So, sometimes life takes you down detours and you meet fabulous folks along the way who become friends for life! Such is the case with my favorite paper crafts designer, Lisa Falduto of PaperFashionsBoutique.com!
I met Lisa a year ago by chance when we were both demo-ing the Cricut as a part of the Costco Roadshows run by Provocraft. Lisa and I both did a show in Grafton, WI, and spent the better part of a week working side-by-side. Trust me, you get to know someone REALLY well when you spend that much time with them! She and I just hit it off, and now she’s going to be joining me at CHA doing some reporting for CraftTestDummies! How cool is that?
Since Lisa is a veteran papercrafter and designer, she’s going to be my “specialist” in the world of scrapbooking and paper crafting. She generously prepared this guest post so we could get to know her better before CHA at the end of July.
Cricut Lite Review
Have you heard about the brand new Cricut Lite cartridges? They are currently only available at Wal-Mart stores for purchase. I have not heard specifically if they will eventually be available for purchase in other
stores or not. When I walked into my local Wal-Mart about a week ago and was greeted by quite a selection of these Lite cartridges!
First let’s take a look at the difference between a regular cartridge and a Lite.
When I count the images on back of my Walk in the Garden cartridge there are about 50 standard images.
The Cricut Lite Cartridge that I purchased has 50 images shown on the back panel.
So you are probably thinking that these cartridges are created equal! Not so! If you look at the Walk in the Garden full cartridge it also has 6 function keys. So there are other variations of the 50 images allowing me
to create a card, tag,border, blackout, shadow and bread tag. When I look at my new Bloom Lite cartridge it only has one function key which is the Layer/shadow feature key. So there is a significant difference over a
regular cartridge, thus the difference in price.
I was surprised at how much layering you can still do on each image using the special function key and your shift key. You will see in the photo that I created several layers with one image using the function and shift key.
So what is inside the box?
First of all, the Cricut Lite box itself is plastic. Then you open it up and it has the standard looking cartridge and keypad overlay inside. Then there is the instruction card which is a tri-fold card that is laminated.
It clearly shows which keys need to be used to create each image. I thought it was easy to use and pretty self explanatory.
So what is my overall impression of the Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge I purchased?
Pros
- The shapes on this cartridge are darling!
- The cartridge/keypad is easy to use without having to give a great deal of thought to your layers
- I love the colored instruction card inside the box which really helps you to see the layers and features of each design
Cons
- Since I purchase many of my full cartridges for around $30-40, the price point of $39.99 for this cartridge seemed a little high
Overall I loved the Bloom cartridge that I purchased since I know I will get a lot of use from the designs included on this Lite Cartridge. Looking at the other Lite cartridges I’m not sure there are a lot that I am interested in due to the limited functions available. I think that the Lite Cartridges are a nice choice for someone who doesn’t use a lot of the function keys on a full cartridge or they just want a few basic designs to work with.
Thanks, Lisa! Make sure to visit her site and check out her altered arts kits, too!
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Dawnll says
Lisa is a real sweetie and so talented. perfect person to write an honest and informative post.
Jenny says
Isn’t she though? Love me some Lisa!!!!
Sandy says
That’s a great review Lisa! Thanks. I knew there were simple, less expensive cartridges available, but I wasn’t aware of how much they do, or that I should check with Wal Mart.
Martha says
Thanks for this information Lisa. A friend of mine was at crop night at Archiver’s and had three of the new cartridges from WalMart. They are very cute and useful. I might have to visit WalMart soon.
Jenny says
I have to admit, after Lisa’s review I ran out to Wal-Mart and bought the “Chores” cart- can’t wait to try it out….! (Oh, and see if my kids will actually DO their chores! : )
Debbie says
Thank you for being so honest !! I am new to all of this and the cartridges are so expensive so you really want to get the best for your dollar.
Jean Krause says
Wish I had read this review before buying a lite cartilage. It is not what I wanted. I do not like doing layers. I wanted a one piece train. I did not think it was cheaper than my other cartilages.