About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The Cricut personal electronic cutter, available in two sizes, has been called "the future of home crafting." Without the help of a computer, the Cricut can cut out beautiful and fun designs, letters, and numbers. These 'die cuts' can be used in scrapbook projects, card making, and any other paper crafts. The Cricut uses cartridges and simple keypad overlays to help you make thousands of great shapes, letters, and phrases in a variety of sizes and styles.




Pros

• Great Tool
• Variety of Cartidges
• Size and Portability

Cons

• Price Tag
• Cost of Cartridges

Description

• It is lightweight and portable.
• It cuts items ranging from 1" to 5 1/2" x 11" long for the regular Cricut and up to 11" x 23.5" for the Expression.
• It can cut a wide range of paper from vellum to cardstock up to .5 mm thick.

Guide Review - Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter

I have been doing a little research and playing with the Cricut personal electronic cutter because my daughter has been begging for one for quite awhile. I wanted to see if this new-fangled way to create die-cuts for paper crafts is worth the money it costs; and I have to admit, I was impressed.

First of all, speaking from someone who loves to use her Sizzix machine, this 'die-cut' machine is lightweight and easy to carry around using it's handle. They now have two sizes available, the regular Cricut machine and the Cricut Expression. No computer is required. The machine simply plugs into any normal wall outlet. Besides the blade and cutting mat that comes with the machine, you need a Cricut cartridge.

The machine usually comes with one cartridge, and it offers basic letters, numbers, shapes, and phrases to get you started.

The cartridges are also small and lightweight, and each comes with a simple keypad overlay to make it easy to use. Although the cartridges can be a little spendy (I have seen them priced from $50 all the way up to $100), they are well worth the cost if you consider the fact that each cartridge can make a large variety of designs which can be used in virtually thousands of styles and sizes. Also available are replacement blades and mats at reasonable prices, and other accessories such as tools and carrying cases.

I definitely think the Cricut personal electronic cutter is a great investment. Between my daughter's scrapbooking and our combined card making and paper crafting it will pay for itself in no time. If nothing else it will save us money on alphabet cut-outs alone!