Hello everyone, I hope you have had a wonderful week!  I am still working on some ironing/pressing posts, but wanted to get this in first, as this is time sensitive.  I have a few Craftsy classes, but the only way I knew what was happening, was that one of my teacher friends who has taught several Craftsy classes had emailed me to let me know.  There is a letter on their website (www.myblueprint.com) that ‘explains’.

Craftsy started out as an online class website, where you could purchase an ‘Own Forever’ class and have access to it always, for your 1 time purchase price.  A few years ago, NBCUniversal bought a controlling interest and started Bluprint, which is a subscription based option.  For a monthly fee, you had access to all of the Craftsy classes, as well as other classes that were not under the Bluprint umbrella.  They have a Bluprint app and one good thing about it was that you could download episodes to your phone/table so you could watch even if you did not have internet access (like when you are on a plane).  At the end of May, NBCUniversal announced that they would be closing down both Craftsy and Bluprint.  The last day to order a Own Forever class or anything else (they had a store to order supplies) was May 31.   They have not announced the final date, and have mentioned that they ‘are looking at various options to allow those of you who have purchased individual classes to receive a copy of your classes’ but have not mentioned how, which brings me to this post.

Since I am not convinced that Bluprint will be giving me my forever classes, I have looked into how to do this myself.    If you want to download your classes so that you can keep them forever, there is a ‘hack’ way to do this, without having to buy a software package that will enable you to do it.  There is a ‘hack’ way to do this if you have an android.  I do not know if it will work on an iphone/ipad, as I do not have one, but this will work with an android phone.

First, you have to download the Bluprint app to your phone if you do not already have it (and please note that Bluprint is NOT spelled with an e!).

 

Once you have opened the app, at the bottom, you will see Home, Explore, Library, Shop, and Profile.  Click on Library

On the next page, choose Own Forever Library

 

Then choose Own Forever Video.

 

Choose the class you want to download and tap on it to open it up.

 

On the bottom right of each episode (lesson) is a download arrow.  Tap the arrow and the episode starts to download, which is indicated by a spinning circle.  I usually tap on ALL of the episodes to download, unless there are 8+ lessons – then I will divide it into 2 download sessions.

*** VERY IMPORTANT****

 

As soon as you hit all of the download buttons, back out of the app (on my phone when I tap at the bottom left, it takes me to all open apps) and CLOSE IT while the episodes are still downloading.  Once you hit the download button, the downloads will happen, even if you are not still in the app.  The reason you have to close the app is that when you download and the app is open, at the end of the download, the file is encrypted so that it will work on your phone/table, but if you transfer it to your computer, it will not be able to be read/play.  If the app is shut, the encryption does not take place and you can play it on your computer.

Once the download is finished (on your home screen, there will be a down arrow flashing on and off until the downloading is finished), connect your phone to your computer with a usb cable (or whatever type cable your phone needs).

 

 

Go to My PC, choose your phone and open up the files til you get to your download folder.

 

 

 

In a separate window, open up the file you want to transfer them to.  If you only have 1 or 2 classes, you can save them to your pc.  If you have a lot of classes, you may want to transfer them to an external hard drive.

 

I ‘cut’ the files (right click and highlight) from the Download folder instead of copying them, so I know what I have and have not transferred.  If I copy, then I have to take another step to delete them, which just takes more time.   Right click and paste into the destination folder.  It may take a few minutes to transfer, depending on how big the files are.

Next, open up your Bluprint app and go to Library – Downloaded

 

 

A window will open that will show you what Bluprint episodes you have downloaded to your phone/tablet.  You will see a check next to each episode that is downloaded.  These take up a lot of storage on your device, and unless you plan on watching it in the near future,  you don’t need it on your phone anymore, as you now have it on your computer.

 

Tap the top check mark, across from the number of episodes/downloaded (for this example it is 7/7).  Once you tap it, a window will pop up that says Delete All.  Tap on that and these will be deleted from your device.

 

 

Whew!!! Only 1 more step to go!  Before you finish, make sure that you have any info sheets that are included with your class.  Almost all of them have a conversion chart, and some kind of ‘supply’ list, but some of the classes have patterns, directions, etc.  To find these, you have to go to into Bluprint on your computer (www.mybluprint.com) and log in to your account.  Go to Library – Own Forever Library – Class Library

 

Find your class, and underneath the class picture is a link that says Materials.  Click on that.

 

 

You will be taken to the Class page and the Downloads will be at the top.  When you click on each download, a pdf will pop up (usually – sometimes it is a webpage to the teacher’s website for a pattern or something, but for me, that is not the important info – it is the pdf downloads with class info that I want ).  You can save the pdf to the same folder that the Episodes are saved in.

 

And ta dah, you have downloaded a class!  It may seem like a lot of work, but if you work on 1 class when you sit down to your computer, and just plug away, it is not too bad.  Ideally, they will send each of us a thumb drive with our classes, but I am not holding my breath on that one!

If you have a mac/iphone/ipad, I thinkit ends up being saved to the apple cloud, and not sure how the encryption works there – you can try ti and see!

For those of you who don’t have Craftsy or Bluprint, I know this post is not necessarily of interest to you, but the general process of downloading and saving is the same for other things you may want to save.

Irons and pressing will (again) be up next!  If you have access to Fit 2 Stitch on PBS, Season 800 is starting to be broadcast – I am on 2 of the episodes, one for smocking (#809) and one for hand embroidery (8#11).  I have gotten emails from some of you that have seen them, but alas, they are not being broadcast here yet – still on series 700.

I have also been invited to be part of a new online Sewing School.  More details to come soon!

Happy Stitching!

Vaune