So What Exactly is that Thingamajig?

I've had a few people ask me, um, what is a Cricut?  I've been doing this a while and at times forget that there are those of you out there who don't casually use the crafting lingo!  A simple explanation is this - A Cricut is an electronic die cutting machine.  It was invented by a little (okay, not so little anymore) company called ProvoCraft.  Someone got the exciting idea to make an electronic cutter based on commercial vinyl cutting machines.  If you are as old as I am, you probably remember those great cut outs hanging on the wall when you in school, and those huge dies that you put paper on and ran through a hand cranked machine in order to cut those letters or images out.  The Cricut does this electronically.  Instead of huge dies, you buy cartridges loaded with images.

Here is a picture of my baby.

One of the many benefits (besides saving your arm) is that you can manipulate the images - change the size, flip them over, cut out a bunch of one thing at at time, etc.  There are a couple of software programs that work with a Cricut.  The one that I use the most is called a Gypsy.  It is an electronic hand-held design tool.  All of the images from the cartridges I own are loaded onto the Gypsy.  I can design things, save them, and cut them out at my convenience, and I don't have to be leaning over my machine all of the times.

My gypsy is actually back with Provo Craft right now because it's sick and being tended to.  But here is a picture of what it looks like.

 I also use another design software called  Make The Cut which was developed by a third party company.  I absolutely adore this software because it can and does go far and above what any of the Provo Craft products (including the Gypsy) can do.

Anyway, I hope that explanation helps!