subject: Cricut's Expression Die Cutting Machine A Good Help For Your Scrapbook Needs [print this page] Scrapbooking is a wonderful creative, artistic and therapeutic craft that allows you to keep all of your memories for your loved ones to cherish, or for yourself to remember for years to come. Your family can have an insight into your life when browsing your scrapbooking albums which can be filled with memories of your life in the form of photographs, memorabilia from holidays and memorable events and other embellishments, presented along with the story.
Scrapbooking is a wonderful therapeutic hobby, that many have taken to a new level, so that each of their pages, becomes a project and challenge to make into a form of artwork, demonstrating their skill and craftiness. One of the best ways to achieve the best quality and unique pages is by cutting titles using a Scrapbooking die cutting machines. They have been a revolution in the scrapbooking world, enabling their uses to cut titles and die cuts from various materials and in every font and shape imaginable.
There are two general types of die cut machines including the electronic version and the manual versions. The Cricut range of cutting machines from Provo Craft, are the most popular and well known in the electronic cutting machine range. Cricut innovated a lot of the electronic machines market by introducing a machine that could cut automatically and also not needing to be attached to a computer.
Of Provocrafts Cricut range, the Cricut Expression is the top of the range of scrapbooking die cutters. With the original Cricut Personal Cutter, you were only able to cut a sheet half of 12x12inches. For scrapbookers with lots to do, this was somewhat of a pain always having to cut or having half sheets of paper around. So to meet the needs of the ever growing market for demanding scrapbookers, Provo Craft introduced the new Expression Die Cutting machine, which can now cut both 12x12 and 12x24 inch sheets.
However, given that the mat size and cutting ability of the Cricut Expression has been double and tripled, the machine size is also a lot larger. This means that it is no longer as portable as its predecessors the Cricut Personal and Cricut Create machines. So it was really designed to be kept in the one room, like a scrapbookers workshop room, or the schools media room.
Just like the first Cricut Machine, the Expression has all the same loved features. It cuts shapes from cartridges, which means no computer connection required. All of the Cricut cartridge range, also works across the whole Cricut Machine range, so there are no worries with compatibility and there are sooo many designs to choose from. And of course its main feature is that it can cut varying sizes automatically of any of the shapes and fonts on the cartridges.
Given that the Expression has the same basic design and functionality as the original, it also has its annoying sticky mat. However after having reviewed some of the other die cutting machines, like the Making Memories SLICE, I see that this is a slight advantage, as the Making Memories SLICE has to be babysat while cutting, as it doesn't have this sticky sheet.
One day, we are all hoping that the makers of Cricut, or perhaps a competitor!! Will design a machine that has the ability to cut sheets without a sticky mat and without having to babysat. It is a real shame that some of the most delicate papers, which would make wonderful cut outs, arent able to be used with the sticky mat, as they will just get destroyed.
The Cricut Expression, being the best in its class, also has a nice price tag to go with it. However if you are a scrapbooker with lots of projects on the go, or run classes with friends, or you have just been saving to buy the best, then you can not go wrong with a Cricut Expression Die Cutting Machine. Feature wise and quality wise, there isnt much that compares on the market right now.
