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A close friend of mine got the smallest Cricut for Christmas and boyyyy did I enjoy playing with it!! So much so, I'm looking into one of my own, but I noticed there are different ones. What is the difference between them? Clearly one difference is the size of the the paper you can use, but other than that what are they?? Also, which one would you recommend for card making (and perhaps a bit of scrapbooking)?
Any knowledge on this topic would be greatly appreciate as I'm new to Cricut!
I love my expressions because of the display screen and the fill page option is great. I cut moose to make picks for a wedding reception and cutting 50 with one push was wonderful because I needed 500.
__________________ "Teaching. Real Teaching, is-or ought to be a messy business" -Harry Crews
Compare the differences on Cricut's website but I would advise is you can afford it to go for the Expression. It does a lot more than the smaller ones, although they can all use the same cartridges.
I bought the original Cricut back when it first came out and I love it for cards and scrapbooking since I tend to only make 6x6, 8x8 or mini books. But, if I were making 12x12 scrapbooks, I think I would go for the Expression. I do know that some of the carts work best on the Expression, so as stated above, I would go to the Cricut site and compare which carts work best with each machine before deciding.
__________________ My hubby let's me have all the stamping supplies I can hide.
I am like MarshHen and needed something just over 6" for a Christmas gift...but since I paid $275 for the little one --like 7 or 8 years ago? I am waiting on the big one to be a little less.
BTW--after that long I just saw my grabber wheels for the mat--eew, yuck! Now I have to figure out how to clean those. They are covered in dust and little itty bitty paper pieces.
Hi!
I too say go for the Expression. I upgraded from the O-Bug to the Expression. You can get it for $200 to $250 through sales or on-line specials. I bought mine for $250 with 2 cartridges of my choice and free shipping, 18 months ago.
Quick summary.
Original Bug/Personal Cutter/Cricut - 6"x12" cutting space. Smallest dialable size is 1". Increments up in 1/2" sizes. This machine will only cut the features provided with each cartridge.
Cricut Create - upgraded O-Bug. Still only cuts 6"x12". I'm not sure of the dial sizes (I've never owned one or looked into buying one). It does have some features, that the Expression has that are different than on the cartridge features.
Expression - can cut a 12"x12" cutting surface. It will also cut a 12"x24" cutting surface. You can dial sizes down to 1/4" and up the size in 1/4" increments. It will cut all the features provided on the cartridge. The Expression also has a quantity feature, fit to page, vertical cuts vs horizontal cuts, line return, fit to length, center point, etc. These are great features that work with any cartridge and it's designed features.
I upgraded to an expression this past fall and LOVE it! I mainly do only cards and such. www.customcrops.com has great prices on them and super fast shipping and customer service.
I had the smaller one and found that even for cards I wanted the bigger one. (The wild card cartridge sealed the deal for me) and now that I have found a way to "refurbish" the cutting pads the cost of the mats isn't an issue. I think if you can afford the bigger one you will be happier in the long run.
When the sticky mats are no longe holding onto my paper sufficiently, I purchase new ones.
I have read various things people try to use to "re-sticky" their mats, but I don't trust those methods and prefer to purchase new ones. I paid a lot for my machines and don't want to take the chance of damaging them with various adhesive fixes.
I purchased two products "Stick Away" and "Stick and Spray" by CC International. Someone on this site and another one recommended it to me. First you use the stick away to remove all the old "gunk" from the mat. Then you spray it with the Stick and spray- you have to cover the outer edges so that the rollers on your machine don't get sticky. I saw a video on You tube on it before I bought it. I asked a few people on a Yahoo group and they have been using it successfully for quite a while. YOu still have to replace a mat when it gets a lot of deep cuts in it but it works well so far. I was hesitant at first as well. I think if you do a search on it you can find lots of info. I believe I bought mine at Custom crops.
If you can afford it, I agree with the others regarding purchasing the Expression that the difference in price will be worth it. I make mostly cards but also like to make boxes. I bought the Create first because it was at a price I could afford but found that the boxes it could make were just 'too cute' to be worth the time and paper it took to cut and assemble. (i.e. square favor box barely holds 1 Ferrero candy) As others have said, just do a search and you can find and 'E', new and in the box, without any cartridges for a very reasonable price. This is how I buy my tools because I don't want to be storing cartridges/dies, embossing folders that are not to my taste/style. I would recommend researching to find which cartridge has the fonts/shapes that would be most used by you and purchases them separately.
I have also used the Custom Crop products to re-sticky my mat. So far so good. Check out a video on their website or by Robyn - My Pink Stamper. I am just starting to use my Cricut more so haven't cut up the mat too much.
Good luck on your choice and enjoy using it.
Last edited by Crafter 4 Life; 01-03-2010 at 10:03 AM..
Reason: adding info
Which Cricut?
