Thursday, August 10, 2017

Exclusive to Close To My Heart Cricut® Collections

In the newest Annual Inspirations 2017-2018 there are four new Cricut® Collections that are exclusive to Close To My Heart. You will find the new collections on pages 90 through 92; the previously released (and still available) Cricut® Collections continue to page 95.

You Are Here Collection

There is one new "full size" collection, You Are Here, which is available with a physical cartridge or as a digital collection (with no cartridge). Whether you choose the physical cartridge or the digital version, you receive the same images to cut on your Cricut® machine (please note that the digital version is only available for use with Cricut Explore™, Cricut Explore Air™, and Cricut Explore Air™ 2). You will also receive the Enchantment cardstock combo pack and three My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets. Those who order the digital collection will be able to download a PDF of the handbook from the Cricut Cartridge Library when it is posted. In the meantime there is a PDF of the shape index.

Cricut® You Are Here Collection
physical cartridge - (Z3389)
page 92
Cricut® You Are Here Digital Collection
no cartridge - (Z3387)
page 92

You Are Here has images to document your journey through life including traveling both domestic and abroad, taking road trips, family reunions, spa visits and much more. The recommended My Acrylix® block sizes are 2" × 2" (Y1003), 1" × 3½" (Y1002), 2" × 3½" (Y1009), 3" × 3" (Y1006).

Country Collections

There are three new digital Country Collections. All of the Country Collections are accessed using an online code rather than a physical cartridge and are only available for use with Cricut Explore™, Cricut Explore Air™, and Cricut Explore Air™ 2.

Hello USA Digital Collection

Cricut® Hello USA Digital Collection
no cartridge - (Z3390)
page 91

The Hello USA Digital Collection features 60 layered images. There are shapes, overlays, and names for all 50 states, as well as a local flower, slogan, and state-specific icon. The collection also includes 10 extra images about the US, including regions and the US flag. The Shape Index PDF is here.

The description stating there are 60 layered images does not really tell you the full number of images in my opinion. Let's look at my home state of New York. This is what you see when you add the image to your mat:


When you ungroup the image, you have all of this on your mat:


There are a few shapes that do not ungroup to this many individual images, but majority are similar to the example above. How the images are grouped is similar for the Hello Canada Collection. Based on the shape index, the Australian/New Zealand Collection, is also similar.

Hello Canada Digital Collection

Cricut® Hello Canada Digital Collection (no cartridge) (Z3391)
page 91

The Hello Canada Digital Collection features 20 layered images. There are shapes, overlays, and names for all Canadian provinces and territories, as well as a local flower, slogan, and coordinating icon. The collection also includes extra images about Canada, including the Canadian flag. The Shape Index PDF is here.

Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection

Cricut® Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection (no cartridge) (Z3392)
page 91

The Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection features 20 layered images. There are shapes, overlays, and names for Australian and New Zealand states and territories, as well as a local flower, slogan, and coordinating icon. The collection also includes extra images about Australia and New Zealand, including each country's flag. The Shape Index PDF is here.

Link Physical Cartridge using Cricut® Design Space

The You Are Here physical cartridge is added to your Cricut® account by placing it in the port on your Cricut® Explore and choosing Link Cartridge in Cricut® Design Space (I am not sure if this cartridge works with Cricut® Craft Room–please see below). If you are new to CDS, here are a couple of images to help you. Click on the three lines near the upper left corner of your browser.


Then click on Link Cartridges and follow the steps on screen.


Add Digital Collections to Cricut® Account

The Digital Collections are added to your Cricut® account via an online code. When you order one of the digital collections, you will receive a card that looks like this.


Follow the steps to add the collection to your account.
  • go to www.cricut.com/CTMH
  • if necessary, sign into your Cricut® account
  • gently scratch the silver foil off the card
  • enter the code into the field that says "Enter your access code here"
  • click the green "Redeem" button
  • see blue bar the says "Promotion Successfully Redeemed" (this bar is only displayed for a few seconds)
  • if desired, click on"Linked Cartridges" on the left to see the cartridge in the list of cartridges linked to your account
If you would like to refer to some screen shots when entering the code, I posted photos when I added the retired City Sidewalks digital collection to my account.

Note: I did not test to see if case mattered when entering the code. I typed it exactly as it appeared on the card; all of the letters were in uppercase. Also, one of my cards used both the letter o and a zero. The uppercase o was much rounder/wider than the zero so it was easy to distinguish between the two.



Cricut® Craft Room

While I have not been using Cricut Craft Room as much since I purchased the Explore, I opened it to see if any additional Close To My Heart cartridges were added. Before it would completely open, I had to do some troubleshooting. I had to uninstall the version of Adobe Air I had installed and use Adobe AIR 21.0.0.215. A link to the suggested version of Adobe Air is in the troubleshooting post.


I did not expect to find any of the Country Collections in CCR, but I thought it might be possible that You Are Here would be added. So far it has not been added and I suspect that it will not be added; I have purchased other cartridges that were released in 2016 and some of them have not been added to CCR either.

UPDATE - August 23, 2017 - I just checked Cricut Craft Room and the You Are Here cartridge is now available for use in CCR.

I hope this post answers any questions you might have about the latest Cricut® collections available from Close To My Heart. If not, please use the contact form to the right to ask me the questions you have.

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