Cricut - would it be useful?

[CardboardLady]

Looking for advice from Cricut users about whether one would be suitable for my purpose.

I make birthday cards for my children as a very amateur hobby. They are "collage" I guess - I currently use scissors to hand cut various shapes out of card and then assemble them to make the design.

I'd like to start doing more of them (for friends and family/friend's children) and speed the process up a bit. And I'd quite like to start doing Christmas/Easter, etc. cards too.

Anyway they're reasonably time-consuming to make so if I do start to make more I really need a quicker way to cut the parts out. What I'm wondering specifically about Cricut is - if I make a design by hand once, would I be able to scan the individual bits in and then get the Cricut to cut the shapes next time (not sure I'm explaining myself very well!)?

Attached are a few examples so people can see the sort/range of shapes I'm talking about (excuse the grey bits - I've edited out names).

Thanks!

Omg I loooove the ice cream sundae!!!

Cricut would be perfect for this. You can make a few designs and then hit print to get it to cut it out many times.

You need to get your design into their slightly fiddly software- the laptop version is much better than the iPad version.

Be aware that as well as the machine you need cutting mats and blades so it can get expensive. But the quality is beautiful.

I have a cricut.
The problem I have is finding images good enough to use, you can’t use just anything otherwise it cuts it out all scruffy.
From the cards you have, the robot would be easy and the unicorn very difficult.
There are basic shapes on the system to use. There are also card projects on the software you can use (only some are free, unless you pay the subscription).
I love mine. I don’t make cards that often but they are great for making individual ones. I find the more you use it the better you get. It’s definitely a system you need to use to learn.

@Teatime55 and @parietal that's helpful, thank you for replying.

I think I need to look into this more to see how easy it would be to translate my designs into cuttable shapes. I won't be purchasing one any time soon anyway as I'll need to save up, so I can do a bit more research into the software.

@RoaRoaRasputin thank you. That's one of my more recent ones and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

If you can make your own SVG files you don't have to use other peoples.

Cricut would be very good for making the sort of cards you are making.

Have a look at Jennifer Maker on YouTube she has thousands of free svg files and does some great videos.

it is possible to make images in powerpoint and then import them into the Cricut software. a bit fiddly but it gives you good control of exactly what you are doing and you don't have to rely on other people's SVG files.

I would say that Cricut design space is absolutely shit for creating your own designs if you aren't using ready made SVG images to make them. I have amended stuff and neatened up the "rough edges" but it is really fiddly and time consuming. Great if you are planning to make multiples of the same designs but possibly no quicker than scissors if it's a one off.

that said , I love my Cricut 😂