A scrapbooking queen should probably have the expression and a gypsy. I went quickly from the 6 inch machine to adding Design Studio and jukeboxes, and wish I had gone straight for the "E" from the beginning. I resisted the gypsy for awhile because of the expense and the overall system does have some annoying things about it -- it's not intuitive. Read up on the machines and see what they can do by browsing the message boards at cricut.com -- I just showed my DD some of what the gypsy can do and she was pretty much blown away. There is a learning curve with it -- but it's lots of fun. It allows you to combine different sizes, different colors, images from any cartridges that you own all on one mat (one piece of paper, or various scraps) and cut out lots of stuff at once. It takes over the "E" (or smaller bug) and controls everything, so your cartridges and keyboard overlays will be put away. Makes layering much easier, etc. You can use it on airplanes, while waiting for appts, or waiting to pick up a kid after school, etc. and prepare several mats worth of stuff to cut out when you're ready for a session. Getting into the cricut system ends up being a huge monetary investment, but it adds a lot of fun and utility for cardmakers and scrappers.
I haven't used SCAL -- it also has lots of fans, and certainly is a lot less expensive over time. DD was employed at a craft store and we were able to use her employee discount on cricut items on the rare occasions they went on sale, or I wouldn't have gotten into it in the first place.
There are also lots of videos on
YouTube showing how to do things with the Gypsy that are very helpful. Just do a search there.
She's very excited to be an upperclassman this year!
kind of sad.
the Pink Expression that is sold at Michaels and I'm really hoping that I've dropped enough hints to my DH that he'll get it for me 
