I purchased my Cricut yesterday at a discount store and everything works like it’s supposed to except that the blade isn’t even touching the paper to cut it. I have set the blade depth to 6, the speed to med. and the other to high and still it doesn’t touch to paper. I have it in the blade housing holder correctly, I have checked the blade and it’s sharp, etc; I’ve done all I know to do. I can’t contact Cricut until Monday and that makes me mad b/c I have so much I want to be doing now. If I put just a bit of pressure on the blade housing holder while it’s cutting then it cuts. It makes it go down just a bit so that it touches the paper. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have no idea what the problem is.
I know I have the blade housing in right. I’m not super familiar w/ a Cricut, but I’m pretty familiar with the machine from using my sis n laws. I’ll check out the link on Youtube and I’ve checked the forums on cricut.com but can’t figure out how to post a new topic.
swrprncss thanks! I have the blade housing in correctly. I know that it can be placed too high, but it’s not. I’ve checked and then double checked. I don’t think I bought a refurbished one. It had a warranty and I registered it. If it were refurbished wouldn’t it have been registered all ready? I’m finally on the message boards!

Wish I could see a pic of the blade housing in the Cricut. When I first installed my new one (I got another one after having one for a few years) I wasn’t thinking and installed it too high.

Also there have been a lot of people making blade housings for special blades that Provo Craft doesn’t make or endorse so you might have one of those.

Or it might be a faulty refurbished unit.

Right now those are the only reasons I can think of without actually seeing it.

To post on the Cricut message boards you need to create an account and log in first. You can not post on the boards until you’ve created an account (and logged in). Then at the top on the right hand side in a blue box is "New Topic" press that and a box to type in is shown. Type what you want, select preview, if it’s ok then select post. HTH

what great ideas can you share with me for using it?

I recently purchased a cricut expression and love it. I have never owned a cricut before and I was amazed how easy it is. I haven’t even watched the free dvd it comes with and I am having great success. One quick tip about the cricut expression is that is cuts through some fabrics and vinyl. So my mom and I are planning on cutting out letters and embroidering them to shirts ect… If you go to www.cricut.com there are great tips. Also on this web site you can register your cricut machine and cartridges so that they can be under warranty. If you sign up to receive the official cricut chirps email newsletter you can get 20% off your purchases on their web sight. Another tip is that my local scrapbooking store (Scrappin’ & Stickin’ in Alma, Mi) rents out cartridges for $5.00 a week. That way you don’t have to buy a cartridge and find out you don’t like it. So check out your local store, they may do the same. By the way all cricut cartridges fit the cricut expression. One last thing, there is a program out for the expression that you have to download to your computer. This programs lets you design a whole page and then links it to your cricut to be cut out. Feel free to ask anymore questions. Happy Cricuting

My mother loves to bake and scrapbook, and she’s always doing stuff around the house. Her fashion sense is amazingly up-to-date and she has so much stuff already I don’t know what to get her!! She already has a cricut and loads of baking stuff.

If your mother loves to listen to music while baking, get her an iPod. I’m getting my mother an iPod Nano.

I have seen the simple craft ideas thing on tv. It gives you all the Special offer but the end payment is 350 dollars. I found a price of 254 on the walmart website but i dont know if its the same size or whatever. please help me

No matter where you get your Expression they are all the same size and do the same things. The only difference is that some come with a cartridge and some don’t. When they come from the manufacturer they all come with one to three cartridges but each retailer might do something different. Some leave them as is, some take out one or both cartridges and sells the machine cheaper. Some take out the cartridges that come with the machine and let you pick out a different one you might want to go with it.

So basically all Cricut Expression machines are the same size and do the same thing. Some retailers just give extras which is why there is a price difference.

Ive got a new laptop and my cricut design studio wont work because I have had the design studio on a old laptop that is now broken and its say ‘this serial number is registered to another machine’ does anyone have an idea of how to get it working would be a big help?!!?? THANKS!!!!

Call Provo Craft and explain the situation. They will give you a new number to activate the software on your new machine. You might be on hold a long time if you call. Some people have had better luck with an email.

Cricut® support hours

Monday – Friday 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (MST)

Cricut® support: 801-932-1144

service phone: 877-7CRICUT

email : support@Cricut.com

I love scrapbooking and I always see those die cutters and I just recently saw the Cricut electronic cutter. The problem is, I have no idea what you are able to do with them, any scrapbookers out there use these machines?

With this machine, you uy cartridges that have fonts and images.

you can use scrap booking paper to cut shapes or you can use vinyl to make decal like you see on the back of cars. The vinyl can be used for many things like wall words, window decoration, school projects.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190254885694

For a few years now I’ve been amazed by the Cricut infomercials. I’m a creative person and love a lot of the ideas that the advertisement shows.

I’ve been toying with getting one for myself but don’t want to have buyers remorse over it. Today, Black Friday shopping, I found two stores that had the Expressions for $150-$185. They by no means were flying off the shelves but from what I’ve researched seem like a reasonable deal?

My question (to those who own this product) is it worth the money? I’m not much into scrap booking. I’d like to get into but that’s not my main focus. I’m looking to make my own holiday cards, create some framed pictures, maybe make wall decor, label things around the house, make gift tags, etc. My fear is I’ll buy the product and the expense will keep snowballing. I’ve looked into the cartridges. Though they are cute I just want basic shapes and lettering. Do I need to keep buying mats, tools, special papers, etc? Is it easy and addicting or time consuming and painful? Do tell!

i don’t do scrapbooking either, i mostly enjoy getting precision letters for signs and cutting vinyl. specialty papers and cricut-friendly vinyl can be found for cheap on various craft and scrapbooking specialty sites. i bought some seasonal paper pads for $3-9 on joanns.com recently.

i’ve heard a lot of people complain about the price of the cartridges especially for font cartridges. i downloaded a program for about $50 called sure-cuts-alot that turns any truetype font on your computer into what amounts to a font cartridge. i haven’t tried it yet, but it seems pretty simple from the few times i’ve opened the program to check it out. you can also download shape packs for $5-10 via a partner of the sure-cuts-alot site. these effectively replace the $20-80 cartridges that are made exclusively for cricut.

with some savvy shopping, aside from the original cost of the machine, owning and operating a cricut doesn’t have to drain your bank account.

I recently bought a cricut machine. I put the blade in, and started to cut. The thing is, is it isn’t cutting as well as I thought it would. It does fine with scrapbook pages (if I put it on the highest blade pressure), but it won’t cut anything else all the way through. I always end of having to cut them out by hand. Any ideas why the machine is doing this?

I experienced that same thing when I first got my machine. You may have your blade pushed to high in, or not tight enough thus making it move and not cut. Try checking to make sure the blade is in position correctly, try to cut, and then try to adjust your tension. I hope this works for you. I know how frustrating it was when it happened to me. Good Luck!

How much did you pay for it and where did you get it? I was looking at the infomercial and thought about buying from there. It costs a little more, but you get many things free with it, like an extra cartridge, vinyl paper, how to videos, idea videos, and etc. which would make the little bit extra in price worth it.

$289.97
Cricut Expression Electronic Die Cut Machine
Includes: Plantin School Book Font Cartridge.
Includes One 12×12 cutting mat
Mix and match creative features in the same cut
24" Personal Electronic Cutter
Cut portrait or landscape
Fits Mat sizes 12" x 12" and 12" x 24"
Cuts characters from 0.25" to 23.5"
Six new modes
Several new functions
Use the entire library of existing Cricut cartridges
No computer necessary
New LCD screen that shows exactly what you’re typing for your next cut
Includes User manual
A handle for convenient transportation.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8586070&sourceid=1500000000000003260370&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=8586070

The only hard part is you need to make sure the paper is stuck firmly on the cutting mat or it will slide around. You also need to make sure to have the cutting depth set correctly or it won’t cut completely through.
I LOVE it!

My girlfriend has a Cricut and is looking for a website that would have good ideas and tips. Is there a site that is head and shoulders above the rest?

I guess it depends what your girlfriend wants to create with the cricut machine.

The Provocraft site is a good place to start. It actually has a Cricut site and forum here:

http://www.cricut.com/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

There are heaps of videos about how to use the Cricut too:

http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=D5V&q=cricut&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=1b5VSqidEoGkswP3m530AQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=8#