Cricut Expression giveaway

As you know I have been posting about one of my favorite site, www.svgcuts.com, which I visit almost daily to download images or just browse.  I have won something 3 times already by participating in contests they hold.  Well, tonight is the mac daddy of all giveaways.  They are giving away a Cricut Expression bundle and a Cricut Personal cutter along with more gift cards.  Now I know I already have a Cricut but it would be mighty nice to win one of them and give it as a gift to one of my awesome crafty friends or family members.

I'll be around tonight watching their live broadcast online hoping that I am one of the lucky winners.  Here's the link to the info: http://svgcuts.com/blog/?p=8018

Cricut: No need for the cartridges

I posted previously about there being no need for the cartridges when using the Cricut.  This was for other image files that weren't Cricut's.

Well, I just found a way to use images from the cartridges you don't own.  Pretty sweet!  If you're interested, email me for the info.

Here's a little dude I made yesterday.  He was my  test dummy.  It literally took hours for me to perfect the process.  It should be easy now that I know what to do.  Granted, it takes time but so worth it!

Sorry for the blurriness.  When I resized the image it blurred.

My New Toy!

I'm new to scrapbooking and making cards, etc but fell in love with it.  I really didn't want to because I get obsessive compulsive about things and have to have everything ever made to go along with it.  I went into scrapbooking knowing this and expecting to just start off little. 

Yea, that happened for the first day or two then I went crazy.  I knew I would.  I started buying clearance die cuts, using coupons, etc until I amassed a nice little stock of supplies.  Of course it still wasn't enough...   

I bought the Cricut Expression.

I love it. I was tired of buying expensive die cutters, even on clearance they can be pricey (when you want a whole collection!). Anyway, I was iffy about the Expression because of the price and the price of carts but through some research I was able to find out about programs you can use that allow you to totally bypass using carts. Well, you do need one inserted in the machine for it to work though.


The programs are called Sure Cuts a Lot (1 & 2, SCAL) and Make the Cut (MTC). I purchased Make the Cut because there were more options according to users. It cost $58 to download off their site and $10.99 to have the CD sent as well.  I am very pleased with it. The possibilities are endless. You can download files online and cut away without having to spend money on carts and be limited to what the carts offer. There's tons of sites out there with cuts to download (SVG, true type font, vector) and you can use jpgs as well by using the trace option in MTC.  MTC also takes the fonts you already have on your computer and pulls it into the program so you have those available. 

Check out the links below:

Make the Cut
http://www.make-the-cut.com/

and

Sure Cuts a Lot
http://www.craftedge.com/products/products.html


Comparison - MTC vs SCAL
http://cleversomeday.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/cricut-software-comparison/


If you are interested in the programs read reviews on both first.  I found tons of sites that reviewed and compared both programs.  I chose MTC.

In all, had I had to buy carts I don't think I would have bough a Cricut.  Because I don't have to spend money on those pricey carts the machine was well worth the cost.