All About the Cricut

The hobby or craft known as Scrapbooking, is a process of gathering all of your memories, whether that be photographs, memorabilia and stories and presenting them on a page in an album, for others to see and for you to remember events of the past. Some would say that the art of scrapbooking is very therapeutic. What once use to be simple pages, have know turned into artwork, with scrapbookers putting more and more effort into creating a wonderful page.

Scrapbookers love to embellish their pages with objects and one of the best ways to create a great page is with fancy titles and images from different papers and materials. When scrapbooking die cutting machines came on the market, a whole new dimension was brought to scrapbook pages with die cuts that come in wonderful themed designs and can be cut with a personal machine die cut machine, over and over.

In todays market, there currently exists two main types of scrapbooking die cutting machines. Firstly there is the computerized or electronic die cutter, which is relatively new. Provo Craft has a range called the Cricut and others include the Pazzles Die Cutting machine, the Xyron Wishblade and the Making Memories Slice. Secondly and what we will be discussing today, are the manual die cut machines such as the wonderful Big Shot or BigKick by Sizzix, as well as other brands like the Cuttlebug by Provo Craft or Wizard by Spellbinder.

The newer electronic version of the die cutting machines are a lot more expensive than the manual versions. The manual versions are certainly more robust and more portable. However when weighing up the immediate benefit of both types, the biggest advantage the manual machine has over the electronic machine, is its ability to cut a much wider range of materials of thicker grades. An electronic machine is limited to paper and thin cardstock, where as the manual machine can cut through the toughest materials.

Owning a manual machine does have two slight disadvantages though compared to the electronic machines. Firstly they are manual, hence need your full attention to operate and can not be left to cut by themselves. Secondly, the size and shape of the dies can not be changed or adjusted. So what you see is what you get.

Although the electronic cutters sound fantastic, manual die cutters are still very popular and still have a place in todays scrapbooking die cutting machine market due to their ability to cut through the toughest fabrics. The best of the manual cutting machines range available right now, would have to be the Sizzix BIGkick/ Big Shot (the same machine, just a different design). It is a fabulous machine that has come a long way since the Original Sizzix Machine came out many years ago and led the market to where it is today.

The Sizzix Big Shot (BigKick) is like a press, where you lay down a die and paper on a platform and apply pressure, so that the design is cut into the paper or whatever material you are using. The platform is now very large and can accommodate pretty much any other brand of die on the market alone, or with an adaptor. So Sizzixs Sizzlits can also be used with this machine, along with the whole range of existing Sizzix dies.

The BigShot has a much larger base now compared to the Original machine, which has the advantage of being able to cut multiple smaller dies at once, or being able to put the large red dies in sideways to be cut quicker. Also since the base is larger, obviously larger sheets of paper can be used which is great. A new set of large background style dies have also been created for the BigShot.

Doing away with the press handle and implementing the roller style cutting action, though is probably the single best improvement the BigShot has over the original machine. Many dies on the old machine had to be cut in two parts, which often meant slippages or dies that werent completely cut all over. With the roller handle, you can now cut a series of smaller dies, or a larger die easily as it rolls through the platform, applying even pressure for a perfect cut. And no more aching arms from all the pressing.

As with the old machine, the BigShot and BigKick hold the biggest advantage of being able to cut through so many wonderful types of materials like fabric, felt, thin sheet metal, thick cardstock or even multiple sheets of paper at once. So if you are an artistic scrapbooker, who likes to embellish your pages with textured titles and images, then the tough BigShot by Sizzix will surely meet your demands.

Related posts:

1. Choosing The Right Die Cutting Machine
2. Cricut 29-0002 Replacement Cutting Blades for Cricut Cutting Machines
3. How to Choose a Die Cutting Machine
4. Cricut Cartidges Make Scrapbooking A Fun Pastime