Yes, it was the blue housing and blade. I used pressure 3, speed 2 and blade the sit on 6. I cut out all the pieces and put then in a 2 gallon zip lock bag on a greased 1/4 sheet board and let them sit while I covered the cake. Than I put them on. I had to cut a few more which I put directly on. I have a dental scaler, the dentist tool that has a crocked point on each end to remove the small cut outs. That was wonderful and so much easier than a pin. I got it as a favor at one of our cake meetings. I did not ever use it and I threw it in my drawer. I was struggling with that darn hat pin when I thought of it. They are disposible, Ask your dentist about the one he uses on you 
. By greasing the tops of the fondant it stopped the fondant from sticking to the blade and the cut was clean and perfect on the top side.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 
ok, I am done trying to play Cricut today. The thing has turned my mood quite vile 
After reading ALL the posts on this and trying several variations of settings and mediums I am throwing in the towel. For today only though.
My edges on the designs are very rough and dry even after coating with Crisco. At the end of it the blade started bunching up the fondant mix.
I am going now to look at some of the pics proving this can be done all the while trying to breathe calmly. 
I will NOT be beaten by fondant! 
Don't feel bad, My friend said I went after it like a dog going after a bone. I love a challenge, However I almost let it get me down. It took me From The week after Thanksgiving (I got my cricut for $168. on Black Friday at Wal-mart). As of week before last I mastered it. I did the cake above all in one day. Of course what you don't know is I wadded the fondant up for days before and rerolled it many many times. Besure and knead lots of crisco into the fondant. You may have to let it dry a little before before you lift it. Remember use your pasta maker or fondant sheeter if you have one. (I am a lucky person I have the big sheeter and I roll it to #1.) so the fondant is all rolled very even. You may think it will be too thin, But it won't be. Try again. It is very satisfying when you can do it. and very annoying when everyone acts like it is a breeze.. NOw I just want to master Inkscape and Sure Cuts a Lot so I can make my own patterns. This was harder for me than blown sugar, lambeth and any of the other things that some say are difficult .Good Luck...
It took me 3 solid days. Trust me, you'll get there. And if you have any hair left when you finally master it, well...the feeling of "winning" is overwhelming, and you'll start to have so much fun with it!!!
kake4umjp - putting crisco on the top is a great idea - thanks! your cake is gorgeous!
i put my cricut away after the holidays and am going to get back into it.
it does take great persistence and progress is slow.
i'm a huge fan of inkscape. it has a learning curve but is worth the effort.
here are some sites that i've found to be helpful- use the http and remove spaces
http://
papasuecreative .blogspot. com/search/label /How%20To
scrappydew . com /
scrappingtable . com / home.html
The new Cricut Cake is being released very soon...
http://www.cricut.com/default.aspx
go to the above link and click on veiw demonstration below on the left side.
This machine works with all the cartridges from the other machines. If you are thinking about purchasing a machine just for cakes.. this might be the one.
I just saw the new cricut for cakes pretty neat!
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ok, I am done trying to play Cricut today. The thing has turned my mood quite vile
After reading ALL the posts on this and trying several variations of settings and mediums I am throwing in the towel. For today only though.
My edges on the designs are very rough and dry even after coating with Crisco. At the end of it the blade started bunching up the fondant mix.
I am going now to look at some of the pics proving this can be done all the while trying to breathe calmly.
I will NOT be beaten by fondant!
Don't give up. I've found (through trial and LOTS of error) that I would get ragged edges when my fondant was too thick for the Cricut. I would keep rolling to what I thought was thin, but thin for me is different than Cricut-thin.
Try starting with white fondant, and if you have a Wilton Cake Dividing wheel, roll until you can see the lines fairly clearly (not transparent though). Let dry and have at it! Good luck! 
Good morning all! First off thank you for the helpful tips and sharing your experiences with me.
I was wide awake at 4:30 am thinking about CRICUT~ ACK!!! 
When will the madness end? 
The coffee is on and I am about to start a load of laundry. Then I should have about 45 minutes to play with Cricut again before the house is awake.
In reply to a post earlier, I do have the KA pasta attachment and have been using that. I wish I had something wider....ahhhh, what wouldn't I give for a sheeter!!!! (In my dreams)
So for now I think I will use the KA and maybe roll it more while on the mat.
Have a great day everyone!
YES!! It works! I was lucky to get a Cricut Expressions for Christmas - didn't even ask for it
!! Finally got the blue cutting housing so I could play around with it.I just moved the rollers to the left, still works great.
Thanks to all of the great advice on the previous 25+ pages. I practiced the night before with Wilton gumpaste. Really didn't like the results. Wanted to use the cricut for designs on my DD birthday cake for today. So last night I used fondant with tylose added. Worked great. Rolled out let set 10 min. Cut great.
I cut out the letters and design around the side of the cake. Used Storybook cart.
Only thing didn't like the results of trying to attach to the cake. The cake is iced with a crusting buttercream. The design was 2" tall by about 7" long. It was really hard to attach to the side of the cake. Does anyone know of easy way to attach without it moving and tearing?? Design ended up lower on the cake than wanted - plus putting black on white not a great idea for first time-pretty much had to put it wherever it touched since it would leave a mark on the white.
This was a problem for me as well when I first started playing around. I use craft foam sheets you can get at walmart. They are flexable and put a dab of shortning on the foam to hold the design in place while working & I put it right on top of the design before I take it off the mat then I flip the mat and foam sandwitch over and the design is easly transfered onto the foam oh and I measure where I want the design to go in relation to the bottom edge of the foam and line it up with the bottom edge of the cake and slowly press up on to the side of the cake right in the exact place you want. It did take me a few times of trying to get the hang of placment but even the first time i used the foam it was much easer then with out it and with no broken designes. I hope this helps...Pam
Hey just wanted to say, woo hoo, I knew it, Sure Cuts Alot has just come out with upgrade 2.006 and you no longer need Inkscape and it will now do all the stuff Make the Cut does, competition in the marketplace does good things!!
Is this a free upgrade to those that have already purchased the old version?
I bought SCAL 2.006 back in December. The latest version now is 2.008. Their website says that if you have any version of SCAL 2, you can download the newest update for free & it will replace the one already on your system. Don't think that works if you only have SCAL 1 though. Here's a quote from their site:
"If you are using an older version 2 of "Sure Cuts A Lot", you can download the latest version below for free and install over the current installation."
When I get home tonight, I'm downloading the newest updates.
OMG!!! that cake is SOOOO beautiful!!!!
I have been at this darned thing off and on for the last 3 days, and I can't get my edges clean. But I'm using Wilton fondant, as I don't have any Tylose. So for now I'm going to put icing sheets through, and I'm having LOTS of success with that!!!!
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ok, I am done trying to play Cricut today. The thing has turned my mood quite vile
After reading ALL the posts on this and trying several variations of settings and mediums I am throwing in the towel. For today only though.
My edges on the designs are very rough and dry even after coating with Crisco. At the end of it the blade started bunching up the fondant mix.
I am going now to look at some of the pics proving this can be done all the while trying to breathe calmly.
I will NOT be beaten by fondant!
You need to talk to Linda McClure about the problems you are having. She will be able to help you get a great cut with the gum paste. She helped me and now I have great success every time.
Have you all seen this
www.cricutcake.com it is specifically made for cake decorating. When will the madness end?
Thanks for the link.
So, while I'm waiting for my Cricut to arrive, I've amassed a huge collection of svg files to use with SCAL. I woke up the other morning and a lightbulb went off and I'm wondering if any of you have tried this (if so and I missed the post, I apologize!)...
I started d/ling pics of the outlines of all the expensive flower cutters. I'm thinking if I convert then to svg, I can let the cricut do the cutting and I don't have to spend a ton on petal cutters!
What do you think? Here's an example of what I found (prior to converting to svg)...
I've done lots of searches for the cutter outlines, there are LOTS out there and if it works, think of all the savings!
Maybe someone who has the cricut mastered can try it out while I'm waiting for mine to arrive!
Now, if it would only cut sugar cookie dough we'd have it made in the shade!
Ok. I just read all 30 pages of this thread. I must get my cricut out and try this. You guys are so wonderful in explaining everything. I was going to order Linda's DVD, but after reading this, I'm not sure I need it. For those of you that have it, is it worth getting it even after all of your very informative and educational posts?
chilz822 your reading my mind , I did the same thing last weekend.
I wanted to make a huge rose but i didnt have the right size rose petal cutter.
so I found a rose petal image online, I used paint to fill the image inside and than I cut with my cricut.
I'll post the picture today
Great minds must truly think alike! I've downloaded a huge amount of petal cutter outlines, just waiting... waiting...
My Cricut will be here on Wednesday and I'll be off work on Thursday... hmmm... wonder what I'll be doing?!?
My son is excited also because we saw video's on making stencils and using them to paint graphic tshirts... oboy
Ok. I just read all 30 pages of this thread. I must get my cricut out and try this. You guys are so wonderful in explaining everything. I was going to order Linda's DVD, but after reading this, I'm not sure I need it. For those of you that have it, is it worth getting it even after all of your very informative and educational posts?
All of her DVD's are very informative. It is worth the investment, especially to be able to see exactly what she is doing.
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