All about the Cricut Circle.... from my point of view.

I would like to start this out saying that our economy is not what it was 10 years ago, BUT.... there are a few things to think about in this economy. Most people THINK they cannot afford a Cricut Circle membership. I would first like to start by saying... I do not work for Provo-Craft or Cricut, my facebook, blog and website are just from my mind and what myself and my design team can do with our Cricut Machines. I am a Cricut Circle member and I love it. I have a found a few ways to break it down and make it more affordable.
    I have to tell you my favorite Circle cartridge is the Everyday Cricut Cartridge, LOVE IT! Now some of the circle members did not like the cartridges that they got, so Cricut DOES listen and changed the format for the upcoming year. Now instead of having a name, they will be Cricut Circle Year 2 volume 1,2,3,4. Or something like that... AND they will all have an imagine, font, tag, card, so they will have features for EVERYONE, wether you are a card maker, scrapbooker, cake decorator or just a paper crafter, the new cartridges will have something for everyone. Below are some samples of the images from two of the 4 cartridges from the first year.
So, before you say you cannot afford it, think about this....
On average I pay about $55 per cartridge from http://www.cricut.com/ PLUS as a circle member you get 10% off of EVERY order you place at cricut.com, PLUS you get reward points for your purchase and then the reward points in your cartridges that you purchase. So you get double reward points for every cartridge you buy.
   Now Cricut has done a wonderful thing and instead of paying the whole year at once. You can pay quarterly, if you are having a financial rough time, on the quarterly payments, you can always cancel for that quarter, then start again later. I am sure they would not like everyone to do that, but they have made it nice to have that option. There is NO start up fee. It is a quarterly membership and you get a free Circle exclusive cartridge every 3 months. You cannot buy these cartridges anywhere else.
    You get a special monthly Cricut Circle on-line magazine with free design files to go with your cartridges. You get invited to special Cricut Circle events, crops, and meet-ups. At these events.... they always have drawings and free items that you get. At the last Cricut Circle event that I went to I got  3 beautiful Cricut Circle Silk scarves. They also had a drawing and there were about 50 of us there and they gave away about 45 prizes to the Circle members. You get to sneak peek of the next cartridges the day before they are released to the public AND often we get to purchase cartridges a week or two before everyone else. I also purchased two of the awesome Cricut Circle Cuttlebug embossing folders. You cannot purchase these unless you are a member of the Cricut Circle. They are very cute.
   There is also a Cricut Circle Blog, and it has SO many amazing projects with the new and older cartridges. I have seen some of the most amazing projects made with other cartridge and it makes that older cartridge back up into my current top 5 cartridges. It gives the EXACT cartridge, what image it is, what size it is, how to do it, what paper was used, what techniques were used! ALSO they give you the files so you dont have to do the work, it has all of the right sizes and everything on the file for you, you dont even have to figure out which key to press and which size to make them it! On the Circle message boards, members share what they have made with the cartridge and how they did it. It is great!!! I have 'scraplifted' many of the projects and ideas from there. It is a great place to get inspiration when you are in a creative rut. .... So is my facebook :) There is a wonderful group of creative crafters, who bring positivity, encouragement regardless of level of talent, and great ideas to 'scraplift.'
     So from my point of view, the Cricut Circle is somewhat affordable if you break it up into quarterly payments and if you already purchase one cartridge every 3 months anyway. The quarterly price was $79.99, this year it is $69,99 and you get a free EXCLUSIVE cartridge, that most people pay over $100 for on online auction websites (e-b*y). Well I am already typically paying AT LEAST $55 per cartridge, so you are paying an extra $15 for all of the other perks AND 10% off of every order, Circle events, DOUBLE reward points, you get them when you make a cricut.com purchase PLUS the ones that come in your cartridge, the monthly Circle Magazine, cricut/gypsy files, the circle events, the Cricut circle blog and exclusive Circle message boards.
   Did I mention that the 3rd Thursday of each month Cricut has Hello Thursday, the monthly new cartridge release? Well as a Circle member you get WOW WEDNESDAY! We get to see them all the day before AND the most amazing and creative examples of projects that Cricut has made from the new cartridges. I LOVE what they do with the cartridges. I think the Circle design team truly showcases the best features of each of the new cartridges, the day before anyone else gets to see the images from the cartridges! If you do not want to do the monthly payment you can join for $250 this year there will be even more perks for this upcoming year! My envy and future dream is to be among the amazingly talented staff of Cricut.
    I do not work for Provo-Craft or Cricut, my facebook, blog and website are just from my mind and what myself and my design team can do with our Cricut Machines.
    For current Circle members you can renew for ONLY $199 and get 3 months free of the Cricut Magazine (that is a $54 value alone)
    On July 2nd my website will launch and be filled with tons of Cricut resources. They are all free and I make no money on my website. It is just a great place for Cricut Lover's to get inspiration, share creativity and to positivity encourage our friends to share. Wait until you meet my design team and see what they can do! I have beginners and members that are on other 'popular bloggers' design team. I think I have the most amazing and talented team and I cannot wait until you meet them and see what they can do!
    Everyday on my blog you will see at least 3 creations that we have made using our Cricuts and Creativity! Stop by soon, there is so much to learn and share! This all begins on July 2, 2011!

   Here is the link to sign up or read more about the Cricut Circle!
http://www.cricut.com/circle/sign.up.aspx

Talk about timing. I posted this before I got my Circle email... that was weird!
Don't for get the first weekend of every month we do a 100 Cricut cartridge blog hop (no there are not 100 blogs) If you don't know what a blog hop is, We make projects with our cricut, you start at one then at the bottom of what thye made, you click to go to the next. So you just click and look! That's it! That's a blog hop!