All About the Cricut

Archive for the ‘Cricut Machine’ Category

The Cricut Expression is the newest addition to the Cricut family of products. The new Cricut Expression is a much larger unit than the Cricut, meant to stay on the table or in a media room. The Cricut Expression machine accepts the existing line of Cricut cartridges, replacing the need to collect hundreds of heavy die cuts. You can use the Cricut Expression machine in your classroom, office, craft space, or home.

The Cricut Expression comes with two new cutting mats measuring 12″x12″ and 12″x24″, so you can now cut characters from .25″ up to an impressive 23.5″ size. Six new modes and several new functions offer greater customization of cuts, and new settings allow different units of measurement and languages. The Cricut machine makes scrapbooking fun, fast, and easy! With the Cricket paper cutter, you can turn those photos into the beautiful scrapbook pages and treasured family heirlooms that you have always wanted!

The Cricut is so cool I love mine I don’t get to use it that much but when I do I just love it. There are so many things you can do with it!! The Cricut seems to be a good product. I haven’t had any trouble cutting anything I program it to cut. The Cricut Expression easily allows more creativity than any other Cricut machine . Whether crafters are hoping to make their paper crafting easier or simply to create larger cutouts, the Cricut Expression can do it all.

The Cricut Expression Machine offers a number of new features to please the die-cutting enthusiast as well as the novice. This new machine lets you mix and match creative features in the same cut, allows you to change settings such as language and units of measure, and includes a new LCD screen that shows exactly what you’re typing for your next cut.

Many users say it is a bigger and better version of the original because it carries several improvements on the Cricut machine’s functionality. The Cricut Expression has the capability of cutting letters and other shapes in a variety of sizes, spanning from a quarter of an inch to almost twenty-four inches in size. Using this tool, educators are able to create an appealing bulletin board with nothing more than a small stack of card stock or other colored paper.

The Cricut’s great value is the simplified user interface. It doesn’t require a computer to function, provided you are willing to pay $50 for the privilege of using a font like Comic Sans . The Cricut is also widely used in card making. Of course, the power to create any sentiment in any font you could possibly need is any card maker’s dream!

I have heard that well-known crafter and author Mark Montano has been using and writing about the Cricut Expression machine and the value it brings to his projects. I found his blog where he talks about how he used the Cricut Expression to take a recent home décor project to new heights of creativity.

This project is a Faux Wood Intarsia Headboard, made with various techniques, including the Cricut Expression. Below is an excerpt from his Blog post:

I’ve discovered a lot about myself while making this project. Yes, crafting is all about self-exploration, and that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. For those of you who know how I craft, I have to say that, with the exception of my Dremel, I’m not really a “machine” kind of crafter. I am an old school, make-it-work-with-whatever-is-under-the-kitchen-sink kind of guy. However, I recently discovered something that made this project sing, and I must write about. It’s called the Cricut Expression. I swear I’m not paid by this company; in fact, I have recently started stalking them and I’m sure they will be filing a restraining order any day now. My goal (if they don’t throw my crafty butt in jail) is to be their one and only spokes-crafter.

Anyway, back to the Cricut. It’s a cutting machine that comes with all kinds of little design cartridges and cuts anything from paper to contact paper to flocking to fabric. It was originally designed for scrapbookers, but let’s face it, there are two things I will never do: learn how to cook and make a scrapbook! I decided to take this machine for a drive and amp up a project for CRAFT that I thought was already finished, and here are the results. The first is my “kickin’ it old school faux intarsia headboard” and the second is my “kickin’ it up a notch with the Cricut faux intarsia headboard.” Both are really easy to make, inexpensive, and easy to personalize. One more thing: if you ever have any questions about my projects, just email me at MarkMontanoNYC@aol.com.

You can read more about this wonderful project at his Blog, here: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/04/faux_wood_intarsia_headboard.html.