The Cricut Makes Scrapbooking Easy
The Cricut machine helps scrappers save time and effort
I never understood why my scrapbooking friends were so excited about the Cricut...until I put together my first scrapbook as a gift for my mother-in-law. The book was a genuine labor of love, meant to freeze our family trip to Disney World forever in time and memory. I worked on it in the evenings for weeks, painstakingly cutting out photos, deciding on borders, picking embellishments, and making sure the overall mood was as fun and carefree as the trip.
The Cricut will have you chirping
The difference between a photo album and a scrapbook is all the little embellishments you use to decorate the pages and make them personal. Scrappers spend hours creating these embellishments by hand. The Cricut machine makes it easier by cutting the letters and shapes for you, so that all you do is place them and adhere them to the book.
The Cricut is an electronic die cutting machine. Basically, it has blades and a sticky mat and you put a piece of paper stock on the mat, put in a cartridge, pick the letters or shapes that you want to cut, and press a button. Voila! The Cricut lets you cut letters and characters in the size and color paper that you want. No more using scissors and cutting by hand, or buying premade embellishments in pre-determined colors.
There are three Cricut machines to choose from: the original Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter Machine, the Cricut Expression and the Cricut Create. The original Cricut cuts shapes from one inch to 5 1/2 inches, while the Create allows for a wider range of sizes, from one-quarter inch to 11 1/2 inches. The Expression takes bigger paper and cuts larger sizes --making it great for teachers, who decorate their classrooms with seasonal decorations and large letters.
None of the Cricuts require a computer or special software to operate, but you will need to buy the cartridges, which can get pricey. Browse the variety of cartridges available from ProvoCraft, the makers of Cricut. You can buy them online from ProvoCraft, eBay, Amazon Stores, and a variety of scrapbook vendors, or offline at Michaels, Walmart, Kmart and most craft stores.
ProvoCraft has recently released a Cricut Design Studio software that lets scrappers create their own shapes using a virtual sticky mat and "welding" shapes and letters together. Other vendors also sell software that's compatible with the Cricut, including a popular title called "Sure Cuts A Lot" that can be purchased and downloaded from Craft Edge.
The Cricut machine is not only great for making scrapbooks, but also for a variety of home organization and school projects -- making it a welcome gift for so many people on your list.