A while back I received a Cricut machine as a gift. It looks like this :
Basically, its a machine that cuts paper based on cartridges that you buy. For instance, you get the animal cartridge, you can cut out animals. These cartridges aren't cheap ($20-$60), so I try to get them when people give me gift certificates to Michael's. The more shapes it cuts, the more it costs.
I'm not great at using the cricut because I don't have the patience to wait to cut out tons of layers, nor do I want to waste lots of paper to make one tiny piece a different color.
That being said, I really like the Cricut, and I use it a lot. I make cards with it all the time, and little embellishments for gifts. I even bought a cartridge that gives you the pieces to make great 3D flowers. It is really easy to use, too. You stick in the cartridge, and the keypad (each cartridge comes with a different keypad), punch in what you want to cut out, slide in the paper, and the machine does the rest!
Here is the front of a card I made this weekend using the "Create A Critter" cartridge. See what I mean about the lack of colors...
