went in all gung ho and just knew that I would quickly find something this machine can't cut. Since the One is cheaper than the Air I figured it probably doesn't cut as well.

Since I tried super thin at first I thought I would go for something super thick and difficult for my next test. My friend Carmen had found a bunch of adhesive backed fabric sometime ago and I haven't used any because I was afraid my machines would just shred it so it has sat on the shelf for quite awhile just waiting to be used. 

I wanted a difficult cut so I decided to cut out a word and not just any word, but a word that is only a little over 1/2" tall and tiny curves in the letters. I was willing to sacrifice a little of the adhesive backed fabric in the name of experimentation and also thinking I certainly had something that wouldn't be able to be cut and it would be worth it!

Sadly...I was wrong! My first attempt didn't cut all the way through but once I changed the settings to "denim" I was shocked to see the results. There it was, on the mat, cut perfectly. I suddenly felt defeated. I mean come on now! Who would think a machine would cut this so small and so precisely! I left the letters on the mat so you guys could see the size of the letters and know I am not lying when I said how small and how well the Explore One cut this chit! I might add that I used the regular blade housing and blade as well. I know the deep cut blade was probably suppose to be used but I don't have one of those. 

A few years ago when I divorced Cricut I certainly didn't expect a reconciliation much less a reconciliation of this magnitude.  Damn you Provocraft! Damn you for making superior machines that so far cut anything I try! *okie stomps off with arms across her chest and mumbling explicit phrases under her breath*

Cricut Explore One Review 1 - Onion Paper

About a month ago I was asked if I would be willing to review the Explore One and I agreed because...well why not! I was curious if the Explore One has the same great cutting capability as the Explore. I do know the Explore One is a bit cheaper in price than the Explore Air. 

I got to choose the color of Explore One I wanted and I went with the pink since red wasn't an option. The other colors available were grey and blue. The first thing I noticed is that it doesn't have the pen holder like the Explore does but since I never used a pen in any of my Cricuts other than to see if it would work that doesn't bother me. I also noticed that the tab next to the blade is smaller which leads me to believe you can't do print and cut but I could be wrong about that since I haven't tried that feature.

I didn't have any problem popping out the bluetooth adapter from my Explore and putting it in the Explore One. My computer recognized it immediately as did Design Space. 

Of course me being me I didn't slowly try out the One, instead I went in with difficult materials that I knew other machines would have difficulty cutting or wouldn't be able to cut at all. For my first try at cutting I grabbed some onion paper, which is more delicate than vellum and didn't figure it would be able to cut it at all. I loaded up some shapes for flowers in Design Space, put the paper on the mat and tore the first piece and I think I might have gotten a bit of a grin like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas because I just knew if the paper tore that easily the Explore One was going to rip it to shreds! I wasn't smirking when I unloaded the mat, instead I was frowning a bit because it seemed that all the flowers cut rather well except the first one. 

Well that frown went to an out right full force face of anger as I took the paper off and left on the mat were perfect little flowers. The first one on the mat was only torn on the paper I wouldn't be using. The wrinkle you see it is where I tore it getting the unused paper off the mat. I think I sat there for a few minutes just staring at the flowers and might have even scratched my head in wondering how in the hell did this machine cut onion paper...ONION PAPER OF ALL THINGS!! My punches won't even give me clean cuts like this with onion paper!

I went ahead and put the pieces together and made this little flower. I wadded up the layers and them straightened them out a little before layering them and putting them together. I spritzed it with some Glimmer Mist and POOF...a nice little Onion Paper flower!