Review: Cricut Design Studio Scrapbooking Software

The Cricut brand is no stranger to scrapbookers! Cricut Design Studio is a software program that connects to your Cricut machine and aids in designing layouts and manipulating images. Here's a review of Cricut Design Studio scrapbooking software.

What is Cricut Design Studio for?
The Cricut Design Studio is an easy way to design a cutting layout by organizing everything on the on-screen cutting mat. You can combine shapes and letters from any Circuit cartridge available, rotate doodads, and re-size shapes. You can also "weld" letters together (this cannot be done without the software). Cricut.com provides updates to owners of the Design Studio software via downloads on their website.

Cricut Design Studio works with both the original Cricut machines and Cricut Expressions.

Product Specifications:
Included in the box is the Circuit Design Studio software CD-ROM, a 10-foot USB cable, and a Cricut mouse pad. Currently, Cricut Design Studio is only available for PCs (Windows operating systems). It is not available for the MAC.

Installation:
Cricut Design Studio is easy to install. Simply load the CD into the tray, and follow the on-screen instructions. The software installs in less than five minutes.

Using Cricut Design Studio:
The on-screen cutting mat is the main feature of this software. I'm a very visual person, and for me, the Cricut Design Studio is a great way to visualize what you're doing before you actually cut the paper. I've wasted so many pretty scrapbooking papers cutting designs that ended up being the wrong size, or just didn't work with my creative vision for the page. The program offers a "preview" option, so you can see your design exactly how it will appear on the paper before sending it to the machine for cutting.

With every tool, there is a learning curve, and the Cricut Design Studio is no different. While the software is initially easy to use and operate, some features might frustrate users. For example, the "weld" feature wasn't working properly - it was still cutting each letter individually. After ripping a few hairs out and wasting several sheets of paper, I found out that I needed to select "weld" for each letter individually. You don't need to be computer guru to use this software, but there are a few nit-picky options you'll need to learn.

Cricut Design Studio has a searchable library of every image and font letter design Cricut has on all of its cartridges, making it easy to find what you're looking for.

Price & Availability:
Cricut Design Studio software can be found for around $50-$70. You can purchase this software at most craft or scrapbooking stores, or online at Cricut.com, Amazon, or eBay.

Cons
You can only cut shapes and letters from the Cricut cartridges you own. For me, this posed a problem when I first got the software. At the time, I only owned two Cricut cartridges. After searching the Design Studio library, I saw so many other cute fonts and doodads that I went out and bought more cartridges. Buying this software proved to be an expensive investment. If you can exhibit more self-control than me, you'll be fine!

You also can only load the software on one computer. I recommend installing Cricut Design Studio on a laptop, so you can move it around with your Cricut or take it along to scrapbooking parties. If you are installing on a desktop computer, make sure you have space available to setup your Cricut machine.

Final thoughts
I recommend this software to any avid Cricut user. Welding letters and having complete control over the patterns and doodads was very important to me. With the digital cutting mat, I waste less paper-if you saw how much paper I was wasting before getting Cricut Design Studio, I'm sure this software has already paid for itself! If you're interested in this software, but aren't quite sure if you want to buy it, Cricut offers a free trial download on their website. Happy scrapbooking!