Get Acquainted with Cricut

For starters, I am not affiliated with Cricut or Provo Craft.  I just want to highlight a product that I use often in my paper crafting. 

A Cricut is an electronic die-cutting machine.  You buy little cartridges that come with preloaded images and fonts, stick it in the machine and hit the "Cut" button.  Okay, it is a little more complicated than that, but if you want 100 identical circles or a 12 inch flower, this machine can do it.  

The card below was made using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.  To make the card, I selected the image, set the size at 4 3/4", and hit cut.  Next I cut out the black Boo outline, leaves and stem.  For added color and dimension, I embossed a piece of purple paper and added it to the back.  

Finished card size is 4 3/4"x4 3/4"

Cartridges can be pricy, up to $99 a piece.  The newest cutting machines will run anywhere between $200-300.  eBay is a great place to get cartridges.  I rarely pay over $30 for a cartridge.  You don't need many to get started.  I think I only own six cartridges, but between them all, I have a few nice fonts and hundreds of images to choose from.

Overall, a good investment for a paper crafting hobbyist.