Cricut

Cricut Basics

The Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter is the “latest breakthrough in paper crafting.” This portable machine cuts a variety of materials in several exciting shapes without a computer. Diverse cartridges offer an endless assortment of shapes, letters, and phrases, all carefully created for every occasion. Don’t limit yourself-cut what you want!™

New Cricut owners and seasoned scrappers alike can benefit from all the resources out there helping you get the most from your Cricut machine.
Cricut – How it works, in a nutshell:
The Cricut as a “cartridge-based” system. Each Cricut cartridge is actually a computer memory chip with creative content stored on it. The Cricut looks for a cartridge in order to function. In fact, without the presence of a Cricut cartridge, you can’t even load paper to cut.

ProvoCraft has a software called Cricut Design Studio – It hasn’t been updated in years and the Gypsy really has replaced it… however we’ll give you some info on it here:

Gypsy Handheld desigin

Both the Gypsy and Cricut Design Studio includes an electronic collection of every image found within the Cricut cartridge library. However… They does not let you use creative content that exists on your computer such as fonts & dingbats, shapes, images or your own designs.

Cricut Design Studio in Action

So, what are my options?

Those Cricut cartridges are expensive!!

Unleash the Power of your machine with Make The Cut! Software

Imagine It. Create It. Cut It. It’s That Simple. Make The Cut! allows you to easily cut virtually any shape you can imagine (including TrueType Fonts) using your Cricut™ machine without needing to purchase expensive cartridges.

Make The Cut! Features:

  • WYSIWYG Interface
  • Works with the Cricut™ Expression™, Create™ and Personal™
  • Automated Cricut™ Driver Installation
  • Preview/Use Any SVG
  • Integrated SVG Gallery (Currently over 1000 free projects!)
  • Work on Multiple Projects at a Time
  • Choose From 3 Standard Mat Sizes
  • Use Any Installed Font or Import TTF Files
  • Convert Raster Images to SVG Format
  • Easily Create Lattices
  • Break/Split/Layer Shapes and Edit Them
  • Weld/Join Shapes Together
  • Create custom background shadows from any shape
  • Export Shapes to SVG Format or Personal Library
  • Cut, Copy and Paste Shapes Between Projects
  • And Much, Much More!

Sure Cuts A Lot Software

Your other option is a similar product called Sure Cuts A Lot.

Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) is an easy to use software to cut your True Type fonts, SVG files, images, and various shapes on your CricutTM Machine. No special cartridges required. Works with your installed True Type fonts on your computer. Available for Windows and Macintosh.

“SCAL” lets you customize creative content located on your computer rather than looking to a Cricut cartridge.

What do Sure Cuts A Lot or Make the Cut! mean to you as a Cricut owner?  A lot! Create what you want, how you want, with incredible cost savings.  Sure Cuts A Lot or Make the Cut! let you use thousands of free fonts & dingbats, shapes, clip art, images and even scanned designs.  You only need to own a single cartridge to keep in your Cricut cartridge slot. It can be any cartridge; even the least expensive one. SCAL and MTC simply send cutting instructions to the Cricut using the same open source communication protocols as Cricut Design Studio.

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