Scrapbook Die Cutter

Last year for Christmas my husband surprised me with the ProvoCraft Cricut die cutting machine. I was surprised because I already own the Sizzix cutting tool made by the same company. He knows how I am always looking for something new as far as scrapbooking products. I love trying whatever I can find that has to do with scrapbooking. I tend to look for quicker and easier ways to make scrapbook page layouts. I am a mother of 4 and have little time. I sure do have a lot of photos as I take pictures of every memory making moment.

Some of the advantages of owning the Cricut machine are that it was made for personal use. My husband was lucky to find it on sale for 179.99. ProvoCraft sells many products for this machine. I bought the storage bag that has wheels so you can take it to scrapbook classes or scrapbook parties. Everything is at the touch of a button. It is cartridge based and has a large variety of styles of letters, shapes and phrases to choose from. The Cricut cartridges sell for around 90.00. The cartridges come with an overlay that is applied to the Cricut machine. These overlays offer a variety of 3-d effects. Some of them are Signs, charms, tags, shadowing, negative and positive imaging. I like to add scrapbook embellishments to the die cuts to jazz them up. Possibly a charm, some ribbon, glitter etc. You can also cut the image as small as 1” or as large as 5 ½”. Which give you the option of maybe cutting a large title or small tag for your framed pictures. You can use many different thickness of paper but I tend to use more of a medium card stock. The cutting blade is adjustable. There is a pressure setting for thicker papers. Also a speed setting for how fast you want it to cut. It has an expansion port for future upgrades. The replacement parts for the Cricut machine are reasonably priced. The cutting machine does come with everything you need to get started. My husband bought mine from Michael’s craft store. I have seen them at Joann’s etc, and A.C. Moore. I purchased some of my cricut cartridges on eBay and amazon. I did have to play around some with the Cricut because there is a learning curve. For example, for thinner paper you will need to turn down the speed setting and set the pressure setting a bit lower so the machine doesn't rip your scrapbook paper. For thicker papers you set the pressure higher and turn up the speed a little and adjust the blade down futher. Once you get used to it, it’s lots of fun to use. The ideas you can get for new scrapbook page layouts are endless.

A few of the disadvantages is that it is a small investment. You cannot customize your own die cuts. The mat that comes with the cutting machine is sticky so the scrapbook paper doesn't slide when cutting. It is too sticky when first opened to the point where the paper you just cut rips when taken off. I found that the sticky wears off quickly also. To get more use of the mat I use Krylon easy tack repositionable spray on adhesive. You can use any spray on you like just as long as it is repositionable. You are limited to using just cardstock or paper of your choice. The blade cannot cut through any other materials. I like to make chipboard monograms and am not able to with this cutting machine.

I am so glad my husband purchased the Cricut cutter as a gift for Christmas. I really do love this cutting tool. It is worth the price. It's a nice addition to my tools. It helps me to get through my scrapbook pages quicker. The cartridges help me to come up with different ideas for layout pages in minutes. I don’t have to cut things by hand. All I have to do is press a button. I have extra time then to focus on taking more memory making pictures then. I give this machine a 4.5 out of 5.


Thank you for reading my review.

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