Do I Need a Diecutter?

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach!

This is the first post in what will be a three part series about die cutters, both electronic and manual. I hope you don't get too bored with my musings!

For about six months now, I have been contemplating getting a die cutter. The way I see it, I have four options:

1. Get an electronic “die” cutter.
2. Get a manual die cutter.
3. Get both an electronic AND a manual die cutter.
4. Do nothing.

So far I have been doing an awesome job with Option Four! But I have decided I want to stop thinking about die cutters and make a decision already so I can start to budget for one {if I decide to get one} OR decide not to get one so I can stop rehashing this issue at least once a month until I drive myself completely insane and get woken up at 3:00 a.m. by my husband who is begging me to stop screaming "Quickutz" because I am having a nightmare about cookie cutter dies.

So, setting my rapidly diminishing mental stability aside for the moment, I’ll break out the pros and cons of the four choices above as I see them. Maybe I can finally make a decision about this issue!

Option One: Get an electronic “die” cutter.
An electronic cutter certainly provides more flexibility and images for less money than a manual die cutter. There's just not question about that. However, electronic cutters are not without their own issues. I know them well, for I once owned a Cricut Script which I hated with the fire of a thousand suns.

{Okay, so that may be a slight exaggeration. But I did find the machine so frustrating that I hardly ever used it & eventually gave it away to someone who actually wanted one. I know they get a great deal of use from it, and that makes me happy.}

My problems with the Cricut Script included: paper tearing {I could never seem to get the blade set right}, the mats {either too sticky or not sticky enough}, limited fonts {I didn’t love any of the fonts/images on the cartridges out at the time}, and more. I now know that all these problems have solutions. There are plenty of Cricut message boards with “cheat sheets” for blade depth and cutting speed. There are ways to make the mats more or less sticky. And there are Cricut Design Studio and Sure Cuts A Lot {SCAL} to weld images for continuous titles, as well as open up a wide variety of fonts already stored on my computer.

{I know that most of my problems with the Cricut were pretty much my own fault. I just didn’t care enough about the machine to find all this out at the time. Which makes me wonder if I care enough now to utilize all the resources available to the owners of my hypothetical electronic cutting machine?}

Anyway, moving on: let’s assume that I have decided to buy an electronic cutter. The next question is, which one would I purchase? There are so many. In my recent research into the land of electronic cutters, it seems to me as though the Cricut Expression + Sure Cuts A Lot {SCAL} is king. It cuts images as large as I could want {up to 12”x24”} which would enable me to make my own “diecut” 12”x12” paper and borders {you know how I love my diecut paper and scalloped borders}. The addition of SCAL to the Cricut, while voiding the warranty, would allow me to cut any TTF {true type font} on my computer as well as any I download going forward. It will also allow me to cut any SVG files as well. These are all very good things that open up a ton of possibilities. And, of course, there are always the cartridges if any catch my eye. I could even make my own "chipboard" letters by cutting multiples of a letter and layering them like I did in my Easter Eggs videos ~ only not by hand!

But it’s … pricey. Even if I could find an amazing deal on this machine, it would still be a large investment. Then there's the added expense of the software, cartridges, etc. And I had a Cricut before and really didn’t like it. I’m better educated now about the available features and programs, but would I really take advantage of them? I can’t be sure. Plus, there’s the time factor. It seems to me like it takes more time to design and program an image for an electronic cutter than it does to run a die through a manual cutter. I already spend enough time on the computer as it is between photo and video editing and whatever else. It just seems so much easier just to put some American Crafts Thickers on the layout and call it a day {I love Thickers!}.

In many ways, the simplicity of a manual die cutter is much more appealing at this point. Maybe I need to look more closely at the manual cutters and forget about the electronic cutters. Or maybe my problem is that I am lazy...?

Kathryn
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