Do you love to maintain your own scrapbook? Or are you too creative and always end up adding beautiful designs on your projects? All these are very lovely and welcome habits, and there are ways to make these cute habits of yours grow more potent. You do not need to bear a load of all the troublesome part on yourself anymore. Yeah, you heard that right. There are ways to make the messy part less hectic, and that is where Cricut comes to your aid. Brought to you by Provo Craft & Novelty, Cricut is a broad range of die-cutting machines usable at your residence that can help you out with all your interesting habits.

The Cricut machines are so designed that they can cut through paper, felt and vinyl. Among other products that can be cut are fabric and fondant and variousothers as well. There are also many die cutters available in the market, but the versatility and ease of use of Cricut make it a far more desired product than many others.

Cricut Models
Now let us walk through the various Cricut models and learn what each of the products is capable of achieving. You need to get accustomed to the various Cricut models and cartridges they use before you can choose the right one for yourself. The cutters operate based on the cutting parameters that you have fed into the machine and you can think of it as quite analogous to a desktop printer. The four well-known models are the Cricut (original), the Cricut Expression, and then there is the Cricut Expression 2 and the Cricut Mini for you.

Cricut Original – A 6″ x 12″ Cutting Mat is lodged in the original Cricut and can make images that are in the range of 1″ to about 5 1/2″ tall. The best part about the original Cricut is that it is compatible with all the available Cricut cartridges, though it is not as powerful as the new models. It lacks the ability to cut the various types of materials its other younger siblings can. This machine makes a Deep Cut Blade and Housing that will allow its’ owners to cut through material that is 1.55 mm thick and therefore,magnet, chipboard, and other stamp materials can be cut. Also, it supports the Cricut Design Craft Room software.

Cricut Expression – It has some advantages over the original. The first among which is that it allows to cut shapes in the range of 1/4″ to 23 1/2″ and has a 12″ x 12″ cutting mat, with adjustable slides. It can also cut a wider range of materials that would include vellum and thin foils. The lovely thing is that it features an LCD screen that allows seeing a preview of the work, and has features like Quantity and Auto-Fill. The machine has a paper saver mode and allows choosing between portrait and a landscape orientation. It includes two cartridges, the PlantinSchoolBook and the Accent Essentials.

Cricut Expression 2 – This version has an updated exterior compared to its predecessor. It has the same 12″ x 12″ cutting mat. The designers have made it lose the conventional keyboard and has a new touch LCD screen in its place. The keyboard is displayed on the screen and allows proper placement of the images. It has an added feature that allows you to perform independent sizing and rotation.

Cricut Mini – As the name suggests, it is a mini cutting machine and works only with a computer, with the help of the Cricut Craft Room Design software. Some 500 images are automatically available as soon as the software is installed. The machine allows usage of all available cartridges, except the Cricut Imagine cartridges. It cuts images in the range of 1/4″ to 11 1/2″.