Review Cricut Imagine

I've had a week or two to play with my new Cricut Imagine machine.  I really like being able to print and cut at the same time.  The layouts on the imagine cartridges are cute and can be split into different layers and re-sized which is very cool.  You can print and cut the layers and use pop dots between them to give some dimension to your layouts.

Being a scrap booker (both regular and digital), card maker, and photographer I thought it would be really cool to be able to print and cut a photo or a photo with a border around it, or make a card and type my own sentiment in it.  You can't do that.  It will print sentiments if you have them on one of your cartridges, either imagine or regular.  You can change the color or use a color/pattern from an imagine cartridge.  It seems like you should be able to print from your computer just like a regular printer and cut.

Another thing I find very aggravating is the way it cuts your layouts.  It doesn't let you move things around on the mat even with gypsy like you can with a personal cricut or cricut expression, so it tends to waste a lot of paper.  I spend a lot of time trying to put big things on one line all the way across and little things on the next line all the way across.

Also, the mats aren't sticky enough.  You can't use the mats on the imagine like you can the other cutters placing different colored pieces of papers in different spots.  It just isn't sticky enough. 

I hope Provo Craft fixes some of these things.  It seems like they cripple an expensive machine that could be very cool if it had the proper software and/or drivers.  It ought to be able to be used for so much more. 

That being said here are some things made with it using Imagine More cartridge.

For my dad for Father's Day-I didn't have a Happy Father's day stamp.

I used glitter glue for the center of the flowers and used pop dots to lift the bottom of the wing. . . It's a prettier than the picture shows

No sentiment yet, I raised the butterfly wings with pop dots and curled them under, I also raised the bird except I did glue the legs down.  I could see them bending and curling if I had just left them.  I also used glitter glue on the butterfly spots and birds eyes.

Does anyone else have any Imagine comments, or feel the same?

I made some book markers too, but I can't find where I saved them.  Will post as soon as I find them :{   Have a nice day and a happy Father's Day!