Product Review: Cricut Cuttables Stamp Sheets

I popped in to JoAnns Fabric Store the other day with a couple of coupons burning a hole in my pocket and what should I see but the Cricut Deep Cut blade and housing and packs of the Cricut Stamp Sheets. Since JoAnn lets you use coupons an cricut accessories (not the machines and cartridges) AND they will let you use multiple coupons I grabbed both to try! Here are my results, the birdcage and chandelier were made with the Cricut Stamp sheets.

Credits: Software: SCAL, Font: DB Ladybird, Die Cutter and Stamp sheets: Cricut, Bird and Butterfly stamps: Inkadinkado

This is what the stamp looks like when it clings to the block.

I have wanted to try the stamp material for a while but reviews of the product weren’t great and I hadn’t bothered to get the deep cut blade yet also because the reviews were lukewarm but I gave it a shot and I am one happy cricuteer…is that even a word? For my trail I used a new deep cut blade and deep cut blade housing (the blue one), a fairly newish mat, and a 6″x6″ sheet of stamp film and Scal software( one sale 10% off with this code:  1266018 until 4/12/09) but you could use Design Studio. I recommend the software so you can arrange it and pack as many images as you can fit in the 6″x6″ space and so you don’t make errors and waste the pricey film.  BTW the price of a 2 pack of 6″x6″ stamp film is $10 but you can use your coupon at JoAnns or shop around on-line for a good deal. Here is what to do. Firmly press the film to the mat, put it in the stickiest area of the mat, if you have a brand new mat use that. As an extra precaution I taped along the edge with masking tape. Put the blue blade housing with a deep cut blade set at 4.5 in the machine and load the mat. Set the pressure to high (#4) Arrange the images to cut in your software and click cut. for best results don’t cut anything with too much detail or lines thinner than 1/8″ or the stamp will be too flimsy. Solid or silhouette images work best. See how many images I got from one 6″x6″ sheet. They are stamped on a 8 1/2″x11″ paper for reference.

All this was cut from a 6"x6" sheet. You can really pack in the images!

Take care when removing the images from the mat. Keep a pair of sharp fine tip scissors handy in case you need to make a snip here or there as I did with the chandelier stamp. The film is also available as a kit with clear blocks which is a good deal if you need the acrylic stamp blocks but if you have some already I would just get the stamp sheets. One disadvantage of the sheets is that they are very thin, be careful not to get ink on the block when inking up your stamp and keep a tissue handy to wipe away and rogue ink on the block before stamping.

Another tip, make sure you preview you image before you cut, if any part of the image looks too thin you can fix it now, for example the boy icon and robot dingbats had no neck so I welded a rectangle on so it could cut in one piece.

Bottom Line: I love this, I just grabbed another pack of the stamp sheets this morning (yes, with a coupon 😉 ) and I can’t wait to make more lovely stamps!

BTW If anyone knows whos blog I downloaded the beautiful chandelier SVG from please leave a comment so I can credit her.  The bircadge come from DB Ladybird (scrapnfonts.com) and the boy, girl, flower and robot are from the free font Efon. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Thanks a Latte!

I appreciate all of your get well wishes and I am happy to say that I am back to normal (I wish I could say the same for the house!) I took a break from the never-ending pile of laundry and household disinfecting to craft and share this little card. It combines 3 of my favorite things (excepting my family of course) Stamps, Coffee and my Cricut!

Card by Lindsay Weirich 2009

Inside of card

I drew the card in inkscape so that I could cut it with my Cricut using SCAL software. I ran the band through a paper crimper to make it look more realistic and then stamped a little coffee mug from Inque Boutique on a punched circle.

For the SVG file click here.

For a printable template click here.

A note about blade depth and cutting pressure: Many cricut users I have come across keep their blade depth at 6 and their cutting pressure at max. Please don’t do this. You will wear out your mats and blades much sooner than you need to and I suspect that eventually it will wear out your cricut. Only use the blade depth and pressure that you need. For the most part I keep my blade dept set at 3 and I vary the pressure I need to cut with. For instance when I cut vinyl I use pressure 2, pattern paper I use pressure 3 and on Stampin Up! cardstock I use pressure 5 (or MAX). My first cricut, the personal 6″x12″ model that I have used frequently for 2 years I used this way and recently it seems as though I need to have my blade depth at 4 now, 3 doesn’t quite do the job anymore. So if you are using your machine at 6 and max pressure I fear that eventually It will not be able to cut through the thinnest of materials. If your pressure is to high and blade too deep you are just cutting into the mat anyway so give you poor cricut a break and only use the depth and pressure you need to keep that bug chirping for years to come!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!