I remember when Cricut put out its very first digital cutting machine – my sweet husband went down to Jo-Ann and got me one for my birthday and I was in cutting-edge crafter heaven!  I’ve used Cricut and a number of other die cut machines, both digital and manual, over the past ten years, but during this holiday season, I find myself coming back to the tried and true Cricut machines.  With the new Cricut Explore, there are more possibilities than ever before, and if you don’t already own one, THIS shopping season is the time to consider getting one.  Today I bring you my own personal Top 10 Reasons to own a Cricut Explore.  AND, if you stick around, you’ll also find all the details on Cricut’s smokin’ hot BLACK FRIDAY SALE (aff link)!!!

TOP 10 Reasons I Love my Cricut Explore

1. The variety of mediums that can be cut is outstanding:  Leather! (see my dress here), corkboard, burlap, balsa wood, vinyl, paper, fabric, poster board, magnets, felt,  duck tape, iron-on material, and more.

1. You can cut images as small as fingernail decals and as large as a wall poster!  Which reminds me, I need holiday fingernails right away!
2. The company that created Cricut, Provo Crafts, is a true class act.  The people have been kind, generous, and helpful as I’ve worked with them in this blog world.  I am always willing to make the extra effort to support a company that is looking out for their consumers.  It makes a difference.
3. The online software, Cricut Design Space, and Cricut’s Pinterest boards are chock full of inspiration and instruction!
4. You can purchase whole cartridge sets, or even better (in my opinion), you can buy just single images for a buck or two – which makes projects very inexpensive!
5. Cricut does more than cut!  Pop a colorful pen into the machine and your options for creating are even greater!  You can see my table place cards here to see how I used my Cricut Explore to label and cut them – simple!  There is also a scoring blade that I haven’t used yet, but holds a lot of possibilities!
6. Um, did you hear that Cricut has an exclusive FROZEN image set?  It’s currently available in Cricut Design Space (online) only and I know that you, like me, have at least one little person (probably more) that will go crazy for a new t-shirt with a Frozen image ironed on to it, Frozen coloring pages, or a whole custom designed birthday party!!  Only available through Cricut…

1. Cricut accessories are available at Jo-Ann which makes it so very easy to pick up a new blade, a new cutting mat, vinyl, iron-on sheets, pens, 12″x24″ sheets of cardstock – whatever you need when you’re out shopping for your other crafting and sewing supplies!
2. Cute miniature houses!  This little Halloween village that I made years ago can now be made even bigger, but still miniature!  Woohoo!  I love that Cricut can cut out three dimensional shapes.

And NOW!  Now that you know you need a Cricut Explore and it’s the perfect thing to stick under the Christmas tree for yourself or your bestie… I give you these SMOKIN’ hot Black Friday deals!!  These deals are good through Monday, December 1, 2014.  With the coupons below, and FREE SHIPPING, you can get the best deal right here without fighting the crazies and the lines in the shopping madness!  Click on any image or link below for the affiliate exclusive price!!

Deal 1:  Deluxe Starter Set – includes the Cricut Explore machine, scoring tool, pen sets, and deep cut blade – for only $214.99 after discounts
Deal 2:  Bluetooth Bundle – Cricut Explore machine + Wireless BlueTooth Adapter, cutting mat, and sample materials – for only $214.99 after discounts
Deal 3:  Best Selling Fonts set – includes the Cricut Explore machine plus the THREE top-selling font cartridge sets – for only $214.99 after discounts

In addition to these super deals, you will need the following codes to get the very best deal: