My Cricut and I don't mesh...anyone else have this problem?
 

I splurged on a Cricut a couple years ago and I have never been attached to it. It is the last thing I will go to, to use on a project and it just sits! I feel very guilty about it and wonder if I am missing something about the Cricut because I see that alot of people LOVE theirs. I just keep going back to my faithful diecuts and seem to be happy with them. My Cricut now makes titles for school projects and that is about it. If anyone has any suggestions about what I may be missing about the Cricut that would be great or are there people that just like diecutting and others that are Cricut people? Thanks!

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I will sit in the corner with you, how's that? My story is exactly like yours. I finally had to force myself to quit buying cartridges until I start spending some real time using it. I love the concept, I just don't gravitate towards using it for some reason...

I'm with ya sister. My dh got me one two Christmases ago and I barely use it. I find it hard to set up, the words are too tiny for any ahesives I have and the letters are too big for my cards. Wondering what could motivate me to use it more. I love my cuttlebug, though

I never really liked mine much either so I sold it. It was my Christmas present from my family this past Christmas and I only used it a couple times in 3 months so I sold it. I haven't missed it at all. Honestly, I would rather use thickers for scrapbook titles because I like the dimension. I was disappointed that I could never get the cricut to cut even thin chipboard with the deep cut blade. I decided I'd rather go back to buying my chipboard letters since I actually use them. It was easy to sell my cricut and all the cartridges, though. Some people can't live without theirs, but it wasn't for me. I never used it enough to justify the expense. (Luckily, I purchased it during an after Thanksgiving sale so I didn't lose too much money on it selling it recently.)

I forced myself to play with mine and now I love it! It takes a little time to figure out the layers, etc. I go to my Cricut books first and then start my project. I did join some Cricut swaps to force myself to use it, and now I am glad I did!

Do you keep it out and set up or stored away? I don't use mine very often, but when I do pull it out, I love how quick and easy it is. For me, I think if I could get my office cleaned out and find a dedicated spot for my cricut, I would definitely use it a lot more.

I love mine and use it more than I thought i would.
I only have 10 carts, and hoping to get more. Mine is
out and set up all the time. I like how easy it is to move too.
Sometimes i want to be in the dinning room so that i can talk to
my DH when i am working on something. I really want the DS, I know
that it doesn't cost that much, but is it worth having? What are the PRO"s
of having the DS?

Room in the corner for me too? My DH got me one for Christmas, after me telling him I wouldn't want one, wouldn't use it, expensive toy to just sit there... but he saw it as a TOOL, and he's a tool guy so automatically "knew" I didn't mean what I said.

Maybe if I had a place for it and took enough time to learn what to do with it... but I LOVE my cuttlebug too, and punches make me happy. They are just so quick, you know?

I wasn't using mine either for several reasons. And for some reason wound up seeing DS for a good price a while back and decided to give it a shot. I love it! Yes, to me, it is the thing that makes me love my Cricut. I can cut so much more precisely now, make so many more things and even though I have the original, I can make large (almost 12") images if I turn them and stretch them out. I can also place several windows on a piece of card stock exactly where I want them. And I love the markers. I believe I am one of the only people on here that feels that way, but I love to outline the piece I am cutting and then cut it out. It's just so much fun. I am working on rearranging my room so, hopefully, it will soon have a permanent place to sit out and get used even more. Good luck! Jill
PS-I use a lot of my photos on cards with a scalloped background. I have learned how to cut the picture out exactly where I want it cut and then cut a perfect scalloped shape around it. They look so awesome.

Thought you may like to see what I was talking about with the picture and scalloped background. This is a picture from a bird in my garden and the card I made for my mom with the picture.

Yes..I had that problem. I accumulated 36 cartridges several extra packages of mats and blades the nice wheeled storage etc for this. i just didnt like it that much so didnt get it out. Sold the whole lot and got a Slice...this little baby I LOVE. It is much easier to use and I keep it out all the time because the space it takes is so much smaller.
blessings.

At first I was afraid of my Cricut. I was a little intimadated. I finally started finding all the possibilities it has, and now love it. I made a whole Easter display for my window, and all the neighbors ask where to go buy those decorations. I told them I made them, and they want me to make them the same. I have made some really awesome cards, treat bags, all kinds of things, that would have taken me weeks to cut out, when all I have to do is hit a button to cut 10 or 15 things out at one time, while I walk away and do something else. Come back, done. I love my Cuttlebug and big shot for other reasons, and sometimes will use these in conjunction with my Cricut. I wish some of you lived near me, I do little demos of products at the library I work at to show people what they can do with the various "toys" of paper crafting. Alot of times, I get "I didnt' know you could do that" and they are happy to see thier purchase was not wasted.

I HAD to have the Cricut! And then I got it and realized that I don't have a spot where I can keep it set up so I hardly ever use it unless I'm working on a scrapbook (which isn't that often). I mainly make cards and find the Slice is so much more convenient and is always ready. I have used my Cricut for a couple of projects and am not ready to get rid of it yet but the cartridges are so expensive and many times I only want a couple of the images on them. So it sits there unused and unloved. I just wish the cartridges weren't so expensive.

I love my cricut! I keep mine out all the time. I can understand if you don't have a place to leave it out that it would be bothersome to pull it out each time you think about using it. I went through a period that I didn't use it much but have been using it a lot more the past few months. I only have 6 cartridges. My mom just bought a cricut a couple of months ago and has maybe 6 cartridges so we share. I bought SCAL and love it. I made some Easter decorations for my dd to use on her classroom door. She decorated it Friday and said everyone loved it and asked where she bought the decorations.

I'm trying to get back into scrapbooking and can't wait to use my cricut for that. :)

It sounds to me like the original poster would do good with a good teacher to learn all the features of the Cricut.

I have both the Cricut and Expression (they sit side by side in my craft studio) and are in use every day. If you have to take out your machine and plug it in and make space for it, naturally, you are not going to use it very often or at all. That I can understand. It needs to be accessable and ready to use!

I use the Design Studio with mine and can create almost anything! I don't need those extra programs to do my cards and projects.

There are many font cartridges that can be cut small enough to use for cards. Yes, there are some that would be difficult. I use the Zig 2-Way glue pens for letters or the X Xyron machine for adhesive. Works great for me. I also nearly always make a shadow for my letters too.

I can't imagine life with out my Cricut and Expression with the Design Studio!

Patti

I am now loving my Cricut. I use it for everything. If I don't have the right alpha for a layout it comes in handy. I can cut any alpha in any color.

I have the bigger machine so I like that I can create larger shapes and letters with it. My favorite cartridge for card making is Wild Card. I LOVE the different shaped cards you can cut with this one. There is the cutest owl card in it that I LOVE!

I have also found that I use it more now that it sits out. When I had to pull it out for each use I never thought about it. I do still love my nestie's and other punches.

I think it is just one of those things that some people love and some people don't. Personally, mine was out so I could use it anytime. I bought it mainly to do titles for my scrapbook pages, but since it wouldn't cut chipboard I just didn't find myself wanting to use it. I like having the texture and look of chipboard for my titles instead of the flat look of cardstock letters. Yes, I could have layered the cardstock to make them look thicker, but that is too much of a pain. Other people do wonderful things with the machine. It just did not fit my personal style.

I agree with the above poster. Even knowing all of the great things it can do didn't make me love my Cricut. I played around with it, etc. But I didn't LOVE the process of using it. I LOVE my Slice, even though it doesn't do as much as the Cricut. I really enjoy using it, whereas I didn't the Cricut.

I was the same way... Got my Cricut as a gift from my son, bought a couple of the cartridges and etc. The only thing is I had to leave it sitting in the box and didn't have the space for it, and the cartridges are expensive. I sold the whole kit and boodle and bought my Pink Slice. Can't tell ya how much I enjoy it so much for cardmaking and scrapbooking. I love sizes. 1-4 inches and can also do the 1/2 sizes. I love it cause it sits right next to me on my craft table (my kitchen table) and I don't have to clear a lot of space to work with it like I had to do all the time with my Cricut, which I had to pull out of the box and then move a ton of stuff off the table for it to get a work out. I don't scrapbook a ton everyday, but know I can use my slice for any scrapbook lo. I love the slice cards, they are so small and portable and can be kept in their carrier which is cool and small and zip around and tucks nicely in the Slice carrier bag. And it's so portable and not bulky to carry. Best thing since sliced bread in my opinion.
arubberstamper