Does the Making Memories Slice Scrapbooking Die Cutting Machine Cut It?

J James asked:




Scrapbooking is a wonderful form of art and memory preservation, practised the world over by both young and old. A lot of self satisfaction is achieved by scrapbookers who put pages together of one or more photos, along with a story, to preserve a memory of an event, or capture a unique moment in time.

Now anyone who is into scrapbooking, especially with embellishments, would be very familiar with the company Making Memories. They also make a wonderfully extensive range of some amazing scrapbooking tools like the tag maker, eyelet setter, stamping die sets and much more.

However the question here is, with the popularity of die cutting machines for scrapbooking and the massive competition in the market from the two big brands of Die Cutting Machines… the electronic Provo Craft Cricut range of machines and the manually operated Sizzix range of machines, can Making Memories make a Die Cutting Machine that is comparable with these two big brand names?

Making Memories entrance into the Scrapbooking Die Cutting Machine market, has only come recently with its Making Memories SLICE machine. The SLICE retails for US$150.00, so it is half the price of the cheapest Cricut machine and slightly more expensive than the Sizzix Big Shot machine.

The SLICE die cutter is marketed as the first die cutting machine that doesn’t need a power cord. So it is really competing with the Cricut as an electronic die cutter and not competing with the Sizzix range of manual cutters. Imagine being able to take it anywhere and show off what it does, without having to plug it in! Just imagine the possibilities.

The Making Memories SLICE has similar features to the other electronic die cutters on the market like being able to plug in cartridges (known as design cards) and cutting shapes and letters at varying sizes. It does not need to be connected to a computer to function.

The SLICE however does try to do something the Cricut Personal machine doesn’t and that is to cut slightly thicker types of material. The Cricut can only cut cardstock, and the Sizzix can cut pretty much anything (but it is a manual machine). The new Making Memories die cut machine however will cut up to 0.5mm thick. This means you get the benefit of an electronic die cutter, as well as the ability to cut a wider range of materials which will add to the uniqueness of your scrapbook pages.

Given that the SLICE is competing with the Cricut and other electronic cutters, it is very well priced. It also takes up a lot less room than the other electronic cutters. From all reports, it also cuts very well and can cut sheets up to 0.5mm thick.

One of the SLICE’s disadvantages though over the Cricut range of machines, is that you have to hold the card while it is cutting, as it does not have a sticky mat or other means of automatically cutting. This makes it a little time consuming, compared to the Cricut which you can set and forget. However at half the price, with the same advantages including the added bonus of no power cord, it is a definite player in the scrapbooking die cut machine market.

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