“Sure Cuts A Lot” Review and COUPON CODE

I made this layout using my Cricut along with the Sure Cuts A Lot program (often seen abbreviated on-line as SCAL for short). Since I’ve been asked a lot of questions about the program and how it differs from using the Cricut Cartridges, I hope this post answers a few questions for those of you interested. Plus, for my time, the company offers me a buck or two for anyone who follows this link to buy.  It will take some time to get through the details, so I’ll take them up on that!

I cut this using three different fonts on one sheet of 6X12 paper with one setup in about five minutes. With the Cricut, to get three fonts, you are limited to the ones they make cartridges for, you must own those cartridges, and you must either buy a “jukebox” to link them together it you want to cut from them all at the same time so that they can all be plugged in at once, or you must switch them in and out, wait for them to load, and then cut.  You could not cut this design with Cricut cartridges, the fonts are not available.

WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS?

I laid my photos and journaling spot on my page, estimated how large I wanted the title, sized each set of letters on my screen, chose fonts on my system, then clicked “cut”.  No switching cartridges or having to buy cartridges manufactured by Cricut!  No fonts that look the same as everyone else’s who own’s a Cricut.

WHAT IS SCAL?

Sure Cuts a Lot is a third party program (not endorsed or affiliated with the Cricut makers) that allows you to hook up your Cricut to your computer, then cut out any fonts already loaded onto your system–the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. SCAL comes with software allowing you to type in your text, select your font, size things, then cut any font on your computer WITHOUT having to buy the $30-$50 Cricut cartridges. They keep upgrading their software to keep up with the latest Cricut machines, and you can keep up with online downloads if you have a driver on your machine that doesn’t allow SCAL to work.  Can you use Cricut Design software AND SCAL if that happens…I have no idea.   That’s too technical a question for me.

HOW MUCH DOES Sure Cuts A Lot, “SCAL”, COST?

The prices may vary from the writing of this post, but current pricing from the SCAL website purchase page is:

$90.00 CD-ROM + Downloadable (meaning, they immediately send you the program and a CD for future reference).

t$75.00 Downloadable only (meaning, you get the full program, but would just burn your own CD for backup.)

I just did a web search and found a coupon code for 10% off for Sure Cuts A Lot that was still working as of 3-11-09 worth trying.

Coupon code: 8250985 While that sounds like a lot for software, consider that EVERY Cricut cartridge allows ONE font and is $30-$60 or so.

SHOULD I BUY THE DOWNLOAD, OR THE CD?

That depends, if you have a way to backup files, or want to use it on two computers and don’t know how to burn it for backup, you may want the CD.

WILL SCAL CUT ANY FONTS?

Yes.  But, some fonts cut better than others. You want to look for fonts that cut well have no “breaks” in them. Examples of poor font choices might be a grunge font, or a font with letters made up of small dots.

GOOD FONT EXAMPLES–here is a 4-H poster we made in about half an hour:

My son picked the colors, helped me decide on fonts, and glued them on, or ran them through the Xyron while I made cuts.

TIP:  When you have a lot of letters to line up, nudge them together so that they are “attached”, like in the words “BALLOON” AND “MENTOS”. (Tutorial coming on this soon).

WHAT SIZE LETTERS WILL SCAL CUT–THE SAME AS THE MACHINE?

It’s better than that!  SCAL lets it actually cut SMALLER than the settings on the Cricut is preset to cut!  I’ve cut less than 1/2″ in size (don’t want it to try a very complex font at that size).   For very small projects, it helps to have a mat in good condition and set your Cricut to slow.  A trial cut makes that easy enough.

DO YOU USE YOUR CRICUT AND SCAL A LOT IN SCRAPBOOKING?

I do use the Cricut a lot for a lot of everything.

I’ve finally started to put titles on my pages where I’m pleased with them.  Before, I never seemed to never have the right colo/r stickers to match.  Now my papers are easy to match to layouts AND, I’m using all those coordinating papers I could never seem to get to work before!  I was having to plan layout colors around what stickers I had!  Not any more!

I can do a lot of title varieties like I’ve admired in scrapbook magazines. I’m still no master and have a lot to learn.

WILL SCAL CUT FANCY FONTS WITH SCROLL FLOURISHES?

YES!  Being able to cut intricate letters is one reason I bought SCAL, and I can’t find cartridges with the fonts I like best.  I {{{heart}}} those fonts and hope to do some wall art with them out of vinyl adhesive paper--just as soon as I find the perfect quote.

You can check Cricut’s website for settings for cutting vinyl, and there are tutorials on youtube to help you learn how.

DO YOU USE YOUR CRICUT OFTEN FOR PROJECTS OTHER THAN SCRAPBOOKING?

I use it every week for some project:  cards, names on cards, personalized items, crafts for Sunday School, quick kid’s birthday cards. I’m in awe every time I pull the letters out of the paper.  I often tell my kids, “Come look at this!” when I’m scraping the letters off the mat.

It is a luxury.  You can live without it.  I’m just happy to have it.

Cutting Hint: When I’m cutting out children’s names for them to adhere, I connect the letters by applying a trapezoid on the bottom and merging it to the letters–that way I don’t have to keep up with multiple letters to take to classes!  They can easily glue them to projects.  I have a file saved with all their names so that if I want to cut them again, I just open the file and click “cut”!

We made personalized bookmarks with these.

Kids love to embellish like nuthin’ you’ve seen!

WHAT ABOUT THE CARTRIDGES?

I keep thinking I’ll buy a cartridge to treat myself, but every time I shop at Wal*Mart or at conventions, even with great prices, I’m never tempted after I really look at what’s on the cart.  I think, “I can already do that!”  I’m sure I would enjoy the cartridges at times, but overall, I just think not needing them is awesome!

IS SCAL EASY TO USE?

Yes.  I found Sure Cuts a Lot very easy to use after I found my way around the menus.  I can adjoin letters, create blocks of text, use any font or shape on my system, and easily make my own shadows and blackouts.  (I’m not comparing it to Cricut’s Design Studio simply because I never used or felt inclined to purchase it — with Cricut Design software program, you STILL have to buy all the carts to get Design Studio to cut the fonts for you.  I just don’t see the advantage.  If I had accidentally bought Cricut’s, I’d probably still buy SCAL, just because I love it so much having used it.  It would be like having as many new cartridges as the number of fonts on my computer.)

CAN YOU CUT SHAPES?

Yes!  In fact, I can easily create most of the things I’ve seen on the cartridges if not better.   You can cut .ttf (the file extension for True Type Fonts), or .svg files. You can cut any “dingbat” files…search dafont.com for “dingbat” fonts and see what you come up with!  You can cut out batman, sports symbols, all sorts of animals, bugs, dolls, butterflies….etc.

(ABOVE) My daughter’s 4-H Demonstration poster:

To make the Borax box, we used a rectangle and just typed the words “BORAX POWDER” inside–they were cut out (no need to adhere all those letters!).  We added the plus signs.  Making the water bottle was the most fun; we used a rectangle, merged with two flattened circles on the top and bottom, then added a small square on the top to make the cap. We set the SCAL program to meld all the shapes together, and typed “H2O” to cut that out of the bottle.

The poster has been squished in the van for a month or so now, but this was the whole poster for daughter.  She added all the goo shapes on her own free style with markers or construction paper.  She did all the gluing and told me what she needed.

We made the purple “shadows” to put behind the letters “How to” and “GLUE”.

(NOTE:  The word “GOO” is using the “blockout” SCAL feature (it fills in the holes in the letters, whereas a shadow doesn’t).

OTHER FILE TYPES FOR SHAPES:

SCAL users often keep blogs to share .svg files, you can download even those and cut them!  With those, I’ve downloaded the popular “label” shapes, as well as scalloped shapes in circles and squares!   No need for punches!  I have them in graduated sizes that fit together.

There is also a forum on the SCAL website where people share .svg files, AND a couple active yahoo groups you can join where people share their work and files.  I talked to a kind gal from Australia off and on for several days working on a project.  People are so great!  (As opposed to Cricut support, with whom I’ve heard customer service is slow, if they respond at all).

ORGANIZATION of ELEMENTS:

With Cricut, a main complaint I’ve heard is that people can’t find I’ve heard a lot of or easily keep up with what is actually on their Cricut cartridges for use.

For my fonts, I sometime refer to the free beta program:  The Font Thing (not a product of SCAL or Cricut, just worth mentioning here) where I can organize fonts by category, type, or style.

In The Font Thing, you can type a phrase and scroll down through the list to see how it looks in various fonts.

CAN YOU CUT SHAPES THAT ARE NOT FONTS USING SCAL?

Yes.  The program comes with a “shapes” folder, allowing you to cut circles, squares, triangles, any basic shape.  you can put words inside that shape to get, say, the effect of a stop sign with the word “STOP” cut out.

IS IT HARD/SAFE TO INSTALL FREE FONTS ONTO MY COMPUTER?

Oh, SO easy.  See this post. (I wrote a step-by-step post on that a while back!)

WHAT IF I NEED HELP WITH SCAL?

The folks at the SCAL forum are great at addressing common questions.  I’d start there.  I had one problem getting it to run on a second computer (I was reading a 1 as an I.  The owner emailed me within just a few hours with help to straighten it out.  I was so pleased with the kind service.)  Also, I can possibly help with some basic questions if I have time to spare. 

CAN I RUN SCAL SOFTWARE ON MULTIPLE HOME COMPUTERS?

Their website says you can run it on two at the same time, with one user.

ARE THERE ANY DOWN SIDES TO SCAL OVER JUST USING THE CARTRIDGES?

Perhaps some who take their Cricut to crops and print from sheer cartridges would not like having to be hooked to a computer.  I would pre-plan pages rather than hauling the thing with me anyway. Perhaps those who don’t handle basic word processing. The program isn’t perfect, but the staff is great at constant updating and improvement, though I’ve loved what is there already, so I consider it a win-win.  Anything you want to do, there is probably a tutorial available on someone’s blog to help you learn how to do it!

Sometimes when you design fonts, they cut slower than they would with Cricut Cartridges because the cutting paths have been ordered professionally for speed.  I generally have my title ready while I work on embellishments or other things, though.  It’s not been a hinderance for me.

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!

You might wish to subscribe to this blog using your RSS feeder (through a service like bloglines or your iGoogle reader) so you don’t miss posts on SCAL.  I plan to be posting pretty often for a while as a teaching tool to help you as you get started.

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Click here for More Info found on the Sure Cuts A Lot Site!