Cricut Your Losses

Cricut Your Losses

November 1st, 2010 @ 3:38 pm by Mrs. Panther
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Like many bees before me (Pengy, Mrs. Dachshund, Mrs. Duckling, Mrs. Argyle, etc.), I am officially Cricut crazy. I cannot wait another MINUTE to get my hands on one! For those who are not familiar, a Cricut is an electronic die-cutting machine. It’s like a printer, except instead of printing things with ink, it cuts them out with a bunch of digitally controlled blades. It’s meant to be a cartridge-based system—you buy cartridges (like old school video games!) that contain a bunch of shapes, letters, and/or designs, and then use the machine’s controls to choose a size and such.

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BUT—that’s not how I’ll be using it. I’ll be using software called Sure Cuts A Lot, which lets you upload your own digital images to be cut out. I haven’t played with it much because I don’t HAVE the Cricut yet, but it could do something like this…

Cricut Your Losses : wedding decor stationery westport Panther2 panther2

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…or something more complicated. Any font can be cut out, and you can even import some images into Sure Cuts A Lot and it’ll convert them to outlines for you. SO COOL! I have lots of ideas about how I want to use my Cricut. (By the way, it’s pronounced like “cricket.”)

Since I’m hoping to get the largest model, which can cut up to 12″x24″, I’ll be able to use it to cut envelope liners for A7-sized envelopes. And oh man, I could make some seriously cool escort cards.

Look at these!

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Or these…um…cheese signs. You know, for cheese.

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I love these place cards.

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Timeless Paper on Etsy makes these, and they’re gooorgeous, but I’m poor, so I think I’ll make something like them myself.

I’m a simple kinda gal, but if I felt like doing something more intricate, the Cricut can (allegedly) totally handle it—like these cupcake wrappers:

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Or wedding menus, like these awesome ones by Mrs. Penguin…

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Or some banner thingies…

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…and programs…and on and on and on. I can also emboss designs onto these things with my new Cuttlebug, which I recently got on mega-sale at Joann! Also, I love the Paper-Source paper flower kits, but I SUCK at cutting out the petals…Welp, there goes that problem!

Is anyone else just dying to get a Cricut? For those of you who bit the bullet and bought one, what have you done with it?

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29 Responses to “Cricut Your Losses”

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Guest

Rachel

Oh man, I want one so bad!

11/1/10 @ 3:44 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Cinnamon Bun (message) 1,100 posts, Bumble bee

I lust after a Cricut! I found some on super sale at Michaels, but realised (before I bought one, luckily) that it was the smaller version - I want the giant one like you!

I know my local scrapbook store has Cricuts for members to use - you need your own mat, and possibly blade, but you can use the store’s cartridges. I want to be able to hook it up to a computer though. There’s another similar machine I’ve heard of that is meant to connect to the computer, called the Silhouette.

11/1/10 @ 3:54 pm (reply)

Member

bRooklynRocks (message) 3,769 posts, Honey bee

I wish I wish I wish I could get one of those but I know I would NEVER use them after the wedding!

11/1/10 @ 3:54 pm (reply)

Member

tarabonistall (message) 128 posts, Blushing bee

I actually love the idea of cheese signs… I’m always nervous to try cheese when I don’t know what it is, and I hate when I love it and can never find it again because I don’t know its name!

11/1/10 @ 4:03 pm (reply)

Member

Kemi82JP (message) 749 posts, Busy bee

GAAHHHH why didn’t i know about tools like this when I was designing my paper goods for my wedding???? I would have DIED for candy buffet labels in any other shape than a rectangle lol. i might have to grab one of these for myself as well. i can see a MILLION uses for one of these beyond the wedding, for sure!

11/1/10 @ 4:11 pm (reply)

Member

Jennifer5642 (message) 233 posts, Helper bee

@rycrafty: I have the silhouette and I LOVE it. I definitely think that the silhouette is a better option for relatively computer-savvy crafters. No cartridges = less money to spend. The Cricut; however, is king when it comes to ease of use.

I’m a custom kind of gal, so I really like that I can cut anything my crazy brain can think up! I’ve already used my silhouette for my save the dates, OOT bag labels, candy buffet labels, etc. I also use it a ton for custom scrapbook accents.

I’ve never heard of the Sure Cuts a Lot software, which sounds like it may bridge the gap between the silhouette and the Cricut. Win-win!!!!!

11/1/10 @ 4:12 pm (reply)

Member

crebre80 (message) 10,729 posts, Bee Keeper

I want soo bad too!! Michael’s usually has a sell on Thanksgiving where they are about 69.99 for the basic one. I may just have to get one then. Too bad it will be too late for the wedding lol!!!!

11/1/10 @ 4:12 pm (reply)

Member

yoori (message) 231 posts, Helper bee

YES I’m with you! I want one so badly!

11/1/10 @ 4:35 pm (reply)

Member

StbHisMrs (message) 339 posts, Helper bee

Please Please Please let us know how that program works with the cricut!!! I have one and love it, I use it for my sons invitations, custom birthday cards and anything I can think of. I’ve had it for a good 5 years and it’s the best investment I’ve ever made!

11/1/10 @ 4:42 pm (reply)

10.

Member

tdizzle (message) 191 posts, Blushing bee

Does it print out those beautiful fonts on the shapes?

11/1/10 @ 4:59 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Panther (message) 1,046 posts, Bumble bee

@tarabonistall: They’re cool AND functional!
@Jennifer5642: I’ve never used the Silhouette, but SCAL lets you cut out any vector image from Illustrator or whatever, or even most solid images from Photoshop or whatever. It’s very cool!
@StbHisMrs: I’ll have to do another post about how SCAL has worked! (This post is old — I’ve had my Cricut for a while now and use it all the time.) It’s awesome.
@tdizzle: Unfortunately, the Cricut can’t actually print anything … the trick is to print things on a regular printer and then get your printout lined up perfectly in the Cricut. It takes a lot of practice, but it’s definitely doable.

11/1/10 @ 5:05 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Panther (message) 1,046 posts, Bumble bee

@Jennifer5642: Ew, I said “or whatever” twice. Worst sentence ever, sorry! I’m tired.

11/1/10 @ 5:06 pm (reply)

13.

Guest

jessicarney

I want one too! Luckily there’s an awesome scrapbook store here that has one that you can you use, they even have a ton of cartridges. Maybe a scrapbook place near you has one too? I live in a fairly small town so I always assume anything that we have one of, everyone has three

11/1/10 @ 6:10 pm (reply)

14.

Member

weidjm21 (message) 25 posts, Newbee

I LOVE my cricket- I used it for pretty much every paper product in our wedding- from table numbers to cupcake wrappers. It’s been the best DIY tool I own.

11/1/10 @ 6:34 pm (reply)

15.

Member

feministbride (message) 283 posts, Helper bee

Definitely tempted to get one of these, but just not certain how I would use it post-wedding…

11/1/10 @ 6:44 pm (reply)

16.

Member

photographernico (message) 527 posts, Busy bee

Silly me, I would have used an X-Acto to cut everything! Knowing that this exists makes it a tempting consideration once we’re closer to DIY projects.

11/1/10 @ 6:47 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Giraffe (message) 4,219 posts, Honey bee

I love my Cricut! So far, I haven’t used it for anything wedding related, but I scrapbook with it all the time!

11/1/10 @ 8:20 pm (reply)

18.

Member

amariem25 (message) 3,740 posts, Sugar bee

I have the small 6×12 cricut and I haven’t done anything this creative with it yet. I’m bookmarking this page because you just gave me a ton of ideas! Definitely worth it to buy the big one too. I can’t do all the envelope and box designs with the small cricut.

11/1/10 @ 9:03 pm (reply)

19.

Bee

Miss Panther (message) 1,046 posts, Bumble bee

@Miss Giraffe: I wish I had the patience for scrapbooking! I tried once after a trip to London and ended up angrily scattering a big pile of photo corners. Can’t wait to see if/how you use yours for wedding stuff! Do you have Sure Cuts A Lot? Being such an Illustrator pro, I bet you could make some AMAZING things …

11/1/10 @ 9:36 pm (reply)

20.

Member

mrspaetz (message) 3,805 posts, Honey bee

i wanted one SOOOOOOOO bad but couldn’t justify getting one for the wedding. I wish I had a crafty friend who lived close enough to me so we could share it!

11/1/10 @ 9:51 pm (reply)

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