Cricut Review

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desiab
Picayune, MS

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A Scrapbooking Essential!

a reader, a woman, into trying new things, like variety, married, an on-line shopper

Pros

Good size range, Ease of operation, Range of cartridges and fonts, awesome projects, Versatile

Cons

pricey cartridges, Lack of Customization of images

FEB

2008

If I were on a desert island and could only have one scrapbooking tool, the Cricut personal electronic cutter from ProvoCraft (or its big brother the Expression) would be what I would take.

Since getting my Cricut and Expression I haven't bought any scrapbooking embellishments except paper. The Cricut allows me to cut titles, embellishments, cards, boxes, and more in sizes ranging from 1 to 5.5 inches to use on my scrapbooking layouts, cards, or other projects. Because the machine only weighs 7 pounds it is portable and can be taken to crops and scrapbooking retreats.

If purchased through an authorized dealer the Cricut comes with the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. During the black Friday sale at Wal-mart, special bundles were for sale with a second mini cartridge--Keystone. Some of those bundles may still be floating around your local Wal-Mart, so read the box carefully.

While the cartridges can be pricey they are interchangeable between the machines. If you purchase the Cricut and later decide to upgrade to the Expression, the cartridges you previously purchased will still work.

The variety of cartridges are mind boggling.

Font Cartridges:

All Mixed Up
Alphalicious
Base Camp
Cuttin' Up
Doodletype
Jasmine
Making the Grade
Mickey
Mini Monograms
Opposites Attract
Printing Press
Stamped
Tear Drop
ZooBalloo

Shape Cartridges:

Animal Kingdom
Beyond Birthdays
Celebrations
Christmas Cheer
Doodlecharms
Dreams Come True
Fabulous Finds
Going Places (Travel)
Happily Ever After (Disney)
Joys of the Season
Locker Talk
Mickey and Friends (Disney)
New Arrival (Baby)
Paper Doll
Paper Pups
Stretch Your Imagination
Tags, Bags, Boxes and More
Walk in My Garden

Classmate Cartridges:

50 States
Cursive 101
Learning Curve
My Community
My World
Printing 101
Speaking of Fall
Speaking of School
Speaking of Winter
Word Builders: A Garden of Words
Word Builders: A Word Party
Word Builders: An Ocean of Words

2008 Cartridges rumored to soon be released:

Baseball (May 2008)
Campout (May 2008)
Home Accents (May 2008)
Indie Art (May 2008)
Pooh and Friends (March 2008)
Pooh Font (March 2008)
Soccer (May 2008)
Stone Script (May 2008)
Street Signs (May 2008)
Wedding (May 2008)

ProvoCraft also started a free, informative forum to share ideas and get help with the Cricut and Expression. The people on the site are willing to share their creations and instructions on how to recreate the projects.