Cricut Magazine Review and Giveaway!

The new Cricut magazine by Northridge Media has been released and can now be found in stores, as well as through online retailers and even in a digital download format ($4.95 each).  In addition, it is available in hard copy by subscription at 6 issues for $40.

I was contacted by Northridge Media to review and give away FOUR copies of the magazine!  Two will be given away here and two over on Everyday Cricut this week!  

How can you win?

1) Leave a comment below telling what type of projects you'd like to see shown using the Cricut.
2) Subscribe or follow this blog.

Onto the details:
I was so excited to get my hands on this magazine and check out all the Cricut goodies!  Since I run two blogs devoted to the Cricut, I was quite anxious to see some new ideas and projects.

Here are some basic facts:

This Cricut Magazine debut issue is 130 pages long, printed in the standard 8" x 8" size of typical Northridge Media publications.  It is constructed of high quality, glossy covers and pages.  Only 13 pages are advertisements and placed mostly at the front and back of the magazine, so the flow of information is not interrupted.

The issue features ideas for cards, layouts, home decor, fabric, cake making and party planning with the themes of valentines/love, baby, wedding, birthday and general use (thanks, etc.).

There are a number of pages devoted to creating a two layer cake with the Cricut Cake machine.  Included are detailed directions and recipes for cake and fondant.  In addition, there is a section of home decor items made with the Imagine Machine; however, they only used one Imagine cartridge, Kate's Kitchen, for this section.

The majority of projects shown include product lists and instructions; most of them delineating what cuts were used by cartridge (i.e. "cut tree from Straight from the Nest").  Layouts were the exception to the rule, as no instructions or cut list was given.  There were 26 layouts featured in the magazine.  Sizing of the cuts was given in some, but not all of the projects.  Overall, a wide variety of projects and cartridges were used. Twice as many of the cartridges used are pre-2010, so most people probably already own them.

Jana Eubank, the lead designer for the Cricut Circle team and blog, has 13 pages of projects devoted to her, as well as a one page interview.  She is quite talented and her projects are outstanding and the highlight of the magazine.

Pros:

- Finally a magazine devoted to Cricut owners, showing projects using the Cricut!
- A wide variety of projects shown (cards, layouts, home decor, etc.) using a wide variety of machines insures maximum appeal for the audience.  The only machine I did not see was the Yudu.
- Using a majority of pre-2010 cartridges means more people will be able to re-create these projects.
- Various magazine price points, especially the $4.95 download price, is brilliant!
- The quality of work shown was very high - especially Jana's projects.  Her layouts are just fantastic.
- I loved the use of newer scrapbooking papers and items with the older cartridges.

Cons:

- Instructions could be more consistent and I would have liked to have seen cut sizing for every Cricut cut.  While the majority of the projects did have these sizes, there were many that did not.  And the layouts had no sizing or cut information regarding the Cricut whatsoever.
- More cuts per project would be nice.  Again, some projects had many, many cuts while others one or two and they were basic shapes (hearts, stars, etc.).  There was a vast use of chipboard letters and letter stickers, which did not highlight the many wonderful fonts that the Cricut cartridges have.
- While the layouts were absolutely fabulous, I would not call them "fast".  But they were gorgeous eye candy!

Overall, a wonderful start to a brand new magazine.  I hope you'll give it a try and see some beautiful, new projects.  I can't wait to see the next issue!

Subscribe to Obsessed with Scrapbooking to learn more about ways to use the Cricut in your scrapbooking!