ACOT Message Board

I currently have a Cricut Expressions. I use it a lot for alphas and am just starting to venture into the shapes and sorts. I really would like to know more about the Gypsy as it seems that several of you have one. I just don't know what it does or what it is for. Also, what is QuicKutz? Is this a die cut machine? Any help any of you could give me is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

QuickKutz=pain in the bum. I think they are hard to use, since you have to squeeze the machine with your hand to cut the items.


Gypsy= allows you to weld, view and change your items before you cut and needs to be plugged into your cricut. I love mine and hardly ever use my cricut without it.



I know other ladies will give you more info, but this is my opinion.

I have a Gypsy and rarely use it. Then again, I don't really use my cricut much either. I know that's blasphemous for a lot of you out there, but when I paper scrap, I don't want to waste my time cutting out letters...I'd rather use thickers! lol

I have an Expression and a Gypsy. I have loaded all of my cartridges onto it - and I've even designed some layouts and cards, but I don't really use it. It's so sad. DH bought me the Silhouette Cameo for last Christmas, and I LOVE it! I use it so much more than I ever did my Cricut. Seriously! They have a new Silhouette, it's smaller but does the same thing as the Cameo. It's $199 vs over $250 for the Cameo. Good luck!

I have the sizzix big shot and you can cut other companies dies with it such as quickutz and spellbinders. I gave my cricut to my friend because I barely used it. I plan on getting the silhouette for Christmas.

Mildred, I have all three of the main die cut machines. The cricut expression (hardly ever use it) and the sizzix big shot and the quickutz revolution. I use my 12 inch platform on my quickutz revolution the most. I just line up my dies and run them through the machine. I also can use my quickutz dies and any other brand in the big shot as long as I use the right cutting mats. I love my quickutz as you could tell by my pics last month of how I organize them. I know what dies I have and with my cricut I just don't know my cartridges that well as to what is on them. Then I usually have to look up on cricut search.com as to which cart has what. I don't have a gypsy and can't get one. My dd has uploaded all (70+) carts on her qypsy. She doesn't even use her qypsy much either. For me the quickutz is so quick and easy. I usually use my cricut if I want to do a shadow title. The butterflies that I have been using on my layouts are a small die that I run through either big shot or revolution. I find for small items like this, the cricut is too much with the mat etc. I don't know if you remember at the crop we went to in June, but I had my revolution and the big shot set up on the other table. I cut alot of flowers, butterflies and journal tags on them. I hope this helps and if you want to know more send me a pm or post here.

Mildred, I have the gypsy and expression. I use both every time I am in my craft room. I love the gypsy as I can design titles using shapes and fonts from multiple cartridges, weld them to cut one piece.

Another thing to look into is the Cricut Craft room. It is free to access and use. It is an online Gypsy more or less.

With both of these options, you can design anything you want using any cartridge you want. HOWEVER, you must have the cartridge to make the cut.

Another advantage to the G over the craft room is, you can travel easier with the Gypsy. So if you are on the road and want to design, take it with you and do your planning and designs. You can use your Gypsy on anyones Cricut. If their Cricut needs to be updated, you can update it with your gypsy,

The gypsy needs to be updated at least monthly to keep it current with new releases. There is a program called Gypsy sync you install on your computer. If you do it monthly, the update runs quickly and smoothly. If you don't update often, the update can take all day. That is from my experience.

I hope I am not overwhelming you with info. Lot's to learn but lots of fun........ Good luck with your decision. PM me if you want more info.

There is a web site call My Cut Search that you can use to search for shapes you want to possibly cut. The search feature then finds all the cartridges that shape might be on. You can then browse the search results to see if you have a particular cartridge. You can also do a search on the Gypsy itself for a particular shape.

Indy Scrapper wrote:Mildred, I have the gypsy and expression. I use both every time I am in my craft room. I love the gypsy as I can design titles using shapes and fonts from multiple cartridges, weld them to cut one piece.

Another thing to look into is the Cricut Craft room. It is free to access and use. It is an online Gypsy more or less.

With both of these options, you can design anything you want using any cartridge you want. HOWEVER, you must have the cartridge to make the cut.

Another advantage to the G over the craft room is, you can travel easier with the Gypsy. So if you are on the road and want to design, take it with you and do your planning and designs. You can use your Gypsy on anyones Cricut. If their Cricut needs to be updated, you can update it with your gypsy,

The gypsy needs to be updated at least monthly to keep it current with new releases. There is a program called Gypsy sync you install on your computer. If you do it monthly, the update runs quickly and smoothly. If you don't update often, the update can take all day. That is from my experience.

I hope I am not overwhelming you with info. Lot's to learn but lots of fun........ Good luck with your decision. PM me if you want more info.

I do not have the gypsy, but from what I hear, yes, it's similar to the CCR but more convenient to take with you, work on you designs, then cut when you are ready. CCR will save your images too, but you do have to have at least a laptop to be portable. However, the CCR is free and that's why I don't have the gypsy. I love the welding and sizing we can do with our shapes. Also, through the CCR you can see what images are on any cart. I like that feature too, as I can list what carts I might want to purchase later. I do keep my books handy for each cart as there are shapes that you don't see on the back of the box that are included as extras.

I have the expression 2 and the gypsy. I use it every time I scrapbook. You can do some many things with the gyspy. In addition to what others have said about the gyspy, you can also make each design a different size, you can also flip a design- so if the bird is facing the wrong way, you can flip it to face the way you want. You can also flip designs so that they are upside down, so if you want a reflection. (if that makes sense). You can also stretch or shrink words or designs. And you can make them any size you want, if you want a letter to be 4.78 you can cut it excately that size. There really is all kinds of things you can do with the gypsy. Hope this helps.

Thank you Cherries - I knew I could get tons of information from you. All of this information is wonderful and very useful. I have been asked to make a Christmas list so I was going to ask "Santa" for something scrappy. Now all I have to do is my research and go from there. Thank you again for all this information.

I have an original sizzix and the Big Kick as well as a small cricut. I use the Big Kick all the time for cutting and embossing. Love it. I havent even had the cricut out of the box to see if I will like it or not. Looks complicated. I got it in May

Charleneanne wrote:I have an original sizzix and the Big Kick as well as a small cricut. I use the Big Kick all the time for cutting and embossing. Love it. I havent even had the cricut out of the box to see if I will like it or not. Looks complicated. I got it in May

It is not that complicated once you tinker with it a bit. But I can say I really never owned a whole lot of cutting dies and embossing folders. I went from stickers to a Cricut. Of course now I have the Cuttlebug and some folders. Not any cutting dies though. Youtube has so many videos to help you. I love my Cricut. It's really the best investment I ever made for my love of crafting.GET IT OUT OF THE BOX. You can do it.

My husband gave me a cuttlebug for my birthday last year. I just love it. I can emboss and cut on it. I didn't want anything big or complicated so its perfect for me. It had a handle so I bring it to crops & retreats.

I LOVE my Gypsy!

It does all the others say it does. You can even weld different cartridges together.


Say you want to have a saying inside a heart. Get a heart from cartridge A and the saying from cartridge B. You can weld one inside the other and voila! You have it.

Another thing I love about the Gypsy is that you can 'hide' pieces parts. You know when you cut out the snowman? One layer will have the hat, the broomstick and his scarf and carrot nose all in one layer. But you don't want everything orange - so you can go to the "hide" feature and click on all the pieces you don't want to be orange and it will just cut out the nose. Then you go back and unhide the other bit for a different color, and hide the nose and cut again.

You can layer things so that if you are trying to see how one cut will look on top of something else (for size or whatever) you can add a layer and then see how it looks. (that doesn't explain it well but you can have your A on layer one and the shadow A on layer 2 and see if you like that size.

I hvae the Expression and use it constantly. I also use the Cricut craft room every time I use my machine. It lets me weld, and all the other things like multiple fonts, re-sizing, turning, etc just with the click of a button!!!!! I would be lost without either of them!

Croppinmama wrote:My husband gave me a cuttlebug for my birthday last year. I just love it. I can emboss and cut on it. I didn't want anything big or complicated so its perfect for me. It had a handle so I bring it to crops & retreats.

I love mycuttlebug too and it can use dies from other companies