Just when you thought ProvoCraft was done, they unleash the Cricut Imagine…
Why invent the Cricut Imagine when the Expression works fine? It’s what most companies who are on the move tend to do: they’re trailblazers, leaving a pack of followers behind. They create industry trends and listen to their customers, and improve their product line.
The Cricut Expression was and remains a fantastic tool for the arts and crafts industry. But the Cricut Imagine cutting machine opens up unheard of avenues of creativity. Reading this, you may be ready to moan, since you own tons of cartridges for the Expression, right? Maybe you’re wondering if your old Cricut blades and such will work…
Which tools will still continue to work in from the Expression and the new Imagine models? And if you don’t own a Cricut product yet, which model should you get? Before getting to those questions, let’s look at the first thing first.
What is the Cricut Imagine, anyway?
If you’re not a Cricut Circle memeber yet, you may have entirely missed the announcement. The Cricut Imagine is the latest in the line of ProvoCraft’s Cricut line of “die cutters” that cut paper and other media – for scrapbooks, creating cards, home decor, office and school decoration, gift making…
Legions of mothers, teachers, happy scrapbookers, stampers and those creating signs have caught the design bug, and interestingly it’s a Cricut! On former models of the Cricut cutting machines, you would need to have your paper in the colors of your choosing.
For example, if you had a design that involved pastel blue colors for a baby shower, and then had some pink bow shapes cut out, and then added in a white crib silhouette in the background, you would need three different stocks of paper on hand. You would also need to cut the letters individually and layer everything by hand.
This is where the Cricut Imagine makes your life so much easier!
What Does the Cricut Imagine Do?
Here are some of the functions of Cricut Imagine machine:
- Creates Multi-Colored, Layered Designs In One Cut
- Give YOU Total Control Over Patterns, Layers, Specific Design Elements
- Allows You To Easily Create Professional-Grade Crafts Right From Home
- Puts All the Design Control At Your Fingertips – With a New Touch Screen
- No More Wheel Adjustments Needed
- Uses White Paper But Hewlett-Packard Inkjet Printing Technology
- Prints and Cuts Complex Designs
- Features Artist Suggested Patterns and Colors For Professional Crafts!
Put Down The Scissors And Pick Up The Cricut Imagine!
What are some advantages of using the Cricut Imagine machine?
The advantages are obvious with the Cricut Imagine, especially when you see it in action.
Full Design Control
The Cricut Imagine, unlike any other available machine at this time, allows you full control over your images. If you want to use a cute filigree but don’t like the color, you can change it, or change the size. The other benefit of the Cricut Imagine is that you have full control over the individual image elements.
If you have an image where you love all but one design feature – it just has to go! – normally you would be left trying to manually replace the image by cutting it out and gluing something in its place (so long as the size was just right) or you had to just settle for what you didn’t want, or use another image altogether.
The situation has completely changed with the Cricut Imagine cutting machine! See, all you have to do is edit the image. Don’t worry, it’s all built-in to the machine, all you need to do is use the easy touch screen and select the image you want. Then you can edit either the entire image (flip it, re-size it, change colors) OR you can edit every layer, every element in the picture!
Not to state the obvious pun – but can’t you just imagine the possibilities? What does this mean for you?
The Cricut Imagine Saves Paper
This machine will save you on paper costs big-time: no more keeping reams of paper stashed away! Since the Cricut Imagine has teamed up with the leading inkjet manufacturer in the industry: Hewlett-Packard, you don’t have to buy 50 different colors of paper.
The Cricut Imagine Saves Space
Not only does the Cricut Imagine save paper costs, it saves space in your home since you don’t need to store all your favorite colors of paper! As you look around your garage or arts and crafts room, you can probably see the benefits of having more space open up if you’re like most.
Professional Help
A great benefit of the new Cricut Imagine machine is that you will have the benefit of a professional designer with the cartridges. In every cartridge (the art cartridges as well as the new pattern cartridges), you will have a choice of colors to choose from for every design element.
But what if color coordination isn’t your strong point? If you want to have a professional designer come help you, that’s what you get with the pre-loaded color selection in every cartridge. ProvoCraft hired a team of artists to ensure you get the best selection with the designs selected – or you can just go off the map and choose whatever colors you please!
The Cricut Imagine is Simple To Use – No PC or Mac Needed!
One of the most overlooked features for those new to the Cricut experience is the benefit of not needing a computer to use the Cricut Imagine. Without a doubt, this increases the portability and the overall ease of use – no more long, complicated tutorials, and you don’t need to worry if the Imagine is PC or Mac based when you don’t need the computer.
All you need is your library of existing Expression cartridges – or you can buy the new Imagine cartridges – and simply plug it in, edit your image, and load your paper. Simplicity at its best, to say the least!
Compatible With Gypsy
Since this is a Cricut Imagine review and not a Gypsy review, suffice it to say that for those of you who are planning or who do own the Gypsy, you will have no problem with cross-compatibility, ProvoCraft has made it clear that both machines will be able to ‘talk to each other’ and even play nice.
The Cricut Imagine Machine: Art Design Simplified
So you can see that the Cricut Imagine has a nuber of benefits for you, a number of reasons that it will become the new “must-have” item for the dedicated scrapbooker, card maker, teacher and gift-giver. If you run any sort of home-based business around arts and crafts, I’m sure your wheels are turning with the possibilities! But…
Which tools will still continue to work in from the Expression and the new Cricut Imagine models?
Answer:
All of them. . .mostly.
Cutting Mats:
There isn’t 100% compatibility with the mats, for instance. If you are planning to upgrade to the new Cricut Imagine machine, you’ll need to purchase new mats as well. However, the NEW Cricut Imagine mats will work in former models, and they are 12 x 12 in size.
That’s good news, believe it or not – and I’ll tell you why. It’s because the Cricut Imagine is self-aligning. There are black lines around the Cricut Imagine cutting mats, these help the computer to align the inkjets as well as the cutting blade for excellent results. There’s no need to align your images just perfectly – the machine will take of that for you!
Cartridges:
Thankfully – breathe a sigh of relief, Cricut fans! – the former cartridges will work in the Imagine! Of course that’s good new for the existing customers, but think of this: you can save more money if you buy the Expression cartridges on sale. Food for thought, not like you hadn’t thought of it already!
Blades:
Oh, yes! The blades are interchangeable, perfectly compatible between the two machines.
Become a Professional Designer With The Cricut Imagine!
What Comes With The Cricut Imagine?
The Cricut Imagine comes with a 12 x 12 inch mat, and the cutting mat is improved with not only the self-aligning registry marks, but is also using a better adhesive that won’t peel off as may be the case with other models in the Cricut line.
It will also be packaged with a proprietary “Imagine More” cartridge, with new designs and professional-looking patterns and art (which you can easily manipulate to suit your colors, size and theme). Included will also be the HP color inkjet cartridge, as well as a black and white cartridge.
What does it cost?
The cost of the machine, like anything at launch (this will launch about mid-to-late September of 2010) will be a little steeper than other machines in the Cricut line, and the M.S.R.P. is $599.99. The suggested cost for the inkjet cartridges will be $34.99 for black and white, and $39.99 for color. The cartridges will be around $89.95 for the new Cricut Imagine cartridges.
Remember there are going to be the “art” cartridges which come loaded with features and patterns, but there will also be “color” and “pattern” cartridges.
This is a unique feature of the Cricut Imagine machine, that opens up the doors for your imagination (hence the name!): you won’t be limited to only what-you-see-is-what-you-get, you can add different colors and patterns with the new line of cartridges.
Why Buy the Cricut Imagine When I Have Expression?
Great question! The answer is simple – you will save time and money, cut less paper and waste less paper, and not be limited to the images in the cartridge images on hand. In other words, if you find yourself spending a lot of time on your Expression in planning your design, making sure you get the layers all just perfect and wasting a lot of expensive paper (or simply buying a lot more paper than you’ll ever use!), you will want the Cricut Imagine as soon as possible.
Think of the ability to plan your projects using a professional-grade image editor, with all of the best colors, art direction from professional artists (without the expense of actually hiring one? Score!), and easily being able to separate all of your image elements (including the background or border) to either tweak them or get rid of them altogether…this machine brings a lot of creative power to your fingertips.
Needless to say, if you are new to Cricut and want to simply buy the best machine to cut your paper and print cute designs, buying the Cricut Imagine would be the better investment in the long-term. You might as well start off with the best in the industry, second to none. Why limit your imagination when you can unleash your creativity at the push of a few buttons?
