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I was going to say the same thing. I actually had the honor of taking a Cricut bridal cake class from Martha and Becky in Austin. We used two Expressions and two Cakes and, although the Expression takes a little more work, the results were the same. Here are pictures of my end result plus one with 10 of our 16 cakes. As far as Margaret's comment goes, I am a big fan of hers, but saying that using a Cricut is not using your hands is cr%@![/quote]

Just wondering during the class. What medium did they use. I have been using gumpaste but I can't get it to look as neat on my mat as she did. I wondered if they were using Image paper instead or how they get it on the mat so neat.

I personally don't think $60 is high for a cartridge. I have paid $50 for cutters and then $50 for the veiner's for flowers. I think that there are so many designs on each cartridge that $60 is pretty cheap considering I have molds/veiners/cutters that I have paid big bucks for and then have never used!

I have 2 cartridges...one that it came with and one that I bought. I doubt I will hop up and buy multiple cartridges but there are some fonts I'd like to have.

I originally bought the Cricut 2 years ago to cut stencils for my cakes! Specifically names. So fonts really interest me.

I can see where I will use the Cricut for many things but it will never replace many of my hand piped or pressed lace designs. It is just simply another tool to please my customers - and make me money!

Denise.... Marthas was my personal pick... I loooooove that cake.... its a masterpiece.

Thanks BFisher. We deeply appreciate your support. While we would have liked to have won, we were happy for Julie and her team. They were very nice people and such a pleasure to be around.

I have been a fan of The House of Clarendon for a long time so meeting Julie was a treat. She is a lovely person and was very warm and easy to be around. I hope to see her again soon.

being an artist is one thing....some of us need a little help....

They actually say they want you to be extreme. Use lots of tools, be Ultimate. We used the cricut in our episode, not because we couldn't have done it with cutters, by hand, etc....but because it was a new tool and pushed the limits.

I don't think using the Cricut is "cheating"....someone told me once..."don't work harder....work SMARTER!"

Personally I think the machine is cool. but I kind of look at it like this...

I don't think young children in school should be allowed to use calculators until they actually know how to DO the math, and can prove that they can do it.

The professional decorators on Ultimate cake show KNOW how to do this stuff by hand, their skill in that department has been proven, therefore they are like seniors and should be allowed to use the machine for simplicity. If it was that big of a problem they should have asked her to do a quick demo that she KNEW how to do the cutting just as well. JMO

Time saver and cost effective! Sure it cost a good amount now but think of how much you will save without having to buy each and every cutter set you need.

I just do wedding cakes for the most part, so for me it isn't that much of a time-saver. By the time you roll the stupid gumpaste out thin enough, get it exactly right for the dryness, etc. it takes a good amount of time. If I did birthday cakes or other cakes that used a lot of print or pictures on them it might save some time, but for the amount that I use it, it's not going to be something that I rank up there with more useful tools.

I've been messing with it for the last few weeks, and I've written a few blog posts about the results. For the cake designs that I get orders for, it just isn't somethnig that I'll use a whole lot.

That's what is nice about the new cricut cake machine. You have more freedom with the thickness and drying time, also the material that is used.