After reading too many reviews and considering the advice left here (thank you so much to those of you who weighed in), I ended up ordering a cuttlebug through amazon prime along with a c plate and embossing mats as well as a lot of spellbinder nestabilities from ebay. They arrived mere hours from each other (bravo ebay seller!). I sat down and Finn climbed on top,sooo heavy, to give it a test drive and we both give it thumbs up!
It's a slow process, completely unrelated to cutting with a cricut expression or other electronic machines. You can only cut ONE shape at a time, so basically you need to be in love with that shape. That said the result is much crisper and artisan-looking which pleases me to no end. The machine was cheap (and tiny), the dies less so but that might prevent me from going bananas and spending as if money grew on trees with paper leaves born a electronic cutter.
Finn very helpfully pointed at my calligraphy supplies and asked me why I was keeping those since I "don't ever use them anymore?". I can take a hint too, so here we are addressing Finn's save the date birthday envelopes. His class is populated with American presidents (Ford, Lincoln, Jackson) and Stephanie Meyer fans. I wonder what they would be called, all those little humans if we lived in France. For that matter what would Finn be called? Maxime or xavier I think...
