Cricut Questions.

[daughtersrus]

The kind ladies on the Budget board suggested this board.

I know NOTHING about Cricut machines so I need some help from the experts.

My DD will be celebrating her 21st birthday on Sunday. She is currently a special education major and loves to scrapbook. She also works at Joann. She's home from school now and yesterday was her first day back at this store. She came home all excited because she realized that they have the Cricut Expressions on sale for $299.00 (the store at school is a small store so they don't sell them). Today is double discount day for employees so it would bring the price down about $210.00.

Personally, I had my heart set on getting her something from Tiffany that she could remember her special birthday but she's been hinting about this machine.

Part of me says get her what she wants, then the other part says that she can use the demo machine at work any time she wants so I should get her the necklace.

As scrapbookers, I'm sure that you'll side with DD.

So, now the questions. Is the Expression worth $209 or should I get her the small one at Wal-Mart for $119?

If I get one, will she be able to use it right away or will she need something else? She has a TON of paper but I don't know if that will work.

What are the best cartridges (she's not a obsessed with Disney) that would work for general pages or boards when she's teaching?

I only have a few hours to decide but I'm open to any and all suggestions and opinions.

Thanks!

 

[ddavis860]

Nope, speaking as a scrapbooker, craft teacher, daughter...I'd want the jewelry. There will always be a new and better machine coming down the road, but that special piece of jewelry will last her lifetime, and can be handed down. Just my opinion...

HOWEVER... Christmas coming, and a Cricut Expressions at that great price would make an EXCELLENT gift! She will be able to use it for her classroom, along with scrapbooking/cardmaking. Yes, she can use it right out of the box, and then there are lots of cartridges that she can collect. Great stocking stuffers are tool kit, replacement mats...

 

[vanyel]

I'd rather have the machine And at that price, wow!

What do you think she'd rather have? What does your heart say? If you put aside the fact that you want to buy the jewelry, do you think she'd want the jewelry or the cricut?

Either way, I would think she'd be happy.

 

[hopemax]

I'd rather have the machine. The only piece of jewelry I wear regularly is my wedding band (I need to get my engagement ring resized.) I have a few pieces of nice jewelry that get worn once a year if I am lucky. I inherited a beautiful diamond ring from my Grandma 9 years ago and it has never been worn. Is your daughter a jewelry person or would it end up sitting in a jewelry box?

$209 for the Expression would be excellent, and I would definitely get the larger machine over the small one. It would be a lot more versatile for classroom use. And once your daughter finishes school, is she really going to keep her Joann's job and have a demo machine to use whenever she needs it?

 

[LindaBabe]

If it was me, i'd MUCH rather have the machine. I almost never wear jewelry but I love to scrap, love tools and that one is terrific and at a wonderful price.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I'd say get her the Expression - without ANY hesitation!!!

She's already hinted she wants it, and she will get so much more use out of it than jewelry. I always try to remember - give them the gift they want, not the gift you want to give them.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking she'll be happy using the demo one at work whenever she wants. It is not at all the same. You have to be at home with it, making your layout, before you know what you want to cut and what paper you want to use. Then you will sometimes get it wrong (shape, size, color...) and have to re-cut!

If she's got her heart set on the expression, she's going to be disappointed with the little Cricut - believe me! $209 is a fantastic price for the EXP and there are a LOT more things that can be done with the EXP that can't be done with the little bug (MUCH MORE than just making bigger cuts!).

Plus now they have released software for both machines, and the creations you can make with the EXP are really wonderful!!!

So it if were me, and I thought I might be getting an EXP, but I got jewelry instead, I'd be a little disappointed, but then, I don't wear any jewelry except for my wedding ring.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

oh, and she will be able to use it out of the box. it comes with cartridges, a blade, and a cutting mat already, all she needs is paper!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

What did you end up getting her??

 

[daughtersrus]

What did you end up getting her??

I ended up getting her the Cricut Expressions at Joann. Since she was working Friday, I went to a different store. I didn't want her to see or hear that I was in the store buying it. I'm not sure if they all come with two cartridges but this one had the Accent Essentials and Plantin School Book cartridges. I paid $209 + tax.

Instead of wrapping the box, I cut out the picture from the ad and wrapped it in a small jewelry box. I really wanted to surprise her and I knew that if she saw the size of the box, she would have known what it was before opening it.

She was very happy and was using it yesterday and again this morning before she went to work. I think that she made 6 pages with pictures from the Country Thunder concert last summer.

Now, she's looking at the sale cartridges that I found in a different thread here.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

 

[Kim1964]

Good job! I've been following this thread but found it too late to post an opinion. I'm glad she's happy.....and what a great price! I think that's the best price I've seen for the Expression.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

very cool! I like the way you presented it to her - I bet she was really surprised!

Accent Essentials is one of my favorite cartridges - I bet she has fun with it!

 

[moikturtle]

I'm excited to hear that you got her one! I too am a Special Education major, and recently purchased the smaller one (on black friday) to use in my classroom (scrapbooking was only a secondary use for me, really). I can't afford the bigger at this point, but I definitely wish I had that one instead, since it cuts MUCH larger and can be used more for bulletin boards.

The cartridges I have so far are George/Basic Shapes (which came with the small one), Keystone (came with the small one), ZooBalloo, and Making the Grade. ZooBalloo has me excited because I plan on eventually purchasing Animal Kingdom as well. Between those two cartridges I will have a plethora of animals to use in any lessons pertaining to animals, PLUS I will have all of the animals that are used in the ZooPhonics program (which is very popular in special education classrooms), so I can make my own cool materials and activities as supplements. One of the creative features the ZooBalloo cartridge has is to make "cards" with the letters or images inside a window. I plan on using that to come up with some sort of activity...perhaps an open and reveal type thing. Making the grade is cute, and includes some things I would like to use like a school house. It's more font-centric, but the creative features have where you can put letters/numbers/images on apples, awards, tiles, or lockers. I'm thinking this will be a nice way to make quick little award type stuff for the students, and the apples can be used on bulletin boards easily.

Cartridges that I haven't gotten, but are on my wishlist include:

Doodlecharms - thus far, this seems to be the main cartridge that has stuff from each holiday. They can be used for holiday bulletin boards, activities, and I'm thinking even for calendar days, with different ones for each month.

Learning Curve - has some things that can be used within the classroom. The train creative feature, where you can put letters inside looks useful for spelling activities or even to use as an alphabet border around the room

Cursive 101 - similar to learning curve, in that it has some stuff that would be useful in class. The font might not be very useful in a special ed. class though, depending on their level, since the students may have more difficulty with cursive writing.

Printing 101 - pretty similar to Cursive 101...I might opt for this one first though.

There are several different word builder cartridges, which would be used for bulletin boards and activities pertaining to phonics/spelling. They're pretty cute.

And, the three that I want most of all...

50 States - This cartridge includes each state, the state birds, the state flowers, the state names, and the state flags. I plan on implementing a program in my classroom where each week is devoted to a different state as the theme, and then Friday the class does a cooking project for a food from that state (which teaches life skills). I had a friend who used to do this, and it worked fantastically. I think this cartridge will be a wonderful resource for doing this.

My World - This one is very social studies based. There are items from various countries and throughout history. This can be used a TON for any social studies curriculum. Once my friend got through all fifty states, she moved on to different countries each week. This cartridge would be useful for something like that.

My Community - Special Education is very, very life skills and community based. This cartridge includes different buildings you'd find in town, different community workers, types of transportation you would see, characters from nursery rhymes/fairy tales, and some useful items for the classroom and school schedules. It also has a feature to make a six piece puzzle. I honestly think this is perhaps the cartridge that would get the most use in a special education classroom.

I hope that this information might be helpful for you and your daughter. And I wish her good luck with her career. Special Education is a GREAT field to work in.

 

[LindaBabe]

Your presentation was perfect! SO glad you decided to get her what she wanted!