Cricut 29-0817 Expression 24-Inch Personal Electronic Cutter with 3 Cartridges
Ideal for greeting cards, scrapbooks, and other paper crafts, this cutting machine uses a cartridge-based system (no computer required) for cutting thousands of beautiful letters, shapes, or phrases in a variety of sizes using a 12-by-24-inch mat or a 12-by-12-inch mat. Simply attach the material to be cut to the self-adhesive cutting mat, load it into the machine, insert the cartridge, make a cutting selection, and press “cut”. The machine will quickly and electronically cut out (more…)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Machine – Pros & Cons…
CONS:
Don’t get me wrong… I really enjoy my Cricut Expression, but there are times when I think it’s overwhelming and enjoy using my Cuttlebug more (which has NEVER failed…
My passion for card-making naturally led to my desire to purchase a personal electronic cutting system. In reading various cardmaking magazines, I noticed there were only a few personal electronic cutting systems to choose from, but the choice was pretty obvious for me.
After watching the Cricut informercial ([..] I became intrigued. The Cricut system is made by Provocraft ([...]). I did searches on Ebay ([...] and Craigslist ([...]) in hopes of finding a good deal. At the time, the resale price on these sites was so close to the price offered at WalMart ([...], that it didnft make sense to try to buy it used when I could have a new one and the ability to conveniently return it if there was a problem. I also liked that WalMart and Michaels ([...] carried other Provocraft products such as cartridges, mats, pens and a toolkit. There also was a wide variety of cartridges I could select from both WalMart, Michaels and Ebay. Each cartridge contains a unique set of images or fonts. Some of the cartridges include: Animal Kingdom (animals); Mickey Mouse (Disney), Christmas Cheer (Seasonal), and much more. Only once did I pay a ridiculous amount for a cartridge ($99 for Paperdolls). At the time, it was very new, widely popular and hard to get. Now, as a rule, I only purchase cartridges when they are on sale. Michaels often has a sale where these cartridges are only $35 – $40. If I bring a Michaels ad to WalMart, any cashier can perform a price match. WalMart is great about price matching cricut cartridges, dvds, etc.
There are 3 versions of the Cricut cutting system:
1. Cricut (original)
2. Cricut Expressions
3. Cricut Create (Sold Exclusively at Michaels)
I purchased the first model and loved it right away. A few months later, I then sold my system on craigslist and ordered their largest system, the Cricut Expressions from WalMart. This model is capable of cutting larger sizes up to 12 x 24, the standard scrapbook size sheet is 12″ x 12″. The third model, the Cricut Create, is an improvement on the first small model and sold exclusively at Michaels.
The other great features of this cutting system is the ability to draw. You can replace the cutting blade with Cricut pens to draw, instead of cut, images. You can also purchase Cricut Vinyl adhesive sheets to cut images for decorating the interior of your home. There is also the ability to connect your Cricut machine to your computer via a USB cable. You can then use the Cricut Design Studio software to prearrange the layout of your images before cutting. The Cricut Design Studio software also allows you to view the images of all Cricut cartridges, but you can not cut with them unless you own the cartridge. Another option is to use a third party software, such as Sure Cuts A Lot to cut from your existing fonts or to create your own images to cut. This product is by Craft Edge and is available on ebay or by clicking this link: [...]
This machine is lots of fun, versatile, and widely available by big retail giants. I would highly recommend purchasing this machine. For more information on crafts, see my blog at [...]
The machine itself is really great, and fun to have. It comes in rally handy for making all kinds of things. The drawback is that they claim you save money by not having to purchase all the bulky die cuts you would have on hand for scrapbooking, the only part I find true about that is the bulky part. Instead of having single dies, there are several patterns on each cartridge. But as far as saving money, I really do not see it.
The drawback is you have to purchase their cartridges, which are not very cheap; especially of you will only use some of them every now and then. Before I purchased this machine I had a plotter, I purchased this product to rid myself of the bulky plotter. You can guess what is still taking up space in my crafting room, yes it is the plotter.
I think this product would be better if you were able to hook it to your computer, which you can, but be able to use it to access a website with designs on it, perhaps even on a subscription basis, or for one to purchase each design that want to use as they need it, kind of like embroidery designs. Instead, for now you have to purchase cartridges each time you want to do something new.
I cut a lot of fabric for quilting with this machine. That part I really love. I can pick a design, and each one comes out the same as the last, then I can fuse it to a block and stitch around it to keep it on my quilt top. I also use this machine for making tags. I deal in a lot of vintage quilts from estate sales, some come with a story and I am able to print the story and cut it out as a tag to attach with a safety pin to the quilt so my customers know what they are buying. I also integrate this with some of my graphic work. I am able to cut shapes and vinyl to add to projects with my art work to help make things a little more personal and different.
I love this machine, but feel like they need to work a little harder on the pricing of the designs.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cricut Machine, Great!!! Description, Bad!!!
We ordered this for our daughter for Christmas 2008. It arrived very promptly, but not sure we got the extras that we thought we were getting.
This is my absolute favorite machine.
I use my expression daily. My children love to have little things cut out for them from fancy words and paper dolls, to pirate ships and castles. (Big and Small)
I love using it for all of my scrapbook pages. From Disney to different fonts. It’s all there.
The only qualms I have with this machine are fairly minor. The mats are difficult to find, especially around Christmas.
The mat will lose it’s stickyness, which holds it in place for cutting. As it loses it’s stickyness, the machine will sometimes “pick up” the item you are cutting and will end up destroying it.
You can only insert the mat one way, according to the directions, which ends up cutting a lot on one area of your mat. Thus losing the stickyness on one side, faster than the other.
You can however change the location of where it begins, thus making it easier to fill up an entire page with litle waste.
The little inconveniences don’t take away from this wonderful machine though. A little costly, but well worth it in time saving, versatility, and usefullness.
This machine is incredible. I love my Expression.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cricut doesn’t make the cut
After seeing the informercial for the Cricut Expression, I was thrilled with the possibilities. As a teacher, and crafter, I was already generating ideas for my many uses for this…