Using the Sure Cuts A Lot Software with the Cricut Die Cutter

If you love your Cricut machine, but hate paying for the expensive cartridges that you need in order to make die cuts, then you may be interested in knowing that there is an alternative - the Sure Cuts A Lot software, also commonly known as SCAL.

By connecting your Cricut machine to your computer using a USB cable, SCAL gives you the ability to cut true type fonts, wingdings, and SVG files with your machine. It does all this without the use of expensive cartridges.

Instead, it uses the fonts that are currently available on your computer - for example, in your word processing programs. You can also add additional fonts and wingdings to the ones that you already have by downloading them from the many services online that provide them for free.

You can also cut shapes and other pictures using the Sure Cuts A Lot software. Usually, these images are in the JPEG or GIF format. If this is the case, they will need to be converted to SVG format before they can be made into die cuts. This is easily done using Inkscape, an open source (free) vector graphics editor.

The Sure Cuts A Lot software works with all three Cricut machines - the Expression, the Personal Electronic Cutter, and the Create.

The software is not an approved Provo Craft product, so there is some speculation that it may void your machine's warranty.  Many people wait until their one year warranty period expires before downloading the software.

You may also need to update your die cutter's firmware.  This is easily done by installing the latest trial version of the Design Studio Software.

Like the Design Studio software, SCAL allows users to weld letters, numbers and images prior to cutting.  It will also create shadow and blackout images of your die cut shapes.  However, SCAL is not compatible for use with any of your Cricut cartridges (you will still need CDS for this purpose).

Unfortunately, SCAL is not an open source product.  It sells for approximately seventy dollars, which is less expensive than the cost of one Cricut cartridge.  Considering the diversity of the images and fonts that you will be able to cut using this software, it's a good deal, and will only serve to enhance your machine's functionality.

You can purchase a license for the software that allows you to use it with either the Windows or Macintosh operating systems.  Although this license is for a single user, it does allow you to install the software on up to two machines.