Welcome to Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog! Cricut enthusiasts come share your projects with us. Twice monthly we offer simple challenges for your chance to win! No matter which size Cricut machine you have, come join the fun.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Quick Tip Tuesday: Book and Keypad Cross-Reference

Hi Everyone.  Welccome to another Quick Tip Tuesday.

One thing I love about the newest Cricut cartridge booklets is that there is a small picture of the keypad on each page that shows which button to use for the image.
Even though the Gyspy and the new Expression 2 have each keypad built in, I find I still refer to my booklets
A LOT, especially for the images found on the feature keys. 
Once I decide on an image in the book, I want an easy way to locate that image on the keypad.  And for those of use happily using our senior citizen discounts, those images are often difficult to see on the virtual keypads on the G and E2.
I've read about several ways to cross-reference the books and keypads - here's how I do it:
There are 50 image buttons - 5 rows of 10 buttons.  So, I think of the ROWS as A, B, C, D, E
and the buttons as 1-10 in each row.

When I first get a new cartridge, I label each page in the book A1, A2, etc., B1, B2, etc. matching the keypad buttons to the pages.  For the shape, lite, and seasonal cartridges the buttons are in the order of the pages.
It just makes it so much easier when you've chosen an image in the middle of the book to know that, "oh, that image is D6" (because you've written that in your book) rather than looking at the small, sometimes obscure looking images on the keypad.



This method comes in especially handy with some of the font cartridges because the books are in ABC order, but the keypad is in standard keyboard order (QWERTY).  So, although the first image page in your book is an A, the button you need is CI.  It just makes finding the right buttons so much quicker when you're using your book. 


If you rely on your books like I do, I hope you'll find this system helpful.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,
Larelyn
post signature

11 comments:

  1. thanks for the tip! I get cross eyed sometimes too trying to figure out where the image is I'm looking for. I'm going to give this a whirl for sure :)

    tfoley55.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great tip! I also find I use my books, because the images on the Gypsy keypad are just too small to see. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like your way better than mine. I just labeled the buttons in my books 1-50 just knowing that at 11, 21, 31, & 41 started a row. Your way makes more sense:-) Thanks for sharing!

    -Tammy

    http://thepurplemuse.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, that is a great idea! Will be using this for sure! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow Larelyn!! That is Genius!!
    TFS!! Take Care!!
    Jennie @ http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like this method! I'll be implementing with my overlays/books...thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I never thought of doing this and have found finding the right key very frustrating! thanks so much for a great tip, I will be using it1
    Cindy http://cardcrazeeme53.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! Thanks, Larelyn :) That is a great way of doing it! I've often wondered why the images in the book need to be so tiny and making it impossible to find on the overlay .. Your system will make this a piece of cake!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you so much for this tip. I always number the reg carts just the way you do it. But had never done it with my font one's because it did not match up. You have an awesome way of doing it. Thanks:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for this info! What a great tip!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm a new follower, I love your blog and the tips. I love my cricut, wish I used it more.
    Stop by my blog
    http://candoitmom.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to share your comments. We hope you were inspired today. Please note: all posts are monitored and show up after approved.