Before I break out the Cricut

[WOT?*]

I had an emergency sign-making incident and instead of cutting out by hand I picked up a Cricut mini.  Before I open the thing and start using it, I'm thinking of making a bigger sign for outside for a book drive at the school.  How big can the letters get on a mini, or should I just get an Expressions.  (Before we all start discussing the waste of money or shop around, etc. the Cricut was the only one I was able to find on short notice for which I was able to locate fonts for the signs I need to make - which I haven't made yet, of course.)  I picked up Nate's Fonts and Kate's Fonts and at least one of them claim to enlarge up to 23" or something equally (dys)functional.

I'm not at all crafty but will have to pick up some of this stuff since we're adopting my granddaughter and I want to be all crafty with her.  That and I'm now hyper-involved in the PTA and also leader or co-leader of two Girl Scout (Brownie and Daisy level) troops so I figure I'll get some use out of the darn thing, at least for a while.

Any hints, tips, tell me to return it because it's a waste of money, etc. are appreciated.  Even PIPS of your favorite projects just because this is a craft board and I (and others) like to see all things crafty.


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[TrickyBob]

My Mom had the standard cricut before she upgraded and hers did maybe half of an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper, if I recall correctly.

Honestly, I would open it and just max out the size and see.

[craftymrs]

The 23 inches it is talking about Is on the cricut expression, the cartridges can be used on both machines. I think the mini can only do the 8.5x11. Which is still pretty big but I don't know if it will do what you want. I have an expression and a create I use the expression all the time. I'm on my iPad but my siggy has a link to my blog which is filled with projects.

[cmeon]

11.5" is the tallest dimension (I think it's limited to 8 or 7.5" on the other dimension).

Personally, I hate the company, and the mini has so many bad reviews that I wouldn't want to keep it. It is a very limited machine. I've had an Expression for years now and it's been good to me, but, I don't have to use carts because I got in before the 3rd party apps were sued (and removed the Cricuts from their supported cutters). I would never want to be stuck having to use their expensive (and often fug) designs. I really like the Silhouette and the Zing, if you're interested in looking at better brands.

[theduckis]

Ditto cmeon. I don't recommend the Cricut to anyone. I have a Pazzles, which is a great, basic machine that I highly recommend, though I'm planning to switch to a Silhouette Cameo for mostly superficial reasons (mac support and optical cutting).

If you really prefer the simplicity of the cartridges, I'd go with the Cricut Expression. Everyone I've known who got a smaller one has ended up upgrading fairly quickly, so you save yourself time and money in the long run if you just get the big one now.

[sierramist03]

I love my silhouette and being able to download single images and use free fonts. A friend of mine did a sign 12"x10 feet i believe it was awesome!

[kristin632]

Mar 14, 2013 23:25:09 GMT -5 sierramist03 said:

I love my silhouette and being able to download single images and use free fonts. A friend of mine did a sign 12"x10 feet i believe it was awesome!

I also love the Silhouette. I spent $270 on the machine and with access to free fonts (I have almost 800), any image can be traced (I have a few thousand, including all of my sports teams), its a value that can't be beat and I store everything on a flashdrive