To Pazzle or not to pazzle?

[emjauk]

Hi
Been spending hours researching this matter. It is quite apparant that I cannot handle a pair of scissors and so need help with cutting.
So my search started here. A phone call to my sis who has been crafting for years and yet more confusion. She has a big shot, cuttlebug & robo and then mentioned the Cricut.
So I went off looking at that. Whilst looking at that came across the Pazzles.
Now the pazzle seemed to be a better tool in that it can do so much. But can it?

The thing is when reading write ups you have to assume that the writers may have been paid by the company to do the write up. Biased!

So would you buy a pazzles and not just because your shop stocks them!

Thanks

[GerryOB]

Hi,

I got my Pazzles Inspiration last year. Originally I was looking at a Cricut but the cost of the cartridges bugged me somewhat. I decided to go along to a craft fair to see one in action, but also went on You Tube. I liked what you could do with it (the Cricut) but wanted to see it in action. As it happened, there wasn't one on display at the fair I went to, but there was someone demonstrating a Pazzles machine. Well I was captivated and stood watching for well over an hour. Fortunately I had hubby with me (fortunate because he paid ;) ). I can't remember the name of the company I bought it from now but they were very helpful. I should add I don't work for or represent anyone or any company what so ever, or run my own business, I craft for my own pleasure, so hopefully I am the general type of response you may find helpful to answering your question.

Anyhow, what appealed to me most was the fact that the Pazzles machine does so much more than a Cricut. It engraves, draws (holds felt tips, pencils etc), cuts, emboses, and I've just seen a new programme on ebay that will cut designs to enable you to do rhinestone designs on paper, card & fabrics etc. You don't need cartridges and are not just stuck with the designs you are given, but can make them from virtually any design or picture you have.

You do need to learn the software, and I've found that relatively easy with what I've done so far, although I'm by no means a techie. Once you have mastered it, the world is your oyster so to speak. It comes with some built in designs, and you can down load them on line and there are also some disks of designs that you can buy although I've not bought those as I got loads free and tend to make my own anyway.

I'm by no means an expert with it, but I've seen what it can do and as I said before, there are loads of helpful tutorials that people have put up on You Tube, so you can usually find a helpful answer to any questions.

When I got mine, I also got 6 months free access to the Pazzles Craft Room website. This, I would say was the only dissappointment to the purchase. As the machine is quite expensive, you would think that this would be free, rather than just for six months. The website and the info you gain access to is good, and there are helpful tutorials, but after six months you have to pay, and I couldn't personally justify the cost. I don't remember the exact price but it was at least £10 per month I think. During that time, you can download images for free (up to a certain number in a certain time period) but after that you loose access to the tutorials and images and the Pazzles forum unless you want to pay. Personally I'd rather save the money and go on a course to learn more about it, but if you are quite computer literate, then it's easy enough anyway and you are only limited by your imagination.

The ads for it says it cuts chipboard, but you need to bear in mind that it is American and 'chipboard' is their equivalent of our cardboard. Any thoughts of making something out of your old MFI wardrobe is not going to work! I think it cuts thicknesses up to 5mm in some fabrics. I've done material, foam, paper, card, foil etc so far. I've not done any engraving yet, although that is what I want to try next. I have the pen holder attachment, so that's something I also want to get going on as I saw it in the demo and it's brilliant. You can either use the Pazzles pens or most general ones will do, the machine can't tell the difference.

The standard cutting pad is 12" x 12" but they do a longer one which is double the length, so you can cut some quite big projects with it. You can buy interchangable heads, replacement blades, cutting mats etc for it and it doesn't take up too much room. In my opinion, it was definately worth the money. I love it and feel that I made the right decision, even if it was an 'impulse' buy.

Hope this helps. Any questions, please do ask and if I can help I will.