Before investing your hard earned money into a die cutting system, you need to do your research. There are various models on the market and after much consideration this is the one I have chosen and why.
The Cricut Personal cutter machine manufactured by ProvoCraft is a fantastic edition to your scrapbooking tools. There are a few different Cricut Personal cutters. The Cricut Expressions can cut 12x 24 inch size papers. The Cricut Original cuts 6×12 inch paper. The Cricut cutting mat has a mild adhesive and holds your paper in place whilst the cutting is performed. Each Cricut machine comes with a cartridge, the Cricut Original comes with George & Basic Shapes and it is a fundamental cartridge, which combines capital alphabet called George and a selection of shapes. Each cartridge consists of a cartridge, a keypad overlay and some come with an instruction booklet. So once you have unpacked your new Cricut Personal cutter you can start experimenting straight away. Down the track you further expand the functionality of your Cricut machine, with other Cricut cartridges. ProvoCraft is releasing new Cricut Cartridges each year and they have wide range of themes, from alphabets, sports, in the garden through to Disney characters.
On the Cricut Personal cutter you can adjust blade depth, pressure and cutting speed. This helps when cutting different materials. Slowing down the cutting speed gives a better result with more fragile scrapbooking paper, whilst using medium pressure gives a crisper cut on scrapbooking cardstock as opposed to the softest pressure setting.
You can cut letters and shapes by adjusting the size dial from 1 up to 5 ½ inch. The sizes available are 1, 1¼, 1½, 2, 2½, 3, 3½, 4, 4½, 5, 5½.
The ability to load the scrapbooking paper, cut a few letters, unload the paper and then reload to exactly the point you were up to, saves both time and paper.
The Cricut cartridge George and Basic Shapes has six creative features. Sign, Slotted, Charm, Silhouette, Shadow and Shadow Blackout.
Sign – imagine a picket sign with a letter or shape cut out
Slotted – Oval circle, a slot cut at the top to thread ribbon or twine
Charm – Your shape or letter cut with a circle attached at the top, so you can attach the letter using a brad to your layout
Silhouette – cuts the outline of your letter or shape. Great for the budget conscious as you are able to keep the negative cut of your letter and use it on another layout.
Shadow – Cuts the letters or shapes, slightly large than normal, these can then be used behind the normal size letter, giving the appearance of a shadow and a 3D effect to your title. This feature is on all of the Cricut cartridges.
Shadow Blackout – similar to shadow except where there would be a cut out in the middle of an 0 for instance, shadow blackout simply creates the outside shadow and no cutout inside the 0
With so many different Cricut cartridges available, you need to investigate the features of each one before your purchase, to ensure that you will get enough use from each investment. Consider if they offer just shapes or alphabet and shapes. I have purchased a few shapes cartridges and because the shapes were so intricate, I was not particularly bothered that Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge did not come with an alphabet. The Christmas Cheer cartridge is one I would not be without.
ProvoCraft has also released a more robust cutting blade, which can cut up to 1.5 mm thickness. This means that all of the Provo Cricut Personal cutters, with this new blade, are able to cut chipboard, vinyl, fabric and magnetic sheets.
Other Cricut Personal cutter accessories include a Cricut Tote, Cricut Tools, Cricut JukeBox and Cricut Create, so why not enjoy Cricut Scrapbooking. If you would like to learn more about Cricut Machines visit http://www.happy2scrapbook.com